Researchers are being researched

It seems to be the flavour of the month. The hunter being hunted; policemen getting arrested; doctors catching swine flu; and now, market researchers being researched.

It’s been a torrid and troublesome time for market researchers. Too many of their ilk is being forced to face up to their goof ups. Two significant developments these last few weeks have brought the researchers into spotlight. And not for good reasons either.

The first one pertains to radio listenership data in the recently published Indian Readership Survey (IRS). Big 92.7 FM has been shown doing well in cities like Ahmedabad, Jabalpur and Jaipur. Good news to BIG FM you think. Only problem is, Big FM doesn’t even operate in these markets! Even an illiterate lunatic, half drunk and dazed, woken in the middle of the night would tell you something is amiss here.

And you are talking IRS – that’s the largest continuous readership research study in the world with an annual sample size exceeding 2.5 lakh respondents!

A giant goof up to say the least.

The second pertains to another reputed research company - A.C. Nielson - one of the world’s largest retail audit firms. If you didn’t know much about them, this is what they have to say about themselves: We offer an integrated suite of market information gathered from a wide range of sources, advanced information management tools, sophisticated analytical systems and methodologies to help our clients find the best paths to growth.

Their monthly reports, covering tons of categories, spell out what every marketer wishes to know: who buys, what is bought, when it is bought, how much is bought, where it is bought and much more.

What seems to be the problem? Nielson’s clients are increasingly disillusioned by the numbers reported. The sales figures stated by Nielson don’t tally with the sales figures the companies have notched up in the marketplace. If Nielson can’t project my company sales properly, how can I expect them to project others’, they argue. Valid, one has to agree.

And some of them have even stopped subscribing to these expensive Nielson reports. You are not talking any Johnny-come-lately but the big and the best of Indian marketing - Dabur, Godrej and I gather, even Hindustan Unilever.

Nielson, after denying these allegations, have finally promised to look into the issue and sort things out. And so has IRS.

Researchers are being forced to do some serious soul searching!

The Zoozoos are back, but…..

Vodafone is on it again. Their marketing honchos have decided to bring back the Zoozoos.

Is it because they feel it worked for them earlier? In that case, why they dropped it is anybody’s guess.

Is it because their subsequent campaigns didn’t work? In that case, what was ailing those campaigns that this Zoozoo are going to address - is again anybody’s guess.

Or is it because they are worried stiff over the fact that new subscribers seem to be dancing over to Docomo and not visiting Vodafone. If you have been following Telecom reports you would know that Vodafone has been pushed to fourth on the list of brands that has been able to attract new subscribers.

In other words, Vodafone is growing slower vis-à-vis other key brands in the category. Their run rate has fallen, so to speak. And they have brought back their pinch hitters – the Zoozoos – to attract attention and appeal to the new subscribers; in other words, to accelerate their run rate.

Will it work? I doubt.

I say so for two reasons. One, for the very reasons I had outlined in my previous posts, the Zoozoos are attracting attention to themselves and not as much for Vodafone.

Two, this now-you-see-now-you-don’t use of Zoozoos have diluted their impact sufficiently if not substantially. Vodafone probably doesn’t realize the Zoozoos, at best, is just an advertising gimmick with hardly any long-term value.

Did you notice not many have been talking about the new set of Zoozoo ads? In fact, did you even know they are back?

Therein lies the answer!