1. Don’t ask questions, don’t travel anywhere… and still find better insight?
How we helped Braun determine its marketing and communications strategythrough new approaches to online content analysis.
Copyright © 2014
EXPLOR FINALIST CASE STUDY

2. 2
EXPLOR stands for Exemplary Online Research
The Catalyx and Listen + Learn partnership was recognized for our work on Braun, here’s why:
This research opens up so many doors to potential new projects and new growth opportunities.
Global Associate Director of Insight
Braun
”
The Opportunity
As the global leader in male grooming, Braun relies on new consumer insights to better innovate and communicate with consumers.
The Research Challenge
However, with traditional research methods Braun felt it was missing a big partof the insight picture. They needed to get away from “more of the same”.
The Solution
We showed Braun how men really use the internet and social media when it comes to grooming –and what this reveals about them. By combining social listening research with search engine trend analysis, we delivered new global insights that kept each country's cultural keys at its heart.
The Result
This helped Braun break from the established market clichés, by letting them understand how men discuss grooming in their own terms. Which Braun is now using to open up new projects and growth potential.
SUMMARY

3. CONTENTS
3
1.What is the EXLORaward?
2.The research challenge
3.Our methodology
4.Why is it creative?
5.What makes it innovative?
6.Contact

4. THE EXPLORAWARD
4
Recognising Innovation In Research
The EXPLORAward is an annual case study competition honoringinnovation in marketing research.
Innovation leaders from global corporations, research agencies and academia were invited to submit high-impact case studies where technology or new methods have advanced the research and insights process.
A global, world-class judging team selected the finalists.
Submissions were sought where research innovation demonstrated the quantifiable advancement of an organization.
Ultimately, the award looks for work that elevates the research process and our profession.
This is our case study.

5. THE RESEARCH CHALLENGE
5
Understanding male grooming
Continuing efforts to understand male grooming usage and attitudes across different countries were coming up short for the Braun team.
They were uncovering no new insights and were finding it difficult to find the right questions to get men to open up.
Moreover, as a global company creating innovation and communication to reach as much of the world as possible, any research solution had to work internationally.
So, they were looking for a flexible, faster and much cheaper approach that could be applied with ease to any one of their main markets.
The Challenge
•To uncover genuinely new insights into the world of male grooming.
•Ensure that the methodologies could be consistent and comparable across countries.
•Complete the work in a time frame and at a cost that beat traditional methods.

6. 6
Review
We started with a review phase; identifying and analyzingthe main influencer sitesfor male grooming in the USA and Japan.
This let us see what consumers see when they go online looking for advice on male grooming.
What we found were highly fragmented and specialized conversations – a conversational environment that doesn’t fit easily into the stereotype of ‘male grooming’.
Innovative Research Design
We adopted an innovative method which combined our unique approach to social listening researchwith search engine trend analysis. Each stage worked in tandem, informing and shaping the other.
OUR METHODOLOGY

7. 7
Social
Listening
Research
Far more detailed than automated text analytics, we combine discourse and thematic analysis within a grounded theory framework to fully understand and interpretwhat people are saying.
Using this method we structured the data to measure the differences between different groups across the entire data set, and compare the USA and Japan.
This meant that Braun could make decisions based on insight derived from thousands of different opinions, being shared in context without any researcher bias.
Men Talking Naturally
Our approach to social listening research uses qualitative techniques (we read everything) to fully explore the meaning behind thousands of individual comments.
OUR METHODOLOGY

8. 8
Search
Engine
Trend
Analysis
Because of this we have devised a way of combining search engine analytics with social listening results to determine the relevancy and influence of the emerging subjects from the commentary being analysed.
This allows us to see which subjects occur, on which type of sites, in which country, during which time period, and what the influence is.
This let Braun see which subjects are shaping the different parts of the male grooming conversation, and to determine its marketing & communication strategy across different times of the year, and different moments in the consumers’ purchase journey, for each country.
The result was a totally new perspective on American and Japanese male grooming attitudes.
Seeing What They Search For
Of course not everyone comments online, but instead many read and review existing content. Therefore, understanding the level of influence existing commentary has on those viewing it, is as important as the comment itself.
OUR METHODOLOGY

