BRANDMATTERS 2006

Powerful brands
Learning from the Greeks
Andrea Wilson
Roz Calder

Introduction the same thing – as products they may be identical.

(See figure 1.)
This paper discusses the role market research
can play in understanding, measuring and applying Figure 1
emotion to the brand management process. Broadly Product features alone make consumer choice
difficult
the paper is divided into three sections:
1. Emotion – the engine behind human behaviour and
driver of consumer choice;
2. Researching Emotion – tools for effective
measurement; and
3. Output and Application – using emotion to build
stronger brands.
Emotion
What consumers do
Much has been said about what consumers do
– they build relationships with brands, they become
committed, they become loyal, they create brand Provided only with functional information about the
repertoires, they switch brands, they love brands and juices the choice is not easy. Going a little deeper, and
so on. But very simply what consumers do is actually understanding who drinks with juice may help – but
about choice – consumers make choices. The issue still the choice could be a very difficult one. Here’s
is how they make their choices. where brands help the consumer. (See figure 2.)
Faced with two brands of orange juice that appear Figure 2
identical in every way, the consumer has a difficult Colours and symbolism make emotion part of
the equation
choice. His first thought may be to find out if there’s a
price difference – is one better value than the other?
Or a product difference – are they both 100% pure
juice? Does one contain preservatives and the other
not? Perhaps he has to actually taste them both to
experience the flavour, the texture and so on. But
even after all these questions are answered, it’s
possible he feels these two juices offer him exactly

Copyright © ESOMAR 2006 

BRANDMATTERS 2006
How much easier is the choice between these two
packs which manage to say different things about
themselves just through colours and symbols. Add
brand names and they say even more.
As well as getting easier, the nature of the choice
changes – no longer is the consumer engaging
rational thought and employing a logical decision
process that weighs up price against ingredients and
so on. Now he’s operating at a much more instinctive
level – whether we say “his head’s ruling his heart”
or he just has a “gut reaction” to one of the designs,
we must accept that emotion is now part of the
equation.
Rather than despair at logic taking such a back seat,
marketers should see this as an opportunity. While
functional benefits can be easily replicated, long term
brand equity can be created using the language of
symbolism to develop an emotive attachment with
the consumer.
This is not a 21st century concept. Generations
of marketers and advertisers have made similar
observations, recognising in different ways that there
is a complex relationship between the rational and
emotive side of consumer choice.
“Reason and emotion are not opposites. They are
partners who occasionally disagree but who depend
on one another for success.” Gerald Zaltman, How
Customers Think
“The consumer does not behave as he says, he does not
say what he thinks and he does not think what he feels.” traditionally functional markets such as finance now
David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man
“The consumer market buys products and services
to satisfy a variety of needs – physiological, social,
psychological and spiritual.” Philip Kotler, Marketing
Management – Analysis, planning and control
And with this comes the recognition that marketers
and advertisers must actively engage far more than
the rational consumer.
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
“Products in search of a sustained market share will
need to burrow deep, not into consumers’ pockets,
but into their hearts.” Kevin Roberts, Lovemarks; the
Future Beyond Brands
“Brands have practical, rational values, but what
makes them distinctive and unique are their symbolic
values. Advertising operates more effectively at the
symbolic, intuitive level of consciousness.” Judie
Lannon and Peter Cooper, Humanistic Advertising
There are many categories which have already
embraced this thinking and abound with examples of
brands built on a strong emotive platform. For example,
none of these perfumes (see the images on left, figure 3)
has anything rational to say about the product itself, but
through symbolism they leave us in no doubt as to the
sort of women for whom they’re intended. And they
even manage to convey to us whether each will smell
light, sweet, strong, musky, raw or refined.
Figure 3
Advertising Images
Perfume advertisers ignore product features and
tap into powerful emotion (images on left). Even
recognise the power of emotion (images on right).
In contrast, there are categories that on the surface
feel more rational but are also successfully building
brands that give consumers emotive choices.
Financial institutions, for instance, recognise that
with product offerings essentially at parity, the way
to differentiate is via the personality and symbolic
meaning of the brand, as shown in the right hand
images of figure 3.

