Indiantelevision.com Team

(12 May 2007 3:36 pm)

MUMBAI: Brands can become more emotionally connected with consumers by understanding their rituals, according to a global study undertaken by BBDO Worldwide, an Omnicom group company.

These implications can take the form of packaging, positioning, advertising, promotions and product development.

The study, entitled 'BBDO - The Ritual Masters,' is an extensively researched project undertaken by the company and is designed to better understand rituals and the role they play in people's lives.

"We are focused on behaviour, both as a source of insight and for defining goals and strategies," said BBDO Worldwide president and CEO Andrew Robertson. "The idea here is to look at rituals as an important behaviour in consumers' lives, to understand what they are, how they work, and how to work our clients' brands into them. We usually look at behaviour through the lens of a brand or a category. This is an extra lens to look through. Not an alternative."

The study was conducted over 9 months by BBDO teams from US and Europe. It involved ethnographic research in 26 countries, 2,500 hours of documented and filmed behaviour, quantitative feedback from more than 5,000 people, interviews with psychologists, nutritionists and sociologists.

According to the BBDO study, rituals are sequences that are developed over time and they make people feel good. While there may be bad habits, there are no bad rituals.

It was BBDO's going-in belief that by better understanding rituals, new insights might be uncovered that could change behavior and unlock business - building ideas. For example, 'Fortress brands' are already embedded inside a ritual enjoy great 'stickiness' with consumers. The goal of the BBDO study was to uncover insights that could help move the clients' brands inside.

"What we found is that people are more alike than different, which is great news for marketers," remarked Tracy Lovatt, director of behavioural planning for BBDO New York and BBDO North America and one of the architects of the study.

The study also concluded that there is an opportunity for brands to contribute to a sense of relaxation, calm, self-satisfaction and at ease. They also play an important role in the ritual of helping someone feel safe and secure and protected for the future.