Archive for the ‘Julia Cupman’ Category
Friday, June 18th, 2010
In this week’s Thursday Night Insight, Julia Cupman considers a language without words that is right before our eyes and yet which few of us tap into…
I remember being in a meeting when a client I hadn’t met before held out his hand to shake mine, right after he had let off the most horrendous mucus-infested sneeze into the palm of his hands.
I can recall a time when, in a claustrophobic meeting room, I shook the hand of a client, whose return limp handshake brushed my skin just enough to deposit all the perspiration he had worked up during our apparently sweat-invoking presentation.
I can still picture the scene when, many years ago, I turned up at a quaint guest house in rural England where the owner opened the door, grasped my hand, proceeded to bow and at the same time placed a well-positioned kiss on my knuckle.
I can remember the occasion I shook a client’s hand – a rather rotund client about twice my size – and who almost dropped dead to the floor as he exclaimed, “What a super firm handshake for such a petite lady!”
The importance of giving a firm handshake was drilled into me from an early age. I could never understand why so much importance is placed on such a trivial gesture, for a handshake is merely an extension of a greeting or farewell.
But I’ve come to learn over time, after having shaken hands with hundreds of people and therefore experiencing a myriad of hand-to-hand moments, that actually a handshake is very telling. Indeed body language experts talk of a multitude of handshakes, from the bone cruncher (where the receiver wonders whether hand surgery is required afterwards), to the “I’m in charge” handshake where the dominant hand is on top, to the sandwich handshake where two hands are placed around the receiver’s one hand (apparently indicating trust, friendliness or sympathy), to the dead fish / limp handshake (which usually construes distrust or indifference). And there are many other connotations in between.
The impressions we set and the messages we transmit through our body language stem not only from a handshake but from everything we exhibit. This includes hundreds of facial expressions; the angles we tilt our heads; how we stand or sit; the positioning and movement of our hands, arms, legs and feet; acts such as playing with jewelry, biting our lips, scratching our heads, avoiding eye contact, and many more. In other words, body language comprises a plethora of gesticulations and expressions – most of which we are completely unaware.
Studies show that words account for only 7% of the message conveyed. 38% of the communication is through tone of voice, and 55% is transmitted through body language. Body language is thus extremely important in communications, and yet we seldom acknowledge the unspoken messages we convey to others or the signals others are emitting to us. We rely so much on the spoken and written word that we fail to make the most of this additional, rich language right before our eyes.
Key drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty are people-related, but it seems that no importance is placed on the role of body language in communications. As market researchers, reading body language is central to so much of what we do, from observing behaviors in face-to-face interviews and focus groups, to distinguishing client reactions to a presentation, to simple observation in ethnography.
Awaken your intuition for body language and you will be surprised at the non-verbal emotional and behavioral signals you will detect. And you will find that the most powerful language is sometimes that which is unspoken.
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
In this week’s Thursday Night Insight, Julia Cupman explores the importance of language in marketing communications, highlighting that market research is a small price to pay to avoid costly linguistic blunders.
I moved to America a couple of years ago and my legal title here is a “resident alien”. No I don’t look like ET, but I have descended from a little island 3,000 miles away where we eat Branston Pickle, Yorkshire puddings and cream teas – otherwise known as Great Britain.
As a foreigner in this huge country, my ears have been attuned to the American vernacular. Indeed when one of my friends called me and asked, “How’s it hanging, sister?”, I wondered (a) whether we had metamorphosed into siblings over night, and (b) what exactly she was alluding to as “hanging”? Despite my confusion, I did think, what a friendly country I’m living in!
At one point, I was, however, grateful at being considered just a “sister” given that I heard the same friend call another woman her “girlfriend”, only to then discover that ALL my female friends had “girlfriends”. Good grief, I thought, this place is full of love! (If any American readers are confused here, the term “girlfriend” in the UK tends to be more than just a platonic relationship…)
Although language can create that sense of community, it has also created a linguistic barrier for me on a number of occasions. For example, I was disgusted and outraged at being offered a “fanny pack” in a store selling outdoor gear. I asked myself whether this was some kind of incontinence bag – until the sales person showed me what us Brits would otherwise call a “bum bag”. (Dude, I know what you’re thinking – this term is no better!)
In this country, you want to pay for your meal but you ask for the “check”; you park your car on your “driveway” but drive to work on a “parkway”; you frequent “bathrooms” in which there’s not always a bath; and you “ship” packages across land even though there’s no water transportation involved. But in spite of these absurdities, I’ve conditioned myself to speak the local lingo under the firm belief that when in Rome, you do as the Romans do.
These are just a few examples of the linguistic challenges and confusions I have encountered in my time here as an “alien”. In fact, of around the 200,000 English words in common use in Britain, it is estimated that 4,000 have a different meaning or are used differently in the US. So in summary, we speak the same language, but with a myriad of exceptions, foreignisms and alienisms. We are two nations divided by a common language, as Winston Churchill once said, as well as George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, apparently.
So what have language discrepancies got to do with marketing? My point is this: for marketers to meet the needs of the market profitably, they have to be able to speak the language of their customers. This might sound simple, but consider the following illustration of how a supplier has clearly failed to talk the talk of its customers. After reading the sign in the photograph below, have a guess at the type of establishment in which this sign is placed, before you read any further.
