In The News

By Karen Leitze, EVP/ MARC USA Director of Research and Strategic Planning in collaboration with Peter Boatwright, PhD and Jonathan Cagan, PhD, PE

Reason versus emotion. Right brain versus left brain. Science versus intuition. Fact versus feeling.

The “versus” puts these elements in opposition. But successful companies understand that, in truth, there is no conflict. Consumers clearly operate emotionally as well as rationally.

These are the beliefs we at MARC USA and our partners at Carnegie Mellon University, Professors Peter Boatwright and Jonathan Cagan, share and employ consistently to build powerful emotional connections between our clients’ brands and their customers.

Continue Reading →

When it comes to tire purchases – a category generally seen as a commodity, the key decision factors are typically price and tread life. Most consumers tend to believe that the major manufacturers offer basically the same products at “good-better-best” levels. So, they select a retailer and let him prescribe the right tire given price range and car model

Using our “whole brain” approach – based on the understanding that most decisions are driven by emotional more than rational factors – and  our proprietary Visualizer™ research tool, we identified a crucial disconnect between tire brands and consumers. Most tire advertising featured imagery of speed, extreme proofs of performance, adrenaline and cars. In contrast, the consumer imagery was based in controlled movement, real life and people.

Continue Reading →