Innovation and Recognition Partner Up in EXPLOR Awards and The Market Research Event

Hewlett-Packard/Qualvu, Microsoft/Blue Ocean, PepsiCo/Sentient Vie For Top Honors on November 8

The single-select question in front of us is this: who will take home the 2011 EXPLOR Award? Will it be Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft or PepsiCo – and their market research partners – as they contend for this prestigious honor in research innovation?

Presented by uSamp™, the EXPLOR Awards is an annual case study competition that honors technical innovation in market research. Case studies not only inform, but they inspire and provide insight into the problem-solving process. The new solutions presented are often a peek into the future. As the tagline states, the award highlights “Innovation in Research.”

The call for nominations was extended through September 12. Innovation leaders from global corporations, research agencies and academia were invited to submit high-impact cases where technology and creativity have merged to advance the research and insight process. A world-class judging team – from noteworthy organizations like General Mills, GfK, NBC Universal and Wharton – selected the top three candidates that will be presented at The Market Research Event (TMRE), November 7 – 9 at The Peabody in Orlando, Florida.

Chuck Miller, who is President, DMS and Chief Research Officer, uSamp, co-founded the EXPLOR Awards in 1999. “The number of submissions grows every year,” said Miller. “The fact that more and more clients are involved in the submission process, working in partnership with providers, is significant. This year uSamp has a record number of case study submissions.”

Last year’s winner, American Water, along with finalists, ANZ National Bank and eBay, showcased innovation in market research through their respective case studies. American Water’s case study, “Tipping the Scales: How a New Research Tool Has Changed American Water’s New Business Development,” was a cutting-edge example of how insights from research can drive performance and new directions for a business.

The EXPLOR ceremony is during the keynote sessions on Tuesday, November 8, at 9:45 am. The presentation also features the NGMR Disruptive Innovator Awards, as the two jointly honor and cast a spotlight on industry innovation. The winning EXPLOR case study will be presented at 10:45 on Tuesday, November 8, in Celebration 12-13.

There is a very congenial atmosphere at the presentation itself, said Miller. “People are excited about sharing tangible details about success, and moving our industry forward.” Past winners and finalists include: Orange Telecom, Frito-Lay, Unilever, IBM, Intel, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Wharton, NBC Universal, UCLA/MIT and Microsoft among others. Past research partner winners and finalists include: Nunwood, Decision Insight, Communispace, Knowledge Networks, Millward Brown and Neurofocus among others.

The NGMR Disruptive Innovator Awards, sponsored by Tom Anderson of Anderson Analytics, will share the presentation stage in partnership with EXPLOR – together creating TMRE Innovation Awards. The Disruptive Innovator Awards recognize companies and individuals that have demonstrated outstanding leadership as change agents and made significant contributions to harnessing disruptive innovation – technological, methodological or otherwise – to drive research industry progress. Past winners and finalists include companies such as 3M Corporation, Linkedin and Nielsen Media Research among others – and individuals including AJ Johnson of IPSOS and Sean Conry of Techneos.

Congratulations to all who submitted case studies. Your innovative approach to market research is recognized and appreciated.

This post also appears at uSamp's Blog.

Low level of social media connection and social media spirit for Germany's MR industry

Recently Q –Agentur für Forschung and linkfluence released an inventory of the German market research network. You can access the interactive dataviz here (which is highly recommended).


What can we learn from the results?

Well, first of all we learn, that the internet network of market research in Germany not yet developed and divided into two parts.


First of all there are traditional market research players (left side) that exist on the internet mainly isolated and “for themselves”.

And then there's the networked side of the industry (right side). Here you find blogs and social network presences of agencies or individuals who produce (also) market research related content (including my German blogs Olympiamilano and FOYER for dedicated market research).

The degree of linkage between the two sides is rather weak and limited to a few connection points. Although the market research industry as a whole picks up momentum in the social media world social media agencies and specialized player are very active and much stronger located in social media than "classic market research".

In addition, you can see that the German market research blogosphere is relatively small and personal. While in other communities the content is mainly delivered by bloggers and they discourse on issues play a central role, the market research blogging scene is very “manageable”. You probably won’t find open discussion on market research topics currently in the market research web. It therefore can be considered rather a Web 1.0 experience than Web 2.0. The German market research web is not dominated by user generated content or active exchange, but mostly by news, press releases or articles.

One could assume that the German market researchers have moved to a presence in social networks like Twitter and Facebook. But this is not the case. Here, too, German market researchers are very cautious and reserved. There are only a few active presences and little more intense exchange. #mr-Buzz is limited to a few activists. Public discourse or even public controversies are rare.

Explanations are easily found:
1. Traditional understanding of "secret": news from the fields of techniques, methods, products or results are – from the inside perspective – highly confidential information that cannot be made available to the public under any circumstances
2. As long as the fear of lifting industrial secrets is that large, the exchanged and visible information thus is superficial and unsatisfactory. Exchange doesn’t exist.
3. Open and honest opinions and provocative theses are only very seldom to be found in the German MR-network. One of the main reasons for this is the perceived fear of negative consequences caused by the employer. The dominant opinion that it is not appropriate as an employee of a reputable company or a reputable agency to set up a provocative thesis on the future of market research or even comment this. Finally, you have to stand behind your corporate philosophy
4. Another explanation for the fact that almost nobody actively participates in knowledge sharing across the web 2.0 lies in the fact that they don’t receive any instruction from the management level for this. There is rather the attitude "I can take without giving".

So no wonder that awareness and interest from outside the industry for the subject of market research is sometimes low. This is quite a shame as that here is an opportunity missed to directly interact with clients and customers and to design the role of market research more active.

Social media, networking and market research be on the agenda in Orlando, Florida at The Market Research Event 2011 , hosted by IIRUSA. Looking forward to having interesting chats about this.

