TNS GLOBAL

MARKET RESEARCH

Ritu Mori | [Course Title] | [Date]

What is Market Research?

Marketing research is "the process or set of processes that links the producers,
customers, and end users to the marketer through information, information used to
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and
evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve
understanding of marketing as a process.

It is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative

data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal of marketing
research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix
impacts customer behavior.
Marketing research is often partitioned into two sets of categorical pairs, either by
target market:

Consumer marketing research, and

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing research

Or, alternatively, by methodological approach:

Qualitative marketing research, and

Quantitative marketing research

How Does Market Research Help Brands Today?

To many, it simply sounds tedious and time-consuming. As a result, when
companies have a question or hypothesis about their target consumers, they look
for research thats already been conducted in an effort to apply industry stats to
validate their hypotheses (even when its a stretch). Worst yet, they may not do any
research at all, leading to uninformed decisions.
The good news is that market research is no longer limited to focus groups, mall
intercepts, and phone call surveys. Long gone are the days when market research
was only for large corporations with big budgets. Todays modern approach to
market research is more accessible than ever, making it easier to reach consumers

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directly. Smaller players can enter the market research ring to help fuel their growth,
thanks to affordable options, quick turnaround times, and personalized, attentive
service. At Lab42, we like to think of it as democratized market research.

So when you have a hypothesis about your consumers, who should you turn to and
what can you gain? Here are a few examples of companies that have taken advantage
of this new wave of market research to gather valuable feedback from their target
consumers:
Frito-Lay: To choose its latest chip flavor, Frito-Lay used social media to replace

focus groups and survey panels. The company has asked Facebook fans to weigh in
by having them click an Id Eat That button next to suggested new flavors. The
results? Consumer tastes varied by location: they found that a beer-battered onionring flavor is popular in California and Ohio, while a churro flavor is a hit in New
York.
ChargeSource: This Company, which develops travel chargers, came to Lab42 to

test the effectiveness of a commercial for a new product. We asked their target
market (PC owners between the ages of 18 and 50) to provide feedback. Research
revealed that respondents were unsure how to buy the product after watching the
commercial. ChargeSource tweaked the commercial by adding a clear call to action,
and Lab42 went back to consumers to gather a second round of feedback.
Happy Goat: This caramel company wanted to know if its handmade sweets would

appeal to the masses. To find out, they used the online survey tool SurveyMonkey.
According to a USA Today article on digital market research, the results of Happy
Goats research demonstrated that shoppers care more about the flavor and quality
of confections than [the] caramels use of organic ingredients.
Whether you are a small business or large conglomerate, you should never simply
make assumptions about your consumers habits, tastes, or preferences. Take the
time to ask the right questions and gain valuable insights that either affirm your
assumptions, or better yet, prevent costly mistakes.

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About TNS Global

As one of the largest research agencies worldwide they provide actionable insights
that help clients make impactful decisions that drive growth. They are part of
Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

With a presence in over 80 countries, we have more conversations with the worlds
consumers than anyone else.
It is the data investment management division of WPP and one of the world's largest
insight, information and consultancy groups. By uniting the diverse talents of its 12
specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of
compelling insights for the global business community.
Apart from our work, we also believe in Corporate & social responsibility. We
partner with UNICEF, the worlds leading childrens charity for over 60 years, who
work on the ground in 156 countries and territories to help children survive and
thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.

Why TNS?
TNS Global is a world leading market research company having expertise in different
tools and technologies to make the decision precise and perfect. They have enough
of the expertise in varieties of sectors that drives market research.
1. Brand & Communication
Various tools and software helps them to decide and identifying barriers to
growth so that they can build irresistible brands. They uses detailed insights into
category dynamics and spending patterns, pinpointing opportunities to attract
new consumers, re-win existing ones and to optimize their spending so that they
can win the brand battle easily.
2. Digital
TNS is well known for Empowering marketing in the digital age. TNS always
focus on mobile data and social insights that can drive the better decision in this
digital world. Mobile data collection is invaluable for accessing hard to reach
consumers, and can provide more real and accurate insight by getting closer to

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the moment of consumer decisions. The volume of conversations on social

media is growing by the day. While navigating this flood of insight can be a
challenge, this rich and varied source of knowledge leads to many opportunities.
3. Innovation & Product Development
Their suite of solutions will enable you to screen differently, prioritising the ideas
and concepts that can provide real, top-line growth. They take you beyond
aggregate estimates and give you a more accurate, individual-based
understanding of potential.
4. Qualitative
They provide a deep and broad understanding of people as individuals, in their
multiple contexts and identities. Drawing from the latest thinking in behavioral
economics, cognitive psychology and cultural anthropology, they put context at
the heart of our qualitative approaches.
Their in-house qualitative teams in 60 markets around the globe include some
of the worlds best qualitative practitioners who strive to inspire you with new
ways of looking at clients business.
5. Shopper
TNS Retail & Shopper leverages insights from more than 30 years experience to
help connect shoppers with your products and grow brand and category sales.
Their techniques include in-store observation, virtual reality stores, mobile
shopper diaries, eCommerce audits and more, to illuminate the drivers of
shopper behavior and help you make the decisions that will unlock growth.
6. Customer Strategies
Customer Complete is their new approach to innovative customer management.
We help your company to navigate the increasingly complex world of customer
data and deliver optimal return on your customer activities.

