Marketing & Media Company news South Africa

Marketers turn to stable research in the midst of large consumer changes

The consumer landscape has been inexorably altered by the Covid-19 pandemic which has meant that brands and businesses have had to adapt to new consumer habits while at the same navigating through a labyrinth of complex challenges. More than ever before, current, relevant and credible data is key to business decision making.

One consistent and credible tool has been Target Group Index (TGI) data, a large-scale single source probability survey that provides annual data on South African consumers aged 15 years and older and living in communities of 8 000 people or more. TGI, for which Ask Afrika owns the SA rights, provides global geographic coverage of 70 different countries.

Marketers turn to stable research in the midst of large consumer changes

“TGI is the most comprehensive syndicated survey on products, services, brands and media habits in South Africa, providing relevant insight into how consumers think, behave and consume products and services,” reveals Maria Petousis, the executive responsible for TGI at Ask Afrika. “The index measures 8,000 brands, over 400 psychographics and more than 50 000 variables. It has the ability to diagnose consumption shifts and trends and identify different segments for activation strategies. In addition, extensive psychographic data provides users with a good understanding of consumer behaviours.”

One of the biggest benefits of TGI, she adds, is that the study includes no embedded biases. Instead, its methodology is fit for purpose with a sufficiently large sample size of 24,000 respondents.

Marketers turn to stable research in the midst of large consumer changes

Currently, more than 75% of leading marketers and media owners use TGI data to inform their decision making including brands such as FNB, Nedbank, Toyota, VW/Audi, Clover, Nandos, Reckitt, Redefine Properties and media owners such as Primedia, Provantage, JC Decaux, Mediamark and SABC, amongst others.

Marketers turn to stable research in the midst of large consumer changes

Jeremy Devar, insights and analytics lead at Reckitt, points out that more than ever before, targeting the ideal consumer requires consumer profiling including mapping out the psychosocial and consumer behaviours of the target market and creating meaningful sub definitions within the target market.

“TGI data provides us with a better understanding of the consumer which in turn allows us to engage more effectively with the right tonality,” says Devar.

Marketing manager for Consumer Insights at Redefine Properties, Gerri Botha, agrees, adding that “Understanding our customers is key to growing our market share, particularly as far as targeting customers with the greatest precisions is concerned, as well as understanding their life stages and values.”

Ultimately, he says, Redefine’s aim is to the centre of attention in its industry. “Far from curiosity killing the cat, in our industry we need to be even more curious and ask ever more questions.”

In the same way that the world of the consumer has changed, brands need to adapt, becoming ever more precise in their understanding of consumers. Not only do marketers need to be prioritising safety and convenience for their customers but they also need to ensure they understand the customer journeys and where the pain points lie.

This is where TGI data comes to the fore, offering representatively, stability, comparability and measurement against a reliable market base, while at the same time providing comprehensive data on behavioural insights, shopper dynamics, media, brand and psychographic tracking.

For more information – Please contact Maria Petousis on az.oc.akirfaksa@sisuotep.airam or Simone Kakana on az.oc.akirfaksa@enomis

Web portal: www.askafrika.co.za |+ 27 (0) 12 428 7400 | az.oc.akirfaksa@tcennoc

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