About the author: Christian Dössel is blogging about market research in German language here and here. After having worked for TNS, TBWA\ and other strategy and market research agencies he now holds the position of Senior Research Director at MM-Eye in Hamburg / Germany with special responsibilities for MM-Eye's new media and online research approaches

Chadwick Martin Bailey Launches New Customer Experience Management Software: Pinpoint Suite

Chadwick Martin Bailey is a sponsor of The Market Research Event 2011.

Leveraging over 25 years of customer satisfaction research experience, Pinpoint Suite drives management action and improves performance at every level.

Boston, MA – October 27, 2011 – Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB), a Boston-based custom market research firm, today announced the launch of Pinpoint Suite, a customizable collection of web-based tools to improve the usefulness of customer feedback. Pinpoint Suite integrates with existing customer feedback measurement programs to let managers proactively build and strengthen customer relationships and effectively lead performance improvement in their organizations.

“While companies are spending millions of dollars to measure customer satisfaction, they lack the tools to identify, translate, prioritize, and act on the data they get,” notes Chadwick Martin Bailey, COO T.J. Andre. “CMB found two-thirds of companies report difficulty in translating the data from their customer satisfaction programs into business improvements. Pinpoint Suite fills the gap between the data pipeline and actual insights and business improvements; maximizing existing program investment, and allowing non-analysts to turn data into action.”


“It’s an application based on basic process improvement: identify a critical issue, determine how to fix it, plan and take action, and, finally, measure the result,” continues CMB Senior Consultant, Jeff McKenna. “The simple-to-use reports and tools enable all employees responsible for managing customer experience to go through each of these phases to make informed decisions and set clear plans of action.”

Pinpoint Suite goes beyond traditional customer experience management tools; it engages managers at each level of the organization and is customized to support specific roles within the company. At the executive level, Pinpoint Suite’s enterprise-wide insights and tools help ex­ecutives prioritize decisions, set plans, and allocate resources. For managers, Pinpoint Suite lets them “close the loop” on systemic issues by providing tools that clearly identify problems to fix, list potential solutions, enable a planning mechanism, and track the results of the actions taken. Real time insights let front-line staff identify, understand, and resolve individual service fail­ures as they occur. Pinpoint Suite combines state of the art analytics with customized, highly-usable, and engaging tools to make high-impact business decisions.

Click here for more information

About Chadwick Martin Bailey
Chadwick Martin Bailey is a Boston-based custom market research and consulting firm who works with many of the most successful companies and best known brands in the world to help them acquire, maintain, and grow their customer base. Founded in 1984 by Anne Bailey Berman and Dr. John Martin, the company has corporate headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, serving clients in more than 30 countries around the globe. Chadwick Martin Bailey focuses on using leading-edge research techniques to collect and translate the data into simple, business decision-focused deliverables. www.cmbinfo.com

TMRE International Session Spotlight: South Africa: Consumer Insights in a Multicultural Society: A Yum! South Africa Case Study

Leading up to The Market Research Event, we'll profile the keynotes, tracks and themes at the 2011 event.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at the international sessions new to the event.  For more information on TMRE, taking place November 7-9, 2011; in Orlando, Florida, download the brochure now.  If you register TODAY, October 14 using code TMRE11BLOG, be one of the first 10 to register get a free FlipCam! Also be sure to RSVP for the TMRE Tweetup taking place 11/6 before the event!

Featured Country: South Africa
Featured Speakers: Toni Joubert, Portfolio Manager, Yum! Restaurants Southern Africa
Featured Session:Drawing on recent activities extending the YUM! Portfolio of brands into various regions in South Africa, this session will discuss how to overcome the challenges of gaining insights and marketing across widely differing cultures in one market.

Inspring Action with Market Research

“All of the great and inspiring leaders of the world all think, act, and communicate in the same way which is the exact opposite as everyone else. It’s called… the ‘Golden Circle.’” - Simon Sinek.
This is the ‘Golden Circle.’

We should be able to explain what it is that we do, and how we did it; those things are easy. Answering they why seems to be a bit more difficult. It’s this aspect, the why, however, is the most important aspect to getting your insights, your work, your vision accepted by those you are conducting the research for. And the why is not profit; that is a consequence of everything else.

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

A great example of this is Apple as provided by Simon Sinek. Can you image Apple saying: “Here’s a computer. It’s beautiful and easy to use.” Would you want to buy it? Maybe, but it’s not very inspiring, is it? These couple of sentences are working from the outside of the circle to inside. Instead, Apple works from insight the 'Golden Circle' to the outside. For example, they might say: “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo; we believe in thinking differently. They way we challenge the status quo is by making our product beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers.”
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

What does this mean for market researchers?

To inspire action from our research we shouldn’t tell people, leaders, executives, what it is that they should do differently, or what the business could do differently. Instead, they should be inspired by our belief of what the research is telling us. We should find the story, infuse it with
our beliefs, and sell it with inspiration.

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

We shouldn’t believe that we do research because it’s needed. We should be doing research because we believe it can make a positive difference for the end-users of our company’s products, services, or ideas. How we do that is with a variety of research techniques that are tailored to
specific needs and specific questions. This is market research.

Not what. Buy why.

Garrett McGuire (@GJMcGuire) is a Consumer Insights Analyst for a major retailer. His areas of focus are advertising research, brand equity, and providing consumer insights for many marketing initiatives. Prior to his current position, he was a graduate student at Michigan State University where he began his blog, "The Journal of a mAD Man," that explains the theories and methods of advertising.

Consumer Stories Are At Our Fingertips

Today's guest post is contributed by Steve August, Founder and CEO of Revelation, a partner of The Market Research Event 2011.  A pioneer in online qualitative research, Steve is considered a thought leader in the market research industry.  Prior to founding Revelation, Steve served as a principal for research consulting agency KDA Research, where he was responsible for business development and research, helping the company to triple revenue in three years.

