We are the consumer.
First off, this is not an article the decries the use of research. Research is and always will be an important part of marketing. So if you are a researcher out there, I love you and you will always be needed. Keep up the good work. This post is more about the dangers of using research over our minds and guts.

David Ogilvy once said, “The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife.” I would like to amend that quote to, “The customer is not a moron, the customer is us.” The longer I’m in the advertising world the more it astounds me that we fail to recognize this. We base many of our strategic decisions on research. These decisions affect the creative briefs we get. Sometimes we will even take the creative concepts we make and then stick them in front of focus groups to research their efficacy. All this testing and research blinds us to the fact that we – all of us in advertising and marketing – are also consumers. We watch commercials, we read ads, we surf the net. We buy things like clothes, food and cars. We consume products and we consume advertising.

I’m not saying research is useless. Research can always help inform decisions and directions. But it should never dictate it. If you gather a group of advertising professionals, and their gut feeling on a strategy or creative is in stark contrast to the research, flush the research.

Why research is unreliable:

1. Tact
I believe there are several reasons why research can be unreliable. The first of which is tact. In our modern society we have trained ourselves to be sensitive. Sensitive to other peoples’ feelings, sensitive to the consequences of our actions and our words, and with good cause.

Anyone who has been in a focus group, or has done an online survey, or has even filled out a little card at a restaurant has likely experienced the following:  you’re filling out your card at the restaurant, and it asks you about the quality of your food. It was pretty bad. The steak was overcooked, and the french fries undercooked (I eat at classy steak-and-french-fry places ;) ). You go to put a mark beside the 1 on a scale of 1-5. One being craptastic, and 5 being ÜBER FOOD. The food deserves a 1, but do you give it a 1? Some of us would, but a lot of us second guess ourselves. We don’t want to be too harsh. What if putting a 1 is the final nail in the coffin on an aspiring chef’s career? Or maybe we just don’t want to be mean. We rationalize the decision, making wild comparisons like “well it was better than fast food, or dog food,”and “its not the worst food I’ve ever eaten.” Our pencil moves slightly to the right, and we pick a 2 or a 3.

2. Context
The second reason is context. In Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, he talks about the efficacy of research and focus groups. He brings up “New Coke,” the Coke designed to beat Pepsi in the now infamous Pepsi challenge. Coke invested millions, using focus groups to engineer a cola that consumers would pick over Pepsi in the classic blind sip test. After perfecting their cola they brought it to market, and it was one of the biggest failures in the history of the beverage industry.

Even today New Coke is the butt of many a comedian’s joke, if not the punchline. So what happened? Well people don’t drink cola a sip at a time in a white room with 2-way glass. They enjoy their cola at a picnic, or relaxing on their couch. The take longer, not shorter sips, and the ambience of the environments were they enjoy the beverage affect their mental states. In short, the research was flawed because the people in the focus groups where not in their standard environment and the state of mind where they would regularly consume cola.

When I was in university, I was out at a mall shopping. A woman approached me and offered me 10 bucks to come in a little room and watch some initial drafts of a Molson Ex commercial. I sat down in a LazyBoy, in a stark white room, and saw storyboards with drawn characters representing the actors in the would-be commercials. The audio track played as the storyboards flashed in progression. “It is obvious this woman wants to have sex.” the commercial started. “But I had sex yesterday, today I want to go out with the boys and have an EX.”

The woman who flagged me into the little white room came in and asked what I thought. I told her I thought it was humorous, but the most offensive commercial I had ever seen, and that if I had kids (which I did not at the time), I would not want them seeing it at all. She then asked me what I would think if I knew that the audience was men my age, and that it would only be shown after 10p.m.? My answer changed. “I guess it would be ok, then.” I was out of my element, I was not looking at the spot like I would in the 15-sec chunk mixed in with other commercials during the first intermission of the Habs game. I was studying it, thinking more deeply about whether it would alienate their target audience, whether or not it would offend me in that context, I even thought, “would this get me to buy a Molson Ex?”  A few months later I was watching the game and the Ex Sex commercial came on the set. I was offended. Whether it is a result of that commercial or not, I have never bought a Molson branded product in my life. I bought and enjoyed a Rickards Red (from Molson Breweries). And I have a favourable view of the family and company due to their long-time relationship with my beloved Montreal Canadians. But have never actually bought a Molson Canadian, Ex, or Dry.

3. Science and Humanity
I am a scientist at heart. I love physics, math, and technology. I went to school for Computer Science and Philosophy, and I did quite well in Calculus. But I am also a human. I have human relationships, emotions and drivers. And while we try our best, these qualities can rarely be summed up with a series of numbers, true or false statements, or sliding scales from 1 to 5.

“Advertising is a craft executed by people who aspire to be artists, but is assessed by those who aspire to be scientists. I cannot imagine any human relationship more perfectly designed to produce total Mayhem. ” – John Ward.

I love that quote, as it is a paradox in and of itself. As I previously stated, research is not useless. What it is is another piece of information. But it is in no way more important than the opinions of advertising practitioners (Creatives and Executives), nor is it more important and definitive than the guy sitting beside you on the train. We are the consumers, our friends and family are the consumers, and our clients are the consumers.

As advertising professionals we need to gather and ingest all the information we can on a problem, and then formulate a strategy and creative against it. And then let our inner consumer take over. The collective feeling and experiences of our colleagues, friends, families, and most important our guts will tell us what the right solution is. Even if our research tells us otherwise.