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Summary

A number of years ago, British Airways was looking to challenge American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic for dominance of business-class travel on the airlines’ transatlantic routes. The qualitative research being conducted with consumers was not getting the research team the kind of insights they were seeking. They decided they would need to shake things up if they were going to achieve any breakthroughs that would help British Airways differentiate its business-class travel experience.

The research team took an unusual step. They set up focus groups that involved the usual target - regular business travelers. But they added product-development and marketing professionals who frequently traveled from New York to London, precisely the kind of professional that would typically be intentionally screened out.

After a joint focus group that included both consumers and these “prosumers,” the prosumers group joined the British Airways leadership team for a gloves-off creative session that incorporated what was learned in the focus group, but also took into account the prosumers’ understanding of the types of informed, innovative thinking the research team was seeking.

Share your thoughts on the "prosumer" approach to marketing research. Has your organization found it to be an effective practice in obtaining consumer insights? 

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