Chinese marketers have the opportunity to change the marketing process claim DDB Group AP, Forethought Research and Monash University

DDB Group Asia Pacific, Forethought Research and Monash University have claimed Chinese companies have a real opportunity to change the way we develop creativity by not being stuck in the old Western ways.

The panel discussion featuring John Zeigler, Chairman and CEO of DDB Group Asia Pacific (pictured); Dr Damian Collins, Director & Principal of Forethought Research; and Professor Mike Ewing, Monash University, set out to prove that current measurement and market research techniques, established more than 50 years ago, needed an overhaul. They claimed, using new emotional theory knowledge, brands could create great creative that will be more efficient and importantly more effective.

Zeigler said, “China has watched the world change. They now have the opportunity to review the current marketing thinking and adapt it based on new understandings. I believe many Western brands are entering China with the wrong premise.”

Ewing added, “Marketing theory started in the wrong place. The origins of marketing were grounded in rational and not the emotional. Which means our tools are based on knowledge from 40 years ago.”

The panel interrogated the current market research techniques and agreed that it is actually stifling creativity having a negative impact on efficiency and effectiveness because it tested the wrong factors.

“We now know emotion is implicit and less than five per cent of emotions pass into conscious awareness. This means that emotion influences consumer choice even when consumers are not aware that their emotions are impacting their purchase decisions,’ said Collins.

“This means, as soon as consumers are asked to describe their emotional response to stimulus such as ‘how pleasurable was this advertisement?’ – we are asking people to think consciously — essentially missing 95 per cent of what we are really thinking. We know how to measure effectiveness of the creative in communicating the rational and emotional drivers of consumer choice in a specific category – marketers should be embracing these new findings now,” added Collins.

The panel explained the challenge lies with Western brands that globally mandated research and have trained all executives up to the chairman on measuring data on outdated thinking. They said these companies have a massive undertaking if they want to shift the thinking of what tens of thousands, within one company, have been brought up on.

“China is not shackled with a legacy of knowledge research and therefore has the opportunity to tackle measuring techniques from a new paradigm,” said Ewing.

Zeigler concluded, “Chinese companies have the opportunity to take a great leap forward to improve and enhance the current model. They can assess what is right and what has been proven not to work. These brands have an opportunity to start afresh and build a brand understanding based on new emotional measurement techniques. It truly is an exciting time for marketers and their agencies.”