Analytics are invaluable, and we use them in our research, but they can miss critical information. Case in point, we were testing creative for a high-end almond maker whose products that had been primarily purchased as gifts. The strategy was to reposition almonds as an everyday energy snack and as its primary audience targeted health-conscious women. The agency created ads with a series of vignettes featuring women biking at the park, playing with kids, riding a rollercoaster. The agency decided to test the ads both qualitatively (with our team) and quantitatively (with another team). The quantitative team reported that the ad didn’t test well. When asked why, the quantitative team theorized that there were too many vignettes. But a second look at the data from a qualitative perspective pointed to two other reasons: a. Some of the vignettes didn’t emphasize activities that required energy, and b. The women in the video were thin and caused the target audience to feel judged. The numbers told one story, but it was only by looking at the human elements that we were able to pick up on the true motivating and inhibiting factors in play.
