The ZMET test was created by Dr. Gerald Zaltman in the early 1990s at Harvard University. This test is a patented marketing tool that helps researchers understand the underlying reason why people are attracted to certain things, and what are their underlying wants and desires. Here's a quote from Gerald Zaltman himself:
"A lot goes on in our minds that we're not aware of. Most of what influences what we say and do occurs below the level of awareness. That's why we need new techniques: to get at hidden knowledge-to get at what people don't know they know."
-Dr. Gerald Zaltman
For our consumer behavior class, we were asked to browse through magazines and clip out 10-15 pictures that described our vision of "The Year After Graduation". Some of the images that i clipped out are to the right. When we came to class, we conducted mini ZMET tests with a partner. We asked each other questions based on our photos, and grouped them in random ways in an attempt to get the interviewee to describe the underlying connections. As I was discussing with my partner, I was able to find underlying metaphors with the images that I had selected. The majority of my images included something to do with adventure and spending time with the people I love. When I was flipping through magazines, this was not specifically what I was looking for. However, these are the images that stuck out to me and that I connected with. It was interesting to see what my partner had chosen too. Hers were very different from mine. She had a lot of pictures of more schooling, making dinner at home, and stress with finances. We both agreed that it was interesting how different images affected us in different ways. Once we finished up our individual interviews, we split the class into two groups to work on created one graphic together that describes "The Year After Graduation". While all of us had a wide variety of images, we were still able to come together and create a graphic that all of us felt was justifiable. While each of us had a different idea of what our year after graduation will look like, we were still able to come together and agree on a large scale model. I believe that we all had different visions, but shared the same roller coaster of emotions. These emotions included both excitement and nervousness. Even though we were working in different groups, the other group had a very similar visual to ours. 
The ZMET test is very helpful in understanding the underlying meaning of why people like what they like. This helps marketing researchers create the most appealing ads possible in the eyes of their target audience. I would love to observe an actual ZMET test being conducted. I find it very interesting observing people uncover that "hidden" knowledge they didn't even know they had about a product or service.
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