Focusing on the focus group

Traditionally, focus groups and other forms of product evaluation have been strictly for internal research. They were meant to provide valuable feedback for a company’s product or service, and are useful for getting detailed information on consumer opinions. However, in the last few years companies have been finding other uses for them as well. Advertisers understand that consumers are likely to listen to the opinions of other consumers. It is a great antithesis to the standard celebrity endorsement, who the audience knows is a paid spokesperson.

Dominos’s has used the focus group as a form of advertising when they decided that they needed to reshape their brand’s identity. They felt that their customers believed their pizzas used low quality ingredients and that Domino’s was even deceiving them about what ingredients they used. Rather than trying to hide these consumer opinions, they chose to put them on display and confront them directly. One example of the commercials regarding the quality of the cheese they use for Domino’s pizza can be watched on Youtube.

  

Perhaps it was to be expected, but variations of this formula have begun to pop up in the world of advertising. Companies started including humor in these focus group scenarios rather than genuine consumer opinions. Snickers new Peanut Butter Squares candy exchanged humans for sharks in a humorous, and perhaps a little dark, focus group setup.

 

Finally, some of the latest examples of the focus group advertisement come from AT&T in a series of highly entertaining ads. These ads feature an adult male leading a group of young kids in a focus group asking very simple questions. Children, who often provide some of the most entertaining quotes, are the perfect foil for the focus group leader, who maintains the same personality through each commercial. The overall purpose of this campaign is to show how the choice between AT&T and the competition should be a simple one. Take a look at an example of these commercials below: