The traditional rules of consumer marketing work well when you have a clearly identified target audience to build a scalable business. That same approach does not work in specialized categories, like big Pharma or Building Products, where there are a finite number of addressable customers. Let’s use Oncologists, physicians who treat cancer, as an example. According to Statista, there were 20,886 oncologists practicing in the US in 2020. With these kinds of small numbers, companies need an approach to help identify brand strategy that is focused, compelling, and strategic enough to ensure that it addresses the needs of all physicians despite their differences.
The question is: how do you find the core idea with such a diverse group? Their treatment mindset, their core areas of expertise, their practice settings, their patient make-up, etc. This is why we created S+R Guided Deliberations™, an approach inspired by the way people make decisions in a judicial environment.
S+R Guided Deliberations™ is a unique methodology designed to reveal the biases coloring and shaping each individuals’ viewpoint and then having them work together to align behind one core insight that inspires a unanimous verdict. It is grounded on the breakthrough work coming from our partnership with the University of Chicago Law School. The jury room is a microcosm of decision making on steroids, a perfect petri dish to observe the human mind at work and in the context of a very diverse group. By integrating social science principles, we deconstructed the jury deliberation process - how does the human mind process information in a life-or-death situation, how does each jury member collaborate with others, and how do they make decisions that are true to their sensibilities, but in agreement with the rest of the group?
What started as a means of deconstructing the principles behind winning cases became the basis for a unique and highly effective decision-making research methodology. One that provides clear direction on the one idea and its articulations. As legal cases have gone virtual, so have we. We have perfected the execution of this method in a virtual context with support from a powerful set of technology solutions. S+R Guided Deliberations™ has been a powerful capability for clients to identify compelling ways to frame messages, inject “nudges” into their creative and customer experience, and fully preempt possible objections. Resulting in a platform – positioning or messaging – that works effectively across the most diverse group of constituents.
Louis Pasteur once said, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” With S+R Guided Deliberations™ you can get to the most powerful brand platform that maximizes performance and ROI.
Shapiro+Raj
S+R is a research and strategy firm that uses social and behavioral sciences to solve the toughest business and marketing challenges. Our next-gen methods dig deep to unlock market-ready insights. Then our brand planners turn these into strategic marketplace actions that create brand evolution and innovation; customer experiences and loyalty; and new platforms for growth.Shapiro+Raj is one of the top 10 independent strategic research and insights consultancies in North America. It has been purposefully built to help clients spark transformative outcomes for their brands and businesses. Our mission is to help Fortune 10-500 clients find new and different ways to grow in today’s continually reshaping landscape. We have integrated social science principles with behavioral economics capabilities and extensive brand marketing experience to creatively connect the dots between what consumers and customers think, feel, say, and do. The results are commercially viable insights that open new pathways for growth. We are one of the Top 25 Most Innovative Research Companies and a Top Ten Strategic Consultancy, according to Greenbook’s 2021 Global GRIT report. We are also a Nationally Certified Minority Business Enterprise. Headquartered in Chicago, the firm has offices in New York, Minneapolis, and Pune, India.
