ALERT! - Marketing Research Association · 2 MRAS ALERT MAGAINE SECOND QUARTER 2014 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Your Only Option: Indispensability By Amy Shields, PRC Welcome to spring

ALERT!MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

SECOND QUARTER 2014 · VOL. 54 · NO. 2

GLOBALIZATION IN MARKET RESEARCH

BE MORE EMOTIONAL

CORPORATE RESEARCHERS: LOVING THEIR JOB, BUT NOT THEIR CAREER?

EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKING

ANGELS AND DEMONS AND MEASURING DATA QUALITY THE RIGHT WAY

MARKET RESEARCH PROVIDER DIRECTORY

2 MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – SECOND QUARTER 2014

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MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – SECOND QUARTER 2014 1

CONTENTS SECOND QUARTER 2014

Editor Amy Shields, PRC Editorial Board Sherri Dansby, PRC

Steven GittelmanJeffrey Henning, PRC Angela Lorinchak, PRC

Twitter @MRAmrx Phone 202.800.2545

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The views expressed in Alert! are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the opinions or positions of MRA.

Alert! is available online: alert.MarketingResearch.org

Upcoming Conferences June 4-6, 2014

MRA Insights & Strategies Conference Chicago

September 17-19, 2014Corporate Researchers Conference

Chicago

4Motivating High-Decile Prescribers to Take Your SurveyBy John Castellano

16Globalization in Market Research Holds Many Considerations for the IndustryBy Richard Thornton

20Market Intelligence: Supporting Corporate Growth in Latin AmericaBy Guillaume Corpart & Georgia Krivokapich

22Be More EmotionalBy Robert Passikoff, Ph.D.

FEATURES

36 Combatting Questionable Quality of Online Data CollectionBy Vaibhav Kushwaha

37 Happy People and Bottom-Line Results: How Bankable Leaders Deliver Both By Tasha Eurich, Ph.D.

39 Angels and Demons and Measuring Data Quality the Right WayBy Annie Pettit, Ph.D.

68 Voice of the Customer: Execution Over AnalysisBy Annette Franz Gleneicki and Simon Leech

70 Developments in Consumer Spending from Euromonitor’s Global Consumer Trends SurveyBy Eileen Bevis and Lisa Holmes

74 Avoiding an “Off-Road” Survey Research ExperienceBy Kristin Cavallaro

76 Multimode, Global Scale Usage: Understanding Respondent Scale Usage Across Borders and DevicesBy Melanie Courtright, Kartik Pashupati, Annie Pettit, Ph.D. and Roddy Knowles

KEEPING INFORMED

2 Your Only Option: IndispensabilityBy Amy Shields, PRC

2 SymbiosisBy Jill Donahue

8 Welcome New Members

12 Invest In YourselfBy David Almy

DEPARTMENTS14 MR Industry Veteran Don Marek

Retiring, But Not Fading AwayBy Howard Fienberg

50 Three Ways to Make the Most of an MRA Conference

81 Industry News & Announcements

Corporate researchers at CRC 2013 gather to swap stories and exchange ideas. Left to right: Kelly Bowie (Aflac), Matt Case (FedEx), Leslie Willis (Sports Authority), Genevieve Bonadonna (Reader’s Digest) and Joshua Tarini (Stanley Black & Decker).

28Corporate Researchers: Loving Their Job, But Not Their Career?By Kathryn Korostoff

32Effective Executive Decision Making with Marketing Decision Support SystemsBy Sanjay Kumar Rao, Ph.D.

43Alert! Magazine’s Market Research Provider Directory

51MRA’s 2014 Insights & Strategies Conference

The information contained in this publication is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to [email protected] or [email protected]. Copyright © 2014 Marketing Research Association, Inc. (MRA), All Rights Reserved.

ALERT!MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

SECOND QUARTER 2014 · VOL. 54 · NO. 2

GLOBALIZATION IN MARKET RESEARCH

BE MORE EMOTIONAL

CORPORATE RESEARCHERS: LOVING THEIR JOB, BUT NOT THEIR CAREER?

EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKING

ANGELS AND DEMONS AND MEASURING DATA QUALITY THE RIGHT WAY

MARKET RESEARCH PROVIDER DIRECTORY

28Corporate Researchers:

Loving Their Job, But Not Their Career?


LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Your Only Option: IndispensabilityBy Amy Shields, PRC

Welcome to spring and The Corporate Researcher Issue of Alert! magazine.

SymbiosisBy Jill Donahue

If your year is anything like mine, it has been a whirlwind of work, fun and snow…lots and lots of snow. My hope is that you are now experiencing the warmth of spring!

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Obviously this corporate researcher issue is near and dear to my heart. Initially coming from the supplier side – and then diving in head first

into the corporate researcher pool – was both eye-opening and challenging. As a corporate researcher, one of the key things I learned was that our role is to tell the story of our consumer and represent them in every meeting we attend. It is not only a role that requires an ability to develop insights out of observations but also to be a strategic thinker, defender of our consumers’ needs, negotiator and problem solver.

