Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

Concept Evalutations

Recently when giving a presentation on "Researching Research," I was asked my preference for concepts with words only or concepts with visuals. My position is that this preference is a misdirection of priorities. We should consider why we are conducting the research and ask which method of presentation is appropriate. In evaluating a concept, our consideration should be directed to the real reason we are conducting the concept evaluation. My position is that we are actually evaluating an idea and not really the concept. Therefore, we should use any means possible to clearly communicate to the respondent the fundamental idea on the basis of our presentation and not the idea itself.

It has been my experience that many companies will spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money evaluating a concept that was put together with little time, effort, and most importantly consumer input into the communication process.

It is my position that there are fundamental components that should be present in all concepts. The primary components are:

  1. What is the product?
  2. What is its reason for being? This may be in the form of a need or empathy statement.
  3. A description of the product (a visual is optional)
  4. What is the reason to believe?
If the product does something that is unique to the category, I believe it is appropriate to have a visual of the product in action.

Unlike many people, I do not feel price should be included in the concept unless the price is a fundamental reason for the existence of the product. Generally I do not think the consumer is aware of the product category prices and the inclusion of the price may introduce an unnecessary negative. Also, at the time of concept development we usually do not have a good grasp of the ultimate price.

I propose that when embarking on the assessment of an idea we think about concept evaluation in two phases. In the first phase we should be evaluating how the concept communicates the idea while in the second phase we then conduct the usual concept evaluation. That is, evaluating the appeal of the idea.

The first phase of the research should include quantitative need assessment, qualitative one-on-ones for communication idea feedback, and finally SPACE to assess how well the components work together to develop a favorable image profile. In my next "Views," I'll describe the SPACE technique.