BRANDMATTERS 2006
With emotion now recognised as a powerful driver
of brand choice, the debate has moved from a
marketing and advertising one to a market research
debate – how can we best measure emotion. The
words “market research” and “emotion” don’t even
sit comfortably in the same sentence. Quantitative
research competence lies in rigorously measuring
behaviour and opinions, so we need to borrow from
other disciplines as we learn how to research the
emotional drivers of human behaviour.
Can the Greeks help?
Here we return to the title of the paper – Learning
from the Greeks. The Greeks were definitely better
philosophers than they were market researchers,
but their civilisation did provide us with a powerful
understanding of core human behaviours. For an insight
into this, we can look to Greek mythology. Traditional
tales based around gods and goddesses were created
by the Greeks to help explain their world and to
guide their people through the physical and emotional
dangers of everyday life. What’s of interest to modern
day researchers of human behaviour is that perhaps
deliberately, perhaps unwittingly, each god epitomises a
core truth evident in human behaviour – not behaviour
unique to the Greeks, not behaviour unique to the 6th
century BC, but simply human behaviour.
Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, can
compel anyone she wishes to desire her. Isn’t there a
little Aphrodite emotion in every one of us, convinced
of our own powers of seduction – some more willing
than others to put it to the test?
Ares, god of War, is single-minded in his obsession
with fighting – to the extent that even his parents
don’t like him. Don’t we all play this role just a little
sometimes – when our emotions run high and we’re
belligerent and ready to fight?
And there are many more – Zeus, Apollo, Hera
and so on – each one seeming to express a core
personality or emotion. But the Greeks do not have
the monopoly on gods. They were soon followed by
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
the Romans who created an almost parallel line-up
– Venus playing Aphrodite, Mars taking Ares’ role and
Jupiter, like the Greek Zeus, was king of the gods. The
similarities here aren’t surprising given the proximity of
these two cultures both historically and geographically.
But look further afield and we find exactly the same
story repeated – Kartikeya, Tyr, Onuris, Camaxtli,
She, Itkinike are the gods of war from Indian, Nordic,
Egyptian, Aztec, African and Native American cultures.
Kama, Freyia, Hathor and so on – these are the
goddesses of love, with surprisingly similar traits in
each culture. These mythical characters passed down
to us from all of these cultures repeatedly represent
exactly the same personalities and emotions.
Here in the 21st century we may feel such beliefs fail
to address the real problems of contemporary life. As
such we have rationalised all such mythical creatures
out of existence. Or have we?
Millions of cinemagoers still connect with the
“mythology” of Darth Vader, Luke and Han Solo
in George Lucas’ Star Wars, or the adventures of
Saruman, Boromir and Gandalf in Tolkien’s Lord
of the Rings. If creatures of fantasy aren’t your
taste, movie characters such as James Bond, the
Terminator, Forest Gump, Bridget Jones and many
more are modern day expressions of the same core
personalities portrayed by early civilisations.
How can we explain this phenomenon that culture
after culture, wherever they exist in time and space,
anchor their worlds and belief systems in the same
fundamental personalities and emotions? This is
more than co-incidence and surely relevant as we try
to better understand 21st century human behaviour in
a consumer context.
A collective unconscious
Carl Jung explained this in the early 20th century
with his concept of a “collective unconscious”. This
recognises that as human beings we are united by
common, universally shared hopes, dreams and
needs that are the blueprint for our psychology and,

BRANDMATTERS 2006
as such, underpin all our behaviour. Jung called
them archetypes. As enlightened individuals of the
21st century, hell-bent on individualism, we may
resist the concept that our psychology conforms to a
pre-determined template in much the same way that
our physiology does. But the evidence is mounting
in favour of a pre-determined psychological template
that we all share; in the same way we share a
physical template which pre-determines that we each
have two arms, two legs and so on.
Rather than feel constrained by this, as market
researchers we can take advantage of it – though
we certainly wouldn’t be the first discipline to do so.
Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious and his
archetypal theory has already extended far beyond
clinical and academic psychology.
• Anthony Stevens has successfully integrated
archetypal theory into modern neuro-science and
evolutionary psychology.
• Business disciplines such as HR have successfully
applied this Jungian psychology, i.e. Myers-Briggs
personality model.
• Psychologist Joseph Campbell has identified
Jungian archetypes within popular culture, most
famously Star Wars.
Closer to home, the advertising industry has
recognised the power of archetypes in telling brand
stories, i.e. Hero and the Outlaw and Building Brands
and Believers. The former, Mark and Pearson’s work,
has been heralded as new thinking but it is actually
a continuation of the thinking of one of advertising’s
greats, who once said this:
“Human nature hasn’t changed for a million years.
It won’t even change in the next million years. Only
the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable
to talk about changing man. A communicator must
be concerned with the unchanging man – what
compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his
every action, even though his language too often
camouflages what really motivates him.” Bill Bernbach
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
As Bill Bernbach observed it is the unchanging
truths which will deliver the real opportunities to
advertisers and thereby to marketers. Jung before
him recognised that we are united by a collective
unconscious, preprogrammed to experience certain
emotional needs. Coincidentally every civilisation
before that has unwittingly identified these core
emotions for us. If our task is to research emotion,
some of the work is already done for us. The next
section looks at what progress market research
has made in building on this to develop our own
specialised tools.
Researching Emotion
What has market research done to understand
emotion?
Talk of emotion in the context of market research
and the first thing that comes to mind is probably
qualitative research. It’s in this field that we have seen
the greatest developments in tools designed to help
understand emotion and to access the subconscious.
Without tracking every step in the development
of qualitative research, we can at least trace the
industry’s first use of projective techniques back to
the 1940s. It was in the United States that Europeans
such as Herzog, Lazarsfeld and of course Dichter
brought such tools from psychoanalysis to their
qualitative work in advertising agencies. Sadly
the techniques were soon adopted by unskilled
practitioners who ultimately brought this whole
genre of research under suspicion, and did serious
damage to the reputation of qualitative research
– in particular Motivational Research – in the United
States. However, this was definitely the forerunner to
the full range of enabling techniques used in current
qualitative research to get beyond the conscious
layer. Wendy Gordon helped legitimise such tools
with this pragmatic explanation in her 1988 qualitative
research text:
“As human beings, we withhold thoughts and feelings
from others and we also hide them successfully

