The initiative will debut as part of the KlinePulse Consumer Insights of Personal Care Innovation 2010, to which charter subscribers will be invited to help shape the research pararmeters.
Kline says that the initiative will help to gather ‘authentic consumer insights’ into new personal care launches and innovations because it will be based on original feedback that will reveal detailed information about attitudes, behavior and experiences.
Building on traditional consumer research
The service is claimed to build on traditional consumer research because it goes beyond the close-ended, multiple choice approach to gathering information, which often leaves out key nuances governing consumer patterns.
“KlinePulse provides a truly unique perspective by marrying cutting-edge primary consumer research with industry data to provide marketers with a much more thorough understanding of how consumers perceive innovation,” said Nancy Mills, manager of Kline’s consumer products practice.
“When you allow your audience to drive the conversation rather than forcing them down a pre-determined path, you are bound to be stimulated into innovative thinking.”
Fast-paced innovation
As a fast-paced consumer products category, the successful development of products for the personal care market is invariably hinged on tapping into key trends in order to give consumers what they want.
Not only is the functionality and efficacy of the product crucial to its success, but likewise the consistency, color and fragrance of the formulation, together with the packaging design, are all crucial elements.
In order to target all of these elements, it is vital to field questions and responses that are based on what Kline terms ‘specific value metrics’ that will enable developers to identify different types of consumers and the reasons why they are engaged by specific brands or products.
Personal care market is trends driven
The personal care market is highly influenced by both trends and fashions, which is why product development has to have an extremely fast turn around in order to get them to market ahead of the competition.
Kline claims that through its new research initiative, marketers and product developers will be able to identify key market trends before they happen, enabling them to get their products to market faster and thus gain a crucial competitive edge.
The research tool uses the Cognitive Edge research methodologies, which is a science-based approach that is said to draw on anthropology, neuroscience and complexity theory.