Brand tracking has evolved over the years from a routine research exercise into a strategic business intelligence tool that drives decision-making across entire organizations. Quality trackers provide an in-depth view of how consumers are buying, using, thinking, and feeling about your products and brand – a powerful competitive advantage in any industry.
The key to unlocking this advantage is a clear understanding of the insights and effectively integrating it across business units and teams.
Strategic Value and Applications
Research demonstrates that companies using longitudinal, systematic brand tracking achieve significantly better returns on their brand and product investments compared to those relying on ad-hoc measurements. In addition to providing early warning signals on market disruption, competitive threats, and consumer behavior shifts, the process helps organizations:
Track vital metrics including brand awareness, perception, consideration, satisfaction, and loyalty.
Understand how the brand performs relative to key competitors.
Evaluate the impact of marketing initiatives on brand perception and consumer behavior.
Spot emerging trends and consumer needs before competitors.
Inform major business decisions about resource allocation, market expansion, and competitive strategy.
Cross-Functional Value Creation
Perhaps the greatest strength of modern brand tracking lies in its ability to serve multiple organizational functions simultaneously.
In the following downloadable guide, our team of experts have summarized the most important fundamentals of brand tracking every organization should know when building or refining a tracker, as well as strategic considerations for Marketing, Brand, Innovation and Strategy teams.
It can be really difficult to get consumers to meaningfully engage with online surveys. ARIN addresses this critical industry pain point by leveraging natural conversation to uncover deeper insights than ever before.
The Directions Group, a strategic insights firm, and Idealyst Innovation, a pioneering agricultural solutions company, have announced a strategic partnership designed to bring expanded intelligence services to the industry to empower agribusinesses and their farming and ranching customers.
The study, Preparing for the Tidal Wave, highlights the growing gap between lifespan and health span in the U.S., as well as six long-term trends impacting American health that will have a disproportionate influence on consumer behavior, policy, and innovation over the next decade.
GLP-1 medications have transformed the health and wellness landscape, delivering dramatic weight loss for millions. But there’s a story experts and brands cannot ignore: rapid weight changes are driving a wave of consumer anxiety as men and women across America confront sudden, unexpected hair thinning.
Now is a tough time to run a restaurant. Inflation and interest concerns, labor shortages, supply chain issues and tariff uncertainty have restaurant operators worried about the bottom line. American consumers are also experiencing uncertainty, but not every consumer reacts the same way to it. Our 2024-2025 American Life & Health Lenses Study revealed six categories of consumers who are responding in different ways to the changing state of health. Let's look at how some of these categories who frequent QSRs are likely to react.
We're living in an age where our conversations increasingly involve - and are influenced by - artificial intelligence. From asking Alexa to turn on the lights to relying on Grammarly to polish our prose, AI is subtly but profoundly reshaping how we communicate. But this is just the beginning. As AI language models become more sophisticated, human language itself will likely evolve in response, creating a fascinating feedback loop. As we're interacting with AI, we are naturally adapting our language. At the same time, AI is learning from our language. So what does this mean for marketers?
Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is reshaping the global marketplace. With over 2 billion members worldwide and projected to control $12 trillion in global spending by 2030 (19% of total global spending), this digital-native generation is driving a financial revolution.1 If you’re a financial institution or bank, understanding Gen Z’s habits and values is no longer optional – it’s critical for future success.
Employee satisfaction is increasingly recognized as a key ingredient in driving strong customer satisfaction—this is especially critical in retail and service environments where frontline workers directly shape much of the customer experience. Recognizing this, a global restaurant brand asked us to help them build a benefits package to meet the needs of their U.S.-based employees.
The “Like a Girl” campaign was born out of a simple but powerful idea: for far too long, the phrase “like a girl” had been used as an insult. But what if that phrase could be reclaimed? Thanks to the power of Red Door™, The Directions Group's proprietary empathic insights process, we were able to identify clear, human-level tensions that served as a springboard.
There is a massive shift in consumer behavior coming, and it’s going to affect nearly every category in the United States in 2025. Brands that anticipate and proactively plan for that shift will find ways to delight consumers as demand changes; brands that ignore it will see their business impacted in small ways and large, and in ways that feel beyond their control.
Discover how human-in-the-loop AI is revolutionizing market research data quality through smart automation and expert oversight, boosting efficiency by 66%.
