STUDIES SHOW: PLEASE DON'T HOLD MY MAYO!
Richmond, VA. — In a study of mayo-loving Southerners, nearly all participants found it difficult, if not downright impossible, to go without the ubiquitous culinary substance for only a week. The experimental abstinence for four groups of 45 mayo users was imposed by Richmond-based C.F. Sauer Company in an attempt to uncover the allure of the simple mixture for use in the company's product branding efforts. The research project was developed and managed by Edelmann Scott Inc., C.F. Sauer's agency of record, also based in Richmond.
According to Richard Scott, president and chief executive officer at Edelmann Scott , those who took part in the study were amazed at how hard it was to live without mayo for a week. Many were reduced to cheating. "We asked the participants to keep a food diary," he says. "Nearly every person told us it was harder than they thought it would be to give up mayonnaise. Their reasons may have been different, but the difficulty was certainly there." Participants in the study also explored a series of positioning statements about mayonnaise in general including creaminess, tartness and pricing.
Understanding the consumer's motivation to buy is critical to a brand's success according to Scott. One of the biggest mistakes companies often make, he explains, is to boldly go where many have been before without thinking about the consumer's wants and needs. To deliver truly effective marketing communications, he recommends, companies must always begin and end their efforts by listening to the customer. To help companies do that Edelmann Scott created MarketVision.
"We designed MarketVision to take out the 'I thinks' in the branding process and replace them with a totally different approach in which 'the market says' drives the planning," Scott explains. MarketVision is an advanced research process that takes traditional research techniques steps further through product benefit and positioning identification, testing and validation. The entire process is rigorous and can take anywhere from two to six months to complete. Edelmann Scott uses MarketVisionm to determine the best vehicle to communicate a message, build a brand or create awareness.
"C.F. Sauer's Duke's brand is the top-selling mayonnaise in the Southeast and it's Edelmann Scott's job to help make sure it stays in that position," Scott says. Recommending research to identify consumer preferences isn't a new idea, he says, but knowing how to use the data and translating it into something meaningful to the consumer is the critical difference between typical research offerings and what Edelmann Scott provides in a true marketing environment."
Richmond, VA. — In a study of mayo-loving Southerners, nearly all participants found it difficult, if not downright impossible, to go without the ubiquitous culinary substance for only a week. The experimental abstinence for four groups of 45 mayo users was imposed by Richmond-based C.F. Sauer Company in an attempt to uncover the allure of the simple mixture for use in the company's product branding efforts. The research project was developed and managed by Edelmann Scott Inc., C.F. Sauer's agency of record, also based in Richmond.
According to Richard Scott, president and chief executive officer at Edelmann Scott , those who took part in the study were amazed at how hard it was to live without mayo for a week. Many were reduced to cheating. "We asked the participants to keep a food diary," he says. "Nearly every person told us it was harder than they thought it would be to give up mayonnaise. Their reasons may have been different, but the difficulty was certainly there." Participants in the study also explored a series of positioning statements about mayonnaise in general including creaminess, tartness and pricing.
Understanding the consumer's motivation to buy is critical to a brand's success according to Scott. One of the biggest mistakes companies often make, he explains, is to boldly go where many have been before without thinking about the consumer's wants and needs. To deliver truly effective marketing communications, he recommends, companies must always begin and end their efforts by listening to the customer. To help companies do that Edelmann Scott created MarketVision.
"We designed MarketVision to take out the 'I thinks' in the branding process and replace them with a totally different approach in which 'the market says' drives the planning," Scott explains. MarketVision is an advanced research process that takes traditional research techniques steps further through product benefit and positioning identification, testing and validation. The entire process is rigorous and can take anywhere from two to six months to complete. Edelmann Scott uses MarketVisionm to determine the best vehicle to communicate a message, build a brand or create awareness.
"C.F. Sauer's Duke's brand is the top-selling mayonnaise in the Southeast and it's Edelmann Scott's job to help make sure it stays in that position," Scott says. Recommending research to identify consumer preferences isn't a new idea, he says, but knowing how to use the data and translating it into something meaningful to the consumer is the critical difference between typical research offerings and what Edelmann Scott provides in a true marketing environment."
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