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from ourselves – particularly deeper desires, wishes,
fears and emotions that we believe are in some way
unacceptable to others. … In the context of qualitative
market research projective techniques are designed to
enable the individual or group to express these feelings
through light-hearted and safe exercises which reveal
insight both to the individuals themselves and to the
researcher.” Wendy Gordon
While such tools, applied well, have undoubtedly been
successful in accessing the emotive layer of consumer
needs and brand image, they do have shortfalls.
• Typically there is no systematic structure to the
application or interpretation of projective qualitative
tools. Therefore neither accuracy nor consistency
can be guaranteed.
• Similarly, these approaches are often reliant on a
particular researcher who has the personal skills
required to elicit emotive responses from consumers.
This level of empathy and intuition is hard to find and
harder still to replicate.
• Qualitative research is by definition based on small
numbers – what it gains in depth it loses in breadth.
The emotive insights that emerge from qualitative
research can never be truly representative of a
consumer population.
No matter how good qualitative research is at
understanding emotion, we can’t expect marketers to
base multi-million dollar decisions on research that
fails to measure anything. Quantitative researchers
have approached this by attempting to measure
emotion in various ways.
The values and lifestyle studies that became part of
mainstream research from the early 1980s certainly
took marketers one stage closer to understanding the
consumer in more than rational terms. These studies
(such as VALS, RISC, etc.) are founded on the work
of researchers and social scientists such as Mitchell,
Rokeach and Kahle who identified patterns of values
and belief in society that helped us understand some
of the non-rational aspects of human behaviour.
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
A range of analytical frameworks underpins these
research approaches, for example, Maslow and the
basic psychological tenets identified by Freud and
Jung that humans are inner or outer directed and
have community vs. individual tendencies. However
marketers soon realised that whilst understanding a
person’s beliefs, values and attitudes was helpful in
getting a more rounded view of the consumer it
didn’t seem to explain brand choice. Frequently it
was found that the brand choices made by the
different value groups were identical, thus leaving
marketers with a deeper understanding of their
consumers but without the information to help them
influence brand choice.
From a brand management perspective there are
two very notable flaws in the value and lifestyle
approaches to understanding consumer choice:
• Typically these studies are generic, putting each
consumer in one segment which is then applied
across different categories. While this can be useful
to explain why some consumers are interested in a
particular category and some are not, or to measure
and explain cultural differences between countries
or within populations, it is too blunt a tool to explain
emotive drivers of brand choice within a category.
Not only can an individual be driven by very different
emotions in different categories, but even within a
category one consumer can respond to different
emotive drivers on different occasions.
• Furthermore these approaches rely on direct
questions – the traditional tool of all quantitative
research. Asking someone direct questions about
brand choices and expecting them to reveal their
emotions is as flawed as expecting emotional
honesty when you ask someone why they love their
girl or boyfriend. The answers can only ever be
rationalisations that reveal very little – sometimes
because they aren’t consciously aware of their
emotions, and sometimes because they aren’t
prepared to share those emotions with you.

