Igniting the Sunfire

The whole idea behind qualita-tive research is to get respondents to express themselves, right? But who says they have to use words? As we all know -- and as one ad agency has found -- pictures can say a lot.

For the past two years, D'arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Inc. (DMB&B), Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has been putting a twist on the standard technique of the respondent collage. Instead of having focus group subjects assemble collages at the facility, using magazines and construction paper, the agency asks respondents to create the collages at home on a pre-assigned topic before they show up for the groups.
"Having consumers create collages is not new," says Charles Stannard, director of research and marketing, DMB&B. "What we've done is figure out how to make collages better and more useful than they have been in the past. They're one of the tools we use to understand consumers and their relationships to the brands we advertise.

"In the focus groups, our interest is not just in talking about products or people per se. We're really interested in looking at the relationship between the two, how that product fits into their lives and what they think and feel about it. So we wanted to create a methodology that would capture that relationship visually as well as verbally. Pictures and images are not merely worth a thousand words, they elicit and evoke a thousand words and that's what we want."

Respondents are typically given a week before the group to create a collage - usually in the 20"x20" range so it's large enough for everyone in the group to see - that describes their relationship with the product in question. They're free to use any materials they wish (one woman included a slipper on her collage), including family photographs, photos from magazines, map sections, ticket stubs, or original artwork.

In most cases, the collages are the starting point of the group. When the respondents arrive at the facility, the collages are collected and put in the focus group room. After the group begins, the moderator picks up a collage and asks the respondents to talk about the maker of the collage, how they would describe the person based on the images in it and how he or she seems to feel about the product in question. The collage maker then identifies himself or herself and talks about the things they chose to put in the collage.

Time and energy

The agency has found that it hasn't been difficult to get respondents to do the collages. In general, people seem to put a lot of time and energy into them. As you might expect, they receive a higher than normal incentive for their efforts.

The biggest initial stumbling block was finding focus group facilities to do the recruiting. Most were skeptical that respondents would take the time. "It was just a situation where some facilities were less adventuresome than others," Stannard says.

When the agency finally found operations to work with, it did everything it could to make the recruiting go smoothly. "The facilities were given very specific instructions to follow," Stannard says. "We did the homework for them, they just had to get on the phone and read the instructions."

Sunfire advertising

The agency used collages to help develop advertising that began running last month for Pontiac's new Sunfire, an entry-level vehicle aimed at younger drivers who want a sporty car but can't quite afford one.

"The Sunfire is targeted at a consumer that Pontiac hasn't talked to in quite a while," says Mason Franklin, account supervisor, DMB&B. "Pontiac wanted to learn as much as possible about these people and they looked to us to help them do that."

Respondents for the Sunfire groups were men and women between the ages of 21-34 who were intending to buy a car in the Sunfire's competitive class. They had household incomes of $25,000+ and some college education.

For the Pontiac groups, respondents were asked to do collages about their relationship with their car. "The research provided us with a very good starting point to understand how we could begin to talk to these people, what kinds of things are important to them, who they are and how they feel about themselves and their car," says Beth Stobbs, DMB&B's Pontiac Group research supervisor.

Group dynamics

One of the many benefits of the collage approach, Stobbs says, is its effect on the group dynamics. "There's a sense of camaraderie, a shared frame of reference. They feel free to talk about their feelings and personal stories. The visual references prompt questions from the other respondents, so there's a lot of group interaction and sharing. People are willing to talk very personally."

Stannard: "You don't get the hangers-back that you get in normal groups. People get involved and animated."

The collages were just one of many tools used during the Sunfire groups, Stobbs says. After respondents talked about their relationship with their own vehicles they were shown photos of the Sunfire and asked to talk about the car and their impressions of it.

A number of interesting and ultimately helpful themes came out of the ideas expressed in the collages. "The research helped us identify a number of areas that we could focus on for developing positioning ideas," Stobbs says.

  • For this age group, the car was clearly a vehicle for discovery and adventure. "These are active, experiential type of people. Travel by car is important to these people because of their limited resources. They have a desire to escape, not from their lives necessarily, but to adventure. The car really helps them do that," Stobbs says.
  • Personal relationships were important to them, as was romance in their lives and with their cars. "Their car is kind of a partner in their adventures and a means of bringing people together for activities."
  • Even though they have limitations in terms of time and money, they're very positive in their outlook about life.

Creatives encouraged

The agency creatives were encouraged to watch the groups when possible. Those who couldn't were given presentations on the groups, including quotes from the participants. All were encouraged to examine the collages.

"One respondent said, 'My car is motion, we go and go. We take advantage of what the city has to offer because we have a car.' We were able to read quotes like that which support each of the themes that we identified as important to the target audience. So the creatives ended up feeling like they knew these people and could write to them. They had visual cues they could use to inspire insights and ideas," Stobbs says.

Escape to adventure

The TV spots that grew out of the research, titled Sunfire Adventures, feature shots of the Sunfire visiting far-flung destinations like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Easter Island, the Great Wall of China and the planet Jupiter.

The research learning also led to tie-ins such as Pontiac Sunfire's sponsorship of "Live from the House of Blues," a weekly music show on the TBS network, and ESPN's Extreme Games competitions this summer. The car is also being marketed on the College Television Network and in health club displays in conjunction with American Health magazine.

"We knew we had to do something different," says Gary Martin, DMB&B senior vice president and group media director on the Pontiac account. "The typical Sunfire prospects watch television, but quite selectively; they read but not the broader circulation publications. They are into fitness and music and spend a lot of time in their cars. Many are still in college and are impossible to reach with direct mail."

Clients learn, too

Agency researchers and creatives aren't the only ones who learn from the collages. They also help clients understand the target audience as well, especially when they aren't in the age group being researched, Franklin says. "Bringing the collages into meetings and having the clients see the points for themselves that we're trying to bring forward is very helpful. They reference the collages throughout the process, so that when we get to the point of presenting the creative they'll say, 'I see how that fits because I remember those themes from the collages.' "

Beth Stobbs: "It increases the shared understanding between all of us, the client, the creatives and the agency, because everyone has the same reference, the same picture of the target audience. Clients have also asked us to share the collage information with groups outside of advertising because it brings the target audience alive."

The agency plans to continue refining the collage technique, Stannard says. "I think it humanizes the respondent. It doesn't matter who it is or how old they are. There is something intriguing and engaging about all of these folks. The client and everyone at the agency gets a real appreciation and understanding and fondness for the people."