I can only speak for myself, but the relationships I have with research partners are vital to being successful in my role. “Partnership” really is the key idea. They are not just suppliers or vendors. What differentiates a partner from a supplier is their willingness to be able to pull up from the data and see the bigger picture.

Obviously they can’t know all the ins and outs of what is going on internally, but their ability and willingness to listen to the story behind the research and then tell the consumer story with those goals in mind make my job just a little bit easier.

Receiving the research report is, most often, the end of the journey for my research partner. However, for me, it is just the beginning. Taking that information and delivering it to my team in a way that is understandable, retainable and actionable is the key to the successful use of consumer insights. If it is not easily digestible, it becomes a report on the shelf that collects dust.

When an insight is actionable for a team, it becomes the north star of the project. If your product/service cannot deliver on the insight then it is back to the drawing board. It is the journey of seeing a product or service hit the marketplace and meet a consumer need that gives me the most

satisfaction. Knowing something was delivered to consumers based on their actual need, as opposed to what was easiest for the company to do, is so rewarding.

MRA can help you succeed, too. I cannot encourage you enough to make time in your crazy schedule to attend MRA’s Insights & Strategies Conference (ISC) in June and the Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC) in September, both to be held in Chicago. My challenge to those attending is to really listen to the story the speakers are sharing with you and look for the key insights that drove their journey. We are so lucky that our careers are endlessly fascinating. People can amaze and surprise you every day and as a corporate researcher it is our job to make sure our companies amaze and surprise them right back.

Jill Donahue is MRA’s Chairman of the Board and senior brand insights manager at Nestle Purina PetCare. She can be reached at [email protected].

Glance at your tablet, smartphone, computer, television or the front page of your newspaper. No matter the outlet, media everywhere

includes screaming headlines about the significant disruption this past winter brought to residents in just about every corner of the U.S. Similarly, vast amounts of data (from research conducted internally at MRA and elsewhere) have told us that corporate researchers are faced with disruptions of technology, relevance, time and money.

For this issue of Alert!, contributors rushed to submit their opinions – and possible solutions – in a variety of areas affecting corporate researchers. Additionally, many authors provided compelling content outside this central theme that is of interest to all researchers, regardless of their role.

considerations and challenges for the marketing research industry as a result of the rapidly changing world and differences between countries. (See Globalization in Market Research Holds Many Considerations for the Industry, page 16.)

We hope you find value in these and other editorials, as well as the special Marketing Research Provider Directory (beginning on page 43), which highlights companies that offer products and services of value for corporate researchers. As always, we look encourage and look forward to your feedback.

Amy Shields, PRC is MRA’s director of research and the editor of Alert!. She can be reached at [email protected].

In “Corporate Researchers: Loving Their Job, But Not Their Career?” (page 28), Kathryn Korostoff shares findings of a recent online study conducted by Research Rockstar among corporate researchers. The findings reveal areas of highest job satisfaction and unique challenges surrounding opportunities for advancement for this special segment of the industry. The article by Sanjay Kumar Rao (page 32) informs readers on how the concept and reality of marketing decision support systems can provide executives with real world, time-sensitive intelligence. And, among other important editorials, Robert Passikoff, Ph.D., addresses many of the challenges facing corporate researchers due to a more complex marketplace, including ways to optimize research efforts (page 22).

From a global standpoint, Richard Thornton writes about crucial


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MOTIVATING HIGH-DECILE PRESCRIBERS TO TAKE YOUR SURVEYBy John Castellano


Docs in a Digital WorldAs digital technology has configured a new world for all of us, physicians have naturally become full-fledged citizens of the online age. According to a December 5, 2013 article in Medical Marketing & Media, “Both established and new doctors largely favor digital contact, with 67 percent of all physicians saying they preferred digital pharmaceutical information over resources like reps and printed matter. Broken out by age group, this preference hit 80 percent among newer physicians, and includes contact such as emails, websites, e-details and social media.”

This particular article’s focus was that physicians’ digital preference is taking its toll on their willingness to meet with pharmaceutical sales reps, but it seems to shine a light on the fact that, as physicians become more and more sophisticated users of digital media, they will expect well-designed survey experiences that respect their time commitments.

Not surprisingly then, online surveying has become the principal pharmaceutical market research device. But we need to confront and solve several challenges in order to preserve it as a viable and effective technique.

In the infancy of online MR with physicians, the pharmaceutical industry was pleased that they could begin to reach physicians with this new approach; their expectations and directives were modest. In recent years, however, pharma marketers have continually raised the bar for the market research firms they employ to perform online surveys. In turn, this has necessarily impacted sampling companies, whose business is to supply responsive panels of physicians who qualify for each survey’s specific requirements. In a nutshell, the problem is: The specifications for physician survey participants are often so selective that it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet those demands. Moreover, this practice actually affects the physicians’ survey-taking behavior. The fact that an inordinate number of interested physicians are terminated at the screening stage can discourage qualified physicians from ever trying again.