Consumer stories are at our fingertips – if we know how to bring them to life…

We are living in a miraculous age. Until recently, researchers had little access to consumer experiences. In the context of people’s lives, two hours in a focus group facility or in a participant’s home represents a very narrow slice of people’s lives. Yet, many of the things we are most interested in understanding occur during the part of people’s lives when researchers cannot be present. This limited access to consumer experience has been a handicap to researchers in fulfilling the basic mission of market research: understanding people to answer business questions.

To borrow a phrase from the 1990’s ‘the paradigm has shifted’. Thanks to the age of social technology – web, mobile, rich media, social software - researchers have unprecedented, sustained access to people’s lives. Geography and time cease to be constraints; consumers all around the world are able to share their stories, the day-to-day experiences: moments of behavior, use, purchase and decision-making.

This shift has tremendous implications for qualitative research. Where once our options were to bring a group of people into a room far removed from their actual behaviors and experiences or spend huge amounts of money and time sending researchers into people’s homes -- now consumer stories are literally at our fingertips – if we know how to bring them to life.

This is where activity-based research comes in. It is an adaptation of methodology to match the interaction model of asynchronous online and mobile research. Activities can be diaries and journals, projective exercises, mini-documentaries, representational photography, personification exercises and a myriad of other possibilities. They can be used to explore behaviors, environments and emotions. Blended together in the right sequence this methodology makes you feel like you are in the room with your consumers, wherever in the world they happen to be.

Want to learn more? Please visit the Revelation booth (116) at TMRE!

Qualvu Launches Professional Development Program on Next Generation Market Research

Qualvu Launches Institute of Qualvu (IQ) for Researchers Interested in Enhancing their Value Proposition

Denver, CO – October 18 – As we enter the “consumer age” of empowered buyers who are not afraid to speak up, a new level of customer obsession becomes vital for the success of any business. Consequently, businesses need to move faster and demand real time information and recommendations if they want to keep up with the evolving times. Digital tools have posed new opportunities that can help researchers deliver what today’s business world demands: better, faster, and cheaper insights that inspire more accurate and profitable business decisions. To ease the transition into the digital world of research, Qualvu has launched Institute of Qualvu (IQ), an online program designed to help researchers master everything they need to know about next-generation qualitative research. The complimentary, multi-session program to be kicked off on October 26th, 2011 will engage researchers, showing them exactly how online qualitative research projects work and how they can set them up themselves.

Staying up to speed on the evolving research trends is essential for researchers today, and IQ’s mission is to provide them with the tools to do just that. IQ is targeted at researchers interested in enhancing their value proposition, providing better, faster, and cheaper ways to deliver answers to business questions and digitize their research. Through ten engaging, interactive, and informative sessions, researchers will gain insight on digital qualitative research tools, digital research best practices, and online reporting and analysis.

“Qualvu is as committed to propelling the growth of the qualitative research space through innovation that delivers superior intelligence that drives decision making as it is to elevating the overall value researchers provide to businesses,” said John Williamson, Qualvu Founder & CEO. “We have proudly partnered with dozens of research firms and independent researchers who have recognized the advantage digital tools pose and established solid partnerships that benefit both parties immensely. Ultimately, it is our goal that every business can access key intelligence and recommendations that answer their questions and help them meet their business goals. We believe that IQ provides a compelling opportunity for every researcher to develop their professional skills and master the digital tools that can help them deliver enhanced value to businesses.”

To register for IQ and learn how you can take your research to the next level, click here.

About Qualvu
Qualvu is the future of qualitative research, inspiring business decisions guided by the voice and face of the consumer. Through streamlined video-based technologies, we collect better human intelligence and deliver superior insights that drive decision making. The Qualvu proprietary platform – DESIGN-COLLECT-DELIVER-SHARE – enables multi-language, global research that drives online reports supported by actionable analysis and video highlights. Capturing behavioral and attitudinal feedback from home, work, in-store, and even in-vehicle, Qualvu delivers new levels of human access. Whether via webcams, flip cams, or the Qualvu mobile app, consumers are empowered to share truthfully; and brands are empowered to gain deeper insights, make better decisions, and share key data across the organization at a value that is changing the game. For more information, visit www.qualvu.com.

The WHY Behind NGMR's Disruptive Innovation Finalist Selection

Where's Mobile, Neuroscience and Social Media Monitoring?

By Marc Dresner, IIR

Yesterday, Tom H. C. Anderson, founder of the online research networking community Next Gen Market Research (NGMR), announced 10 individuals and 15 companies made the finals for the 2nd annual NGMR Disruptive Innovator Awards to be presented at The Market Research Event in Orlando November 8th.

In a mysterious turn, Anderson also reported this year’s awards have been reorganized and will feature three new categories in addition to the “Individual” category, but withheld any further details except to note that NGMR has dropped last year’s “Client” category, effectively putting research agencies in the running against the likes of IBM and Heinz. (I’ll admit I’m intrigued to see how that plays out!)

Finalists were selected by NGMR’s Board of Directors: Jan Fager and Dan Foreman (Europe), Michael Gadd (Canada), Jasper Lim (Asia), Duncan Stuart (Australia and New Zealand) and Tom Anderson and Gordon Morris (North America).

Upon scanning an advance courtesy copy of the list Sunday night, I was delighted to see several old friends and familiar companies, any of which would make a prime candidate for an award whose premise is the productive disruption of research as usual.

But I was also surprised to find that some of the trendier research areas today, such as mobile, neuroscience and Anderson’s own personal favorite, text analytics, were conspicuously underrepresented.

So, I went straight to the source to ferret out what, if anything, the finalists’ selection says about the industry.

It’s worth noting up front that as far as the judges are concerned crowdsourcing remains a definite disruptor.