BRANDMATTERS 2006
Other groups of researchers have aimed to tackle
the problems associated with quantifying emotions
through the use of photo sorts and other visual
aides in the measurement process. These tools have
proven valuable in the world of communications in
understanding consumer reactions to advertising and
concepts. Much of the visual stimuli are derived from
qualitative tools and are useful as elicitation tools
but, lacking a validated connection to any theories of
consumer behaviour, are not tools to systematically
define consumer needs and measure emotions. At
present they have limited application in the marketer’s
challenge to deconstruct consumer needs and
emotions in a category and then to determine the
steps to be taken to build a strong brand that better
meets consumer needs.
If market research can learn anything from
the Greeks, we can learn to be precise about
measurement. From Pythagoras we learned how
to accurately measure the hypotenuse of a triangle.
From Euclid we learned of the mathematical
Elements, and from Archimedes the finer points
of geometry. In all these cases, the Greek
mathematicians applied new approaches to the task
of measurement – if market research is to be serious
about measuring emotion, we too must rethink how
we do things. And we need specific tools to help us
do this.
1. We need a theoretical basis that provides the
principles for what we measure.
2. We need a framework for emotions, i.e. what are
they, how they can be defined.
3. We need quantitative projective techniques – to elicit
and measure emotive responses.
The NeedScope System, originating in the early
1990s, is a fully developed and validated research
approach which provides these tools. The remainder
of this paper looks at its theory, framework,
techniques and application in the marketing context.
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
A theoretical basis
Two concepts in this paper form the theoretical
basis of NeedScope – a Marketing Model and an
Archetypal Framework.
Marketing uses brands to satisfy consumer needs
– this model (see figure 4) describes how brands
and needs, as two sides of this equation, should fit
together. Strong brands satisfy consumer needs at
all three layers.
The outer, easily accessible, layer of consumer
needs is rational and is satisfied by functional product
features. The next layer of needs is driven by our
sociology – this is the need to identify with particular
groups in society. The social values of a brand must
be engineered to meet these needs – whether it’s an
upscale brand, a brand for younger people, and so
on. Finally the inner layer of emotive needs, which is
the least accessible to researchers, is driven by our
psychology. These emotive needs are the real drivers of
brand choice, and are satisfied by the brand symbolism.
At the emotive level, consumer needs take two
different forms – gratification and expressive.
Gratification needs are satisfied by a feeling, a change
in mood – a brand may make you feel safe and
secure or invigorated and charged. Expressive needs
are about satisfying a personality aspiration – here a
brand helps you project a certain personality, letting
you be bold and confident or warm and easy-going.
Figure 4
NeedScope Marketing Model of consumer needs
and brand image

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While the construct is simple, and has been
presented in various forms over decades, its strength
lies in its application to every stage of the NeedScope
research process. Qualitative tools are tailored to
access these different layers, quantitative attributes
are rigorously developed to express each of the
different layers and the data is then analysed at each
of the three layers. It is even possible to quantify the
degree of fit between needs and brand separately
at each of these layers, identifying for instance that
the emotive brand fit is strong but that this is not
supported by the functional offering.
This Marketing Model is the first key platform for
NeedScope. The second is an archetypal framework.
The NeedScope archetypal framework
Archetypal theory gives us a sound basis for the
measurement of emotive needs. This theory already
has some traction in the marketing and advertising
world but for it to tangibly help marketers build stronger
brands it must function in a pragmatic, disciplined way.
The NeedScope Archetypal Model is the framework that
provides this pragmatism and discipline. (See figure 5.)
Figure 5
Two axes form the framework of the
NeedScope Archetypal Model
Two axes are the fundamental anchors of this
framework and so form the skeleton of the
NeedScope model. The left side of the primary
horizontal axis is about the need for affiliation and
receptivity – a fundamental sense of belonging. The
opposite of this, on the right hand side, is the drive for
individualism and assertion. This is the drive to stand
out from others rather than be part of the group.
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
The second dimension runs vertically and divides the
model into extroverted and introverted poles. Jungian
psychologist Edward Whitmont first described this
dimension as Dynamic and Static in his book The
Symbolic Quest. However it is labelled, at the top of
this axis energy is expressed outwardly whereas at
the bottom the energy is inward – more contained
and therefore less visible. While there are clearly
polar opposites on the NeedScope model, there is no
positive-negative axis. Unlike the Freudian models,
every position on the NeedScope Archetypal Model
can be positive for a brand.
This space can be dissected in many different ways,
but in its most basic form we can identify six core
archetypes – which readily link back to the Greek
gods and goddesses. (See figure 6.)
Figure 6
Six core archetypes define the NeedScope
Model
Equally our modern day “gods and goddesses”
could replace these ancient gods – the Terminator
playing the god of war Ares, James Bond as the
cool Apollo, and Goldie Hawn in almost any role
she ever played as the goddess of love. These
archetypes translate readily to the consumer world
- the two communications below could hardly be
better representations of the Greek gods Ares and
Aphrodite – the Dior woman looks like a warrior
through and through while the Lancôme women is
pure aphrodisiac!

