Selfie-Ethnography™ Case Studies in Consumer-Generated Video Ethnography

Consulting partners in Research, Strategy & Innovation

Innovation Process (the Full Monty)

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Focus & Mobilization – Objectives, team, resources & knowledge gaps

Discovery – Exploring changes in consumer, competitive, technological, & regulatory areas

Implementation – Naming, IP, packaging, consumer testing, etc.

Invention – Brainstorming, concept development, sorting, vetting, & refining

• Vision • SWOT • Alignment

Vidnography

Bringing Insights To Life

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0" 4" 8" 12" 16" 20"

Outdoors"Movies"

Ea6ng"Out"Live"Music"

Travel"

Favorite Activities, By Time Spent

Vidnography™ In-Session Artists Consumers’ Sketches

Charts & Graphs Wordles Photo Essays

Selfie-Ethnography✪: One Qualitative Research Tool

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Focus Groups – Traditional & interactive labs with clients in the room

Vidnography✪ – Consultant-directed, consumer-generated, video ethnography

Market Immersion – Field trips & customized in-market experiences

Online Research – Bulletin boards & webcam-enabled focus groups

✪Vidnography: Our proprietary implementation of Selfie-Ethnography

When to Choose Selfie-Ethnography?

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Cost

Research Objective Exploratory* Focused

“Legs”

Higher Lower

Geographic Limitations

High

Low

Interaction

Higher

Lower

Authenticity

Focus Groups

Selfie-Ethnography

Market Immersion

Online Research

Project Duration

Higher

Lower

Level of Engagement Higher Lower

Illustrative!

Real-life involvement!Tell! Show!

Qualitative Research Value Matrix

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Focus Groups!

ShopAlongs!

Online FG!

IDIs!

Online IDI!

Neuromarketing MRI!

Neuromarketing EEG!

Eye Tracking! Social Media! ?!

Cost

Per

Res

pond

ent-

Hour!

High

Hig

h

Low

Low

Ethnography!

ExploratoryLabs!

Value Sweet Spot

Facial Coding!

Vidnography !

Specialization

High Scope & Value Limited Application

Level of Engagement!•  Depth of Insight •  Breadth of Scope •  Real-Life Involvement •  Direct Interaction

Market!Immersion!

Background: Consumer-Generated Video Ethnography •  In 2008, we began mailing Flip video cameras directly to consumers

for clients including General Mills & Walmart. •  Various partners provide the technology to collect, edit, & view video

online, as well as recruiting & respondent management. •  The tide has shifted to collecting more video from the Smart Phone,

but we continue to send out cameras for most projects. –  Specialized camera needs (motion activation); consistent video format –  The need for representative population sampling

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Vidnography: How It Works •  Consultant prepares a recording guide (like a discussion guide),

used to direct respondents to record real-life situations. •  Research partner recruits respondents (a la focus group) and

generally manages direct contact throughout the project. •  Provide cameras or collect video from smart phones. Cameras

ensure consistency and enable features like motion-activation. •  Participants create daily “video diaries” according to a specific set of

assignments custom-designed to meet research objectives.

•  Consulting team distills hours of video into insight reels – concise compilations of bits of video that illustrate a particular insight theme.

•  The client team views these compilations online, on a secure blog, and has a facilitated, asynchronous “discussion” about the video.

•  This collaborative analysis is incorporated into the final report.

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“Typical” Application

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Application: Understanding Shopping, Cooking and Eating Habits!Capture actual consumer behavior in the home or at the grocery store, at the consumer’s convenience, when it is actually happening (anytime, day or night).

Planning to Shop!

Eating – Anytime! !

Personal Interviews!

Fridge, Freezer &!Cabinet Exploration!

Shopalongs! Meal Preparation !

Vidnography™ Client Case Studies

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•  The case studies in this presentation include consumer-generated video from actual client engagements. All video is used by permission and should not be copied or distributed beyond this presentation.

