ABSTRACT
Most experienced marketing practitioners have many times observed a focus group in which respondents claimed to do something or believe something that is counter to what real data sources tell us is happening in the marketplace. There isn’t a mom today who doesn’t say she is watching her family’s food intake and yet, as a society, we Americans have never been fatter. If everything said in traditional research were true, we would be a nation of environmentally aware, healthconscious folks who exercise regularly. Marketers uncover disconnects between what people actually do, and what they say they do, over and over again. There has never been as much research fielded and, yet, in some ways, many predictions have never been more inaccurate. The marketing business depends on being able to understand what motivates people’s brand behavior in order to drive it. Our expectation is that we can predict what people will do based on stimuli we create in order to inspire them to use our brands the way we want them to.Yet, our research often falls short.