Three companies on the list offer a crowdsourced type of service: KL Communications, Infosurv and BrainJuicer. Anderson confirmed that the committee was sufficiently impressed by the first two’s take on crowdsourcing to bump them to the finals. As for BrainJuicer, Anderson noted their submission’s emphasis on “twitterbots” also earned them a nod from some of the judges.

As far as mobile goes, Anderson pointed out that Ipsos’ “Real Time Event Research” program has a mobile component. Nonetheless, there weren’t any other mobile standouts.

Anderson explained the mobile short shrift was largely due to the fact that “this year’s mobile submissions weren’t demonstrably different from what we received last year...Keep in mind mobile research has been around for over a decade,” said Anderson.

“Mobile is getting a lot of attention, partly because of the iPhone App bubble and also in polling circles as the number of cellular-only households continues to rise,” he added. “But I think people equate the buzz around mobile with innovation, and from what we’ve seen, there’s simply not anything terribly disruptive happening in this space. That doesn’t mean mobile isn’t an important tool; it’s just not causing an earthquake at this point.”

Regarding neuroscience, Anderson said that from a research perspective, “The field shows promise, but it isn’t fully baked. Clients clearly are interested in it and experimenting with it, but the jury is still out when it comes to results. It’s tough to make a case that neuro-based tools have had a genuinely disruptive impact on how research is conducted…yet. I honestly think neuro has a few years to go before it really shakes things up.”

Last but not least, where were the text analytics providers? Only Radian6 (acquired in March by salesforce.com) made the list. This threw me.

I think it’s safe to say social media monitoring qualifies as “disruptive”. And Anderson is an outspoken text analytics proponent whose own agency, Anderson Analytics, this year introduced a new text analytics DIY software, OdinText.

Anderson conceded he was disappointed with the lack of submissions from text analytics providers, but that there was a valid reason for it. “Of course, I was initially troubled that we weren’t hearing from companies in this space, so I asked around. I thought that perhaps they felt there might be some competitive conflict of interest with me as a judge on the selection committee,” said Anderson.

“It turns out that, yes, that was a factor, but only to the extent that they were guarding their IP pretty jealously from everyone,” said Anderson. “There’s a lot of development activity going on in the text analytics space right now, and it’s very competitive. So at the end of the day, the providers I know and who know me well enough to be frank told me that they were interested, but decided they were better off keeping their cards close to the vest.”

Shifting gears, a review of the finalists in the “Individual Disruptor” category was, for me, like looking at a line-up of the usual suspects, to their credit. Here we have a very solid list of folks who push the innovation envelope, and I don’t envy the judges; narrowing it down to just one will be difficult.

Although the reason/s they were nominated and selected might seem obvious to anyone familiar with the names on this list, I wondered if there were any specific criteria the judges were particularly keen on.

Anderson told me that while not all of the people on the list possess all of these traits, they tend to share the following:

- Early adopters of technology

- A record of contributing intellectual capital and sharing ideas to help move the industry forward in new directions

- Willingness to take controversial and potentially politically incorrect positions that they believe are in the industry’s best interest

- A chronic dissatisfaction with the status quo—whatever it may be

The winners—and the three new award categories—will be announced November 8 at The Market Research Event. Anderson will moderate a panel of the winners directly after the ceremony.

For information or to register, please visit us online at TheMarketResearchEvent.com.

Editor's Note: A list of the individual and company finalists is available on the NGMR blog.

Congratulations to the finalists and good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/INTERVIEWER
Marc Dresner is an IIR USA communication lead with a background in trade journalism and marketing. He is the former executive editor of Research Business Report, a confidential newsletter for the marketing research and consumer insights industry. He may be reached at mdresner@iirusa.com. Follow him @mdrezz. You can meet him at TMRE 2011 in Orlando this November!

End of the rise of social media? What about social media research?

Social media is still on the rise. Large networks, especially Facebook, increase not only their reach, most users use the site also more intense the longer they are members. These are findings from a recent research report by Gartner. But the report shows more: 

Gartner surveyed 6.295 people aged 13-74 in eleven different markets between December 2010 and January 2011 .37 percent of respondents - most of them from young target groups - stated that they use their favorite social network more intense than at the beginning of their membership.

However, in some markets there seems to be an end of the rise of social media usage among consumers. Nevertheless, 24 percent said that the intensity of usage has decreased.

The markets where the users are more engaged with social media include, among others, South Korea and Italy, while the users in Brazil and Russia are tending to be less on the social web. The most important argument for reduced use: data protection and privacy.

 
What does this mean for Social Media Research? 

The same as for Social Media Marketing. That's easy enough...
It isn't enough to have a survey or even a poll on Facebook. That's not how it works. We need innovation, we need inspiration. And we need to know the users of social networks annd their behaviour before we can survey than. Actuality is king as well keeping the attention high in order to use the very short attetion span in social networks. That, by the way, is to my point of view one of the most important reasons why gamification is more than a buzzword in recent times. 

So let's get creative, and start by attending The Market Research Event 2011 in Florida, hosted by IIRUSA...


About the author: Christian Dössel is blogging about market research in German language here and here. After having worked for TNS, TBWA\ and other strategy and market research agencies he now holds the position of Senior Research Director at MM-Eye in Hamburg / Germany with special responsibilities for MM-Eye's new media and online research approaches

TMRE International Session Spotlight: Japan: How To Develop a Concept Across Two Continents in One Day?

Leading up to The Market Research Event, we'll profile the keynotes, tracks and themes at the 2011 event.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at the international sessions new to the event.  For more information on TMRE, taking place November 7-9, 2011; in Orlando, Florida, download the brochure now.  If you register TODAY, October 14 using code TMRE11BLOG, be one of the first 10 to register get a free FlipCam! Also be sure to RSVP for the TMRE Tweetup taking place 11/6 before the event!

