Week 4: Formative Research Continues...

I received an email today with a 'daily quote':

One faces the future with one's past. — Pearl S. Buck

For some reason (maybe because I had this blog on my mind) I immediately saw a connection between those words of wisdom and the topic of formative research we've been discussing in class. We've been talking about how important it is to find out as much as you can about your potential audience, when working on a campaign. To me, Pearl Buck's quote brought home this importance of this audience research even more. Even if we gather a group of fairly 'similar' consumers together, each one will be 'facing the future' or approaching your product based on their individual past experiences, their previous knowledge, etc. That makes it even more important to find out as much as possible about the individuals, so as to play off their past as effectively as possible. But how does one do that and still strike a balance between the amount of time it takes to do formative research, the money & resources available, and striving for the best, most effective campaign possible? I guess that is where experience and practice come in. Over time and through trial and error, I assume that it becomes a bit easier to find balance while producing a sufficient product. Hopefully someday I'll get to that point!