Breaking the Code

Dr. Rapaille’s technique includes a three step physic journey for the subjects that take them past reason, through emotion and finally to the primal core where all the purchasing decisions really lie. The focus of his research is to find out why people do what they do; Dr. Rapaille conveys that consumers are driven by unconscious needs and impulses in their purchasing behaviors. In the first step of the focus group, Dr. Rapaille starts with the cortex or reason; he says that people want to show off how intelligent they are and so he allows the subjects to define a word such as luxury. What people think about it or how it is related or portrayed by marketers or companies. For example, luxury is related to a product being well-made. However, Dr. Rapaille does not care about what they say, the information is nothing new. Then they have a break; during this break the subjects will feel good about themselves and very happy and content. For the second step of the process, they come back into the room for the “emotion” phase. They are told to make up a story to tell a 5 year old from another planet. This moves the subjects into a different mindset, not logical or intelligent but just to please a 5 year old from another planet. Now the subjects do not understand what they are doing anymore, and this is exactly where Dr. Rapaille wants them to be. Afterwards, the subjects have another break; during this break the subjects will think that Dr. Rapaille is crazy and that they don’t understand anything. Finally the third stage of the phase begins after the break. When the subjects come back to the room, they will find no chairs but pillows on the floor. Then the lights will be turned off and the subjects will relax together to try to go back to what they were trying to understand the first time. Dr. Rapaille is trying to create the mindset the subjects will have when they wake up in the morning. The results are surprising thoughts from 20 to 30 years ago and all of the notes and scribbles from the subjects at this time relate all back to the first subjects (e.g. luxury). What Dr. Rapaille is after in this step is to understand primal urges; he is after what he calls the Reptilian Hot Button. He mentions that is crucial to understand that the reptilian always wins no matter what. Ultimately, Dr. Rapaille wants to achieve breaking the code of a specific word (e.g. breaking the code of luxury). He suggests that the first time we understand a word, we imprint a meaning o the sword and create a mental connection. Therefore through his process he is trying to break the code of these words to get to the consumers’ primal core and mental meanings we associate with the words.
In my opinion, this research method is a great methodology to understand the true motives behind the purchase behaviors of customers. Through most of the data collecting measures such as interviews, regular focus groups, and direct observations, most of the information or data can be skewed or have some sort of bias. However, taking the subjects into different stages and ultimately to the stage where it breaks down barriers of market research seems to allow great room for understanding and gathering valuable data for Dr. Rapaille. This type of research allows the subjects to reach a comfort level with the interviewer by affecting the environment of the subjects. As a market researcher this method could be useful any aspect of business to break the code for a specific product to see why an old product is not selling or how a new product could sell. Also it could be used for industries and market segments to find out more information and data about the areas.