9. WHY IS IT CREATIVE?
9
Braun has been asking men about shaving for years.
So to find a genuinely new perspective that built on this existing knowledge, we needed to be creative in how we designed our approach.
We began with a simple question as our starting point: should I shave today?
At first, we weren’t looking for answers, rather we sought to understand the depth and breadth of the conversation.
We soon found out men don’t really talk about ‘male grooming’ (except on some fashion blogs), rather they talk about shaving, or growing and looking after a beard.
This insight enabled us to frame the project in a completely different way. Not as the further exploration of male grooming, but ratherfocused on the individual.
Ourcombinationoftechniques(webtrendandkeywordanalysis,searchandsociallisteningresearch)letusexplorehowpeoplereallyusetheinternet.
Wesawhowwhattheydothereinformstheirofflinelives.Aswellasuncoveringwhoistalking,whytheyaretalkingandwhatisdrivingthemostinterestandinfluenceonline.
Packagedcorrectly,thisprovidedthebrandwithagoldmineofnewinsightfortheirinnovationandcommunicationteams.

10. WHAT MAKES IT INNOVATIVE?
10
Traditional Methods Weren’t Cutting It
Until now, the only way to reach significant numbers of end users and consistently uncover insight was through resource intensive usage and attitude studies, ethnography or extensive focus groups. As well as being time consuming and resource intensive each of these has its downsides. In Braun’s case, they felt they did not know what questions to ask to get new insight, so all of these methods were offering diminishing rates of return.
Getting The Whole Picture
Some argue that social listening engines are a way to overcome some of these limitations. However, although social listening has been evolving for a number of years, semi-automated approaches are fraught with issues. Including often quite inaccurate data gathering and analysis methods that don’t go beyond brand or key word tracking and are unable to determine most sentiment and unspoken conversational context. They can also democratize commentary, so it’s very difficult to determine which comments are causing traction and buzz.
Furthermore, with most of the population on any one topic only passively reading and reviewing and not actually posting and contributing, a purely social listening approach misses a significant portion of consumer understanding.

11. WHAT MAKES IT INNOVATIVE?
11
Our Approach Is Different
Our approach addresses all of these concerns and shortcomings.
It’s also faster, cheaper and offers deeper insights derived from consumers in a more natural environment, with less potential for researcher bias.
For the first time, thousands of bits of qualitative data are being captured, read, coded and analysed, given a relevancy and influence score and then used to determine what people are talking about and thinking about on a specific brand, category or topic.
The research itself can be replicated globally at a fraction of the resource needed by more traditional approaches. In the Braun specific case, prior to this work Braun was unaware of quite how deep the grooming conversation went.
This research opens up so many doors to potential new projects and new growth opportunities.
Global Associate Director of Insight
Braun
”

12. { CONTACTS }

13. THE TEAM
Catalyx helps organisations accelerate marketing, research, innovation and corporate practices by using our unique approach to crowdsourcing to disrupt traditional brand building mind-sets and processes.
We use technology and collective intelligence methods to help our clients integrate end user intelligence and co-create end user creativity throughout the marketing and innovation process.
Contact:
Guy White / Founder
t: +41 797 93 43 98e: guy@thecatalyx.com
w: www.thecatalyx.com@Thecatalyx
We listen to what people say in social media around the world, to help companies learn about their customers, products or services. Unlike other research agencies, we use real people to sort through and analyse social data. Yes, we read everything… Which means we deliver insights that go deeper and are more relevant.
This helps inform, inspire and challenge organisations to think and work more effectively.
Contact:
Jeremy Hollow / Founder
t: +44 7799 415829w: listenandlearnresearch.com
e:jeremy@listenandlearnresearch.com @LALResearch