Busy, Scarce and Highly PaidNearly without exception, online survey contracts specify the delivery of statistically reliable samples of high-decile physicians, drawn from whatever specialties are pertinent to the study. High decile, by definition, means that the desired survey respondents see a high volume of patients for whom they prescribe a high number of specified drugs and treatment regimens. So high decile = busy doctor.

How busy? According to Medscape’s 2013 Physician Compensation Report, “The majority of physicians (66 percent) saw patients for up to 45 hours a week. Another 18 percent of doctors spent more than 50 hours a week seeing patients, including 9 percent of pediatricians, 22 percent of internists and 11 percent of family physicians.”

The report goes on to state, “Doctors are drowning in paperwork, whether it’s actual paper or computer-based reporting. A lucky 20 percent of respondents have less than 5 hours of paperwork per week, but 51 percent of physicians spend from 5 to 14 hours per week on paperwork. Another 15 percent spend more than 20 hours per week on such tasks.”

All this is to make the point that the busiest doctors (the high-decile ones) are very busy indeed – patient contact, administrative duties, educational and research commitments, and even a little personal life thrown in, allow very little time for the most coveted physicians to participate in survey research.

Not only are high-decile specialists very busy, but scarce as well. Take oncologists, for example. There are fewer than 5,000 in the U.S., and fewer still are likely prescribers for any specific oncological drug. Some are researchers, others are sub-specialists who prescribe only within a limited subset of oncological drugs. Still others are members of practice groups whose formularies are tightly controlled. You’re left with a total of perhaps 3,000 or so oncologists whose scope of practice includes possibly prescribing the medications you wish to study in a specific survey. Now skim off the high-decile group. You might be able fit all of them in a medium-sized meeting room.

Finally, high-decile physicians are well paid, making, on average, anywhere from the $170,000 in primary care to over $400,000 in orthopedics. Virtually the only reason any agree to take part in an online survey is because they are paid a minimal honorarium. It stands to reason that for such relatively small fees, prosperous physicians will quickly become impatient with overly long or confusing surveys or with a lack of appropriate support.

The snapshot of high-decile physicians, with its trifecta of built-in challenges for would-be surveyors: They are very busy, very rare and very successful.

Killing the Golden GooseWith this sense of our high-decile target group in mind, what errors are market researchers making in the care and feeding of their coveted survey participants? They are:• Abusing participants with unnecessarily

long screeners (even after survey

Online surveys are the most favored and widely-

practiced method to obtain physicians’ opinions about

selected pharmaceuticals and related clinical topics. The physicians sought for these panels are busy, few in number, and financially successful. Unfortunately,

some common missteps by market researchers and the

pharmaceutical firms that employ them are undermining

the development of high-decile physician panels.


participants have been pre-vetted as “qualified” for the survey’s requirements).

• Producing surveys that are too long to hold the physician’s interest and often far exceed the perceived value to the physician of the honorarium being paid.

• Producing surveys that are sometimes boring, poorly written and poorly engineered.

• Providing uneven support to survey participants by failing to contact panelists where and when they prefer, sending too many reminder emails, and not being available at all times to answer questions and receive feedback.

• Paying honoraria too slowly. (“Yes, Doctor, we’ll definitely get you your $25 in the next few weeks.”)Collectively, these practices are almost

certain to insult, annoy and alienate physicians, especially high-decile ones, whose knowledge and experience lie at the center of the pharmaceutical market research galaxy.

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Meticulous planning, execution and support are essential to attracting and

maintaining qualified survey participants.

But Wait, There’s More...Meticulous planning, execution and support are essential to attracting and maintaining qualified survey participants. Many firms, like Critical Mix Health, are developing various creative approaches to assure that panel participants receive the attention, respect and support they deserve. These solutions are essential to preserving the good will and participation of the physician community.

Two other points need to be made.First, as the number of online surveys

increases, the practicality of providing high-decile sample for all of them is fading. There simply aren’t enough of these physicians who are willing to respond to all the surveys. Pharmaceutical marketers must consider broadening their specifications somewhat, expanding, for example, from the top 30 percent to the top half of physicians in most categories of survey research. Otherwise, they are likely to soon face an unacceptable choice between expanded

panel “qualifications” and inadequate survey samples.

Second, and closely related, pharmaceutical companies need to consider paying more for physician survey participation and increase honoraria in nearly all types of studies, or once again they will face another untenable choice: pay a bit more or talk to a departing crowd.

In a NutshellTo motivate high-decile physicians, you should:• Respect physicians’ time by providing

streamlined screening processes and well-designed surveys;

• Provide consistent support;• Pay honoraria promptly; and • Consider raising fees.

