Brand Research That Measures What Buyers Do, Not What Focus Groups Say

Focus groups say they prefer your brand. Then they buy the competitor at shelf. The gap between stated preference and purchase behavior is where brand strategy fails. SIS International combines qualitative brand exploration with quantitative measurement to isolate what actually drives brand selection, price tolerance, and loyalty. We run brand equity tracking, positioning studies, customer journey mapping, and competitive perception research with the buyers who spend money, not the respondents who express opinions.

Brand Equity Tracking and Measurement

SIS designs recurring brand equity studies that measure aided and unaided awareness, brand consideration, attribute association, and price premium tolerance on a quarterly or semi-annual cadence. We track how brand health metrics change in response to campaigns, competitive launches, and market shifts. Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble run continuous brand tracking because a single annual study captures a snapshot while equity erodes between measurements. SIS delivers trend data that connects marketing investment to brand metric movement, so the CMO can quantify what the spend actually changed.

Brand Positioning and Perceptual Mapping

SIS conducts positioning studies that map your brand against named competitors on the dimensions buyers actually use to differentiate. We use correspondence analysis and multidimensional scaling to produce perceptual maps based on consumer survey data, not internal assumptions. A financial services brand discovered through SIS positioning research that they occupied the same perceptual space as their largest competitor on both “trustworthy” and “innovative” dimensions. The positioning was not differentiated. The brand team repositioned around a specific attribute where the competitor was weak: speed of claims processing, a functional benefit that no competitor owned.

Customer Journey Mapping with Behavioral Data

SIS maps the customer journey from initial need recognition through purchase and post-purchase evaluation using a combination of survey data, in-depth interviews, and behavioral observation. We identify the specific touchpoints where brand perception forms, where competitive evaluation occurs, and where the customer decides. Standard journey maps describe the process. SIS journey maps quantify the influence of each touchpoint on the final decision. A consumer electronics client learned through SIS research that YouTube product reviews had more influence on purchase than any owned media touchpoint, including the brand’s website.

Brand Name and Identity Testing

SIS tests brand names, logos, taglines, and visual identity systems with recruited consumers before launch investment. We evaluate memorability, pronounceability across languages, semantic associations, competitive distinctiveness, and trademark viability. Research includes monadic evaluation (each name tested independently) and comparative ranking. Visa tested its brand refresh with consumer research before global rollout. SIS uses both qualitative exploration (what associations does the name trigger?) and quantitative measurement (which name scores highest on recall and purchase intent?) to produce a recommendation backed by data.

Price Sensitivity and Brand Premium Research

SIS uses Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter and Gabor-Granger methods to determine the price range consumers consider acceptable for your brand versus competitors. We also run brand-price trade-off conjoint studies that isolate how much of the purchase decision is driven by brand equity versus product attributes versus price. A premium CPG brand used SIS price sensitivity research to discover that their target consumer’s willingness to pay peaked at a threshold that was 15% below their planned launch price. The pricing was adjusted before production commitment.

Competitive Brand Perception Research

SIS interviews category buyers and conducts quantitative surveys to document how your brand is perceived relative to specific named competitors. We measure attribute-level comparison, consideration set composition, and the specific triggers that cause a buyer to switch brands. A B2B technology company discovered through SIS competitive perception research that their brand was perceived as a “premium specialist” by existing customers but as “too expensive and too narrow” by non-customers evaluating the category. The gap between customer perception and prospect perception required different messaging strategies for retention versus acquisition.

BRAND MEASUREMENT INTELLIGENCE

Three Brand Research Failures That Waste Marketing Budgets

DIAGNOSIS 01 //

STATED PREFERENCE VERSUS PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

The Focus Group Preference Illusion

Eight consumers in a focus group say they prefer your brand’s new positioning over the competitor’s. The brand team approves the campaign. In-market, share does not move. Focus groups measure what consumers say when asked directly. Purchase behavior is driven by habit, shelf placement, price promotion, and split-second recognition at the point of decision. SIS designs brand research that measures both stated preference and revealed preference through conjoint trade-off exercises, shelf simulation testing, and behavioral observation. The gap between what consumers say and what they do is where the brand strategy lives or dies.

DIAGNOSIS 02 //

UNDIFFERENTIATED POSITIONING ON SHARED ATTRIBUTES

The Perceptual Overlap Problem

Two brands both position on “trust” and “quality.” Both run campaigns reinforcing those attributes. Neither gains share because consumers cannot distinguish between them on those dimensions. Perceptual mapping research reveals that the brands occupy the same space in the consumer’s mind. The solution is not to communicate louder on the same attributes. It is to find a dimension where the brand can credibly own a position the competitor cannot. SIS perceptual mapping identifies the open space in the competitive map and tests whether the brand can credibly claim it.

DIAGNOSIS 03 //

ANNUAL TRACKING THAT MISSES MID-YEAR EROSION

The Measurement Gap Problem

The annual brand health study shows stable equity scores. The next year’s study shows a decline. Between the two measurements, a competitor launched a campaign that shifted consideration set composition in Q2, and a product quality issue in Q3 depressed satisfaction among the brand’s heaviest users. Neither event was detected until the annual study fielded nine months later. SIS designs quarterly or semi-annual tracking programs that catch equity shifts while there is still time to respond. The frequency of measurement determines the speed of response.

PRIMARY RESEARCH DELIVERABLES

What SIS Delivers to Brand and Marketing Leadership

Recurring Brand Equity Tracking with Campaign Attribution

Quarterly or semi-annual measurement of awareness, consideration, attribute association, and price premium tolerance. Each wave includes campaign-period analysis that connects marketing spend to specific brand metric movement. Trend data across waves identifies what shifted equity and what did not.

Perceptual Mapping and Positioning Gap Analysis

Correspondence analysis and multidimensional scaling based on consumer survey data. Your brand mapped against named competitors on the dimensions buyers use to differentiate. The deliverable identifies the open perceptual space and tests whether your brand can credibly claim it.

Customer Journey Influence Mapping

Mixed-method journey research combining survey data, in-depth interviews, and behavioral observation. Each touchpoint is quantified by its influence on the purchase decision. The output tells the marketing team where to invest and where the brand is losing the decision to competitive touchpoints.

Price Sensitivity and Brand Premium Quantification

Van Westendorp PSM, Gabor-Granger, and brand-price conjoint studies that isolate how much of the purchase decision brand equity drives versus product attributes versus price. The deliverable is a pricing recommendation tied to brand strength data, not just competitive price benchmarks.

THE SIS DIFFERENCE

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