Time to Bring Insight Communications into the Digital 21st Century
Vox Pops International recently conducted a survey with 100 major companies to find out how they share insight and engage with their ?audience?, be it internal departments or external partners. Highlighted in the research was the strong feeling that market research and insight could be used in a far greater capacity throughout organisations than at present, especially by the marketing, sales and training departments.
Currently, face to face meetings followed by emails and written reports are the most popular way of communicating insight due to the ease of distribution and familiarity of format. However, these modes are not always considered to be the most effective, with many preferring a less dry approach.
One of the fastest growing communication tools within the research industry is video. The survey found that 43% of companies are using video to communicate research and insight within their organisation, a number that has grown significantly over the past 15 years and is set to boost even further with the increase in accessibility to multimedia in the workplace.
?The problem often with research is it?s quite dry, and having those recorded responses from customers just brings it to life. It?s something that you just can?t ignore, where you can ignore written words and put them away in a drawer, but actually having a video of that person actually saying something about your company is really compelling.? ? Senior Marketing Manager, Insurance Provider.
Additionally, 72% of the sample spends money on video as part of their research budget whilst a staggering 94% of them said they can view video at their desktop. So with video more widespread than ever before, the propensity to produce, use and share video looks set to grow even further.
84% of the sample believe that using video as a deliverable keeps people engaged; makes research memorable (78%); and is exciting (77%); and easy to digest (62%). Other participants said they thought video can be used by many departments; it provides unrivalled visual reference of real life consumers in context; it resonates with the audience on a personal level; and keeps research alive.
In terms of influencing factors when commissioning video research, over 40% think that creativity is important, with 31% looking for high production values. Not surprisingly, research experience is of the upmost importance, not only to ensure that fieldwork is conducted in line with the MRS guidelines by qualified, experienced researchers and moderators, but also when making sense of the material obtained during fieldwork to produce videos that effectively and credibly communicate the key messages.
The survey also highlights the many ways in which companies are communicating video insights to engage with their employees, distributors, outside suppliers and others. Platforms include intranets, insight portals, adverts, plasma screen TVs in communal areas, company specific YouTube channels and internal social networks. Videos are also used a great deal for conferences, workshops, training and presentations.
The research shows that 32% of companies are using intranet portals to share insight, video content, and communicate internally with staff which according to Anna King, Customer Insight Manager at JD Williams: ?makes people feel part of a team.? Furthermore, dedicated insight portals can save people travelling miles to attend a presentation, and provide a really effective solution to encourage healthy work-related discussion and debate, which cultivates a better working environment.
?What has amazed me about what we have done is that we have tried for years to get our insight seen far and wide across the organisation. The medium has proven really effective. As well as the quality of what is being said in the insight videos, the content slots nicely into existing internal communications channels such as intranet, plasma screens, lift TVs, conference presentations and staff training materials. Insight TV has actually opened up channels / opportunities for us to share our wider insight as well as the customer videos.? ? Senior Insight Manager, Barclays
With the number of people using social networking, blogging and YouTube increasing by the minute it is clear that the use of video is escalating. This combined with companies? own efforts to produce digital and visual content targeted at their consumers on their websites, through social media sites will lead to a higher requirement for video content, and while video is a relatively new concept in the insight field, its potential for growth is considerable.
About Vox Pops International
Vox Pops International is a video based qualitative research agency with over 20 years? experience working with blue chip clients including Barclays, BskyB, eBay, Google, Kellogg?s, Microsoft, Orange, RIM, Unilever, Which?, Yahoo!
For a complimentary copy of the white paper and video go to http://www.voxpops.com/communicating-insight/ These may be downloaded and used for news features.
For further details please contact Diane Earnshaw, diane(at)voxpops(dot)com or Charlotte de Maria at charlotte(at)voxpops(dot)com or ring 020 8786 8855
###
Comments
Post a Comment