Also consider modifying participation requirements to draw on a larger pool of physicians. That way, you’ll have the |number of participants you need to provide viable results.

John S. Castellano, senior vice president, health, at Critical Mix, has worked in market research for the past 25 years, largely focused on the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. He serves on the board of MRA’s Greater New York Chapter and is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University.


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Welcome New Members

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MESSAGE FROM MRA’S CEO

Invest In Yourself

try to explain why and how to integrate MR into business practices. Corporate researchers try to make the same arguments internally.

I’ve always felt that the apex of association success is the effectiveness of its advocacy efforts. MRA’s membership dues, conference attendance, exhibits, sponsorships and advertising revenue all funnel back to support this effort.

Tucked down at the bottom left of the new Insights and Strategies Conference (ISC) microsite home page is the following “About MRA” text:

“ISC is sponsored by the Marketing Research Association, an organization dedicated solely to furthering the growth of marketing research. MRA’s total reinvestment of all revenues back into our profession directly enriches your career and those of other researchers like you.”

Although it’s probably not news to you, MRA – like ARF, CASRO, MRIA, PMRG and others – is a not-for-profit association. Legally, that means that all of our income must be used to benefit the profession from which we draw our members. Practically, it signifies that we’re really not here to make money off of MR, but rather to support the profession. In our case, that means we’re here to support you and your company.

This can be a challenge in that we’re up against some formidable for-profit competitors. They have a different mission – to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. If you’re one of those shareholders, this is a noble purpose.

However, if you’re not one of those shareholders and your career is in marketing research, the profits of our for-profit competitors – generated through their education, networking, advertising or sale of other products and services – are not used for advocacy but to provide a return for their shareholders. As a result, the for-profit sector doesn’t do advocacy fully or well as they’re financially incentivized not to.

At play here really are two practical issues for our profession if you value advocacy:

1. Tactically, how successful are the business models of all of the not-for-profit organizations serving the marketing research profession? Are we truly offering products and services worth buying so that we can generate the profits to fund critically important advocacy programs that are not typically money makers?

2. Strategically, how important is it for the members of the profession to recognize the unique role not-for-profits play, and make a deliberate decision to support them in their own long-term self-interest? This fairly can include the demand that those products and services be best-of-breed and truly valuable to someone writing a check, or even better than that offered by the for-profit sector.

All this matters because profits can be used to help drive the growth of the MR profession, or to enrich shareholders outside MR with no benefit to the profession.

That’s the realistic, candid choice.Looked at another way, support for

private sector competitors, while often tactically satisfying (you reach your market today, for instance), may strategically harm economic development as it diverts resources totaling millions which exit the profession, away from MR’s economic development.

Education, networking and market access certainly are widely available, so at the end of the day…you have a choice.

You can choose to invest in yourself and the growth of your profession – a win-win – when you choose to invest in the not-for-profits genuinely committed to the growth of marketing research.

For our part, we are working daily to win that challenge, with MRA’s new and improved ISC a great example of what’s possible for your benefit. Turn to page 51 to see how we’re doing, with sincere thanks from all of us at MRA for your continued support.

David W. Almy is MRA’s CEO. He can be reached at [email protected].

I’ve always felt that the apex of association

success is the effectiveness of its advocacy efforts.

Advocating for the marketing research industry is hard coded into MRA’s DNA.

This includes government affairs, where we represent

MR before government officials in a legislative, regulatory or judicial setting to elevate public policies that support the industry and curtail potentially detrimental ones.

Advocacy includes media affairs, where we proactively and reactively market the concept/value of marketing research to the business community and general public through general, business and social media. This public education improves respondent cooperation.

Advocacy includes business, where we market the concept/value of marketing research to prospective buyers. Increased awareness of the value of MR translates directly into more business for you.

Advocacy includes professionalism, where we self-regulate to incentivize acceptance. In MRA’s case, this includes the promulgation of MRA’s Code of Marketing Research Standards, Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) and MRA Certificates. As two more examples, CASRO offers ISO certification to companies and Canada’s MRIA offers its Certified Marketing Research Professional program to individuals.

It’s likely that you, like many in MR, already are contributing to advocacy in some way. Providers share press releases to show how research improves the bottom line for their clients. Marketers of research


MRA Member Benefits No one is investing on behalf of its members, or pushing the boundaries to contribute directly to your success, like the Marketing Research Association. All of MRA’s income is dedicated to furthering the interests and acceptance of the marketing research profession.

MRA is proud to offer a wide array of products and services to enhance member value. We welcome your questions and suggestions!

For general information please call 202.800.2545; for inquires on a specific product or service please email the staff member below:

99 MRA’s Code of Marketing Research Standards provides protection from bad actors through its promotion and enforcement. For more information on MRA’s Code visit www.marketingresearch.org/code or contact Amy Shields at [email protected].