In today’s market, the growing importance of cultural relevance and diversity in leadership is undeniable. Companies are increasingly realizing that engaging with African American consumers in an authentic and meaningful way isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential to long-term business success. However, many businesses still face significant gaps in understanding how to connect with this powerful consumer group.
Brand tracking has evolved over the years from a routine research exercise into a strategic business intelligence tool that drives decision-making across entire organizations. Quality trackers provide an in-depth view of how consumers are buying, using, thinking, and feeling about your products and brand – a powerful competitive advantage in any industry.
The key to unlocking this advantage is a clear understanding of the insights and effectively integrating it across business units and teams.
Strategic Value and Applications
Research demonstrates that companies using longitudinal, systematic brand tracking achieve significantly better returns on their brand and product investments compared to those relying on ad-hoc measurements. In addition to providing early warning signals on market disruption, competitive threats, and consumer behavior shifts, the process helps organizations:
Track vital metrics including brand awareness, perception, consideration, satisfaction, and loyalty.
Understand how the brand performs relative to key competitors.
Evaluate the impact of marketing initiatives on brand perception and consumer behavior.
Spot emerging trends and consumer needs before competitors.
Inform major business decisions about resource allocation, market expansion, and competitive strategy.
Cross-Functional Value Creation
Perhaps the greatest strength of modern brand tracking lies in its ability to serve multiple organizational functions simultaneously.
In the following downloadable guide, our team of experts have summarized the most important fundamentals of brand tracking every organization should know when building or refining a tracker, as well as strategic considerations for Marketing, Brand, Innovation and Strategy teams.
It can be really difficult to get consumers to meaningfully engage with online surveys. ARIN addresses this critical industry pain point by leveraging natural conversation to uncover deeper insights than ever before.
The Directions Group, a strategic insights firm, and Idealyst Innovation, a pioneering agricultural solutions company, have announced a strategic partnership designed to bring expanded intelligence services to the industry to empower agribusinesses and their farming and ranching customers.
The study, Preparing for the Tidal Wave, highlights the growing gap between lifespan and health span in the U.S., as well as six long-term trends impacting American health that will have a disproportionate influence on consumer behavior, policy, and innovation over the next decade.
Today marks a significant milestone in the insights industry as Directions Research, SEEK Company, and Aimpoint Research unite to form The Directions Group.
Directions Inc, a leading insights and intelligence firm, recently held its highly anticipated annual company meeting where incoming President and CEO Elizabeth (Beth) Finn unveiled her vision for the firm’s future. Beth was recently selected by the Directions Inc Board of Directors to succeed President and CEO Jim Lane who will retire in December.
Directions Inc announced today that Jim Lane, President and Chief Executive Officer, will retire on December 31, 2024, after nine years of leading the firm through tremendous growth and transformation. Following an internal selection process, the Directions Inc Board of Directors has named Chief Client Officer, Elizabeth (Beth) Finn, as his successor.
Courtney PeGan has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of parent company, Directions Inc, to serve as President of SEEK upon his retirement and lead the division into the next era of growth, innovation, and human-centric insights.
Directions Inc announced this week the promotion of Elizabeth (Beth) Finn to Chief Client Officer as the company positions itself for continued growth as a go-to strategic marketing advisor for clients.
Cincinnati marketing research and insight firms Burke, Inc., Directions Research, EMI Research Solutions, and MarketVision Research are excited to announce the creation and launch of the Minority Access Partnership Program.
Directions recently promoted and expanded roles of several key leaders to create alignments based on industry expertise and better position the company to help clients achieve business impact.
Directions Research announced today organizational changes to sharpen its focus on technology solutions. These solutions are being implemented to build an industry-leading flow of data through the organization, elevating Directions’ ability to deliver quality insights to clients at increasingly fast speeds.
Directions Research is pleased to announce the promotion of Tim Laake to Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Tim will be responsible for all aspects of the Directions brand, from its digital footprint to speaking engagements at industry events.
We are pleased to announce that Jim Lane has been elected the new President & Chief Marketing Officer of Directions. Jim, who is currently CMO, will be taking over for Randy Brooks who, after serving as Founder and President for the past 27 years, will assume the role as Chairman of the Board.
The problem isn’t a lack of information. The problem is the lack of clarity in the midst of more information than there has ever been.
At The Directions Group, we’re passionate about turning chaos into crystal-clear understanding that will bring you closer to your customer and drive real results for your business.