New insights tool allows FCB to 'unpack' consumers

This full picture is used to develop brand and media strategies that positively influence the creative response to a client's brief.

FCB group media director, Tanya Schreuder, explained: "We started developing LifeSlice when we found we wanted more information about our clients' consumers than the current forms of research could give us. None, we felt, really reflected a 'Day in the Life' of our core markets and that quantitative research, while it provided vital market insights, in isolation was giving us only half the picture.

"It was also difficult to be a 'big-brother' on our markets using quantitative data; we wondered how it flowed, connected and intertwined in an average day of their life. For example, in a group of 18 - 24 year olds, there are already core differences.

"The 18-year-old will have just left school, may still be living at home or about to leave the nest, and is looking to either study further or take the first steps to financial independence. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we could have a 24-year-old who has either been working for a number of years, or owns a vehicle or is looking to purchase one, and who may have been financially independent for a number of years already," Schreuder explains.

Visual representation

"Where do the commonalities lie with these two groups? Is it in the media they consume, the clothes they wear, the cars they aspire to, the places they go to or simply in the food they eat?

"Given these questions, we felt that marketers - either as a client or a creative, or media planner or strategist - needed a visual representation of who is on the receiving end of our communication. We wanted to identify and uncover consumer touch points. LifeSlice does that for us. It averages out the trends and provides the nuances that give us deeper insights," Schreuder said.

Two of the first of FCB Cape Town's clients to make use of LifeSlice have been Good Hope FM and Distell brand, Richelieu. The consumer segment 'unpacked' was the Coloured youth.

"FCB Cape Town and its clients felt that this market is often misunderstood, because it is generally 'lumped' together with white and Indian consumers. There is very little information on the group, which provided a good opportunity for LifeSlice to shine and show its worth," Schreuder went on to say.

FCB Headspace's numerical analysis of existing data (AMPS) conducted prior to the LifeSlice immersion highlighted, as example:

• This is a growing market, albeit off a small base.
  
• The total Coloured population makes up 9% (2.7-million) of the adult South African population.
  
• The average age of the total Coloured population is 37.
  
• 62% live in the Western Cape (making up 55% of Western Cape's total population).
  
• 13% live in the Eastern Cape (making up 8% of Eastern Cape's total population).
  
• 12% live in the Northern Cape (making up 52% of the Northern Cape's total population).
  
• 8% live in Gauteng (making up only 3.5% of Gauteng's total population).
  
• Only 21% have matric (lowest of all races).
  
• Only 8% have tertiary education (second lowest of all races).
  
• Most (35%) sit in C income bracket (R1400 - R3999/household) but 24% are in the A income bracket (R7000+/household).
  
• The average monthly household income is R5141 (South African average: R4363).
  
• The average personal monthly income is R2432 (South African average: R2457).
  
• 46% work full/part time (South African average: 37%), second highest employment rate but also have the second highest unemployed rate at 20% (South African average: 31%).
  
• Most sit in middle segment of LSM 5-7 (60%) with 26% LSM 8-10 and only 16% in LSM 1-4 (where most of South Africa sits at 47%).
  
• 79% have Afrikaans as a home language and 21% English.
  
• 42% regard themselves as Christian and 8% as Muslim (although Coloured people do make up 53% of all South African Muslims).

Personality

"All this information didn't really tell us who, didn't give us a personality to talk to," said Schreuder. "But, using LifeSlice, we discovered that 27-year-old 'Chris' has several favourite brands: Levi's, Adidas, Nike, RT, Fossil, Smirnoff RED vodka.

"During the week, he travels into town from the Southern Suburbs in his car - 1992 VW Golf - while listening to Nigel Pierce, he continues to listen to GHfm during his working day as an accountant and surfs the net (weathersa.co.za, vodacom.co.za, fnb.co.za and every Suzuki website he can find), orders in Wimpy for lunch, pays his bills and accounts during lunch at month-end, leaves work by 5.30pm and listens to Ryan O'Connor on his way home to his dog and girlfriend. He owns his own house which he is busy renovating, is studying part time, makes himself dinner and watches his favourite channel e.tv.

"Interestingly, he spends Saturday sailing from Simonstown if the weather is right and also frequents hardware stores to purchase building material and appliances. By contrast, 25-year-old, 'Christine' and her husband are members of the Opel Owners Club and usually go every alternate weekend to a function. Food is provided by vendors and families are encouraged to come and enjoy a day out.

"She lists Levi's, Kelso, Zoom, Nike, Elizabeth Arden, Calvin Klein, Fossil, Jack Daniels as her favourite brands. During the week, she eats Jungle Oats for breakfast, travels by bus/car for one hour, then has a 20-minute walk to town - she's at work by 6am in town. Christine is office-based and listens to GHfm via streaming audio, doesn't usually take lunch but if she does, orders in from Boston's Grill, leaves work by 4pm, cooks dinner for her family and enjoys bath time with her kids who she fetched at 5pm from crèche, listens to GHfm and watches the e.tv movie with her husband. To relax on the weekend, Christine reads Top Billing, Living & Loving and Cosmopolitan while snacking on Cream Soda and Niknaks."

Digging deeper

The information provided by LifeSlice highlighted many pertinent facts about the Coloured youth market. For example, they were very particular about what personal care products they used and didn't simply buy the least expensive. Brands found in their bathrooms included, for the women: Kaleidoscope deodorant, Tinkerbell deodorant, Lux bodywash, Johnson's Baby sun cream, Tropitone sun cream-factor 30, Davidoff Cool Water, Davidoff Echo, Sanex deodorant, Nivea Kids, Johnson's body lotion, Charlotte Rhys bath goodies, Mentadent P toothpaste, Veet hair removal cream, Elizabeth Arden 2 in 1 cleanser, Justine redefining mask, and Johnson's baby gel.

Also interesting was the fact that 100% of the subjects had access to the internet - most accessed it from work and internet cafes, but few from home.

Said Schreuder: "The numbers say the market resides in the Western Cape, is a middle income earner with Afrikaans as a home language, and is relatively uneducated.

"However, digging deeper with LifeSlice shows a young Coloured market that is absolutely positive about the future and truly lives life with very little negative nuances. Consumers in this market are actively pursuing self-improvement, be it through their families, through further education, within their homes or in their jobs.

"They are economically active, love the material goods that life offers, are positively predisposed to advertising and its messages, are extremely brand aware and brand loyal, actively consume different types of media but are loyal to their select few, and are decision makers. They deserve to be marketed to as individuals and not as part of a WCI demographic target market.

"It is information like this, that LifeSlice gives us, that will enable us to better serve our clients - and allow our clients to better serve their consumers - in the future," she concluded.