Strategically Communicating

Exercise 11.1

There are several points that arise on Chapter 11, aptly titled: “Qualitative quality: Creating a credible, ethical, significant study”. In order to have a relevant, meaningful, and well-conducted study, it is important to have a topic worthy of research, study it rigorously, and have results that will be meaningful to the researcher and the larger population.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I would like to research how adolescents relate to brands.  Is this a worthy topic? First, I will have to consider the concepts that will allow me to explore and explain the subject, such as market research, brand, brand identity, brand loyalty, product, and differentiation among others. Through these, I will not only be able to ask the right questions, but I will be able to provide meaningful results to the field. Understanding the relationship that adolescents have with brands will provide good insights on how to create brands -or build upon existing ones- and communicate their messages to this generation in an efficient and sustainable way. I consider this relevant, since Generation Z will soon become the biggest population with the most disposable income – a fact that will make them the target of advertisements and marketing campaigns.

Teenagers have had access to unlimited information since birth. Even those of us who are not digital natives no longer rely on friends and family for product recommendations. Instead, a lot of our purchases come from the thousands of detailed reviews found online. I no longer have the brand loyalty I once had, so how will this concept apply to those younger than me? Will brand loyalty be weakened or strengthened? Will this depend on the product, the brand identity, or a different variable? Interviewing teens on their purchasing habits as well as their thoughts on different brands will give me insight on this topic.

Rigor, which the book defines as “the care and effort taken to ensure that the research is carried out in an appropriate manner”, is what makes or breaks a research study. This is something that has really resonated with me because I feel like I should work on my project for at least a year before I present it as new, thorough, and unique insight on the matter. At the moment, I am reading studies and articles on Generation Z, and to make sure I do not miss out on any relevant information, I signed up for Google Alerts on the topic. Also, I intend to spend my summer further researching the topic as well as investigating previous studies done on the Millennials and branding. Analyzing the methodologies and results of previous studies will help me get an idea as to what kind of questions and topics I can explore with my subjects.