The tracking study, or tracker, began with a relatively narrow focus. In 1976 Millward Brown introduced it as an advertising tool in its quest to meet a client's need to evaluate TV advertising ‘wear-out'. Before long its value was recognised and its use became widespread.

Stochastic International (bought by NFO WorldGroup, now TNS, in 1998) first introduced continuous tracking into the Australian market in 1982, through the Stochastic Reaction Monitor. In its first 20 or so years of existence, innovations in tracking typically were about technology and data delivery. These days, innovations are somewhat different - less tangible but a whole lot more perceptive, valuable and wide-ranging.

From where have we come?

Evolution of the tracking project has been consistent. The focus of tracking quickly developed beyond advertising to encompass brand measures so that the effect of the advertising on the brand could be understood. Both advertising and brand measures have become more complex - and more widely debated - as different tracking providers and research buyers have introduced their own models of thinking around how brands are built and how advertising works.

Tracking's worth is now seen in its ability to provide a valid measure of brand equity, or the brand relationship. Brands are assets that get their value from consumers' opinions of them, so how can business decisions be made viably without tracking those links between brand and consumer?

‘Insights from tracking studies have helped us shift strategy to try to separate ourselves from competitors when they have started to encroach on our territory,' says Brenda Mitchell, marketing manager, intimate hygiene and baby at SCA. "For example if all our competitors are owning "girly" and none owning "sophisticated" then we can tailor our brand and message to meet that.'

Frequency of tracking has also changed. Continuous interviewing and rolling reporting were introduced to avoid ‘missing' periods in a campaign's lifecycle and to understand the influence of competitive activity on the market. Continuous interviewing also helped to identify in which direction a trend may be heading; to gain a more thorough approach to evaluating a brand's health. However, it is a costly procedure and change, if any, is quite often insignificant wave on wave.

Current practice in Australia is therefore to adopt a mix of measures, where the more sensitive and dynamic elements are measured more frequently and slower-moving ones on an ad hoc, immediately post-campaign basis (this is explained in detail in an article by Spike Cramphorn titled ‘Designing post-testing for the third millennium', which was published in the November 2002 edition of Admap). The advent of online research has helped to achieve this flexibility as well as drive speed and efficiency.
It has long been recognised that a tracking study should not stand alone, but should be enhanced by supplementary information and other research inputs. However, the shift we are seeing now is in the added value it can bring. Using the same broad principles, trackers are now relied on to produce results in an increasing number of areas.

A change of mindset

Millward Brown's Gordon Pincott noted in his 2006 paper titled ‘A Dynamic Future for Tracking' (Admap, February 2006) that the future of tracking was not about inventing a new tool but a change of mindset. It's about understanding what tracking can deliver and then adopting a more flexible approach to the implementation and reporting.

Rosie Hawkins, newly appointed global head of brand and communications at TNS, agrees. ‘The challenge for tracking now is to better reflect the dynamics of the marketplace. Markets and brands are exposed to the continuous pressure of both planned and unplanned influences. In order to capitalise on positive market dynamics or to take swift action when faced with negative forces, a brand relies on accurate and timely information. Tracking plays a vital role in this process if properly conceived and managed. Its value lies in its ability to be flexible and dynamic - responsive to the market and marketing forces - so that it can be acted upon quickly and decisively.

‘A particular challenge for research suppliers at the moment is to develop ways to monitor the wider brand experience. While the focus of a lot of research is the client-controlled marketing activity, we must recognise that there are elements outside their control that impact consumer behaviours and attitudes. I think it's in this area that the next tracking innovations will emerge.'

Media fragmentation, the emergence of new media channels and Web 2.0 are changing the communications environment. There is less reliance on traditional media (particularly television). It is necessary to adapt brand measures to today's communications environment. Measuring word-of-mouth for example has become increasingly relevant.

‘Tracking can produce insights across all of the points of interaction between the consumer and the brand. It must inform businesses on where they need to go in multiple spaces, not just traditional or new media,' says Hawkins.

As well as understanding how people feel about the brand, it is essential to assess the future potential of the brand. Tracking has long been criticised for being ‘backward' looking and looking for trends and patterns in the data retrospectively. In order to be relevant, it is essential that tracking is used to shape and guide the future and not simply to report on the past. The future of the tracker itself must be future-focused.

‘It's important to recognise that some consumers are more influential than others. This must go beyond early adopters (who are often also early abandoners) to recognise those consumers who are also brand advocates and whose behaviour will influence others thereby creating longer term, sustainable growth,' says Jacqui von Hirschberg, Australia and New Zealand director of consumer research at TNS.

Where to now?

The key challenge now is the need to respond to new market and marketing dynamics within the structure of a tracking study. For example, researchers need to fit more in without adding to the size - questionnaire lengths are, if anything, getting shorter as people become less willing to give their time.
The future also lies in understanding even more elements about the consumer, their behaviour and their relationship to the brand.

Hawkins says: ‘It's about understanding that all brand encounters matter. The challenge researchers now face is how to deliver insights that can provide both tactical and strategic guidance across an ever increasing range of consumer channels and in rapidly changing market conditions while still gaining a holistic view of the brand's health in order to shape its future success.'
TNS celebrates 25 years of tracking in 2007.

By Leila Butcher, communications manager at TNS

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