Brand Research
Brand research is the process of gathering real evidence about an audience, market, or brand perception, before a creative phase begins.
What is brand research?
Brand research is the process of understanding an audience, market, or brand's current perception, in order to make data-backed creative decisions.
From simple profiling to more sophisticated analysis, brand research typically comes first in any substantial brand project, since the right direction depends on knowing what needs attention and why.
Skipping brand research leads to an over-reliance on internal assumptions or biases, which can undermine the impact of creative. Done properly, it can add strength to an idea and allow teams to execute it with more confidence.
What does brand research cover?
Brand research spans a number of methods, each with a different area of focus. The most common practices include the following.
Consumer Insight
A proven, actionable understanding of how a target audience behaves, often the spark behind a brand idea.
Qualitative Research
The non-numerical data around how people think or feel about a brand, put in words, images or soundbites.
Quantitative Research
The numerical data that measures how many people hold a given view, usually conducted through surveys.
Audience Segmentation
Grouping a market into distinct segments based on meaningful differences, in order to target them accordingly.
Persona
A single human profile that captures an entire audience segment, used to help a team design around real people.
Psychographics
Research into an audience's attitudes, values, and motivations, beyond basic demographics.
Brand Tracking
The repeated measurement of a brand's performance over time, to spot trends on a micro and macro level.
Stakeholder Interviews
Conversations with those most affected by a business's success, used to gain context that external research can't reach.
How brand research works in practice: Bristol Dockyards
Bristol Dockyards (formerly SS Great Britain) already knew that their ticket sales were falling, but a declining number doesn't explain the reasons why.
Before work could start on turning the tide, we needed to understand the root cause, which meant combining our own on-the-ground audit and interviews with the brand's extensive research.
Bristol Dockyards
While we headed to Bristol to speak to stakeholders and audit the experience ourselves, the team behind Bristol Dockyards had segmented their audience. This highlighted key challenges, including an aging demographic, an outdated consumer journey, and increasing scrutiny over the region's cultural integrity.
Armed with this qualitative and quantitative data, we then took stock of the category's visual codes, combined with the internal team's own assessment of over 150 cultural institutions. Only then did the direction for the brand's bold rebrand (and broader name above the gates) take shape, allowing us to successfully transform one of Bristol's most treasured icons into an all-new destination.
Outcome: Ticket revenue increased +7% YOY, while engagement rates nearly doubled from 29% to 54%.
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