The advantages of a left- and right-brain balance, the relentless curiosity of a strategist with the discipline of a qualitative research expert. Using proven anthropological and projective techniques in a variety of qualitative research settings, b.a. strategy gets the kinds of remarkable insight that is far beyond superficial answers to a discussion guide.

As an a la carte service or as part of a full strategic initiative, we work with national recruiting and technology platform providers to seamlessly manage every step of the research process.

• Online Focus Groups & Bulletins*
• Web-based Video & Contextual Ethnographies
• In-depth Interviews
• Traditional Facilities-based Focus Groups

*we are specialists in, and raving fans of online dialogues, please contact us for a .pdf outlining all the advantages.

We work two ways to get this done:

First, we’ll sit down with your executive team workshop-style, and white board important research, cull through what you have, and outline what you need.

Second, we’ll quickly synthesize all data points, fill in gaps, and provide a Data Mining document that outlines:

Environmental Issues – Trends and Marketing Implications in the Category

Economic; Technological; Social/cultural/lifestyle; Legal/political

Category Issues – Trends & Marketing Implications in the Category

History; Future trends; Opportunities; Total volume; Geographic considerations

The Competition – Overall – Trends & Marketing Implications in the Category

Competitor ranking; Established competitors; Emerging competitors; Competitive spending

Analysis By Individual Competitor

Strengths, Weaknesses; Sales/Share; Current positioning/communications strategy: sales strategies, campaigns, packaging, retail presence, promotions, web presence; an exhaustive social media audit of online conversations surrounding all brands and products in the category  

Points of Difference

Hypothesized and research-confirmed differences in features, benefits, messaging, brand values  

Product and Services Overview

Current/new/upcoming, Product gaps, Unique selling proposition and positioning history for each  

Sales

Projected sales and market share, Seasonality issues, Sales process, Technology issues  

The Future - Industry Evolution

9-month, 18-month and other future changes predicted; key competition and the industry  

Internal Dynamics

Corporate mission & vision, channel/buyer perceptions

For position testing, we have a process we call Message MiningSM. Message Mining is not a testing of ad concepts. It is an exhaustive listing of brand position messages that are shared with your various constituents, to see what they respond to on the deepest level.

Message Mining is a process designed to help understand what kinds of positioning messages are both appealing and relevant to the audience in question. Conducting a Message Mining session requires a good understanding of the basic relationship between the brand/product and its audiences, knowing how the consumer generally feels about the brand, and knowing some of the specific things that are important to them.

The series of concept boards we create are presented, in a small group setting, one-on-one interview or an online focus group, to members of each audience. We work with the group to narrow all the ideas down to a singular idea that they find most appealing.

Each concept is presented and discussed in terms of message, tone, credibility, importance, relevance, and more. We often provide each respondent with a hard copy, asking them to notate which specific words/ideas are most meaningful/accurate/appealing, and which are least meaningful/accurate/appealing. This is completed before group discussion, to minimize any leading effect.

We’re heavily trained in techniques to narrow ideas successfully while minimizing the effect of strongly opinionated respondents who may disagree. In fact, the dissonance in a group setting is often quite productive, and we emerge from our research with “better” position vernacular than when we entered fielding.