99 Alert! magazine is distributed quarterly and offered in a robust digital format for all devices. Additionally, it is searchable on the MRA website and the Web. PDF versions of 75+ current and archived issues with links are newly available on MRA’s site at www.marketingresearch.org/alert. For information regarding content contact Amy Shields at [email protected]. For Alert! advertising information contact Lisa Lockwood at [email protected].

99 MRA Update puts legal and industry news right to your inbox 50 weeks a year. For more information regarding Update content contact Amy Shields at [email protected].

99 Webinars are presented by industry experts covering the latest trends and technologies – with no sales pitches. There are 20+ free-to-member webinars presented yearly with 50+ archived webinars available on demand. For more information visit www.marketingresearch.org/education or contact Jennifer Cattel at [email protected].

99 The MRA Website is an interactive clearing house of research information. Learn more at www.marketingresearch.org or by contacting Ann Morgan at [email protected].

99 Advocacy through daily results-oriented representation of your interests before government officials. More information is available at www.marketingresearch.org/advocacy or by contacting Howard Fienberg at [email protected].

99 Blue Book Marketing Research Service Directory provides invaluable industry information. For more information visit www.bluebook.org or contact Cheryl Bechard at [email protected].

99 MRA Certificates provide recognition of educational achievement. More information can be found by contacting Jennifer Cattel at [email protected].

99 Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC) takes place in Chicago Sept 17-19. For more information visit www.marketingresearch.org/crc or contact Jennifer Cattel at [email protected]. For exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities contact Lisa Lockwood at [email protected].

99 Insights and Strategies Conference (ISC) takes place in Chicago June 4-6. For more information visit www.marketingresearch.org/isc or contact Jennifer Cattel at [email protected]. For exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities contact Lisa Lockwood at [email protected].

99 Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) is a powerful tool for individual researchers of all work experience and education levels. For more information visit www.marketingresearch.org/certification-about or contact Jennifer Cattel at [email protected].

99 Business Advocacy provides greater acceptance of marketing research by leveraging the vast issue expertise of the membership. For more information contact David Almy at [email protected].

99 Media Relations increases the reliance upon marketing research via promotion of the value of MR to the business community. More information is available by contacting David Almy at [email protected].

99 Chapter Events extend MRA’s reach by providing learning opportunities around the country. For more information contact Lisa Lockwood at [email protected].

99 Social Media provides members a community in which to share best practices and industry news. Contact Howard Fienberg at [email protected] for more information.

99 Career Center lists hundreds of job opportunities for those seeking careers, while employers can focus their search on the right candidates. For more information visit the Career Center at www.marketingresearch.org or contact Linda Pylant at [email protected].

99 Discounts save members on education and networking events. More information is available by contacting Lisa Lockwood at [email protected].

To learn more about MRA membership and associated benefits, please contact us at 202.800.2545.


MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

MR Industry Veteran Don Marek Retiring, But Not Fading AwayBy Howard Fienberg

Don Marek, executive director of the Marketing Research Institute International (MRII), is retiring. Don has served in this position for the last eight years, following nearly thirty years as a corporate researcher at AT&T. He is an Honorary Lifetime Member of MRA, served as President in 1998-1999 (the first corporate researcher in that role, as far as we know), and has always been a willing conference mentor, eager to engage newcomers.

We recently sat down with Don to discuss his upcoming retirement and to take a look back at an expansive career in marketing research.

Howard: Don, how do you feel about your upcoming retirement?

Don: I am quite excited about retiring from being MRII’s executive director. Most of my close friends are already retired and are pestering me to join them in their post-retirement activities. I intend to join them in such things as cycling at various events around the country and exhibiting my antique Mustang at car shows. After retiring, I will volunteer with local St. Louis-area organizations and national groups such as MRA, AMA and MRII. My also-retired wife, Cathy, and I intend to continue to travel the U.S. and worldwide. (I may even drop in on the opening receptions at the major research conferences, so I can keep up with my many friends in the industry.) I am also happy to be retiring when MRII is doing well. MRII’s enrollments and financial results have been excellent in recent years. In addition, MRII’s new “Principles of Marketing Research” course which launched on March 12 this year should be a huge success and represents a 50 percent expansion in the line of courses offered by MRII.

Howard: What have you enjoyed most about the market research profession? Don: Networking. Generally, people in the MR industry are quite intent on providing their clients the very best information at an economical cost. As a result, they are always looking for better ways to do things, making them very innovative and receptive to new things. Usually, no company or person can do everything that comes their way, so they must share information and work with their market research peers. As a result, most market research conferences are excellent networking events where people and companies really get to know each other.

Howard: What can you tell us about your most memorable day in MR?

