ROOTS is back! The 2016 edition of the consumer insights research has been broadened and its results reinforce those from global research.
Michael Bratt attended the launch to find out what is new with the research, as well as how advertisers can take full advantage of it.
At a very well attended gathering at the Bryanston Country Club, SPARK Media hosted attendees from media agencies, media houses, and advertisers.
“We want to frame it, to give businesses the tools to understand global best practice and to be able to get through the headwinds the market is facing,” said CEO Gill Randall, explaining what this year’s edition was trying to achieve.
She revealed that ROOTS research is being framed in global findings made by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institue for Marketing Science (EBI) and that ROOTS research underpins the findings of this global research, reinforcing the laws of marketing that EBI’s many global studies over many years have proven.
Touching on the changes to ROOTS, Samu Makhathini, research manager at SPARK Media, explained that a lot of the research had remained the same so data could be compared. But she said a bigger internet and digital section had been introduced into the research, as digital was an ever-growing presence in consumers’ lives.
For the 2016 edition, over 28 000 interviews were conducted, across 120 areas of South Africa, representing a population of 6.4 million purchase decision makers and 3.5 million urban households.
Aside from launching ROOTS, Randall also explained three principles that businesses need to focus on in order to succeed. These are:
- Distinctiveness – Absolutely identifying and owning your distinctive assets. This could include heritage, colour, character, shape etc
- Mass reach – This is about being in the forefront of consumers’ minds. “You can’t achieve fame without effective reach,” she said.
- Continuity of message – Rather than going through a flood and drought cycle, brands needed to remain constantly visible in the market.
“There’s no such thing as a national market or national brand. There are only composites, made up of an aggregation of smaller local entities,” Randall said.
In order for a brand to be a winning brand it needed to be the best national brand, locally. She also linked community media with the success of brands saying, “Local newspapers remain a strong, healthy and high reaching mass media”.
To tie in with the ROOTS research, SPARK Media ran a secret, consumer preference study. This was done by setting up stalls covering gambling, gardening, banting, pets and jewellery, and seeing which two people chose to visit. The attendees were also divided into groups based on which area of Johannesburg they came from and this information was combined with the information about their stall preferences.
ROOTS data will be available to the general public on 18 April and samples of it can be found on the SPARK Media website. Full data can be accessed via platforms like Telmar, and Nielsen or a SPARK Media rep can be contacted and customised presentations can be arranged.
Follow Michael Bratt on Twitter @MichaelBratt8
Photos taken by Michael Bratt