Understanding the Customer Experience

•  To gain deep insights about how Medifast customers interact with Medifast products from purchase to consumption –  Why weight loss? –  Buying, receiving, opening, storing food –  Following the program; support & coaching –  Preparing meals & snacks –  Eating; food likes & dislikes –  Weight loss results (! Passion for the Brand!)

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MediFast"Diet"Food"Customer"Experience"Study"""Used%by%permission.%Medifast%results%vary.%Typical%weight%loss%is%2<5%pounds%

per%week%for%the%first%two%weeks,%then%1<2%pounds%per%week%thereaBer."

Medifast: Pure Insight Tracks™

•  These thematic compilations of insights include examples of “selfie” interviews as well as consumers cooking and eating Medifast foods.

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MediFast"Diet"Food"Customer"Experience"Study"""

Customers Love Medifast •  Selfie interviews showing just how

deeply these customers love the brand

Consumers in Action •  Consumers living the experience as they

buy, prepare, and eat Medifast products

You%can%view%these%Pure%Insight%Tracks™%by%clicking%on%the%

thumbnails%or%following%the%link%below%to%visit%our%web%site.%%

Used%by%permission.%Medifast%results%vary.%Typical%weight%loss%is%2<5%pounds%

per%week%for%the%first%two%weeks,%then%1<2%pounds%per%week%thereaBer."

“I Lost My Dog on Medifast”

•  Powerful & compelling delivery of insights drove product trial •  My experience was remarkably consistent with the research findings

Demonstrate Product Visibility & Interaction

•  To document who opens the refrigerator, how often, what they see, and what they touch, we placed motion-sensitive cameras in consumers’ kitchens, filming every interaction with the refrigerator.

•  We studied refrigerator interactions, tallied every product touch, and produced a time-lapse video of families opening and closing their refrigerators over a one-week period.

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FreshSpace"MilkJContainer"Adver6sing"Study"""

From%an%actual%client%engagement,%used%by%permission"

About"45°"

Please%try%to%aim%the%video%camera%about%

45°%towards%the%open%side%of%the%

refrigerator%(NOT%from%the%hinge%side),%so%

we%can%see%what%is%inside.%%

%

Also,%if%you%aim%it%straight%in,%we%won’t%see%

what’s%inside%the%refrigerator,%we’ll%see%the%

back%of%whoever%is%opening%the%door.%

NO!!

Detailed Instructions for Tripod Setup

FreshSpace: Pure Insight Tracks™

•  Consumers described how the milk container is a central fixture in the home as well as the connection between milk and advertiser brands

16"FreshSpace"MilkJContainer"Adver6sing"Study"

""

Milk Spends Time on the Counter •  Selfie interviews demonstrating just how

visible the milk container is in the home

Milk is Good •  The “halo” affect associated with milk has

a positive impact on advertisers’ brands

From%an%actual%client%engagement,%used%by%permission"

View%these%Pure%Insight%Tracks™%by%clicking%on%the%link%below.%%

FreshSpace: Pure Insight Tracks™

•  FreshSpace (formerly Boxtop Media) provided this time-lapse video to prospective buyers to demonstrate the effectiveness of its advertising by showing how often consumers interact with the milk container

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FreshSpace"MilkJContainer"Adver6sing"Study"

From%an%actual%client%engagement,%used%by%permission"

View%this%Pure%Insight%Track™%by%clicking%on%the%link%below.%%

Understand Emotions & Illustrate Insights

•  To confirm hypotheses & illustrate insights related to consumers’ bread-eating habits, we asked consumers from various behavioral segments to film interviews, kitchen tours, reactions to photos of various types of bread, and a five-day video diary.

•  Utilized special HD cameras to provide footage for facial coding software to conduct deeper emotional analysis.

