Focus Groups

Malcolm Gladwell's new blog is great, not that I would expect anything less out of a superb writer of intriguing subject matter. In his book, Blink, he posited the futility of focus groups. I agree that focus groups are nearly worthless at determining the success or failure of a product. At best, they are a reality check -- they point out obvious problems that marketers may fail to notice. Gladwell's post this week links to his review of a new book that explains why this is the case.