ARF Annual Conference: "Episodic Reconstruction" drives U.S. auto group beyond roadside service

Geoffrey Precourt

Reporting from the Advertising Research Foundation's annual Re:think conference, WARC Online's U.S. editor Geoffrey Precourt covers the story of how the American Automobile Association (AAA) utilised a type of ethnographic research labelled "episodic reconstruction" to better understand its customers.

ARF Annual Conference

"Episodic Reconstruction" drives U.S. auto group beyond roadside service

Geoffrey PrecourtWARC Online

The American Automobile Association (AAA) had been trapped by its own success. All over the United States, members of the organization would call AAA whenever they needed roadside service. And, that emergency call too often was their first and last membership experience.

"We were a 106-year-old organization with 51 million members in 25 percent of U.S. households and $20 million in annual revenues," Bob O'Keefe, AAA managing director/brand and membership, explained at a session of the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) Re:think 2009 annual conference....

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