by Herman Manson (@marklives) WhyFive, the market research firm launched by Stuart Lowe, the former MD of media house Ramsay Media, is stepping up its market presence as the sector faces uncertainty about the future of AMPS.
The company has been rapidly expanding its product base, as well as its core team, which now includes Brandon de Kock, former group content director at RamsayMedia; Gordon Hooper and Alan Todd, both from Bateleur Brand Planning (both are shareholders in WhyFive with its online research methodologies, as well as Bateleur — focused on traditional methodologies); and with Megan de Kock managing sales.
Brandon de Kock takes up the position of director of storytelling and will be responsible for bringing a storytelling component into the research by helping formulate the right questions, gathering key insights and connecting these into a strategic application. He says a lot of data is available in the market but little of it is put into insight. He aims to convert data into insights, and insights into strategy, with storytelling bridging the gap.
Lowe says the group initially focused on glossy, beautifully produced reports, such as its Body Image Reports, but these have proven cumbersone and slow. They didn’t move terribly well. Now, his team is focused on ensuring they stay ahead of the curve in terms of online methodologies. Globally, 27% of research spend goes online, while in South only about 1% (Esomar MRIndustry Survey 2013) of the R2.2 billion market has gone online.
Lowe believes SA will rapidly catch up with global trends in terms of the shift online — especially in researching higher LSM consumers — and wants to be well-positioned to benefit from growth in this arena. Online is simply cheaper (about 10% of the cost of traditional research methodologies), deeper (more time available with consumers), wider (massive samples), faster and better (improved processes), says Lowe.
WhyFive does bespoke (ad hoc) surveys, syndicated surveys and also offers ad hoc data services (such as survey design). Syndicated products include The SA Cool Survey, The SA Retail Shopper Report, The Ubuntu report and BrandMapp, among others.
WhyFive’s key product is BrandMapp, rebranded from TopEnd, with its focus on higher LSM consumers. Lowe says BrandMapp “fills the gap at the upper half of the economic spectrum that other research surveys fail to adequately describe”. It covers those earning R10 000 a month and more, with a sample size of 20 000.
Segments covered by BrandMapp
According to Lowe, around 1.6 million households (10.8% of the total) have a combined income greater than R25 000 a month. They account for 50% of all consumer spend in SA or R1000 billion of SA household expenditure a year. The middle income grouping (R10k – R25k) represents 20% of households and R800 billion in spending power. Both segments are covered by BrandMapp.
So, 4.3 million (out of 14.5 million) households account for 86% of household expenditure. The other 70% of South Africans have a combined household expenditure of R300 billion.
It’s the 70% that attracks most attention in services such as AMPS but, if you market to the higher income 30%, BrandMapp, with its focus on that market, offers the better data and insights, Lowe insists (see chart below). BrandMapp covers more than 300 measures and 750 brand filters.
If the bulk of your revenue is generated in LSM 1-5, his offering is not the proposition you are looking for, although this might soon change if a number of partnership proposals are put in place. If its LSM 6 and up — BrandMapp has stepped into the breach left by the uncertainty over the future of AMPS, Lowe says.
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