[SAMRA 2011] Tech is great, but understanding people is better - Neil Higgs

3 Jun 2011

Any marketing decision based on research that fails to understand people is dehumanising, TNS senior adviser Neil Higgs told delegates yesterday, Thursday, 2 June 2011, at the Southern African Marketing Research Association conference,- currently under way in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng.

Whether it is new media or digital and mobile world, or social networks in cyberspace - all of these are just an extension of what the world has done for thousands of years, Higgs argued.

"Yes, the numbers are unbelievably exciting. But it should not change how we do things, the fundamentals," he said.

"Easy to forget we are dealing with people"

"It is easy to forget that we are dealing with people. So our main job is to understand people and their lives - the 'how' might change and is indeed a huge story. But we still need to ensure we get the 'why', which is the human condition."

According to Higgs, continually referring people as respondents, informants, consumers, customers, twitterati, units and target markets is absolutely dehumanising.

The 32nd SAMRA convention, which is taking place along the Vaal River and enters its second day today, is an annual gathering of southern African market researchers to share thoughts and ideas and to learn from each other.

SAMRA chairperson Elsa Thirion-Venter said in opening remarks: "Thirty-two years ago, cellphones, social media, web surveys, computers on every desk and smart phones, which we now regard as indispensable, were undiscovered ideas in the distant future."

World has come a long way

The world has come a long way since the invention of the first telephone in 1876, radio in 1919, TV in 1928 and the first cellphones (Motorola and Nokia) in 1982, as well as the first Internet connection in 1969.

While these inventions - and the innovations that followed - have changed the world in many ways, Higgs slammed the big multinational companies that predicted that the digital revolution will 'kill' research as the world knows it today.

"What are we missing?" he asked. "Each time there was a new beginning. What is certain is that this brave new world of mobile and digital brought a new order in communication - the 'how' between brands and people, people and people, and between people and researchers.

"And it changes how the research world gets feedback from people."

Fundamentally wrong advertising model?

Some delegates believed Higgs dropped a bombshell after claiming that the world, through all these media changes, adopted a fundamentally wrong advertising model.

"What we see on Facebook or Twitter is not the real people and their real reactions and behaviours. If we are to understand people and create marketing that works, we need to ask questions such as:

Are they happy or sad?
What worries them?
Will that affect what they decide to buy?
What are their goals and plans?
Have they given up or do they still have hope for their future?
What has happened to them recently?
How healthy are they?

"How easy are you making the decision for them? Is your message aiding the decision or is it making it more agonising? All these have effects of varying degrees on how people decide what to do in their lives and how they respond to marketing activities.

"We need to understand these people and their lives, their motivations, their desires, how they view the world, their cultures and their worldviews. We must have an idea how humanity works before making a marketing decision.

"Do you go to the informal settlements? How do you talk to those people if you don't know where they live? Technology is great but it is all about people."

The 2011 SAMRA conference, being attended by more than 160 delegates, ends on Saturday.

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