Featured Country: Japan
Featured Speakers: Eric Grosgogeat, FocusVision Worldwide and Jorge Calvachi, Amway
Featured Session: Amway needed to quickly and cost-effectively develop a global concept for a new daily skin care supplement. In the past, the team would have travelled to conduct focus groups. Instead, they tried webcam focus groups and were able to conduct focus groups in Asia and the US within a 24 period. This presentation will describe how the webcam qualitative research platform toolbox allowed the team to conduct the same creative exercises they would traditionally use in a facility. The result was a winning global concept for a fraction of the cost and in record time.

Making Brand Communities Work

What has the potential to be a powerful market-research lab, early-warning system and customer-loyalty builder? I guess the title gave it away.


I was inspired this week when I found an old article posted on Wall Street Journal regarding online communities. The authors remind us of the potentials of insights and the opportunity for strengthening the bond between our brands and the customers we work to satisfy with brand communities. If you remember my last post, I reinforced some of the struggles that market research leadership faces: time and money. Communities can offer insights, at a reasonable price and with a quick turn around:

"At a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing programs, a well-designed brand community can be used to conduct market research with very quick turn-around; generate and test ideas for product innovations; deliver prompt and high-quality service to customers with a problem; strengthen the attachments that existing customers feel toward the brand; and increase good publicity through word-of-mouth."

To get it right, here’s what we can do:

1. 1. Stop controlling everything. Whether it’s good or bad, let it fly. Having an outlet where the person knows they are being heard is sometimes all they need. Allow the customers to help each other and discuss any negative or positive experiences with the brand


2. 2. Welcome diversity. Don’t only seek visitors who fit the profile of the brand, rather seek potential customers who may bring a well-rounded outside perspective to the brand. Find people that use the brand differently, at different frequencies, and watch them converse.


3. 3. Give visitors ways of interacting. Don’t just have the community to garner a relationship between a brand representative and the customer; give the customers a way to communicate with one another (hence the brand “community,” right?). Allowing a customer-run site that has options for personal profiles, pictures, histories, etc. lets people feel that they are a part of something special and create bonds with people that share similar interests.


4. 4. If you can’t be like the fan sites, at least monitor and support them. So you can’t start your own brand community. If you have a brand that people are passionate about and seek feedback from others via the web, the sites are out there for you to monitor and support. Whether people are getting together to talk about their passion or their disappointments for the brand, the insights are meaningful and worth following.

While the article is aged (2009), I find the content incredibly relevant as many of us are still trying to find our ways in the world of communities.

For more insights of online brand communities, visit The Market Research Event in Orlando!

Garrett McGuire (@GJMcGuire) is a Consumer Insights Analyst for a major retailer. His areas of focus are advertising research, brand equity, and providing consumer insights for many marketing initiatives. Prior to his current position, he was a graduate student at Michigan State University where he began his blog, "The Journal of a mAD Man," that explains the theories and methods of advertising.

What do you know about your Twitter followers?

Many companies are trying to break into the Twitter market. Who tweets? When? Who should we follow? Chadwick Martin Bailey recently released the white paper  "10 Quick Facts You Should Know About Consumer Behavior on Twitter."

What were somethings that stood out?

• -Over 50% of the Twitter users who use it on a frequent basis use it multiple times an hour
• -Over half of the users on Twitter have only used the platform for a year or less
• -21% of Twitter users follow brands, and of those, only 36% only follow one or two brands
• -45% of those who do follow brands have cited that one of the reasons they follow is for discounts

What were the key takeaways you took from the white paper?

Leading Research Against the Clock

To be a leader takes guts. Am I right? It takes having the know-how of maneuvering tricky situations, aligning people and teams, putting trust in people around you…and much more. To be a leader of market research is no different. What I think might be a little different on the client side where I reside, is managing the balance between business needs and expectations, while also managing accurate and strong research methods.

As we know, some of the most impactful and enlightening insights often come with more expensive, more rigorous, and more time-intensive methods. Some business needs command this depth of information, but I’ve found these business questions also need addressing and insights next week…or tomorrow.

To be a leader of market research means facing these business issues, but also fighting for a timeline more appropriate for (correctly) conducting the needed research. We can get answers now, the quick and dirty way, no problem. But, buying a little extra time to answer important questions that arise provides more confidence that the insights are accurate, representative, and meaningful - for the long run. It takes a leader to recognize the balance that needs to exist between gaining insights and gaining the right insights in the right way… assuming quick and dirty crosstabs won’t work in this case. Even more, it takes a leader to voice concerns when an unfeasible timeline is proposed.

We can all be leaders if we focus on meaningful, actionable, and accurate research (but sometimes a little time helps). How do you strike the balance between business needs and research needs? (Feedback is welcome!)

Garrett McGuire (@GJMcGuire) is a Consumer Insights Analyst for a major retailer. His areas of focus are advertising research, brand equity, and providing consumer insights for many marketing initiatives. Prior to his current position, he was a graduate student at Michigan State University where he began his blog, "The Journal of a mAD Man," that explains the theories and methods of advertising.

TMRE International Session Spotlight: Mexico: Building New Tools Internally for An Old Problem

Leading up to The Market Research Event, we'll profile the keynotes, tracks and themes at the 2011 event.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at the international sessions new to the event.  For more information on TMRE, taking place November 7-9, 2011; in Orlando, Florida, download the brochure now.  If you register TODAY, October 14 using code TMRE11BLOG, you can save $100 off of the standard registration rate plus the first 10 to register get a free FlipCam! Also be sure to RSVP for the TMRE Tweetup taking place 11/6 before the event!

