There are in fact three other "Qs": MQ, BQ, and EQ, the definitions of these are as follows:
MQ or Moral Intelligence: "MQ deals with your integrity, responsibility, sympathy, and forgiveness."
BQ or Body Intelligence: "Reflects what you know about your body, how you feel about it, and take care of it. Your body is constantly telling you things; are you listening to the signals or ignoring them?"
EQ or Emotional Intelligence: "Being aware of your own feelings and those of others, regulating these feelings in yourself and others, using emotions that are appropriate to the situation, self-motivation, and building relationships"
In my opinion there are two reasons to use this in marketing, namely product positioning/communication of a brand and client / agency relationships.
We in the industry have all these clichés of appealing to emotional, rational, heritage, etc. These "Qs" give us another way of segmenting the market.
Not all brands will fit with all four "Qs". Certainly any food product can be placed within all four "Qs", but not necessarily all types. If one takes for example, the green issue, i.e. recycle, air, pollution, etc. there is the moral Q.
Now it has often been written that the brand cannot exist on a green platform, it has to deliver on its basic need, but one can feel very moral purchasing a product that is produced completely out of recycled material such as Tuffy bin bags. From a moral point of view, I would be willing to pay extra, although that margin might not be huge, knowing that I am doing the environment some good. So, to a company that has a high MQ will resonate with people with high standards of morals. Making a stand regarding certain issues that are highlighted in the press as a corporate, can certainly add to your brand's MQ.
I'm sure I don't have to elaborate too much about the EQ as emotion is a powerful marketing tool and has been used by many brands internationally and locally. What one can do in brand positioning is to decide on how far up the scale you want to go on your EQ. Do you want to position the brand purely on a ten point scale of EQ, or does some IQ and MQ come into play? Should we not be pegging our "Qs" for the brand so that we are appealing to the correct "Qs" and at the right level?
BQs are particularly interesting, because of what it stands for. Obviously all nutritional products, fresh fruit, supplements, etc will be heavily geared towards the BQ. But it is totally possible to involve your IQ and EQs, and even your MQs, in your brand positioning of these types of products.
So, I am recommending that there is, and should be, another yardstick that marketing should employ for a brand. For the correct positioning of a brand, decide on your Qs upfront. IQ = rational reasons why the consumer should purchase this product. MQ = moral reasons why the consumer should purchase the product. EQ = the emotional connotation the product has with the consumer. BQ = the benefit to the well-being of the consumer.
It will not be difficult to plot the four "Qs" of opposition brands. Simply by analysing their marketing material and all communication pieces, any strategist should be able to rank the four "Qs" for every brand that is competing in a sector. This could identify a possible gap for a new or existing brand in the market.
If the four "Qs" are applied to briefs from client, i.e. agency and client agree on what percentage of each Q should be contained in the communication, this could negate many hours of creative work and to-ing and fro-ing from client to get approval of a campaign or communication piece. Effectively, it's tightening the brief so much further so as to get the job done as cost effectively as possible. At BrandKey we call it Q-mapping and it should deliver great results for our clients.
