Preferred Methodologies - Consumer Forums

Consumer Forums comprise teams of 6 or 8 target individuals each – a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 teams per forum session. The sessions run for between 4 and 6 hours each - substantially longer than the traditional focus group. Forums take place over weekends and participants are generously incentivised for their time.

Multi-moderating takes place - each team is moderated individually.
In practice, the teams work separately for part of the session and may be merged as required.

Consumer Forums allow client and agency (a maximum of 5 people in total) to observe and participate throughout the proceedings which makes the research process participative and interactive.

Throughout the discussions, projective techniques (market segmentation, product segmentation, mind mapping, user - product - brand - perceived profile collage) and stimulus material (packaging - advertising - product promotional material) are used extensively by participants.

Tasks include individual (uncontaminated) self completion questionnaires and open discussions on specific issues/topics.