Brands under siege, defend? or attack?

Are people getting the message? Without testing brands in TV, interactive TV, Film and Printed Media their placement and presentation cannot be fully analysed or built upon. Many brands are under attack from similar products attempting to cash in on their brand equity. Does competitor use of colours, marketing channel or product name infringe enough to sue? In a bank they train people to handle the real money so that when a fake comes along they immediately recognize it. This is the best scenario for brands but clever marketing and advertising are not enough to keep brands relevant. If a brand is worth keeping it needs to be tested in the marketplace against competitors, forgeries and fakers. As a result of testing is also possible to learn some new tricks that enhance security, beat competitors at their own game or provide the groundwork to raise the brand to a premium level.

Companies that adopt a defensive strategy wait until competitors, forgeries and fakers bite into their profitability. But by adopting an offensive strategy company’s gain knowledge of their enemy, they examine working practices and explore competitive advantage to see what elements are relevant to themselves.

Activity, Interaction and Usability Limited based in Glasgow, London and Edinburgh working throughout the United Kingdom have developed a testing process that enables brand intelligence to be linked to a new service "brand recognition testing". This involves a number of specialist techniques they have developed including the use of eye tracking, where test participants walk around in the real world; go into restaurants, shops, bars and shopping malls. All their activity is captured through two mini cameras. The two records are combined to show the interaction between their sightline and their location. The managing director Mr Karl Smith says “We can test to see what is being observed, for how long, if and how the embedded brand messages are being passed to viewers for future recall and use” Using their new techniques they are able to test almost anything visual, including interactive TV advertising, internet advertising, product placement and advertising in feature films, televised sports events, street / road displays and print media like newspapers, magazines in real use situations.

The company has also developed techniques relevant to the office work place, the home and schools. “As a company we want to assist our clients to see the whole picture, so we try to involve the whole community” says Mr Smith, they are currently recruiting test participants aged 5 to 16 years (with parent or guardian to be in attendance) and 17 to 90 years throughout the UK.

Activity, Interaction and Usability Limited (AIU)
Edinburgh, London and Glasgow
http://www.ai-usability.com