Traditional methods of investigation also must be updated. The days of doing research from office desks and conducting a single study to back a claim are over. Savvy marketing and product development professionals understand they must integrate the knowledge collected over the last decade—about what has worked in the past and what is viable in the future—with real consumer feedback collected in-context (in the home, school, store, or automobile). This requires developing relationships with customers, fully experiencing their world and finding a way to fit new products and services into it. It means building products and services on more than functionality, taking into account emotional and behavioral consequences inherent in the experience.
These foundational studies are a new form of syndicated research that helps marketers and product developers, working together, to deliver new, consumer-relevant product and service experiences. The first study of this kind was conducted last year by The Understanding & Insight Group, Denville, N.J., and I-Novation, a division of Moskowitz Jacobs Inc., White Plains, N.Y., on the subject of craving.