Conversations with corporate researchers
Jenny Crowley
Associate Brand Manager, Organic Valley
You graduated with a BA in communication arts and have a passion for improv. What special viewpoints or skills do you feel you bring to your position at Organic Valley?
Organic Valley is a farmer-owned co-op and cooperation is central to everything that we do. Everyone’s voice is important when making decisions. That commitment to collaboration and teamwork echoes the “yes and…” teachings of improv, which is one of the reasons that I was attracted to the culture of OV. Improv has also taught me to have an open mind, stay present and actively listen, which I think are key to being a good marketing researcher.
Talk about a recent win for your team and what you learned from it.
My first big research project for Organic Valley was our brand health assessment, which was really exciting. We wanted to get baselines for brand awareness, preference, loyalty and cross-category purchasing. I refer to the assessment results on a daily basis. The scores serve as a foundation for our short- and long-term brand goals as well as inform the brand strategy.
Could you provide tips for researchers looking to leverage online communities to better understand consumer interest?
Online communities can be a great way to get actionable insights quickly. We’ve used them to test interest on new product concepts and better understand the morning routines of busy moms. The online communities tend to be small, around 25-30 participants, so it’s crucial to be specific with your segmentation criteria in order to get feedback from your ideal target. And someone needs to be constantly monitoring the community and asking follow-up questions to get context to the answers given.
What new research products and/or methodologies are you focusing on in 2017?
We really want to understand the emotional why behind the buy, so we’re exploring methodologies like behavioral science and observational fieldwork.
What excites you about coming to work each day?
Every day I know I’m going to learn something new. Oh, and we have free chocolate milk in the refrigerators at work!