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You%can%view%this%Pure%Insight%Track™%by%clicking%

on%the%thumbnail,%or%following%%the%link%below%to%

see%a%higher%resoluQon%version%on%our%web%site.%%

ConAgra"BreadJEa6ng"Habits"Study""

From%an%actual%client%engagement,%used%by%permission"

ConAgra: Pure Insight Track™

Selfie-Ethnography Recruiting Considerations

•  Recruiting handled much the same as for focus groups –  Research vendor will manage the entire process; generally handled by

nationally-recognized recruiting focus groups –  Recruit fifteen to get twelve “completes”

–  Camera’s are included as part of the incentive (but they want cash, too)

–  About 10% of the cameras are lost to non-compliant respondents; cost of doing business; we sometimes still get some video from these “incompletes” which we use, although the cash is not paid out

•  Confidentiality issues –  Respondents expect and are accorded the same degree of

confidentiality as with other research methods, BUT… –  Video is often compelling & clients want to use it for marketing

purposes. An appropriate waiver / release form (signed electronically, in advance) is recommended. Recruiters need coaching through this!

Managing Selfie-Ethnography Participation •  Vigilant interaction from the get-go is needed to ensure participation

When to Choose Selfie-Ethnography?

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Focus Groups

Selfie-Ethnography

Market Immersion

Online Research

Research Objective Exploratory* Focused

•  Exploratory -  Broad scope -  Real-life involvement -  Longer engagement

•  Highly Focused -  Point a camera at a single

subject over time -  Time-lapse

•  Illustrative -  Use video to illuminate & amplify

the message of other studies

And,%the%Lowest%Cost%Per%Respondent2Hour!

NEW: Live Mobile Selfie-Ethnography™

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•  We now offer live WiFi-enabled mobile ethnography –  Real-time ethnographies using participant smartphones –  Moderator engages participant with real-time interaction throughout the visit –  Participants can send videos of their homes (real-time video streaming) –  Requires WiFi connection; real-time streaming through 4G LTE outside of

the home is too spotty to ensure high-quality live mobile ethnography consumer interactions

Key Benefits Of Vidnography

•  Unveil insights you cannot find using any other methodology.

•  Delivers the voice of the customer DIRECTLY to your audience. •  Reach into the lives of your customers, anytime, anywhere. •  Less intrusive than traditional ethnography, so participants are more

comfortable and act more naturally.

•  Participants become deeply engaged and freely videotape personal events, thoughts, and feelings.

•  Consumers record situations that are unlikely to occur during the narrow window of a scheduled visit with a consulting team.

Vidnography™ Footage Has Endless Application

•  Drive home insights in research presentations: From internal discussions to industry-wide conferences

•  Illustrate insights gathered from other research methods: ConAgra used Vidnography to illustrate insights from a major segmentation study

•  As a sales tool: FreshSpace provided the Time-Lapse Door-Openings compilation on iPods to key customers

•  Fuel creative juices: Video “nuggets” are used to help spawn new ideas in ideation (brainstorming) sessions and also as a conversation-starter in exploratory labs with consumers (interactive focus groups)

Reference: Case Study Videos •  Medifast Diet Food Customer Experience Study. Illuminated the

customer experience through “selfie” interviews as well as action shots of consumers preparing & eating meals. http://www.hinesandlee.com/node/95

•  ConAgra Bread-Eating Habits Study. Consumers recorded week-long "video diaries” to illustrate insights across four distinct bread-eating behavioral segments. http://www.hinesandlee.com/node/86

•  FreshSpace Milk-Container Advertising Study. Motion-sensitive cameras captured every instance of the refrigerator door opening during a week. We saw who opened the door, how often, & what they touched. http://www.hinesandlee.com/node/85

•  Automotive Consumer Case Study. Consumers took us into their cars to show us what they liked & what could be better about their automobiles. http://www.hinesandlee.com/node/82

About the Author

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•  Research, strategy, & innovation consultant •  25+ years international marketing & consulting experience •  Professional group facilitator & focus group moderator •  Champion of Vidnography™ (or, “selfie-ethnography™”) •  Engineer, MBA, Holds three patents

Frank Hines

Client Experience

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