car as confessional booth: driving towards truth

Drive with people to understand who they areLin Greenfield, Product & Consumer Insights Manager, Ford Motor CompanyAlma Berliner, Senior Ethnographer, Ipsos ECECar as confessional booth

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#ALMA

Im Alma from the ethnography team at Ipsos, and this is Lin from Ford

We want to talk to you about two observations that have led us to think deeply about the role of the car in our research

We have a few very short clips to show you today

Lets kick off with a video 1Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

Family time

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4IfmoYDcs

So as this clip from indie hit Little Miss Sunshine shows, being in a car brings out the best and the worst in people (who know and love each other)

When people are put in this setting the Volkswagen T2 Microbus - personality and relationships become exaggerated

We see this countless times when carrying out ethnographic research

2Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

Heightened emotion

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#Weve called this situation heightened emotion

Now lets look at another scenario. Heres a clip from an old reality TV show called Taxicab Confessions. The show fitted secret cameras into New York taxis.


Taxicab confessions

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#As you can see, a woman recounts an entirely personal story in the back of a cab to her driver and the man with whom shes on a first date.

This is the first time shes met either of those men!

Who here has jumped into the back of a cab and also felt compelled to reveal themselves to the driver?


Intimacy between strangers

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#Weve called this situation intimacy between strangers

And as this image depicts, we think theres a greater phenomenon - the car has become a confessional booth.

In the first video families let it all out they tell each other how they really feel about one another.

And in the second example, a passenger somehow feels compelled to share her innermost thoughts with a taxi driver


So what?

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#So what? you may ask.

Were not just talking about fiction, nor entertainment and TV. This is the MRS Automotive Conference and we care about research.

How can this phenomenon of the car as confessional booth help us do better research?


What if we couldmake more ofsmall spaces?Heightened emotionIntimacy between strangers

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#LIN

As researchers were constantly looking for ways to get closer to customers, to get to the truth, to understand their emotions.

And some of us are already driving round with customers, allowing them to test drive vehicles, for example, and we look for their responses.

What if we could make more of these small spaces?

To do this, we should be harness the enclosed, potentially conflict-creating environment AND also the intimacy of these tiny spaces7Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

A research exampleIntimacy between strangers

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#Here is an example of intimacy between strangers occurring in a research environment.

This comes from an ethnographic project carried out by Ford and Ipsos:

In this clip, Oliver tells us what owning a car really means to him and his family.

(Please excuse the Crimewatch look we have disguised his voice and darkened the video for ethical reasons)


A research exampleIntimacy between strangers

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#This is exactly the sort of material that has allowed us to better understand how drivers feel about their vehicle.

In Olivers case, the car helps him re-exert his dad role.

It puts him back in the drivers seat.

Think about the possibilities of this sort of insight: it could lead to a great campaign, or even modification to a vehicle.


Mum is great. For everything else, theres dad.

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#Though were researchers, not creatives, here is a hypothetical communication idea that could emerge from this nugget of insight.

Mum is great. For everything else, theres dad

The message is clear: this vehicle will give you confidence.11Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

SupermumHeightened emotion

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#And here is a research-world example of Heightened emotion

SECOND EXAMPLE12Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

So what?

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#ALMA

As every good researcher might, you could still be asking, so what? What does this mean for research?

It certainly doesnt mean we simply get into more peoples cars.

Insight wont just come to us just because weve entered that space.


Ipsos ECE Emerging consumers study, India

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#In terms of intimacy, we need to get to know people as well as we can, before we even enter their vehicle.

This means that on our drive with them, when they start to relax in our presence even further, they reveal to us what we need to know about them.14Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

Ipsos ECE Emerging consumers study, China

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#And finally, as for the theme of heightened emotions, we need to get more of their friends and family in that same car and witness their interaction.

Not only are people influenced by all those around them, but its normal for them to share their journeys with a number of other people. So we need to see it.

And though the heightened nature of their behaviour in the car may be an exaggeration of what takes place at home,

it brings to the fore the more truer aspects of their personality and attitudes.

LIN

So remember, its not only walls that have ears, car bodies do too.

We see the car as a confession booth as a conversation starter, now over to you to hear your experiences.15Project name | Month/Year | Version 1 | Public | Internal Use Only | Confidential | Strictly Confidential (DELETE CLASSIFICATION)

Thank you.Lin Greenfield, Ford Motor Company / Alma Berliner, Ipsos ECE

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