Customer Case Study with McCann Worldgroup: Causal Drivers of Purchasing Behavior
McCann Worldgroup & causaLens partner to deliver 5-10% uplift in brand purchase intent by identifying causal drivers of purchasing behavior and more targeted marketing campaigns for a leading Confectionary Company.
Leading Confectionary Company
Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Identifying Drivers of Purchasing Behavior
5-10% Uplift in Brand Purchase Intent
Identifying Drivers of Purchasing Behavior to Optimize Marketing
In the ever-evolving US marketing landscape, the significance of understanding what drives consumers to purchase cannot be overstated. Marketing strategies must develop alongside changing consumer tastes in order to maximize value creation. It can be difficult however to ascertain exactly what aspects of a brand are the most important in driving the decision to purchase.
Faced with this challenge, a leading confectionery company sought a data-driven solution. The primary goal was to work with McCann Worldgroup (MW) to gain an in-depth understanding of their own audience’s opinions on their brands and, in turn, build a strategy that highlighted the most favored aspects of their products.
As an input into the overall strategic recommendation, MW partnered with causaLens to assist the client in determining the aspects of brand perception and product attributes that contributed to brand affinity and distinctiveness.
Process: Insights through Collaborative Expertise
In collaboration with the client, MW developed a comprehensive quantitative survey designed to unpack consumer sentiment surrounding brand perceptions and purchasing behaviour. Once the survey was fielded and results were collected, the causaLens data science team harnessed the domain expertise from MW to help develop a model of causal drivers within the causaLens platform.
This model established a causal graph elucidating the interplay and relationships between demographics, brand sentiment, and brand attributes. This causal graph allowed MW to uncover the true drivers of affinity and distinctiveness for the brand and its sub-brands across different segments of the population.
The underlying strength of the causaLens decisionOS platform lay in its capacity to identify not only what attributes were important for boosting brand affinity but also the interplay between these attributes themselves. With its ‘what-if analysis’ capability, the platform enabled MW to gauge the potential impact of different initiatives and shifting consumer attitudes, providing a forward-looking perspective.
Through combining this model with their strategic capabilities, MW derived unique and actionable insights from the survey that go beyond what is possible with standard market research. Armed with these insights, MW effectively channeled their expertise to offer strategic recommendations that empowered the client to make well-informed decisions with confidence.
Result: Unveiling Invaluable Insights
The combination of MW’s strategic expertise and causaLens’ state-of-the-art Causal AI platform unearthed invaluable insights for the brand. These insights result resulted in a number of core messages for the client:
- Brand distinctiveness and affinity are both key to driving consumer purchases but are
themselves driven by distinct sets of attributes. - Affinity is due to classical brand and product attributes such as taste and value for money.
- Brand distinctiveness on the other hand is driven by overall brand perceptions ranging from
social activism to whether a brand shares customers’ core values.
These insights exhibited a remarkable potential for an uplift in brand purchase intent through target marketing. The projected magnitude of improvement ranged from 5-10%, with negligible downside risk. Furthermore, the scenario analysis made possible by the causaLens platform allowed the MW team to delve deeper into these insights.
MW experts were able to identify key drivers of brand credibility, distinctiveness, and affinity to allow for strategic planning on the part of the client. This second order level of insight also allowed MW’s team to understand the demographics most affected by these drivers in differing scenarios.
Conclusion
As competition and costs of living increase, the need for more effective marketing continues to rise. The success of this partnership positions both MW and causaLens to extend this enriched offering to their existing client bases and beyond, reinforcing their distinct market advantage.
By merging pioneering technology with best-in-class strategic marketing acumen, the MW and causaLens collaboration redefines the realm of market research for consumer behavior.
In a landscape characterized by its potential for transformation and risk, this partnership illuminates a path toward purpose-driven brand success.