Don: My most memorable day occurred during SBC’s merger with Pacific Bell, at an executive presentation. My team was summoned to California to explain a particularly vexing problem to the head of Pacific operations. That particular executive had a reputation for being brutal during research presentations. Fortunately, our research satisfactorily addressed all his concerns. At the end of the meeting, he jumped up to shake hands, introduce himself and thank each member of my team. My team and I were quite satisfied with a research project well done. The topper was that as we left the room, my California team lead said, “This is amazing, I reported to that guy for over a year and he never said a kind word to me or even remembered who I was; now he is my best friend.”

Howard: What advice would you give someone just beginning in the market research industry?

Don: Do a good job so you can be confident and take pride in your work. Market research is expensive, so generally, your client will want to hear about what you have done. Therefore, even early in your career you will be exposed to company decision makers. Always do the best job possible and make sure your final presentation/report is simple and understandable. Lastly and most importantly, be confident in your work/

report because each person up the line who gets it will be less informed and confident than you.

Howard: What have been the most important changes in the MR landscape during your 41-year career?

Don: The Internet. The first 32-years of my career were spent in the market research departments of two Fortune 100 companies. From my corporate researcher standpoint, technology caused the biggest changes. In the beginning of my career, the change from calculators to main-frame computers was huge. The next change to PCs in the early 1980s was even bigger. Within the data collection portion of our industry, the change from door-to-door research to the telephone CATI method was very big. The shift from telephone data collection to Web/online research was even bigger. Today, I see the beginnings of a major shift from online to mobile research. The shifts to online and mobile research are only possible because of the unbelievable presence of the Internet. To me, the biggest change in research and society has been driven by the world’s migration to the Web.

Howard: What have you found most rewarding about your role as executive director of MRII?

Don: I would have to say the most rewarding aspect have been the interactions with so many great people. MRII offers three excellent online marketing research courses: “The Principles of Market Research,” “The Principles of Pharmaceutical Market Research” and “The Principles of Mobile Market Research.” A major part of my job is exhibiting at 14 or more marketing research conferences worldwide. As a result, I meet “Principles” graduates in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our graduates, as a rule, are pleased with their course experience and eager to help MRII “spread the word.” It is such a pleasure to deal with satisfied clients and students. Exhibiting at association conferences has enabled me to become friends with those supporting market research groups’ volunteers and staff

Continued on page 84



GLOBALIZATION IN MARKET RESEARCH HOLDS MANY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE INDUSTRYBy Richard Thornton

As the world changes, the differences between countries become magnified, which significantly affects our approach to research. Building cross-cultural benchmarks, finding ways to conduct surveys in countries where there is low Internet penetration, and getting around the many privacy regulations pertinent to each country – not to mention the cultural differences – are crucial considerations and challenges for the MR industry. How can our industry adapt?



As we do more research globally, national differences become increasingly apparent and research methods must be calibrated carefully

in response. Research providers must build specific country-level expertise and establish a local presence in order to properly understand the market and effectively provide the research services they are commissioned to execute. With this in mind, buyers and sellers should ensure partnerships are built from within the market for optimum results.

Some may argue that as the engine of globalization exerts a growing influence on business and commerce, the world is becoming smaller and therefore globalization is leading to standardization in many ways. While the term “act global, think local” still carries a lot of relevance, and positioning along these lines from brands like HSBC Bank still resonates, the reality is that boundaries are being knocked down along with many cultural identities and uniqueness – for better or worse.

Clearly research professionals need an educated understanding of the social subtleties of the market they are operating in or are about to research. Things that appear to be simple and straightforward on the surface can quickly become minefields when conducting fieldwork. Confusion can arise from issues such as whether communicating formally or informally is

best for a particular market, what types of questions or topics are appropriate, off-limits vs. perfectly open areas, etc. It is additionally important and potentially confusing to determine the best ways to address different demographics and parts of society in a given culture or country.

Addressing Sensitive TopicsTopics can be locally sensitive for various reasons and what is considered sensitive in everyday culture changes from country to country and region to region. Across Europe, for instance, Nordic countries are generally quite open and liberal, but can be more sensitive to questions around immigration. While immigration is also a hot topic in Spain, questions about national identity, regional independence movements and languages, and anything related to the Spanish Civil War, are more likely to be provocative or cause discomfort and should be handled delicately. In German-speaking countries, topics concerning ethnicity, religion or criminal activities are more important to treat carefully. In Russia, questions relating to alcohol can’t be asked of anyone under the age of 21, and in China, politics and religion can be particularly volatile topics. An important factor is to always give the individual respondent a chance to opt-out from answering if they do not feel comfortable with any specific question. These, among other pitfalls including what is acceptable from an incentive and reward perspective, need to be factored in when considering what is sensitive.

Of course, there are ethical guidelines to follow, developed by international and national marketing research associations.1

Building Cross-Cultural Benchmarks to Overcome Substantial Bias Across Different CulturesThis is an important area that calls for research on conducting and interpreting research. It is the subject of much discussion and debate, but little in the way of unity and certainty. Many areas of research lack a uniform approach when it comes to classification, segmentation and standardization.

