Ready, fire ...aim

Monty Alexander

This paper argues that semiotic and cultural analysis is the best and quickest way to first assess what is going on in any marketplace, before embarking on any other kind of developmental consumer research.

Ready, fire … aim

A three–stage programme for new marketing development

Monty Alexander Partner, Semiotic Solutions, United Kingdom.

What's really going on in the marketplace? This is the first question any marketer in any situation needs to answer before deciding how to proceed. Particularly when that situation, like so many now, is new or unfamiliar and often without precedent: consider how to develop a health-enhancing tobacco product; how Honda might successfully expand into fast foods; how to deal with Matalan if you are Marks & Spencer.

In the past, consumer research was the taken-for-granted panacea for providing most of...

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