Featured Country: Mexico
Featured Session: Building New Tools Internally for An Old Problem
Featured Speaker:Emma Piza Bátiz, Market Intelligence Chief, Cuauhtémoc, Moctezuma - Heineken, México & Elizabeth Meléndez Guerrero, Market Intelligence Chief, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma - Heineken, México
About the session:  Our goal was to emulate a natural situation of consumption by a mega test lab – where the consumer does not perceive being evaluated and we obtain a natural and free from bias. This tool was used to determine the session level of a representative sample of beer in Mexico, this information can not be determined in a traditional test. And it can be applied not only in this industry but also applies to the beverage industry and to determine the size bag of snacks and almost all products of the food and beverage industry in general.

Market Research Leadership at the end of the year 2011…

The year 2011 is drawing to a close. November and December are not only in Germany traditionally fully packed market research months. But there is the TMRE 11 in Orlando, Florida knocking on the door.

That's exactly the right time to think about market research leadership. Almost exactly 2.5 years ago Boston Consulting Group has introduced the Consumer Insight Benchmarking. A study among clients an vendors of market research related services which a lot of interesting stuff.

One of the key findings at the time: market research often isn't able to draw on its full potential, regardless of whether it is called Customer Insight Research or not ;-)

There are four stages of progress, which outlines the process of development of market research in their role of "orders from the internal divisions" to a "source of competitive advantage".

Level 1 is defined as "Traditional Market Research Funcion". The focus here is on the tactical use of market research. Any qualitative and / or quantitative test scenarios fall into this group. Market research here is usually a demand from marketing, always with a specific requirement (eg product or campaign testing). Or, as a CEO is quoted in the study: "The sample-size police in the back room ... Which research is focused on and is not valid rather than provide meaningful business advice."

Level 2 is titled as "Business Contribution Team". The role of market research goes further than in level 1, because here a greater level of cooperation between Market Research and (internal) client has been created. This often leads to a more strategic use of market research services. Recommendations that are strongly related to business processes are kind of output of market research at Level 2. Nevertheless, the insight department (just to use a synonym for market research) only acts if it is asked to support. Synchronization with other information from the past or from other sources does not take place here.

Stage 3 is called "Strategic Insight Organization" and the role of market research is more important than level 1 and 2. Market research is an integral part of critical business processes across marketing and sales and beyond of it. Market researchers are required as part of project teams, regardless of whether it is a market research project or not. Relevance for the divisions is caused by a close cooperation of market research with the relevant project managers. And knowledge of the sales force is growing little by little.

Stage 4 is in very many ways the supreme discipline, which can only work under certain conditions. It is called "Strategic Foresight Organization" and expands the processes from step 3 by a thinking that dissolves the boundaries of individual business units. This means that market research occupies a cross company position, which enables it to attend strategic decisions and support and steer them. This positioning includes extending the focus on – besides the status quo - future trends and predictions.

In 2009 we learned that 90% of companies surveyed are located at Level 1 or Level 2. This matches perfectly what we experience here in Germany. So we try to achieve a constant "up-levelling" for market research leadeship.

The remaining companies are mainly found in stage 3 and only a few companies are on stage 4.

Also quite interesting is the different perception of the terms of the quality of output between those who produce it and those who buys. 73% of the "manufacturers" say that they answer all "so-what?-questions" with their results. If you ask the recipients of the results only 34% agree to this.

How does this look like today? Make sure to attend The Market Research Event 2011 in Orlando, Florida, hosted by IIR USA, to find out…

About the author: Christian Dössel is blogging about market research in German language here and here. After having worked for TNS, TBWA\ and other strategy and market research agencies he now holds the position of Senior Research Director at MM-Eye in Hamburg / Germany with special responsibilities for MM-Eye's new media and online research approaches

How can you get into the mind of a shopper?

Shoppers today are more educated than ever when they approach the shelf to purchase a product.  Odds are they've been online researching before the purchase, so no longer is the in-store experience the only place to reach the consumer.  So how does a company truly understand what's going on in the shoppers mind when they make their purchase decision?  The new white paper, Leverage Mobile Video to Gain Richer Shopper Insight, from Qualvu, thinks mobile video may be the answer.

And through the use of mobile video, researchers look at these three key elements that will help them decode today's in-store consumer:

1. 1. The ability to see what the consumer sees
2. 2. The opportunity for consumers to share insights when convenient
3. 3. The flexibility to be natural and un-choreographed

Download the new white paper from Qualvu here.

TMRE: The Global Meeting Place for your Market Research Team

In less than one month, more than one thousand market researchers from around the world will take part in The Market Research Event ... the world's top annual conference for insight executives.

The geographical representation will be unprecedented - unite with leaders from USA, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, China, Brazil, India, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Australia, Peru, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Japan, Colombia, Indonesia, Philippines, Guatemala, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, and more!

Space is very limited - less than 100 seats remain! Why are so many researchers joining us this year?

• - The latest case studies and breakthrough research strategies
• - Real-life case studies & no commercialization from the platform
• - The highest percentage of client-side attendees and speakers than any other market research event
• - The highest caliber Keynotes - including Bestselling authors Sheena Iyengar, Author of The Art of Choosing, Bruce Bueno de Mequita, Author or The Predictioneer's Game and Mark Earls Author of Herd
• - More choices - with more than 140 sessions, 7 symposia and 9 tracks to choose from you can create the agenda that best meets YOUR needs. Download the brochure for an in-depth look at the options.

The Market Research Event is taking place November 7-9, 2011, in Orlando, Florida. If you mention priority code TMRE11BLOG when you register for the event, you will receive $200 off the standard rate and a Flip Cam when you register before THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14! If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to contact Jennifer Pereira at jpereira@iirusa.com.

Getting Insights Activated

Mainly due to my academia background, I find (too much) joy in stating statistical significance, where my sources come from, the theories and concepts that support my findings, and so on. As a Consumer Insights Analyst for a retailer, however, I find that executives have different perceptions of my self-perceived theoretical genius, and somewhat rambling, explanation of survey results. So, I looked to my boss for a little extra guidance through my transition to corporate culture of research reporting.

