Richard B. Wirthlin Center for Applied Values-Research in Marketing and Communications

From the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, man has understood and written about the importance of both the heart and mind in decision making.  Not surprising, the market research industry has long recognized the need for both emotion and reason in the development of effective marketing and communication programs.  However, the Values Research approach is unique in its rigor in understanding and measuring how emotion and reason work together to guide choices. 

Values research is based on Means-End Theory.  This theory says that decisions are driven by personal values held by the decision maker.  In essence, the value important to a particular choice helps identify the most important concrete elements and consequences of decision alternatives.  Values research applies this theory through a specialized “laddering” interview approach.  Laddering peals back the layers of importance in a decision, not unlike pealing an onion, identifying the most important attributes of a product or issue, the functional and emotional consequences of those attributes, and the driving personal value in the choice of alternatives.  When conducted over a sample of the target audience, the process not only identifies the decision process but also the reasons for choice, providing the basis for strategic actions.

The Heart and Mind Strategies Richard B. Wirthlin Center for Applied Values-Research in Marketing and Communications honors Dr. Richard B. Wirthlin – a pioneer in values-based research, Ronald Reagan’s pollster, and the first researcher to be recognized as Ad Man of the Year.   The Center will be dedicated to applying the most advanced theory and tools to the creation of successful values -based marketing and communications campaigns.   

As the leading practitioner of values research in business, government and political campaigns worldwide, Dr. Wirthlin drew on the writings of leading academics in the area of values research, including a close collaboration with Dr. Thomas J. Reynolds.  Understanding Consumer Decision Making: The Means-End Approach to Marketing and Advertising Strategy, edited by Thomas J. Reynolds and Jerry C. Olson, is a compilation of many of these foundation writings.

Heart and Mind Strategies builds on the Wirthlin heritage.  In addition to working with Dr. Wirthlin for over a decade, our consultants, as the principal researcher or senior consultant, have executed more than 100 values studies.  While many of these studies have been recognized with the prestigious David Ogilvy Award for research in support of outstanding communications, many others have contributed to highly effective marketing and communication programs in a variety of industries and with a wide-range of audiences.

The knowledge and experience of our consultants in designing, executing and interpreting values research effectively is the first of four pillars of The Center.    This knowledge base includes values work for the world’s largest corporations; America’s largest industry associations; major government agencies, think tanks and academic institutions; major regional and metropolitan areas, and national and international candidates for office. 

Industry experience includes but is not limited to the following industries:

• Consumer products                                                                       
• Financial services
• Issues and politics
• Energy
• Travel and tourism
• Furniture, flooring and home furnishings
• Beverages
• Agriculture
• Plastics and chemicals
• Automotive
• Telecommunications
• Health care
• Entertainment
• Computer
• Smart growth
• Not for profit
• Land management

Just as remarkable is the range of business and personal issues and decisions that have been studied, including:

• Industry, corporate, product, organization and candidate brand positioning and repositioning
• Reputation management
• Issues management:  ranging from political issues, such as school choice, to environmental issues (such as conservation, sustainability, and air quality) to social issues, such as charitable giving and adoption)
• Employee alignment with organizational goals and positioning
• Concept evaluation
• Product development
• Advertising and communication strategy
• Political and issue campaign strategy
• Crisis Management
• Customer satisfaction
• Recruiting

Among others, target audiences worldwide have included:  general public (and unique subsets, e.g., voters, high income, or charitable givers); consumers, including business to business; health care professionals; engineers; financial analysts; CEO and C-suite; employees; members of advocacy groups; agents and brokers; corporate and not for profit leaders; government officials (federal, state, local levels) and small business owners.

The second pillar of The Center is our cadre of trained interviewers.  In addition to extensive moderator training and experience, each interviewer has received at least 40 hours of specialized classroom and practice session training on the principles and application of values “laddering.”  Currently we can call on 12 interviewers.  All have completed one or more values interview projects in 2010.  We are able to execute multi-culture and multiple language studies.  The training course is a proprietary Heart and Mind Strategies capability and is being continuously improved based on our ongoing study experiences and evolution of approaches.

The Center’s third pillar is our development of the most extensive values research software support system available.  The system’s components include data capture, assisted coding, values map development and strategic analyses tools.  The system not only guarantees the rigor, implicit in values research, but also assures our study results are of the highest quality and most client friendly possible.

The fourth and final pillar of The Center is our ongoing focus and investment to find new and better ways to apply values research, while remaining true to the accuracy and strategic value expected of values research.  Our goal is simple:  provide our clients strategic advice in faster and more cost-effective ways.

Dr. Wirthlin is fond of saying that we “persuade by reason but motivate through emotion. “ Values research provides the strategic knowledge needed to not only persuade -- the act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate or change, but also motivate – the force, stimulus or influence to bring about change – your audience.