Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique

Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique ( ZMET ) is a patented market research method. U.S. Patent # 5436830 was issued July 25, 1995. ZMET is a process that elicits both conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings by exploring the symbolic and metaphorical utterances of people. ZMET was developed by Gerald Zaltman at Harvard Business School in the early 1990s. The procedure is used both by scientists and for marketing purposes to study a wide variety of subjects.

origin

Zaltman began to think about the power of images while on a trip to Nepal in 1990 . He originally planned to bring his own camera but decided at the last minute to record the trip by giving disposable cameras to local residents and asking them to take pictures explaining how they feel about life in their villages. After developing the pictures, Zaltman returned to the villages and asked the residents, with the help of a translator, to explain the meaning of the pictures. The photos tended to reveal ideas that were difficult to put into words. For example, none of the pictures showed the feet of residents. It was photographed that way on purpose. In Nepal, bare feet are a sign of poverty. Zaltman believed that given the stigma associated with poverty, this topic would not have come up if he had simply asked residents to describe their lives in words.

ZMET research process

Study participants are usually asked to collect a series of images that represent their thoughts and feelings about the subject. Zaltman quotes well-known researchers such as Steven Pinker and António Damásio to support the claim that thoughts are neural activations - often in the form of images - not words. The images collected by participants are important metaphorical tools to uncover deep, often unconscious thoughts and feelings.

The aim of the ZMET interviews and analysis is to uncover relevant, fundamental structures that control thinking and acting in relation to a specific topic. These deep structures are unconscious, elementary frameworks of human thinking that influence how people react to and process information or stimuli. These structures or frames express themselves in surface metaphors, as they are used in everyday language. When these are grouped, they reveal the deeper frameworks of understanding and thinking about a particular topic (see framing ). These frames can be used for marketing purposes to ensure more effective communication with consumers about brands and products. You can also help with product development (see Oticon example below).

Applications

Oticon , a Danish manufacturer of hearing aids, used ZMET to better understand the deep, negative associations with hearing aids. The company felt that consumers were only using high costs as an excuse to postpone or avoid buying a hearing aid. The study found that hearing aids are a symbol of being old and defective. Oticon addressed this negative association by developing a hearing aid with a new, fashionable styling.

In a study for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, ZMET discovered that transformation and control are critical metaphors that influence the hospital experience of patients and their families. The architecture company Astorino translated this into a "transformation hallway" that connects the car park with the central reception. Along the walls of this 80-meter-long corridor is a butterfly motif that changes again and again to symbolize the change of the seasons and thus the transformation metaphor. The hospital created a modular hospital room design that gives patients and their families the ability to personalize the room (giving them more control).

ZMET played a key role in launching Febreze , a Proctor & Gamble product.

ZMET is used for academic and charitable purposes and studies, such as studies of mountain biking, women's recovery from substance abuse, the relationship between video game players and their avatars, how Americans deal with the economic crisis, the value of an insight (insight) in the workplace.

literature

Wolfgang Ullrich: Have want: How does the consumer culture work? (January 1, 2008)
Philip Kotler: Marketing Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know (March 3, 2003)
Thomas O'Guinn, Chris Allen, Richard J. Semenik: Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion (April 18, 2008)
Lewis Carbone: Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again (May 24, 2004)
Brad VanAuken: Brand Aid: An Easy Reference Guide to Solving Your Toughest Branding Problems and Strengthening Your Market Position (July 7, 2003)
Len Sperry: Assessment of Couples and Families: Contemporary and Cutting Edge Strategies (The Family Therapy and Counseling Series) (July 21, 2004)