Understanding Insights

I thought the Persuaders was a very interesting documentary that showed some of the different ways people evaluate and try to manipulate consumer attitudes and opinions. Dr. Rapaille used a very interesting three step process to decode what people associate with the word “luxury.” The process involves using a series of focus groups and activities to measure customers’ reason, emotion, and primal core to really gain insight. His techniques have proven to be successful in other industries such as the SUV industry. Dr. Rapaille found that the code for SUVs is “dominance” so he encouraged SUV makers to make their cars larger with tinted windows to portray the idea of dominance.

The first stage in his process involves using the subject’s reason. He basically just asks the people in the focus group a series of questions that are directly related to the subject matter. No real insight is gained in this step, but it gets the participants warmed up and lets them feel like they are contributing to the purpose of the focus group.

After a break, they begin the next stage of the process which uses the participant’s emotion to gain insight. He asks them to do unusual tasks like telling stories to young children from other planets. This helps them to escape logic and let Dr, Rapaille see what emotions the focus group subjects relate to the subject matter. They then take another break.

The goal of the third stage is to get down to the primal core where Dr. Rapaille really believes decisions are made. The chairs are removed from the room and this is done on purpose to confuse the subjects. They are asked to dig deep into their memories and write down notes about the first time they experienced luxury. Dr. Rapaille uses this information to decode the word. Although the code is not revealed on the show, it was interesting to see how Dr. Rapaille goes through this unusual process to reveal customer insights.

I think there are some definite good parts to the “Song Airline experience” as well as some major flaws. Delta took a completely different approach when marketing Song and tried to really capture people’s attention. They wanted to set themselves apart from Delta as well as from other low budget airlines like Jet Blue. Although the Song attempt was not successful, it will definitely not be soon forgotten.

One of the things that stood out to me in Song was their unique brand image. They talk about making everything from the flight attendants to the logos to the seat colors to the ticket kiosks uniquely Song. They set up Song concept stores similar to Apple stores to promote the airline. They used cutting edge marketing attempts to get people to wonder, “What is Song?” They never strayed from the brand image they wanted to create. They had a very cohesive approach to marketing the airline and I think this is something that really set them apart (and that was their goal).

However, this unique brand image somewhat backfired on them. Because the Song branding was so different from that of other airlines, people were not really sure what Song was. The commercials never really showed planes or destinations. Instead they showed people. Although this was an interesting attempt at branching away from typical airline advertising, it never really developed the brand awareness they were looking for. It seems that at the end of the day people really do want just an airline and not an experience.