Some 40 members of the Cologne-Bonn Marketing Club visited market research firm concept m at Rheinauhafen in Cologne for an introduction to the secrets of depth psychological market research, and also learned how virtual reality can be used to deliver additional information on customer behaviour.

Dirk Ziems, Co-Founder and Shareholder of concept m, explained to the visitors how the understanding of the role of market research has expanded in recent years. “It’s becoming more and more important to dialogue with Marketing,” Ziems stressed. He began with an analysis of classic and current advertising campaigns to outline the possibilities of depth psychological market research in revealing deeper emotional reasons, motivational conflicts and archaic responses that can be identified in product use.

concept m has integrated depth psychology and quantitative market research in the “Indepth Implicit” methodology to achieve a new depth of results. A presentation of some research projects in China showed visitors what “Depth psychology made in Germany” can do for companies. Finally, Birte Rommelswinkel from the medicalvision agency in Essen demonstrated how virtualisation can be used in market research. Rommelswinkel: “Users feel that they’re in a setting where they’re really using the product.”

The lively discussion explored the possibilities and limits of market research, with Dirk Ziems and the two other Co-Founder and Shareholders, Thomas Ebenfeld and Rochus Winkler, warning against formulating questions too narrowly, with resulting tunnel vision and risk of missing crucial trends.

“The presentation was an ideal match for our annual focus, Customer Centricity,” enthused Holger Geissler, President of the Marketing Club. “The following discussion underlined the importance of the topic, and showed impressively where morphological research can deliver added value for customer analysis. medicalvision also provided fascinating insights into the possibilities of using virtual reality to test new products.”