Think of a research question you’d really like to answer. Is it something like: how can we get people to buy more of our stuff?
That’s the question Kellogg’s posed Qual Street – how do we get people to eat and buy more cereal? It’s the $million question, and not easy to answer.

Well, they asked, Qual Street answered.

A Different Kind of Project

You couldn’t ask respondents their views on this. Only a long-term behavioural study would do. So, I enlisted the help of Ambreen Aziz and together we spent 12+ weeks watching and exploring 24 household’s breakfast consumption. Our participants recorded on an app/on-line what was eaten, how much, when cereal was purchased, what triggered purchase, where the cereal was kept. We considered anything and everything that affected behaviour.

Commitment Needed!

The project worked because we got great commitment from the participants. They worked really hard for us because they enjoyed taking part. They enjoyed taking part because we spent lots of time and attention on them in person, and we gave generous incentives and prizes too. Ambreen and I ate, drank, dreamed and worried about our Buy More, Eat More project from September to December last year.

Lessons Learned

This stuff takes time, commitment and expertise. Clients and agencies work best when they trust each other and work together. Behavioural methodologies work. Ask the hard questions and you’ll get better answers!