There are numerous ways to approach this kind of investigation into research methodology; design and implementation are important – including questionnaire design, translation, social cognition, development of comparable questions, contextual effects and background variables. Even more, there is error estimation, including bias, non-response,

1 http://www.marketingresearch.org/code

Learn the social subtleties that impact survey

design by establishing a local presence

and building country-level

expertise.



data collection method used and social desirability. Analysis is key, of course, as is social classification on socio-demographics/regional classification.

The market research industry can learn much from work done by academics, and we believe the “Cross-Cultural Survey Guidelines” is a good resource.2

Tackling Research in Countries With Low Internet Penetration Worldwide, Internet usage is steadily increasing; however, the level of penetration still varies greatly from country to country. Global Internet penetration rose from 16 percent in 2005 to 39 percent in 2013, with the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Arab states seeing the biggest increases over that time period, according to the International Telecommunication Union. Top markets for online research as share of total research are Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, Australia and the UK – with all having Internet penetrations of more than 75 percent. We also now find markets like Finland among the top 10 countries for share of online research as a data collection methodology, compared to total research spend. Surprisingly perhaps, Bulgaria actually shares the number one spot with Japan.3

Looking at historic behavior and how markets have developed, it seems that early adopters start using online research for specifically suited topics and begin targeting active groups online when the penetration is in the range between 10 and 25 percent.

Research in countries where there is low Internet penetration requires a different approach. These countries are typically undeveloped or less developed. Many are bypassing terrestrial communications infrastructures and moving directly to mobile communications technology. This represents a significant opportunity for quantitative-based mobile surveys that are properly designed and incentivised to

2 http://ccsg.isr.umich.edu/

3 ESOMAR Industry Report. 2013

leverage the capabilities of mobile research platforms.

There is also a cost factor in play when it comes to which methodologies tend to win. Today, in many developing or underdeveloped countries, the cost of undertaking one methodology of data collection over another for research purposes is either very competitive, or the difference is nominal enough to not force a change. A good example is the relatively low cost of face-to-face interviews versus more expensive online research sampling in a country like India, as well as vast parts of Africa and Asia. Additionally, there is a relative wealth of research expertise and talent in offline interviewing techniques and methodologies in developed or under-developed markets compared with the lack of practitioners conducting online research.

Africa is a story in its own right. The continent generally has excellent telephone and mobile network infrastructures supporting at least 3G mobile access, but many countries within exhibit very low Internet usage. This could be due to relatively fewer broadband connections, along with a high number of Internet cafes and relatively low personal ownership of laptops and PCs (compared to mobile where it is common in some countries to own more than one handset). Also, the cost of local and international calls has a positive effect on telephone usage and adoption versus other forms of communication.

Generally speaking, the majority of Western Europe, increasingly much of Eastern and Central Europe, North America, the developed markets in Asia (inclusive of much of South East Asia) and major countries in Latin America all have high levels of Internet usage.

Addressing the All-Important Issue of PrivacyPrivacy is an area that researchers need to address. The EU Data Directive4 is currently under review with calls for more stringent regulation.5 The recent revision

4 http://www.marketingresearch.org/european-union-data-directive

5 http://www.marketingresearch.org/

of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the U.S. presents increased compliance obligations and potential penalties for research providers.

Data has no borders, and organizations must be aware of the laws, regulations and norms applicable to different jurisdictions, since data can be subject to more than one set of laws and regulations.

The two major regulatory models to be considered are those used in the EU and the U.S. For comparative purposes:

The EU regulatory model• Is based on a comprehensive framework

that addresses all areas of privacy;• Is applicable across all member nations;• Permits specific laws to be put into effect

by member nations; and• Is the basis for regulatory models used in

other nations like Canada and Australia.

The U.S. regulatory model• Lacks a comprehensive framework;• Provides for specific laws and regulations

with specific industries regulatedby Federal law, including HIPAA(healthcare),6 GLB (financial industry)7 andCOPPA (children under 13);8 and

• Permits specific laws to be put into effectby states.Global research providers must devise

privacy compliance programs that satisfy the demands of all applicable regulatory models per industry and country of operation.

While the market research industry is facing many challenges in the global research sphere, increasing global communication driven by technology and digital media means we are able to see and learn more about other countries than we have in the past. These digital communication trends are driving clients’ tastes for global research as well as our ability to execute it – and that can only be a good thing for our industry.

Richard Thornton is the global director, sales and operations, at Cint. He is responsible for global technology for MR and obtaining insights, and has more than 10 years’ experience with the online research sector.

news/2013/12/11/us-eu-safe-harbor-for-data-transfer-still-under-threat-from-european-leaders

6 http://www.marketingresearch.org/hipaa

7 http://www.marketingresearch.org/financial-privacy

8 http://www.marketingresearch.org/news/2013/07/10/coppa-revised-now-that-new-minors-online-privacy-rules-are-in-effect-compliance-is-n

Digital communication trends are driving clients’ tastes for global

research as well as our ability to execute it – and that can only be

a good thing for MR!


