By developing our own proprietary techniques we offer our clients something truly unique and bang up to date. With 30 years’ experience we’ve also watched trends come and go, as well as brands rise and fall, giving us a fully rounded outlook on the marketing landscape.
Whatever your business, the chances are we know the category back to front. From major quantitative analysis through to bespoke qualitative enquiries, we have the techniques to help you find out exactly what you need to know.
Sometimes only taking something apart shows you exactly how it works; and that’s our starting point for pre-testing and post-exposure analysis of communications. We take four performance measures: Appreciation tells us how an ad is received in terms of relevance and creativity; Branding checks whether a message’s sponsor is recognised; Communication examines persuasion, involvement and saliency models, straight from the creative brief; and Desired Effect on the Brand speaks for itself. Yes, we probably should have called it the ABCDE of Advertising.
For clients as varied as McDonald’s, Mercedes-Benz, NSPCC and Weetabix, we’ve given insights into many a campaign’s achievements and clear guidance for any future activity.
Brandalysis is dedicated to uncovering powerful and genuine insights about brands. It enables you to analyse the dynamics of your brand from both internal (client) and external (customer) perspectives. The process involves 3 interlocking steps:
| 1. | BRAND INSPECTION |  |
a review of all existing knowledge about the brand gleaned from previous research, market data, etc |
| 2. | BRAND INTROSPECTION | |
research amongst brand custodians using new and off the wall projectives including role and game play ideas Walkabout, Brand Steeplechase and Bedfellows to unearth genuine insights |
| 3. | BRAND EXTROSPECTION | |
original consumer research using the same exercises to highlight any critical ‘perceptual gaps’ and deliver rich feedback on the brand |
Brandalysis has helped brands like London Eye and Dunhill refine and rethink their values.
We developed Co-Search as an innovative way to foster consumer-generated ideas and broaden the base of qualitative studies. The technique involves consumers being selected as Co-Searchers who are then tasked with debating concepts with their peers, often in 'Apprentice'-style challenges.
The process has been found to act as a real catalyst for unearthing new, meaningful insights and brand new product/service ideas.
We have recently deployed Co-Search to create imaginative football formats for teenagers, on-the-go, breakfast ideas and new bathroom products.
Understanding your audience is key for well-focused marketing. Decision Dynamics provides an insight into a consumer’s decision-making process, unearthing conscious and sub-conscious considerations within what we call the dynamic zone.
Santander, Intel, Nissan and Mothercare have all benefited from the rich insights provided by Decision Dynamics.
ICE is shorthand for our idea creation process that goes far beyond conventional brainstorming. Two components are involved - idea creation where participants in the session are encouraged to ‘wander and wonder’ in pursuit of new ideas, and an idea evaluation phase, where participants work in syndicates to cherry pick the best ideas to progress. Here, ‘best’ is defined using a suite of proven success criteria.
Ideal for future gazing and strategy development - clients like British Airways, Electrolux, Mothercare and Nike have all employed this technique to improve their brands.
Companies often invest considerable sums in sponsorship properties and their activation; our Sponsorship Effectiveness technique highlights the ROI and brand benefits that are generated.
Our proven effectiveness model, Reach Awareness Attitude Predisposition, measures consumer exposure and brand connections with the sponsorship. We have data on over 200 brands worldwide with which we can benchmark your findings. A relatively detailed survey can comprise as little as 5 minutes of questions so it can be incorporated into existing tracking or a comprehensive survey can be conducted as cost effective stand-alone research. Armed with our findings the effectiveness of sponsorships can be compared with other marketing initiatives.
Today’s best campaigns are integrated, multi-media affairs - and evaluating them properly takes a special approach. Superglue is HPI’s proprietary technique for the media neutral world.
Superglue measures just how integrated, or ‘glued’, your campaign is. It assesses how consumers decode it, how the different elements hang together and the impact it has on your brand.
Clients such as AOL, British Airways, Sky, Honda and Barclays have all experienced Superglue’s evaluative power.