Advertising Age: Tell me a discovery about
human behavior that surprised you and why.
Laura Krajecki: We were just doing global
research with field strategists in understanding the role of beer
in Saturday night around the world vs. other drinks. In studying
beer, we started to discover that young adults cherish their
smartphones and iPhones so much that they don't want to lose them
if they have an epic night out. Now they take what they call their
"drunk phone," a cheap low-end phone, so now they are carrying two
phones because they don't want to lose their smartphone.
What I love about this is we were studying beer and we stumbled
upon an illuminating mobile insight that we wouldn't have seen
before. They might not have told us that if we just sat down to
talk to them about phones.
Ad Age : How do you use that research then,
about going from smartphones to dumb phones?
Ms. Krajecki: There are some major mobile
manufacturers already interested in that insight and that 's one of
the great things about being in a large agency. I can work on
spirits and from what we learn we can connect the dots for mobile
and technology clients. Our job is to take that immediately to
clients. You could see a new product development strategy there.
You could be manufacturing two different types and calibers of
phones. Or one phone that detaches into a lower-res version, and
that 's a product engineering insight. Or maybe you're a client
developing cloud services and this could help you with backup
services targeted to young adults so they can back up their data on
their phone and not lose it if they lose their phones while out.
When you understand human behavior, you can connect that to
products and services in their lives.
Ad Age : What have you observed just in daily
life that 's useful for marketing?
Ms. Krajecki: There is nothing better than
standing in a shopping aisle and listening to a conversation. If
you stand in a hair-care aisle long enough you will notice people
are constantly sniffing the shampoos because they are purchasing on
scent. Those might be scent loyalists. But you turn that into a
marketing insight with creative on the emotional side of scent, the
uplift from the role of scent. You will also see teen girls doing
that in groups and you realize they are shopping and playing.
That's the success of the Macs and Sephoras. They have tapped into
that and recognized that for teen girls makeup shopping is play and
recreation, and they replicate the experience in their stores of
girls in a dorm room, putting on makeup and getting ready to go out
and be social.
Ad Age : You started the Moms and Youth Human
Experience Centers. What is that and what have you learned from
it?
Ms. Krajecki: The majority of our SMG brands
are trying to connect with either youth or moms, so we built "human
experience centers" to be in regular real-time contact with them
around the world. From a desk in Chicago, I can issue a brief and
in a week engage with 1,200 moms and 500 youths around the world.
In February and March a bunch of moms in this community were having
conversations about tax returns and what they would use their
returns for. A lot of them were using it on a new TV or clothes for
kids or bedding or home appliances. We took that insight and gave
it to a big-box retailer to target specific promotions around
coming into the store and using that money.