BRANDMATTERS 2006
The marketer’s language of emotion is symbolism,
expressed in these communications through colour,
shape, form and so on. Physical aspects of the brand,
such as the shape of the perfume bottle, provide
another tool to access emotive needs. Stripped of
colour and branding, these perfume bottles each
access different archetypes. (See figure 7.)
Figure 7
Marketers access Archetypal Needs through
colour, images and physical aspects of the
brand, e.g. bottle shape
Similarly brand logos can speak an emotive language
with colours and shapes. Even without any other
knowledge of these competing credit cards, the
consumer is likely to react differently to each at an
emotive level. MasterCard with its intersecting circles
and warm colours taps into the affiliative archetype,
while American Express with its cooler blue and
strong structured design is assertive and powerful.
(See figure 8.)
Figure 8
Logos speak the language of archetypes with
colours and shapes
Before you try and put yourself on this model, it’s
important to recognise that all of these archetypes
exist within each of us. They are essentially different
sides to our personality which can be expressed
in different contexts and, in fact, brand choices are
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
one way we can express those different sides to our
personality on different occasions.
This framework provides a skeleton – research must
put flesh on these bones before it can contribute to
the marketing effort within a specific category. In the
finance market, for instance, Aphrodite’s sensuality
and indulgence is tamed and expressed more as the
freedom to spend money. Furthermore applied to a
market that is largely driven by gratification emotive
needs the archetypes will be expressed as feelings,
whilst in a market driven more by expressive needs
they will be expressed as personalities.
Whether all the brands shown here have tapped into
an archetypal need through systematic analysis or by
happy accident we don’t know. Certainly being able
to interpret elements of the marketing mix within the
Archetypal Model demonstrates the value of having
such a framework. But the real power comes from
being able to use this framework as a research tool
to understand and measure emotion and all the
layers of consumer needs in a particular category.
The next section looks at the specific research
techniques needed to apply this framework, both
qualitatively and quantitatively.
Projective techniques
As discussed earlier in the paper, the benefits of
most projective techniques used to access the
emotive layer are outweighed by their weaknesses.
Qualitatively they lack rigour and consistency, and
quantitatively the tools to date have been relatively
weak. NeedScope addresses these issues with highly
developed and validated tools at both stages of the
research process.
Qualitative NeedScope photosets represent the
archetypal structure, each photoset validated to
ensure it expresses the appropriate core archetypes.
Applying this universal structure ensures a level
of consistency across regional and even global
qualitative research that can’t otherwise be achieved.
(See figure 9.)

BRANDMATTERS 2006
Figure 9
Qualitative photosets represent the
Archetypal Model, e.g. Hispanic female and
African male photosets
Additional qualitative tools using symbolism (animals,
nature, fairytales, etc.) have been developed to
access different layers of the Marketing Model.
While these tools bring a degree of rigour to
NeedScope qualitative, quantitative research is
required to answer key client questions:
• What size is each of the archetype-based need
states in my category?
• To what extent is my brand tapping into the various
archetypes?
• What about competitors?
• Are there unmet needs and opportunities to make
stronger connections with consumers?
Past attempts at applying projection quantitatively
have failed for two fundamental reasons:
• Reliance on verbal rather than visual cues, e.g.
“Imagine the kind of person who would drive a Ford?”
or “Imagine Chevrolet was an animal, what kind of
animal it would be?” Language immediately pushes the
respondent into a rational mode, which in turn prohibits
access to the emotive – and sub-conscious – layers. TNS
and NSI have conducted research-on-research which
demonstrates the loss of emotional depth whenever
direct questioning or verbal projective techniques are
adopted. See Ingrams (1999) for published results. The
latest as yet unpublished tests took place in 2005 in the
United Kingdom, Germany, India and the United States.
• Non-validated projective tools – if projective tools i.e.
photosets are to take the leap into quantitative research,
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
a different level of rigour is required. Rather than just
being “probing tools” to help open respondents up and
encourage free and frank discussion, in quantitative
research they are as influential on the results as
question order, randomised showcards, scales and so
on. Therefore they need to be validated to ensure they
measure at the archetypal level and are unambiguous
in their archetypal expression.
NeedScope’s answer to these issues is the use
of collages that operate in much the same way as
photosets do in qualitative. Each collage shows
between four and eight faces. As well as portraying
a personality, the collage also captures a feeling
ensuring both expressive and gratification needs are
measured. (See figure 10.)
Figure 10
NeedScope collages are a validated
quantitative tool to measure emotion
Male and female collages have been developed
and validated for use across nine different cultural
regions. NeedScope collages are developed to
represent each archetype and refined qualitatively. A
thorough quantitative validation process then includes
both verbal and non-verbal testing:
• In a symbolic (non-verbal) similarity test, collages
must represent the dimensions of the Archetypal Model
• Overall personality and gratification associations
(verbal) with each collage must match the Archetypal
Model definition
NeedScope collages have now been used either face
to face or on-line on all five continents.

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While there are obvious benefits to having collages
tailored to particular cultures, there are equal benefits in
using “global” collages. Clearly this is open to the same
kind of debate that circles around global branding but
ongoing NeedScope research has proven their validity.
Over the past four years a global NeedScope client
has measured the market using global NeedScope
collages in 25 countries – including Caucasian, Asian,
African and Latin American countries. While minor
“translations” were made in some markets, the images
on each were fundamentally the same.
At the core emotive level (Gratification and Expressive) rigorously validated and proven to consistently reach
consumers responded remarkably consistently to the
global collages. The data below is drawn from the
global database which combines all countries measured
as at the beginning of 2005. These correlation scores
compare responses to each collage at an individual
country level with the response to the same collage
across the rest of the world. For example there is a
.92 correlation between Australia’s response to Collage
3 and the rest of the world’s response to that collage.
These overall high correlations not only reinforce the
universal nature of the NeedScope archetypes but
demonstrate that a global projective tool can be used to Output and Application
measure them. (See figure 11.)
Figure 11
Responses to collages at individual country
level correlate highly with global response
to the same collage
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
We have so far looked at the various components of
NeedScope and how they apply to measuring emotion:
• A Marketing Model – this defines the layers of
brand image and consumer needs and in turn shapes
how the data is collected and analysed.
• The NeedScope Archetypal Model – based on
universal drivers of human behaviour and giving us a
framework for defining and measuring emotion in a
specific category.
• Qualitative and Quantitative Projective Tools
– developed to reflect the two underlying models,
the emotive level.
These tools have been designed to overcome the
problems preventing traditional research from
accessing and measuring emotion. But the ultimate
test is how they are applied to real marketing issues.
In the final section of this paper we look at how one
client was able to use an emotive, needs-based view
of their category to help re-focus their brand values
to create a stronger connection with customers and
to increase both brand preference and company profit.
It will not be surprising to learn that the majority
of research in the world of measuring emotions
has taken place in the traditional mega-brand
battleground of FMCG. This paper has sought to
demonstrate that the archetypes – emotive needs
that are key drivers of the choices we make – are
evident in all of us at all times. Thus exploring and
measuring how the archetypes manifest themselves
in a particular market or category can help us
understand how to influence behaviour in almost all
marketing circumstances.
As trading conditions in the mature markets become
ever more competitive and people are presented with
ever more choices, reason more and more gives way
to emotion as the primary way a consumer can make
a decision. Companies in markets such as healthcare,
10
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IT and construction have used NeedScope to
measure the power of emotion to help them secure a
long term, profitable position.
The following demonstrates how understanding and
measuring emotive drivers of choice helped one bank
focus its staff, service delivery, communication and
training to deliver financial and service success.
Taking the emotional leap forward
Our client is the leader in a deregulated banking
market. The bank was grappling with the same
issue experienced by banks all over the world. The
competitive environment was one where the players
were competing largely on the basis of products,
services and price, and customers had difficulty
differentiating the brands on this basis.
The research set out to not only understand the more
emotive drivers of brand choice, but to quantitatively
measure emotive needs and their connection to
the more intangible aspects of brand imagery. The
brand in the banking world is a largely intangible
entity. Shifting emphasis from products and services
required a degree of courage and a belief in the
brand’s ability to positively impact the bottom line.
The research provided a catalyst for a major
paradigm shift in terms of how the bank viewed
its customers, and directly led to measurable
performance improvements.
The starting point
The initial qualitative research explored the archetypal
dynamics – the gratification and expressive emotions
– operating in the world of finance. This investigation
also gave us the language for the three layers of
needs evident in the category (layers illustrated
earlier in figure 4).
Once the framework for the needs and brand
positions is established, measurement can take place
online or face-to-face. The same projective tools are
used to measure brand image and consumer need. In
this category six segments of varying size and value
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
(defined by the total value of lending and investments)
were identified through measurement.
Although each segment is detailed at all layers of
need, we employ a range of communication methods
to help everyone in the client organisation come to
a mutual understanding of the driving emotions as
well as the product details behind consumer needs.
Images are frequently a stronger communication
tool than words in uniting understanding across an
organisation and these were used extensively in
communicating with staff and suppliers to the bank.
(See figure 12.)
Figure 12
Images are used to convey emotion underlying
each archetypal segment
The archetypes are clearly evident when the emotive
needs of each segment are reviewed in a little more
detail. For the Leaders (on the assertive, individual
side of the model), money is all about power and
ambition; it is the ultimate symbol of success. Money
means staying one step ahead of everyone else
they know. Leaders exude confidence and control
and want a bank that reflects and enhances these
emotions. For Optimists (where energy intersects
with affiliation on the model) money is all about
opportunities for indulgence and to have fun. Money
is there to let them enjoy the good life; to give them
a sense of freedom and possibility. Their ideal bank
needs to be friendly, flexible and informal. These
two consumer groups are both looking for services
such as competitive mortgages, credit cards and
personal loans but are unlikely to find satisfaction in
the same bank.
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Even the names of these segments signal a very
different way of looking at the customer and have
clear links to the archetypal structure.
The segmentation dispelled a strongly held perception
that attitudes to money and banking were linked to
demographics such as age and wealth. The archetypal-
based needs cut across gender, age and life-stage. For
example, starting full time employment for the first time
would mean quite different things for Optimists and
Leaders in terms of their relationship to money and their
banking demands. Understanding consumer needs in
this more emotionally anchored framework was the key
paradigm shift for the bank. (See figure 13.)
Figure 13
Life-stages are evident within each need segment
Measuring brand positions projectively allowed
us to pull apart the bank imagery in a way that
classic brand association had not been able to do.
We were able to go beyond the rational statements
people readily associate with almost all major banks
– such as trustworthy, secure, reliable, established,
innovative – and explore emotional values. Evaluating
brands at this depth uncovered unexpected
differences between the banks.
Results not only destroyed a myth that the bank
lacked a clear position, they revealed that the bank’s
position had huge latent potential:
• The bank’s position was relatively uncontested.
• The other mainstream banks were operating in a
crowded space, competing for the same segments.
• The client bank had elements that clearly
differentiated it from the other main banks.
Copyright © ESOMAR 2006
Figure 14
Brand positions are projected into the
Archetypal Map
Measuring brand image and consumer needs within
the same framework allows us to overlay a brand’s
position and consumer needs for the category on
one map (see figure 14). This map acts as a short-
hand, or a guide, for planning across the business.
It simplifies thinking about how to reach a consumer
and acts as a sieve for marketing ideas – even before
any additional research is started.
“When it came to re-designing credit cards, for the
first time there was management agreement to launch
the recommended new designs with little debate.
The research framework showed that the designs
supported the brand strategy, so we could launch with
confidence.” Marketing Manager, Credit Cards
Setting a strategy
A disciplined analysis process led to a strategy based
on two of the segments. This involved:
1. Understanding the needs of each segment, and
how the bank met these needs;
2. Estimating the value represented by the target
segments;
3. Assessing the risk of targeting two segments;
4. Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of
competitor banks – focusing on how the bank could
exploit those weaknesses.
Correlation scores provide a powerful way of
measuring how well brands actually meet needs. The
correlations show how much each segment’s image
of the brands actually fits with their own needs.
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This analysis gave a clear indication of where the Analysis of Leader and Manager needs showed they
bank’s strengths and potential lay – and an immediate had enough in common for the bank to target them
overview of the competitive landscape. (See figure 15.) as one:
Figure 15 • They shared attitudes to money and planning.
Correlations between need and brand image • They wanted to feel the same when dealing with
enable an assessment of the strategic
their bank.
opportunities in the market
• Their ideal bank brand image had much in common.
(See figure 16.)
Figure 16
Comparing the needs of Leaders and Managers
at the emotive and social identity levels

At first glance the Providers segment looked

attractive: they accounted for 28% of value in the
market and the bank had some potential to deliver
what Providers wanted from a financial institution.
However, Provider needs were largely at odds with
the bank’s current position, and other mainstream
banks were strongly contesting this segment. Further analysis allowed us to determine what the
bank was doing well for each of the segments and
Leaders and Managers represented another key
should reinforce to enhance their position against
opportunity:
the target customers. It also identified what Leaders
• A big prize – 38% customers, 49% value; and Managers felt the bank needed to develop if
• Their needs corresponded with a position relatively it was to make a stronger connection with them.
uncontested by other mainstream banks. The level of detail collected enabled us to produce
a brand blueprint that encompassed all aspects
Clearly this attractive part of the market had not been
of product specification and service delivery as
completely neglected by the banking world. In fact a
well as the overarching emotive tone essential for
great deal of effort had been put into the development
communications strategy – a blueprint across the
of financial planning tools and investment products
three layers of need.
that were seen to be important to these people. But
despite the plethora of options at the functional level, Implementing the strategy
none of the leading banks in the market were able to Developing core brand values
deliver to the emotional needs of these customers. The development of the strategy involved distilling
As a result there remained an opportunity for growth customer needs and the desired brand image to
despite the maturity of the market. three core emotive brand values which had relevance
both externally and internally; each of these was