Believe it or not, the sign is by the swimming pool in the most exclusive hotel here in Westchester, New York. This hotel costs several hundred a night and caters for mainly businessmen and government officials. In displaying a sign forbidding activity from all human orifices, is the hotel not therefore suggesting that these well-to-do people would actually urinate, defecate or release any other bodily substance in the swimming pool had this sign not existed?! What’s more, apart from providing a totally inappropriate message with unsuitable language for its guests, the hotel embarrasses itself further with the non-existent term “expectorting”, which should actually read “expectorating” – otherwise known as coughing or spitting.
It cannot be presumed that the language suppliers speak is the language that buyers understand or relate to, especially where international branding or marketing communications are concerned. Indeed Honda only realized the importance of cultural, linguistic nuances after having introduced its new car “Fitta” into Nordic countries in 2001. Had the major car manufacturer invested in cross-cultural market research, it would have discovered that “fitta” was a vulgar, old fashioned word used to refer to a woman’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. This, by the way, through a rather circuitous and very expensive route, led to the birth of the Honda “Jazz”.
Ikea made a similar mistake in launching a children’s desk called “FARTFULL”. Although this apparently means “speedy” in Swedish, it was an embarrassing blunder given its connotation in English–speaking geographies. Once again, why was research not carried out to test the language and its meaning?
The UK food manufacturer Sharwoods suffered equally costly embarrassment. The company spent £6
million on a campaign to launch its new ‘Bundh’ sauces, only to later discover that this term sounded like the Punjabi slang word for a person’s bottom, thus dispelling a sizeable segment of the market.
We seldom stop to consider the language we use and how countless words and expressions in our branding and communications campaigns can be misinterpreted. This can lead to discrepancies in understanding, sometimes embarrassment such as in the examples above, and a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the message being conveyed. Given the considerable financial resource required for new product development, branding or marketing campaigns, the relatively low cost of market research is a small price to pay to eliminate risk and maximize marketing potential.
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Friday, September 18th, 2009
For this Thursday Night Insight blog piece today
A change is what I need
From proposals, tabs and reporting
To a poem that’s entertaining to read.
The challenge was what I should write about
For a poem still requires a story
So I thought I’d describe the life of research
From pain and pressure to glory.
The researcher’s job is quite tricky
Meeting needs that are complex and broad
With demands for speedier deliveries
We think we deserve an award!
We often bid against rivals
Who are never as transparent as we are
Research buyers may push for the lowest price
And they think they’ve the best deal by far!
We’re rarely told a budget
So how best to scope out the job?
How many countries, interviews, qual or quant?
We do all we can to save a few bob.
Please, don’t talk of “statistical validity”
Of “internal politics”, “no budget” or “timescale”
These are barriers and are pain to our ears
Such terms should be locked up in jail!
We ask for respect for our profession
For the long hours and value we add
Transforming data into intelligence
Boosting sales for which you’ll be glad.
In truth we’re detectives, psychics, agony aunts
Forecasting and giving advice
We make decision-makers open up to us
And can calculate the elasticity of price.
We understand the importance of segmentation
We know what drives loyalty, yes we do!
We provide guidance on new market entry
And we give strategic recommendations too!
OK so we’re not doctors, pilots or vicars
We don’t save lives, fly, or help pray for forgiveness
But when all’s said and done, we’re unique
In that we feel the pulse of business.
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
They are the questions on the lips of many b-to-b marketers right now: How is the current state of the economy impacting on b-to-b markets, and which marketing strategies will help me cope with its impact?
Fortunately, the Canadian Marketing Research & Intelligence Association has hosted a webinar tackling these topics. The State of the Economy and How It Will Impact on B2B Markets and Research features two guest speakers: David Skelsey of Strictly Financial and Julia Cupman of B2B International.
Skelsey, on reviewing the global financial crisis, discusses whether this presents a challenge or an opportunity for the market research community. He also assesses what the impact will be for specific industry sectors and particular research areas, offering some tips for how market researchers can cope with the challenges.
Cupman, research and business development manager of B2B International’s US office, expands further on the challenges and constraints faced by B2B marketing professionals in today’s increasingly pressured environment, highlighting how research and marketing strategies have been – and continue to be – affected by the recession.
The webinar is now available as a recording by clicking here.
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
B2B International is delighted to present its latest free eBook – Effective Marketing Strategies for a Recession.
At the present time, many marketing specialists are asking themselves how the recession has been affecting fellow marketers. They are wondering how competitor organisations have responded to the current economic environment, and what their own strategic responses ought to be.
Based on her own primary research conducted among 400 marketing professionals, and drawing upon the work of many well-respected experts in the field, Julia Cupman has authored this new eBook. Focusing on the role of marketing strategy, common reactions to an economic downturn and those marketing strategies that are considered to be the most successful in a recession, this eBook will help marketers worldwide adapt to the pressures brought about by today’s global economic downturn.
- To read Effective Marketing Strategies for a Recession, please click here
- To view our selection of other free eBooks, click here
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