Something Tells Me It's All Happening At The Zoo - Animal symbolism and totemism in qualitative research

Neil McPhee

The current competitiveness of the marketplace requires that qualitative research seek and deliver insights into a range of subject matter, including the nature and differences between brands.

Something Tells Me It's All Happening at the Zoo

Animal Symbolism and Totemism in Qualitative Research

Neil McPheeNuance Research Ltd., United Kingdom

SYNOPSIS

It is a somewhat tired cliche, amongst non-qualitative researchers and marketing/media personnel, to jokingly quote the technique of asking: “if this brand were an animal, what animal would it be?” Though it is a cliche, it still has merit because it does allow some access into the intuitive and unconscious aspects of a respondent's internal processes and thinking, and has the additional merit that animals are found in all continents and are largely a common cultural...

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