SIR Client: Home Instead Senior Care

Challenge: In 2000, Home Instead was seeing its international franchise for in-home senior care grow at a rapid pace. To sustain and build on this success, the company sought to test various new program ideas and brand messages among its target consumers. SIR was tapped to conduct a number of strategic market research studies to help point Home Instead in the right direction.

Action: SIR adopted a multifaceted research approach to produce a go-to-market strategy for Home Instead. Steps included:

• Product development research — to explore real consumer reactions to a new program concept.
• “Reasons to believe” research — to capture data to support Home Instead’s market positioning claims.
• Public relations research — to identify and package the most-viable ideas for earning media coverage. 

Results: Home Instead was able to design and market its new dementia care program to meet the specific needs of its target consumers. The company could also point to concrete evidence that paid in-home care is just as good as family care — a highly valuable part of its branding and advocacy efforts, leading to white papers on the topic.

Among other ideas, SIR’s research identified the correlation between positive eldercare outcomes and the ages at which parents (at 70) and their adult children (at 40) talk about eldercare options. This newly branded“40-70 rule” continues to earn national attention from the media, industry peers, service providers, and the public. 

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