Tools used by TNS Global

Their unique portfolio of tools helps them uncover insights that inform clients
decision-making. Supported by their experts knowledge of business, they tailor
solutions to help drive growth for business.

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1. Concept eValuate
Concept eValuate uses growth potential (incrementality) as the key criteria for
concept screening, focusing your investment on ideas with the best topline
growth. Its diagnostics then help to improve these winning ideas.
2. ConversionModel
ConversionModel provides detailed insights into category dynamics and
spending patterns, pinpointing opportunities to attract new consumers, re-win
existing ones and to optimize their spending. It uses a precise understanding of
todays market to predict tomorrow.
3. Matrix
Improve innovation success by more than six times industry norms with Matrix,
our systematic approach to identifying and prioritizing incremental
opportunities at the very start of the innovation journey.
4. NeedScope
NeedScope is a unique brand planning system to help develop and manage
irresistible brands. Using proprietary models, NeedScope uncovers the drivers of
irresistibility in brands; and adds value throughout the marketing process.
5. TRI*M
Helps you unlock the unique code that lies at the heart of every customer
relationship. By knowing your Customer Code you can create stronger customer
loyalty and drive profitable growth.
6. ValueManager
ValueManager uses their proprietary choice modelling software to reveal the
product features that matter most, and helps you align your pricing strategy with
consumers value perceptions.

How TNS analyze?

TNS uses the following types of research designs:
Based on questioning
Qualitative marketing research - generally used for exploratory purposes small
number of respondents not generalizable to the whole population statistical

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significance and confidence not calculated examples include focus groups, indepth interviews, and projective techniques
Quantitative marketing research
Generally used to draw conclusions tests a specific hypothesis - uses random
sampling techniques so as to infer from the sample to the population involves a
large number of respondents examples include surveys and questionnaires.
Techniques include choice modelling, maximum difference preference scaling, and
covariance analysis.
Based on observations
Ethnographic studies by nature qualitative, the researcher observes social
phenomena in their natural setting observations can occur cross-sectionally
(observations made at one time) or longitudinally (observations occur over several
time-periods) - examples include product-use analysis and computer cookie traces.
See also Ethnography and Observational techniques.
Experimental techniques
By nature quantitative, the researcher creates a quasi-artificial environment to try
to control spurious factors, then manipulates at least one of the variables
examples include purchase laboratories and test markets
Apart from these, they often use more than one research design. They may start with
secondary research to get background information, then conduct a focus group
(qualitative research design) to explore the issues. Finally they might do a full
nationwide survey (quantitative research design) in order to devise specific
recommendations for the client.

Case studies
AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURER

The issue
An automotive manufacturer sought to improve and standardise the quality of aftersales services, to increase cross-selling opportunities and encourage customers to
upgrade.

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Their approach
With insights from TRI*M they developed action-planning workshops for
dealerships that focused on their specific drivers of customer loyalty. They
prioritized the actions required, according to their business impact.
The insights
Their workshop approach enabled strong buy-in from client-facing employees. The
specific action plans helped to improve operational efficiency and quality for each
dealership.
The impact
Dealerships participating in the TRI*M workshops significantly improved their
customer retention and were much more likely to meet the manufacturers defined
quality standards.

ICE-CREAM MANUFACTURER

The challenge
A premium ice-cream manufacturer sought ways to grow market share by increasing
spend amongst their less loyal repertoire buyers.
Their approach
They used an ethnographic approach combining filming, eye-tracking and shopper
interviews to help understand the conversion process for the category, and reveal
the precise interruptions that would trigger increased sales.
The insight
Previous research had focused the manufacturers attention on price, but our
ethnographic approach revealed that actual at-fixture decision-making focused on
flavour. The clients flavour variants suffered from low visibility and repertoire
buyers tended to miss them.

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The impact
A pack redesign to increase visibility of flavour variants, together with improved
signage and off-shelf communication, increased sales by almost a third when rolled
out across a test region.

Clients
As name suggest TNS is global and well known, most preferred organization when
it comes to market research. They have many big names under their banner.

Few of them are:

Dieago
Volkswagen
Unilever
SAB Miller
Vodafone
Pepsico
European Commission

At the end
At TNS they deliver key insights to the worlds brightest businesses. But its more
than that. They make insightful recommendations that their clients can trust and
act on. They help brands grow their reach and potential around the world.

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