NES Professor Daria Dzyabura took part in Marketing Analytics&Technology Conference Matermarketing 2019.
Daria presented a new online instrument for brand perception analysis — Brand Visual Elicitation Platform (B-VEP) which enables shaping a brand image based on visual associations of consumers. "Visual communication is the future of marketing. Evaluation of images which users associate with brands helps better understand consumer brand perception and opens new opportunities for reaching the audience", - Professor said.
In cooperation with her colleagues, Daria made the research and analyzed characteristics of 302 leading world brands, such as Starbucks and L'Oreal. Basing on the online survey of ca.2000 respondents and applying artificial intelligence technologies — image and text mining algorithms, she identified 49 brand characteristics explaining visual associations evoked by brands. For instance, consumers often relate cosmetic brands to images of romantic flowers, home comfort and tasty food as well as sports, and a well-known coffee brand is associated with gadgets and wintertime.
The research shows that brand positioning strategy can differ from the perceptions of people in real life. For instance, fashion industry marketing specialists often create their campaigns using images of luxury and glamour whereas consumers can associate the same brand with business style and office life.
Daria Dzyabura also told that social media offer various opportunities for marketing experts. People tend to reveal a significant amount of information about themselves, their habits and preferences. Brands only have to listen to these messages, and machine learning technologies enable them to identify important data from users' content. According to Professor, there are also several limitations in the area of social media analysis and, namely, insufficient representativeness of the data and biases. Consumers often mention brands to demonstrate their lifestyles instead of sharing their opinion on the brand. Analysts have to consider these factors.
More details on the material of the Marketing Science Institute.