What I’ve learned, I’m glad to share: While my results may hold significance, they are not meaningful unless they can be understood and, more importantly, activated upon. While a hard transition to make, it’s a necessary one.

Here’s what we, as researchers, can do for the benefit of our respective businesses – tell a story. It’s about tying the data to the overall business problem (or objective) and walking the audience through the progression of consumer thinking and behaviors. I like to think of it as a movie… I’m not really interested in how the movie was made, how many man-hours it took to produce, or the demands of the actors. In the moment of watching the movie, I only care about the storyline. What has, what is, and what might happen. I care about the characters, where they might go, and how they evolve throughout the story. This is what we need to do with our research. The people that are able to activate the insights (executives) are the people that need the movie version of our research – to understand the overarching message.


There is much more that others can share about getting insights activated. Join us in Orlando this November for The Market Research Event!

Garrett McGuire is a Consumer Insights Analyst for a major retailer. His areas of focus are advertising research, brand equity, and providing consumer insights for many marketing initiatives. Prior to his current position, he was a graduate student at Michigan State University where he began his blog, "The Journal of a mAD Man," that explains the theories and methods of advertising.

TMRE International Session Spotlight: Market Research Based Customer Equity Modeling of the German Telecommunication Market

Leading up to The Market Research Event, we'll profile the keynotes, tracks and themes at the 2011 event.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at the international sessions new to the event.  For more information on TMRE, taking place November 7-9, 2011; in Orlando, Florida, download the brochure now.  If you register by October 14 using code TMRE11BLOG, you can save $300 off of the standard registration rate plus the first 10 to register get a free FlipCam! Also be sure to RSVP for the TMRE Tweetup taking place 11/6 before the event!

Featured Country: Germany
Featured Session: Market Research Based Customer Equity Modeling of the German Telecommunication Market
Featured Speaker: Dr. Holger Muster, Senior Referent, Brand Strategy & Insights, Vodafone Germany
About the session:  Customer Equity modeling is motivated given a highly competitive market and decreasing profits. Results from modeling are presented, focusing on the transformation of complex mathematical outcomes to actionable and understandable insights. Key aspects of the model itself and its implementation are described enabling the auditory to follow the approach.

Keeping Up With A Changing Industry

This post was written by Julie Kurd of Affinnova, sponsor of TMRE 2011, and co-posted with the Innovation Evolved blog.

KEEPING UP WITH A CHANGING INDUSTRY

If you haven’t gone to a major conference in the past year, maybe it’s time to put that money into the budget. So many new things are going on in the market research industry that it would be a shame to miss out!  This year, there's still time to sign up for the IIR's TMRE (The Market Research Event) because it’s in November. And if your 2011 budget is gone, it's critical to get that back into the budget for 2012.

As for the upcoming IIR TMRE, the program format is well honed, and here’s what to expect:

• - Strategic Thinking. My favorite sessions are of course from the Fortune 500 speakers. Often, they begin with a slick video clip providing a 50,000-foot overview of their company, then break into a gallop describing the strategic motivation for the research, before a quick 1-2-3 dive into the details of the program that wraps up with how it helped them make key business decisions. Whether it’s our research or someone else’s, we could listen to representatives from the Fortune 500 talk all day.
• - Innovation. At TMRE we get to hear a lot about the fuzzy front end of innovation and how some of the fastest moving consumer packaged goods companies sift through that fuzzy front end and create or refresh their blockbuster product lines. These explorations are invigorating, and run the gamut from market identification, awareness and usage (who’s the audience this stuff addresses) to product and message optimizations (what are the highest potential product names, taglines, reasons to believe, emotional benefits, imagery, flavors, prices, etc.). They’re using all manner of techniques to disrupt the status quo at shelf with the goal of a blockbuster product, package or positioning. Still others seek that torqued extension product that gains them an edge.
• - Future trends. There’s usually a trendspotter who talks about what’s out there several years away but that we need to begin. This conference will have the founder of the ever so edgy Trendhunter. In past IIR TMREs, I learned about mega-trends including aging global populations, changing family structures, poverty, information addiction, little luxuries, interactivity and gamification: trendspotters bring us to the altar of the world of tomorrow. They help us keep one foot out of the present.
• - What’s hot now. The event is full of insights people, and we all are naturally curious about the wider world of research. That curiosity is what makes the participants more intrigued by the new. This month I’m enticed by new companies like Scorebig and apps like Spotify and Overdrive. At a conference, I always collect a half dozen new things I had never heard of to go off and explore.
• - Authors. There’s always a founder of something structurally unique, and many authors come out and talk about the things they’ve been researching. This year it's the authors of Herd and The Art of Choosing.
• - Vendors. With so much happening in research, there's literally a small city of vendors who can show you the latest in qualitative and quantitative techniques and how they can be useful as you grow your business. It's important to have your stable of trusted vendors and yet it's important to branch out and see what else is out there. Sometimes you can find intriguing ways to meld world class qualitative and quantitative research together in your process: get some case studies to see how others are using and fusing together various platforms, technology and research techniques.
• - Face to Face. While we can easily find out what each other is up to professionally and personally thanks to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, it’s critical to connect and reconnect in person, to laugh, listen and learn. Affinnova will be at the IIR TMRE, and at many events in the coming year, so be sure to reach out to us and say “Hi!”

How National Brands and Insights Providers Can Patch Retail Research Relations

Sitting on a Two-Legged Stool? Superstore Chain Shares Insight Look at Manufacturer - Retailer Disconnect

By Marc Dresner

Years ago, a research exec from a Fortune 50 CPG complained to me that “retailers always have their hand out” when it comes to insights.

At the time the statement was made it may have been fair. At the very least, it illustrated a perceived inequity on the part of national brand manufacturers with regard to their retail research partnerships.

What this person neglected to mention was that there are two sides to the coin, with the retail perspective often being swept under the carpet in research circles.

