CASE STUDY: KING ST   Background The advertising industry – in New Zealand and worldwide – is faced with clients demanding top-quality creative campaigns that deliver or exceed measurable business results. Knowledge of the target market and of how to reach this market is the basis for a successful campaign.   Problem In 2004, King St Advertising participated in the ‘pitching’ process for an advertising campaign with a significant Bay of Plenty business. The agency was determined to win the client, but was facing strong competition.   Hence, the advertising brief required a strong, creative campaign that would positively influence consumer perceptions of the client’s brand.   Solution Given the significance of the account and the level of competition, King St needed to prepare well-researched creative concepts with a high impact. The advertisement agency turned to Key Research to test potential concepts for the campaign.   The specific research objectives were to: Determine the cut-through/out-take of the advertising concepts’ key messages; Determine the effect of the advertising on consumer perceptions; Explore the strength of the ‘call to action’; Ascertain a ranking of the advertising concepts. Key Research identified discussion groups as the most suitable research method for this project. Discussion groups offer the benefits of: Allowing ideas to be considered and opinions to be explored; Allowing material to be presented and discussed in-depth; Showing concepts and testing reactions; Exposing participants to contrary opinions and exploring them in-depth; Allowing additional insight through the analysis of body language and intonation. A first set of discussion groups conducted by Key Research revealed several areas where the campaign could be improved. Sound recommendations empowered King St to revise the creative campaign on the basis of solid knowledge about the target audience. A second series of discussion groups were held to test the revised concepts, which were very well received and proved to be a success for King St.   Each of the discussion groups contained around 10 current and potential customers and lasted approximately 1 to 1 ½ hours. The sessions were recorded and thoroughly analysed by Key Research executives.   Success The results of these discussion groups directly contributed to King St Advertising successfully winning the advertising account. Key Research identified some critical components which were lacking in the client’s brand development. This allowed the use of new and exciting angles for the campaign and provided King St with a competitive advantage.   “Key Research’s service and knowledge were outstanding. The team was able to uncover relevant and actionable information for us, in an excellent time frame. The research results provided us with invaluable insight to pitch our campaign concepts – and ultimately helped win the account.” says King St CEO Chris Williams.   King St have since prepared a number of concepts as part of their campaign for the client and make regular use of Key Research’s services to discuss the favoured options. Williams: “We find that testing concepts before their implementation as well as testing effects after the advertising significantly adds to their value and effectiveness. Key Research’s expertise provides us with reliable and insightful knowledge for our decision making.”   King St look at the research as an investment, because it actually returns a lot more monetary value than it requires. “As a result of our investment in the research we have secured an account that will provide an extremely healthy return on investment” explains King St’s Williams.