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BRANDMATTERS 2006
further defined within the organisation to ensure
relevance to each employee’s area of responsibility.
• Leadership:
- Driving the development of product, service and
processes;
- Reflecting leadership in both internal and external
communications.
• Empowerment:
- Staff living the brand and bringing it to life;
- Customers experiencing an empowered culture.
• Performance:
- Recognising and celebrating success – both
internally and externally;
- Financial performance;
- Service delivery.
The bank and its creative agencies worked together
to create a range of images to support the brand
values. Some images were specifically chosen for
internal communication purposes and were used on
all documents talking about service delivery, bank
initiatives and brand matters.
“If it’s not about Leadership, Empowerment and
Performance then it’s not about the Bank.” Managing
Director
Getting staff on board
For the re-positioning to be effective, the staff had
to fully embrace the brand values and learn to
deliver them in their day-to-day customer contact.
The bank’s management recognised this fact from
the start of the process and staff members were
involved at all stages of the research project. There
was an extensive program of personal staff briefings
at the end of the project and audio-visual material
to support the strategy – particularly for use with
new recruits. The brand value images were widely
distributed throughout the branches and always
appeared in internal communication.
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An internal staff survey by the bank reported:
• Over 90% of staff recall all three brand values unaided;
• 78% describe at least one way they can ‘bring the
brand to life’ in their role;
• 92% rate brand communications to staff ‘good’ or
higher.
Bringing branches in line with the strategy
Branches are a key brand touch-point for customers
– a physical manifestation of the brand. There was
a recognition that the existing look and feel of the
branches was not in line with a Leaders’/Managers’
strategy. The bank determined to reconfigure the
network. The space design agency was briefed about
the emotive needs of Leaders and Managers and
asked to develop plans to encapsulate the essence
and core brand values. The ideas for layout, furniture
and colour schemes were evaluated in the context of
the framework. Research confirmed high customer
appeal for the designs once they were implemented.
The new designs gave the bank a more modern,
progressive and professional finish – more in line
with the assertive, impressive archetypes of Leaders
and Managers.
The results
Performance improvements for the bank have been
impressive:
• Brand preference lifted significantly, and at the
expense of key competitors. But this is far more
than a research result – it also results in long term
financial benefits.
• The bank recorded a 0.5% rise in their home loans
market share. Whilst this may not seem substantial
at first glance, the bank calculates the net present
value of the new revenue streams to be in the multi-
millions. (See figure 17.)
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Figure 17 in our Optimists. What we do with money and how

Impressive results gained from a strategy of we access it might change but at a fundamental,
focusing on consumers’ emotive needs
emotional level there is continuity between the
Greeks and ourselves in our relationship to money.
Concluding remarks
Marketing is all about meeting consumer needs – at
a profit. Whilst marketers have long recognised that
emotional needs are key to understanding consumer
choices they have not been able to accurately
measure emotions operating in their categories and
have had to work with their intuition and qualitative
research to take decisions about tapping into
“Overall, implementation of the brand strategy is consumer emotion.
building momentum and generating extremely
We have argued that measuring emotion sufficiently
positive business results for the bank.” Head of
precisely for marketers to take action requires
Communications and Brand
a theory, framework and new measurement
The bank took a bold step by moving away from techniques. Over the past decade researchers in TNS
traditional methods of understanding what its and NSI have built upon the work of social scientists
customers wanted and focusing everything it did on and psychologists to refine a suite of research
the values that encapsulated their customers’ core methods which measure the different layers of
emotional needs. Further testament to the merit human need – including emotion. We are now able to
of focusing on delivering to customers’ emotive help marketers plan to satisfy consumer needs in a
needs as much as functional needs came from an way they could not before.
industry wide survey into bank customer satisfaction.
The bank not only reversed a trend of declining
satisfaction in this study, it was the only bank to
record an improvement in customer satisfaction. This
data further supported the strategy of differentiating
the bank at the emotive level.
“Our staff could relate to the NeedScope segments.
They usually knew one of the segments very well
because they had a personal affinity with it. They could
also see how customers, friends or family fell into the
various segments. Consequently their buy-in to the
research was very high and there has been very high
acceptance of the conclusions.” Research Manager
Whilst the services and systems of banking in the
21st century would be alien to the Greeks, it seems
likely they would be able to see aspects of impressive
Zeus in our Leaders and a bit of playful Aphrodite

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BRANDMATTERS 2006

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Lannon, Judie and Cooper, Peter. (1983). Humanistic

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Mark, Margaret and Pearson, Carol. (2001). The Hero and The
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The Authors
Roz Calder is Director, NeedScope International, New Zealand.

Andrea Wilson is Global Director Motivational Research, TNS,

United Kingdom.

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