Musial Insights & Innovation

Experienced insights and marketing professional ready to make your next insights project easy, expertly executed, and effective for driving growth.

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Overview

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about Musial Insights & Innovation. We’ve been working with clients across various business sectors with both qualitative and quantitative projects for 10 years.

Key points, and points of view, about Musial I&I include:

  • 27 years of experience in corporate roles with large CPG companies in both brand management and insights provide a depth of experience in a wide range of market research methods, and the issues that marketers face in running a brand.

  • Clients have ranged from global to start-up organizations, so have experience in different business environments.

  • It’s been my experience that effective market research is a catalyst for change and growth - bringing the team together and energized on building a plan for success. 

  • I understand that research budgets can be tight. I work with well-known U.S. and international research agencies such as Forsta, Sago, Dynata, and independent focus group facilities/recruiters to ensure that projects come in at budget.  

Expertise in several types of inights methods and new product development

  • I’ve done everthing from traditional focus groups in facilities, to watching customers react to new catering items in an office, to speaking with bartenders about spirits trends and new packaging.

    Knowing how to interact with consumers, getting them at ease and having some fun, and being a very active listener with empathy are very important in getting the most out of these sessions.

  • Covid accelerated the move to on-line qualitative, and it is more convenient for clients and travel budgets. I limit participants to 6 as its a bit harder to “read the room” on-line.

    I’ve done MANY B2B interviews with this format to reach professionals in many sectors and it’s great for that.

    Bulletin boards are the best for getting really in-depth information about a new category or consumer group for business planning.

    I work with several on-line chat platforms and recruiters to bring these sessions together.

  • Much of the research that CPG companies do is focused on new products or packaging. This is a process that most often includes qualitative upfront, and then quantitative testing to ensure that a signficant portion of consumers actually want to buy your new product!

    Having done countless new product projects on the corporate side and in consulting, I understand the need for; understanding the competitive landscape upfront, working on newideas that better fit consumer needs, exposing consumers to new concepts and packaging, and quantifying results for internal buy-in and external sell-in.

  • We work with a couple of quantitative suppliers to execute surveys. They have research platforms and access to large consumer panels.

    Typically, once I understand a project’s objectives, I’ll develop a survey, the supplier programs it and collects data, and I use their platform to analyze the data and create a report.

    In general, it’s good to do around 400-500 people in a survey to make the statistcs work for you. (The larger the sample, the smaller the change in scores are needed to ensure a statistically significant finding.)

Developing a Plant Based Protein Brand

A manufacturer of food ingredients wanted to develop a brand of plant based protein items for the college and corporate cafe channels to target younger adults, 18-34. The product had a unique selling proposition - the challenge was determining how to take it to market. The approach included:

  • An exploratory round of research using bulletin boards and interiews with both food buyers and college students to understand; the sector’s “ecosystem”, perceptions of currently available PBP in the channel, behaviors and attitudes.

  • Concept development using focus groups, and concept testing with 400 target consumers versus an existing PBP brand.

  • A taste test versus similar meat based versions to assess taste appeal and attributes like mouthfeel or flavor intensity.

    —> After adjustments were made to the product, a brand marketing plan was developed and it was launched in 2024

Line Extending a Premium Spirits Brand

A spirits company wanted to enter the emerging “ready to serve” cocktail sector with one of their leading bourbon brands.

  • We conducted 6 on-line focus groups to understand the ready to serve cocktail landscape - consumer needs, shopping behaviors, brand perceptions. We also explored which elements of the premium parent brand were most engaging to include in the ready to serve line.

  • Using their distilleries’ tasting room, we executed a taste test and interviews with 125 bourbon cocktail drinkers to 1) Assess the 3 ready to serve items being considered 2) Exposed consumers to three package options to assess appeal and concept fit.

    —> Changes were made to packaging and one of the product’s formula. The line is to be launched in 2025.

B2B - Relaunching A 5G In-Building Initiative

A large supplier of electric and telecommunication components wanted to relaunch their 5G sales effort in four business verticals. We conducted 28 IDI’s with trade professionals to:

  • Understand the roles of 5G pro’s and their process for selecting vendors in each sector

  • Develop a Journey Map of a typical 5G build out to understand decision and pain points

  • Understand which brand benefits drove vendor selection, touch points with vendors, and how they learned about new products and services

  • Assess their perceptions of the client’s brand and barriers to use

  • We finished up the project with a group work session with key stakeholders to generate plans to bring the research findings to life.

    —> This research led to changes in sales organization, communications/media, and their website in 2023.