Consumer & Packaged Goods

Limelight Insights conducts brainstorming and ideation sessions to explore consumer needs and identify areas for new product development or product line extensions. Idea writing, sensory sorts, wishful thinking exercises, and the Delphi technique are just some of the tools we use in brainstorming sessions.

New product ideas that are raised in the ideation sessions and through trends analysis are then evaluated using quantitative research tools where interest in different product ideas is tested and demand for the new product concepts is estimated.

Prototypes of high-potential new products are developed for testing in qualitative settings including focus groups and in-depth interviews. Consumer benefits for each potential new product can be identified through the use of needs laddering, target market profiles can be suggested using fixed personality associations, and product usage behavior can be gauged using situational associations.

New product quantitative studies include name testing, panel taste tests, in-home placements, and pricing-and-packaging tests.

Finally, Limelight Insights uses its proprietary process, Product Opportunity Forecaster, to identify which new product or service concepts are most viable in the marketplace by modeling expected market share and revenue streams. This information is used to confirm whether the product will meet consumer expectations and achieve market acceptance.

Consumer purchasing behavior is complex and impacted by a number of demographic, psychographic, and situational variables. Limelight Insights has uses its proprietary Decision Tree Insights to understand what affects an individual’s product purchasing behavior. This technique initially uses extensive probing in one-on-one interviews and ethnographies that incorporate a variety of projective techniques to get at underlying attitudes and behaviors. Situational recreations and storytelling are some of the projective techniques used.

A further analysis identifies different paths or “trees” that consumers follow when deciding to purchase specific consumer products, and groups respondents with similar decision trees together. Results of this analysis enables Limelight Insights to identify the “points of influence” for each of our clients’ primary consumer segments. We identify at what point in the shopping process the decision to purchase a specific product or brand is made and what motivates the purchase at that time. Limelight Insights’ Decision Tree Insights has helped clients develop specific marketing strategies by consumer segments and determine the best time in the purchase process to direct marketing or advertising resources.

At Limelight Insights, we understand the art and the science of testing advertising campaigns to ensure that the most compelling and effective messages are identified. Over the years we have developed AdBeat, a proprietary product that tests broadcast and print advertising concepts in a variety of forms (i.e., storyboards, animatics, print, and more) to understand how well the advertising touches on key emotional drivers and tangible benefits. In addition, the technique determines main message recall and the extent to which the advertising is appealing, believable, unique, and motivating. With AdBeat, Limelight Insights successfully identifies advertising campaigns and strategies that best meet clients’ communications objectives.

Limelight Insights helps consumer goods companies understand the current image of their brands and, if necessary, provides direction to help clients reposition their brands. Quantitative studies are conducted to measure brand awareness, brand usage, brand image and brand loyalty. If a brand needs to be repositioned, qualitative research is first used to explore the existing image of the brand and to identify what customers are looking for in the ideal brand. Techniques such as metaphors, personification, and storytelling are just some of the tools used to explore brand image in a qualitative setting.