Consumer Insights Executive Creates Research Excitement at BP

Diana Gabbard, consumer and shopper insights FVC at BP, is the
lead for consumer and shopper insights for the retail marketing team including
over 9,500 gas stations in the east of Rockies area. At last year's TMRE, Gabbard sat down with IIR's Marc Dresner
to discuss BP's consumer insights
transformation that is being led by Gabbard.

With a great deal of experience in a variety of industries, she
has found the gasoline category to be very different from other retail
categories. In fact to consumers, gasoline is a very perfunctory category with
very low involvement and mostly negative emotion.

'This leads us down a different insights path. It leads us
to a very behavioral-based foundation of research that we use to then latter up
to more of the attitudes and the choices that the consumers make,' Gabbard
explained.

She has added several new research tools to the toolbox of
the retail marketing team. In addition, Gabbard has worked to engage and excite
the team, getting them a little bit close to the consumers and get excited
about research.

While expanding the toolkit, Gabbard wanted to get people
very comfortable and understanding the value of the different tools. She commented, 'It is about engaging those
stakeholders at every step of the way as well as building the trust with the
team that these techniques and tools would deliver the results that would help
transform the business.'

A lot at BP has changed since Gabbard arrived just three and
a half years ago. Today, BP is using more mixed methodological types of project
approaches, as well as a lot more technology.

'We are really creating an excitement and the research and
insights 'buzz' around BP helping to represent the consumer voice,' she said.