MOONPLOT – let’s go to the moon!!
For visualizing the brand image data, we use one of the following charts in our report
- Association data – Brand Image Profiles
- Biplot Representation
In this issue, I am going to talk about one more way to visualize the brand image data. It is known as Moonplot. Before we talk about of Moonplot, let us look into the above chart types.
- Association Data – Brand Image Profiles
The most simple and elegant way of showing our association data. It involves removing the brand size effect and normalizing the scores across the rows and columns. The positive associations are shown as high positives and negative associations are shown as high negatives, the range determined by the Standard deviation of the whole distribution.
Pros of Brand Image Profiles
- It is simple DIY analysis.
- Easy to interpret & build a story in the report
- No specialized software needed for generating BIP’s
Cons of Brand Image Profiles
- Difficult to explain to clients who are not used to this analysis
- Difficult to understand the take out due to large sets of numbers involved
- Looks simple in the report
- 2. Biplot Representation
Biplot is a type of principal component analysis used to understand the strong points of a brands in a relative plot. All the attributes and the brands are plotted to a common central point.
Unlike the BIP the Biplot provides more information about the brands and attributes involved. The attributes and the brands plotted further from the center are the ones which are more discerning. For example: in the below chart the attribute ‘Most expensive’ and ‘Offer different products’ are the two most distinguishing attributes whereas the brands Kibi, Hochland, Gela Amol, Ramak, Mihan, Manimas and Pegah are more differentiated on these aspects compared to the other brands that has clustered in the middle.
Pros of Brand Image Profiles
- Richer than the Brand Image profiles
- Helps in identifying the differentiating attribute and brands
- Easier to read the brand strengths by the drawing its area of influence.
Cons of Brand Image Profiles
- Cluttered with statements and brands – making its interpretation difficult at times
- Need specialized software for drawing the Biplot
- For studies where the brand association is not very discriminating the brands will just crowd in the middle making the Biplot unusable.
- 3. Moonplot
To address the shortcoming in the above two charts, we can use Moonplot to show the association data much better. The only difference between the Moonplot and the biplot is the way the attributes and brands are displayed. The biplot displays the brands and the statement in the same space while the Moonplot separates out the brands from the statements. The font size of the attributes defines their relative importance to the category. The more pronounced attributes have bigger fonts while the less pronounced attributes have smaller fonts. Similar to biplot, the more differentiating brands are father away from the central point while the less differentiating brands cluster at the central axis.
Pros of Brand Image Profiles
- Very Tidier compared to other charts which makes interpretation easier.
- The varying font size of the attributes makes it very clear that not all the attributes are of equal importance. Some attributes (negative or positive) will carry more importance among the respondents which is clearly shown by the Moonplot.
- Unlike the Biplot, here it is easier to understand the strengths of the brands by adding area of influence. For example – Kibi & Hochland are the two brands with strong association with being most expensive, while Manimas, Mihan, Ramak and Gela Amol are brands with association to Offers different products (no complex interpretation is required).
Moonplot Interpretation through attribute area of influence
(The cones when drawn from the brand gives the brands areas of influence)
Cons of Brand Image Profiles
- Need specialized software for generating Moonplot
- For studies where the brand association is not very discriminating the brands will just crowd in the middle making the Moonplot unusable.