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Amárach Research
We’re a market research agency. So what? So are our competitors. The difference is that we are better. Better at clarifying your research needs; better at developing real insights that matter to your business; and better at maximising the value of your limited research budget.
There’s more: good insights should lead to business foresight. Our name Amárach means ‘tomorrow’, and our expertise fuses quantitative and qualitative research skills with an unparalleled depth of economic and social analysis. If that fits your requirements then we should talk.
What's on the Blog? Our 5 most recent posts:
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Share the Happiness (again and again)
Just so our soft drink clients don't feel left out after our previous post (ahem), this from the guys who decided in the middle of the worst recession since the Depression to launch a brand campaign called 'Open Happiness'. Enjoy ...Via JWT
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The Drink Made Me Stop It
We do lots (and lots) of research into alcoholic drinks here at Amárach (and a few non-alcoholic ones :) and we always face the same problem: how do you get people who are sober to talk about a product that makes them, well, less sober ...?But luckily the field of psychology helps us: it seems the main benefit of alcohol consumption is that it gives you attentional myopia. This has a number of - very surprising - consequences, as detailed in a fascinating post on Psyblog, namely:Alcohol can lower levels of aggression: participants were asked to administer electric shocks to a fictitious opponent (Giancola and Corman, 2007). Those who were intoxicated and moderately distracted from the task were less aggressive than participants who hadn't been drinking. In certain circumstances, then, alcohol can make drunk people less aggressive.Alcohol can induce less risky sexual behaviour: people in a nightclub were asked whether they would engage in unprotected sex (MacDonald et al., 2000). Those who had been drinking indicated they would be less likely to do so when they had the following message stamped on their hand: AIDS KILLS.Alcohol can increase anxiety about giving a public talk: intoxicated people about to give a public presentation were more nervous about their upcoming ordeal than those who hadn't been drinking (Steele & Josephs, 1988). This is the complete reverse of the received wisdom. So there you have it: the effects of alcohol are apparently in your mind, not in your glass. Wonder what the brand implications of that might be?
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Where should I go on holiday?
We all know word-of-mouth is a very important marketing channel. We see it all the time in our research with Irish consumers. But every so often it comes as surprise to learn just how important word-of-mouth is for Irish consumers versus consumers in other countries.Take the latest Eurobarometer study on holidays and tourism. Question 11A (on page 78) shows that 'recommendations of friends and colleagues' is the most important influence on people's choice of holiday nations across the European Union. But the level of influence in Ireland is the highest in the EU, as shown in the chart.Be sure to tell your friends ...
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The Business of Ageing
We were involved in the Business of Ageing conference last week. Over 300 marketers showed up at RHK to talk about the next wave of growth and innovation among Ireland's 50+ population. Inspiring stuff!And even if you weren't there, you can get a flavour of it by downloading the presentations here.You can even watch the brilliant presentation by Dick Stroud here.We hope you are as inspired as we were.
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Behavioural Marketing
The Government's recently published National Pensions Framework document points the way for future policy design. Why? because it uses insights from behavioural economics to develop policies that are informed by our understanding of how people behave and how to get them to behave differently (e.g.: by contributing to their pensions). This is evident from the automatic enrollment feature described in the document.Marketers should learn from this. Marketing, ultimately, is about changing people's behaviour. As Rory Sutherland pointed out recently, there is much in behavioural economics that can be readily applied by marketers (and market researchers), e.g.:People frequently simplify decisions by mimicking the actions of people around them and by adhering to social norms. In Australia, water consumption was cut dramatically by simply printing the average consumption figure for his street on an individual's water bills.When we perceive something to be scarce, it has a greater value in our eyes. Conversely, when we perceive it to be plentiful, its perceived value falls. The turnaround in popularity of the potato was due mainly to them being declared as fit only for royalty. Read the rest of Rory's talk, and make sure to plug his blog into your rss reader.
Amárach Research Offices:
11 Kingswood Business Centre, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24 Tel. (01) 410 5200
Email: info@amarach.com
O'Neill Amarach Consultants Limited, is a limited liability company, trading as Amárach Research, registered in Ireland.
CRO number: 142088. Registered address as above.