It's not some dirty little secret, so why don't we talk more openly, more frequently about this problem?

With all of the time and resources B2C researchers devote to understanding consumers’ needs, desires and daily lives, it seems there’s not been much room left to get inside the heads of retailers.

Or perhaps major brand manufacturers operate under the assumption that they already have retailers figured out?

Ruben Alcaraz used to think so...back when he worked on the manufacturing side and again on the research supplier side.

It wasn’t until Alcaraz took a position with the third leg—the retail leg—that he realized the proverbial research seat was a little wobbly.

Today, as consumer insights manager for Midwest superstore chain Meijer, Alcaraz admits national brand manufacturers and their research providers have a lot to learn about partnering with retailers.

In an interview for TMRE’s executive podcast series, “The Research Insighter,” Alcaraz identified a number of disconnects around logistics and execution, research cost models, efficacy of recommendations and other headaches and misunderstandings that all point to one conclusion: Unless you’ve taken a walk in a retailer’s shoes, there’s a good chance that you just don’t quite get it.

Now, if you’re anything like my friend from the Fortune 50 CPG’s research department—the one quoted at the start of this blog—you might be thinking “So what?”

After all, retailers lack the sophistication and resources to conduct quality research, right? They still have their hand out.

Well, this July I attended TMRE's sister event, Shopper Insights in Action, and I can assure you that that’s a dangerous misconception, although I understand its origin.

After all, seven or so years ago, even Wal-Mart didn’t have an internal insights function.

But in just the past few years, retailers have increasingly invested in and made tremendous progress toward developing their own internal insights capabilities, and they’re not limited to “shopper” insights.

To wit: Keep in mind that Alcaraz’s title is not shopper insights; it’s consumer insights.

Channels are blurring, lifestyles and purchase-consumption behaviors are changing, and the difference between a consumer and a shopper in marketing and research terms has eroded as we learn more about the science of decision making and the complex dynamics behind path to purchase.

One last note: While Meijer’s stores are concentrated in Michigan and a few other states in the region, the chain rakes in $13-15-plus billion annually—depending on the source (it’s privately held)—and it sells everything from groceries to clothes to consumer electronics to gasoline.

That’s a pretty big shopping cart. They hold their own against national and global discount mass merchandisers and they’ve got their own insights function.

So before we jump to any conclusions, let’s ask ourselves: Who really needs who?

Listen to the interview here.

Read the transcript here.

Editor’s note: If you’re interested in hearing more from Ruben Alcaraz, he will be presenting on “Breakthrough Applications of Data Visualization” at The Market Research Event 2011 November 7-9 in Orlando, FL.

For information or to register, please visit us online at TheMarketResearchEvent.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/INTERVIEWER
Marc Dresner is an IIR USA communication lead with a background in trade journalism and marketing. He is the former executive editor of Research Business Report, a confidential newsletter for the marketing research and consumer insights industry. He may be reached at mdresner@iirusa.com. Follow him @mdrezz. You can meet him at TMRE 2011 in Orlando this November!

Join us for the TMRE 2011 Tweetup!

To kick of TMRE 2011 Festivities, we'll be hosting the 2011 TMRE Tweetup Sunday (November 6) night to kick-start the event! Located at the Peabody Hotel's Mallards bar. After you pre-regsiter for the event, come and join us for a drink! @TMRE will be there, will you?

Recruitment of participants for Online Research Communities, the role of Online Access Panels

If you know the business of online access panels maybe because you sometimes need that kind of service, you may know that providers of online access panels position themselves on the ground of huge panelsizes or because of delivered quality. The respective underlying business model is correspondingly either quantities or it is defined by the quality of respondents’ information.

Both models of course have several advantages and disadvantages.

Quantity model
Advantages:
- Even small audiences with low incidence rates can be reached adequately
- High demands on field time and costs can be met
- Large numbers of cases are possible

Disadvantages:
- Higher fluctuation and "panel-mortality"
- Only few qualifying information about the participants available
- Recruitment methods are not always transparent
- Only little knowledge about the influence of the panel model on panelists self-perception as survey participants

Quality-driven model

Advantages:
- High quality responses on more strict rules of access to new panel members (eg member-get-member)
- Extensive screening
- Qualitative analysis of the panelists (eg minimization of screen-outs as the basis of the relationship management)
 

Disadvantages:
- Limitation in case of low incidences are needed
- Limitation on the number of cases to be achieved
- Slightly higher costs

Photo by http://blog.allworkandnoplay.de/

In the context of online research community projects it is necessary to recruit participants not only to because of their target-group characteristics. You rather put demands on communication skills beyond “tip-the-box” as well as sufficient intrinsic motivation to participate.

Wherever it is generally a good idea to recruit participants via online access panels, we prefer those providers with a quality-driven approach. Results always are extremely high response rates, low drop-out rates over time (even in communities with longer durations) and last but not least positive effects in terms of ­panelists’ appreciation being a participant in market research. Without participants and their willingness to share their experiences, attitudes and preferences, we would have a hard time. 

So it is always a pleasure to read feedback like this after completion of online research communities:

“Thanks a lot to the moderators and creators of this community. I had a lot of fun and I have learned a lot. I’m happy that I was able to exchange with others and there were a lot of good hints. You, the scribblers, have been a great group! Thanks a lot. I wish all the best to all participants and perhaps we will meet one day on the internet or even in real life.”

Make sure to join the discussions about panels and communities at the upcoming The Market Research Event  in Florida, hosted by IIR, USA. We’ll have plenty to discuss...

About the author: Christian Dössel is blogging about market research in German language here and here. After having worked for TNS, TBWA\ and other strategy and market research agencies he now holds the position of Senior Research Director at MM-Eye in Hamburg / Germany with special responsibilities for MM-Eye's new media and online research approaches