At Make Us Care we’ve had a wide range of experiences working on different research projects for clients. We wanted to share some of our favourite parts of working on research projects.
One thing we enjoy the most about our research projects is the unexpected insights that we come across. We often find out insights that surprise both us as an agency and our clients and those insights can completely change the direction of the brand. These insights are usually common themes that develop across different people that we interview. Such insights are usually a goldmine when we discover them, as they can be used to create something interesting and never before seen in the market.
One of the most interesting parts of a research project is when we’re validating our clients thinking on their brand. We take what we’ve heard from the clients and use it to create a script to speak to their customers to confirm their thinking. However, during this phase there can also be cases where we disprove what we’d heard our clients say during their workshop with us. We sometimes need to do this to help move the brand in the right direction and away from a potential misalignment that the brand may have found itself in with its customers. Sometimes there is a disconnect between the brand and the customers, which could lead to poor sales or brand loyalty. Our research helps to identify such disconnects and find ways to align the brand with the customers’ needs.
To learn more about how we align brand and customers read ‘Research projects: our approach’
One of our favourite research projects was with a brand called Plated. Plated is a tableware brand that aimed to create a unique angle in the market. We knew that selling plates as just a product wouldn’t be a successful strategy. We needed to find a human truth that we could associate with the brand. Through the research phase, we discovered that plates could present incredible moments in life that people would remember. We approached the research with this in mind. We tried to understand what these moments looked like and how people felt when they were celebrating, with friends or having dinner parties.
The research brought out a lot of those lovely moments that we used to build brand stories. We were able to create a visual language that centred around human connection and what it means to be together. The insights from the research were crucial in creating the brand messaging and visual branding that ultimately became the Plated brand.
From all our experience, we have learned that research is crucial in building a brand that resonates with customers. We have also learned that the unexpected insights from research, even when that means going against what the brand believes internally, are usually the most effective inisghts when creating a CareBrand and helping them stand out in their market.
Ready to get started? Here are some things you might want to know think about before starting a branding project: Research project: What to know before you begin