The power of Snackable Insights™ in modern qualitative research
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No brand is a stranger to the 11th-hour moment of doubt. A brand zeroes in on its core target, and, after exhaustive product testing and countless rounds of back-and-forth revisions on messaging, the stars finally line up for a product launch. The whole team is utterly confident in their direction. Until…
“Wait a second.”
For a leading beauty brand serving the youth market, those words came direct from the CEO weeks before the launch of a campaign.
The messaging was simple and striking, employing just a hint of edgy language to tie together the bold visuals. The marketing team had tested it with the core audience, and it had resonated; all stakeholders were fully aligned and confident in their plan of action.
Then came the question: “What about the parents?” The team was thunderstruck. Despite months of groundwork, one question destabilized their resolve, forcing them to ask themselves: had they overlooked a key gatekeeper standing between them and their target audience?
That one question led to even more doubts. Did they run the risk of alienating secondary targets? Would the visuals still be timely come launch? Had the brand pursued the wrong ends? Would that hint of edge turn out to be the edge of a cliff?
The team couldn’t risk it... and yet, there was no time for a traditional research timeline, spanning weeks of recruitment, moderation, and analysis.
Fortunately, they had another option.
At Sylvestre & Co, we’ve developed cutting-edge systems to deliver quick market research in 48 hours. Keep reading — or contact us right away to see what we can do for you!
The pace of business has shaken brand confidence
Business is moving faster than ever. Markets and budgets shift overnight thanks to digital trends, trade shocks, and more. Accelerated markets have always called for confident decision making, yet today's brands face a crisis of confidence amid a landscape of rapid transformation.
That’s why Sylvestre & Co. has developed qualitative research methodology and capabilities that deliver deep research, fast. Snackable Insights™ is our fast research solution designed to deliver confidence. Joining together AI capabilities and 50 years of qualitative research experience, we can deliver breakthrough insights in 48 hours.
Research that builds confidence, even at the 11th hour
Snackable Insights™ delivers research depth in record speed thanks to a marriage of experience and next-generation digital tools. For each assignment, we design a series of app-based discussion tasks and activities that participants can access around the clock. The participants engage with human moderators and with AI trained on our human-centered research standards. This allows us to conduct deep research in less time than ever across age groups and across time-zones.
The role of AI in this program is not to trick participants into thinking they are speaking with a human, but to empower them to engage with our surveys 24/7. Day or night, they can respond to research tasks and media-rich prompts via text chat or video, and receive a response in real time.
That round-the-clock availability is crucial to our goal of quick market research. We’re able to meet participants in their element, where they naturally communicate. This empowers them to share thoughts, feelings, and reactions to stims spontaneously, within an experience that feels intuitive rather than formal.
Our researchers are then able to probe participant responses just as they would in a formal setting. Then, when time zone differences or odd sleep patterns come into play, so does our AI assistant: Ruby.
Trained by our very own senior researchers, Ruby works the night shift. She’ll ask participants follow up questions in real time, sensing organic opportunities to press for more detailed responses and clarifications.
Digital speed doesn’t come at the expense of the empathetic approach Sylvestre & Co is known for. It’s a technological extension of our moderators’ own philosophy of listening to understand, empowering us to deliver insights with the nuance of a traditional study.
How Snackable Insights™ delivered quick market research and confidence
“What about the parents?” The beauty brand is faced with a potentially game-breaking question. With marketing assets at the ready, they put in a request for a quick market research study.
Sylvestre & Co. organizes a bi-generational research cohort matched to the ask: 12 groups of young people and parents per each of the five core regions of Canada.
We then assemble a collection of media to gauge two things: first, how young people and their parents align or deviate in their reception to various examples of “edgy” messaging; and second, how the beauty brand’s campaign assets measure up with those attitudes.
Then comes the research sprint. Over 48 hours, participants are engaged via app. Human moderators engage with a smattering of parents over various times of day, such as lunch breaks or the post-work period, while Ruby catches younger participants in the off hours.
Through both human and AI moderation, we then work to take the participants’ responses as deep as they can. For example, if a parent says, “I’m not sure about that word ... with that visual...” we’ll probe to really understand their reaction and what is driving it.
By probing this simple answer, we get to something more complex. Does the parent disapprove of the language? The model’s expression? The placement of a particular word in relation to the subject?
Very quickly, we find a world of nuance beneath edgy language. Both parents’ and their children’s responses to it amount to more than just a knee-jerk reaction. Depending on color scheme, attitude, audio cues in video media, and a host of other details, a swear word or an edgy phrase can convey either personal empowerment or rebellion.
What’s more, to the core audience, the use of this language can come off as either authentic or cloying depending on how hard the brand appears to be “trying.”
These surprising insights pointed to an equally unexpected way forward. Turning the campaign down a touch would not only address the concerns of certain parents; it would also speak more authentically to their target audience.
Snackable Insights™: the next step in a 50-year legacy
The pace of business isn’t likely to slow down any time soon. Just as brands have been forced to adapt, senior researchers have developed quick market research capabilities that match tried-and-true methodologies to the heightened pace of consumers’ lives, and the changes that come with it. The result for brands is crystal-clear, deep research that inspires confident decisions.
At Sylvestre & Co, our 50 years of research experience are not at odds with innovation. The two complement each other. After all, a lot has changed in 50 years, let alone the past 10.
This means that Snackable Insights™ is not only a helpful tool for our clients, but a crucial addition to our tool set, one that keeps us directly connected to the way the modern consumer communicates and experiences the world.
As senior researchers, that connection is what empowers us to help brands see through their core consumer’s eyes. That’s true whether they’re waiting for the train home or lying awake at 2am.
If your brand often faces last-minute fire drills, we’d love to hear from you and discuss how we might help. Contact us today to see what kind of quick insights we can deliver for you.
