You can guess what consumers want. You can get them to react to what you think they want. Or, you can tap into their imaginations to find what they really want.

We all know that just asking consumers what they want or need is not enough. Yes, sometimes you hear some new ideas. But most often you hear what you already know or what they think you want to hear.

The sad fact is that most new products underachieve prospects that "research" told us to expect, if they don't simply fail. It's not always because the marketers didn't listen to the consumer. It's because consumers often don't have a forum to speak freely.

Before &After has developed a different kind of focus group that doesn't ask the consumer to react to concepts, it puts the consumers in a place where they can tap their own imaginations to uncover an immense variety of possibilities without being led.

We call this process the reFocus Group because it enables the marketer, to refocus its efforts to areas that the consumer finds of most value in new products or services.

This process uses science by virtue of our proven proprietary ideation methods, principally 100MPH Thinking™ and Intergalactic Thinking™, which employ, respectively, the law of large numbers and strategically aimed disassociation (much more clinical than totally free association).

But more than that, our methods encourage the magic of unencumbered thinking that realigns the consumer's wants and needs, recognized and unconscious, to produce a plethora of new ideas.

Before & After reFocus groups are fast moving, high-energy sessions. We conduct as many as six mini groups at once, for as many as 1,000 and more ideas per session (using many of the techniques of our highly-effective FlashFlood Brainstorming™. And, if it makes sense, we even allow time for conventional focus group dynamics, enabling you to leverage your time, efforts and expense.

This process has been used successfully for exploring fresh conceptual territory in areas such as consumer products, airline services, even home computers. It's been used with groups as diverse as affluent adults and inner city youth, even with the trade.

One of many small consumer teams participating in a Before & After reFocus Group concentrating on shoe styles and features.

Design your own program
and we'll send you some suggestions and an estimate.