The emergence of the Internet has been changing society in the last fifteen years in a profound way. This universal milestone has affected all facets of society. In the early stages of change, access to a world of information quasi infinity was based on the motivational basis of what would be an authentic revolution: the fantasy of control over the world, access to 'everything', the world in your hands. Subsequently, the individual began to acquire a more active role; he no longer only had access to 'all the information' but also participated in it: he could contribute, modify and incorporate new information, thus generating a power fantasy about this environment. It happened with the proliferation of forums, blogs and, in the last phases, social networks. This last milestone is so integrated today that we find ourselves with a dual individual, their social interactions are off and on. It maintains its social and consumer relationships, and with brands, alternating between both environments in a natural and already normalized way. With the appearance of smartphones, a further step has been taken, and we find dual individuals at all times. It is not unusual to observe how these modes of social interaction alternate on the street, in the office, in football, in our daily lives.
At Hamilton we know the strength and depth that these technologies can offer us to understand the consumer even more, to reach them in their natural environment which, as has been noted, is an increasingly dual environment. It is not about replacing the classic techniques (Discussion Groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographic interviews), invaluable and extremely effective in motivational analysis and in the deep understanding of consumer behavior, detection of trends and a long etcetera, but about completing and try to delve deeper into the 'side on' to achieve a holistic vision of today's consumer.
To do this, at Hamilton, we have two tools that we use more and more, combined with classic techniques or even on their own: On-life and Ethno-mobile.
Onlife, the virtual space for consumers
on life is a virtual platform developed by Hamilton to offer research solutions to different Marketing needs. A sample of consumers is brought together in this virtual space to give their opinion on different aspects of a certain category (meanings associated with it, motivations, habits...). It is a videographic tool, it allows testing pieces advertising, new product concepts, and upload any type of stimulus and observe the reactions of the sample. Its interactive nature allows it to be used alone, for the development of an investigation, or combined with traditional techniques. Can we imagine the strength that, after holding some discussion groups, we select a part of this sample and Let's continue working on the category for a few weeks? Can we imagine bringing together young people from different geographical locations to study their values, life motivations and study social and consumer trends? On life allows the consumer to bring us closer to different aspects of their daily life, to their lifestyles, recording their habits and their different consumption environments, offering videos with testimonies of great value for analysis.
Ethnomobile, virtual mobile ethnography
From an ethnographic point of view, researchers and marketers have dreamed of continuously monitoring the lives of consumers to understand their different consumption and purchasing behaviors. Technology today allows this possibility through smartphones. Ethnomobile is a Hamilton platform that collects consumption and purchasing habits and behaviors through videos, photos and written texts. This is achieved in a simple way, through an application that participants download to their mobile phone and that they can use in any context (private or social) and that, under instructions, show us what their life is like in relation to a certain category at all times. We can ask them to describe their environments, their lifestyles, to capture brand actions that are essential for their choice. We can ask them to record their consumption habits and explain and describe how they do it and why they do it, always in a less intrusive way than with traditional ethnography.
In short, and to conclude, why not take advantage of the advances that technology offers us to get closer to the consumer? How to advance the understanding of the modern consumer? At Hamilton we have incorporated them, allowing us to offer our clients greater depth in the knowledge of their consumers and the perception of their brands and products.
Gonzalo Bosqued
