I’m sitting behind the glass watching the opening moments of a focus group in Tokyo. Eight Jack Daniel’s drinkers sit around a table, and I’ve come thousands of miles from St. Louis to hear what they have to say.
They all bow as each guy introduces himself. It’s a charming reminder that I’m in a culture very different from my own. As discussions begin, I’m struck by the Asian reticence to express an individual point of view within a group.
Focus groups are key to our efforts to market Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey globally. Our overall strategy is to build a lifelong friendship with the drinker. What better way to check our progress than to listen to the drinker’s side of it?
Sure, we analyze hard data like volume, share, and pricing. We track awareness, trial, usage, and brand attitudes. But no amount of data can provide the insight and understanding arising from face-to-face conversations with real people. So here is advice for marketers who want to connect their brand more meaningfully on an emotional level with consumers anywhere in the world.
Go there
Travel to the focus groups. Sit, listen, and watch. Write down your own conclusions. The moderator’s report will arrive on your desk a month later, translated into tortured English — a poor substitute for what you were thinking when you were there. In your free time, get out and consume the culture. Yes, we check out the drinking establishments and observe how the locals order Jack Daniel’s. But there’s more to learn. In Tokyo, we observed design sophistication — of packaging, food, clothing — to help us see through Japanese eyes how our own communications were viewed.
Talk to your brand fans
When you gain true understanding of a brand’s appeal, you can communicate it to others. You want to build on positives. But don’t limit your learning to what people say; listen between the lines. What did they really mean? Study body language. Notice when energy in the room is highest.
Provide visual stimulus
Images provoke emotional response in any language. We’ve shown identical photos to consumers worldwide and received consistent responses when we asked, “Who are the Jack Daniel’s drinkers?” (People everywhere pick the “rough, free guy,” the Harley rider, Mr. Cool.) The conversation that images generate is much richer than you get through talking. Video images prompted those guarded Japanese men to open up, for instance.
Do projective exercises
Think of a focus group as a discussion, not an interview. Projective exercises let people step out of their rational selves and into imaginary scenarios. That leads to good discussions. The classic exercise is to ask respondents to imagine your brand and a competitive brand as people. “What age and gender is each? How do they dress? What do they drive? What are their jobs? What would their parties be like?” Yes, people in any country can get into this. They can imagine they’re in your brand world.
Don’t tell the translator what you hope to hear
In a foreign focus group, the translator is your ear, and a good translator captures the essence of a discussion through all the key remarks. To avoid selective translation — where you get only the comments the translator thinks will please you — don’t tell the translator what you want.
Our conversations with Jack’s friends worldwide have taught us how local culture impacts consumer values. Germans appreciate that the whiskey is well-made. Australians are attracted to its manliness. Japanese worship its coolness. The Brits appreciate the understated way in which we set forth our messages. It’s as if these friends all like a different aspect of Jack.
The real value of focus groups goes beyond understanding cultural differences to identifying common themes of brand appreciation, so we can refine our marketing strategy. Global brands are built on universal truths, ideas that all of us feel. We build on those emotional truths, the brand essence. For Jack, that means staying true to its unpretentious confidence, genuineness, and honesty.
And knowing when to bow.
Sue Chapman is executive vp-planning at Arnold Worldwide, St. Louis, global agency of record for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. She can be reached at [email protected].
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