New Hotspex Tool Maps Emotional Drivers

In Canada, research firm Hotspex has partnered with strategy specialist LEVEL5 to design BrandMap, an online tool that quantifies and links the emotional and rational drivers of brand usage.

Based on a model called MarketSpex which Hotspex launched in 2005, the new methodology plots 96 recognized human emotions onto a concentrically ringed map, categorized into eight primary 'emotion zones'. The map's center represents those core attributes that must be achieved in order for a purchase decision to be made.

LEVEL5 says that a successful brand's various points of differentiation will occupy not only that bullseye position, but also the middle rings. However, if a brand's strongest attributes become exaggerated and stray too far from the center, it will be in 'negative territory'.

After four years of R&D and more than 30,000 interviews on about 100 brands, the firms say that the real reasons for brand usage are, on average, at least 50% emotional. Hotspex claims that where traditional market research is typically able to predict future consumer behavior with about 60% accuracy, the addition of emotional associations pushes the score to higher than 80%.

Under the firms' partnership agreement, Hotspex will support LEVEL5 to roll out BrandMap across Canada, while continuing to expand its original MarketSpex solution.

Hotspex President Ted Langschmidt (pictured) comments: 'LEVEL5 shares our belief that emotions drive behaviour and can be evaluated and integrated into brand strategy. The ability to measure the deep emotional relationships that people have with brands sets MarketSpex and BrandMap apart from traditional research.'

Web sites: www.hotspex.biz and www.level5strategy.com .