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Contact us at 215.653.7100 or visit our website at www.m-s-g.com for more information.

Showcase your Talent


MARKET INTELLIGENCE: SUPPORTING CORPORATE GROWTH IN LATIN AMERICABy Guillaume Corpart and Georgia Krivokapich

Multinationals operating throughout Latin America have had to step up their game in order to remain competitive in the face of changing market dynamics and to cater to the ever more sophisticated Latin American consumer. With changing demographics in the region, Latin America is undergoing a significant expansion in business-to-consumer markets. Businesses can capitalize on this growing consumer demand by anticipating critical changes such as increased participation of women in the workforce, an aging population, and a growing middle class, and by positioning themselves to reap the benefits of the resulting changes in consumer behavior.

The days of relatively easy access for foreign brands into Latin American markets are over. Latin American firms are evolving to compete.



In such an increasingly competitive Latin American market, it is essential to be able to quickly discern prosperous opportunities from perilous affairs. Timely market intelligence (MI) supports

the corporate decision-making process, enabling executives to make quicker, more reliable decisions.

A Holistic Approach for Effective Market Intelligence: The 3C’sA well-structured MI program should follow the 3C’s: Analyzing Context, Customers and Competition. This type of analysis, often referred to as 360-degree analysis or the “holistic approach,” positions the company at the center of the structured model to look at key drivers of effective decision making

Context: Political and Economic EnvironmentIn the quest to capitalize on growth, companies must first and foremost identify the regions (or countries) that represent the highest potential for their products and services. As economic and political dynamics can change rapidly, it is important for companies to keep their finger on the pulse of these markets in order to anticipate potential shifts and react quickly to new opportunities or emerging risks. For example, Argentina had been considered a strong prospect for international investors until President Cristina Fernández expropriated Repsol YPF in May 2012, sending negative signals about the rule of law and the ability to conduct business in the country. Another example is the case of Brazil, which had been grouped as part of the BRIC emerging markets in 2001 but today is experiencing faltering growth, calling into question its ability to tap into its full growth potential. Meanwhile, Mexico has reappeared on the radar screens of many international investors as a strong market going forward, after having been written off as the economy stumbled in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

These political and macroeconomic overviews should serve as the basis for framing investment decisions in local markets. Indeed, a deep understanding of the prevailing market and political dynamics is necessary to design the right growth strategy for any business. One company could seek growth by focusing on market share, which may rest on the assumption of a stable market and predictable political environment, whereas another may opt to ride a growth wave, which likely implies a higher level of risk.

Customers: Needs, Wants and GapsAnother critical step is the analysis of the right customer segments in chosen target markets. Companies must identify and

TYPICAL GROWTH PLANS CAN INCLUDE ELEMENTS SUCH AS:

Entering new marketsLaunching new products

Identifying potential distribution partnersPenetrating new channels

Identifying potential acquisition targetsIdentifying potential manufacturing partners

Entering new segments

The 3C’s of a 360-Degree Analysis

prioritize whom they need to target, and then identify the needs and wants of these target segments. Such analyses enable companies to identify underserved pockets in the market and devise well-informed strategies, tailoring their products and services accordingly.

A successful monitoring program of client preferences requires two key components:1. A consistent framework to be able to

track changes reliably; and2. Maintaining an open mind when probing

for new opportunities to ensure the timely detection of the most promising ones.When Maytag entered Mexico in the early

1990s, they introduced their bestselling U.S. models across the country. The sales of washing machines hovered around zero in the first two quarters following their launch. In disbelief, Maytag turned to their Mexican partner, Vitro, for an answer. Vitro explained that the upper and middle classes do not do their own laundry, but instead hire outside help to do household work. Many Mexican household workers were not sufficiently literate to read the complex instruction manuals designed to operate a modern washer. Instead, Vitro encouraged Maytag to simplify their product line. Maytag heeded the advice and built a rudimentary

washer, which cost five times less, and became the bestselling model in Mexico. These kinds of insights make a company’s strategy profitable.

Competitive LandscapeUnderstanding the local competitive environment is imperative to implementing an effective strategy. Identifying competitors and understanding their strategies, with knowledge of key metrics such as sales volumes and growth rates, will enable new market entrants to anticipate competitive moves and better position themselves to compete effectively.

Such competitive analyses are all the more important given the changes underway among well-established Latin American firms, especially market leaders. Indeed, in spite of the economic opening that has occurred over the past twenty years, a relatively small number of prominent families and their business interests still dominate many industries in the majority of Latin American economies. These well-entrenched local firms benefit from a better understanding of the marketplace, longstanding contacts within institutions, deep consumer knowledge, as well as cash-rich coffers. Yet with the forces of globalization, they are evolving their practices to become more nimble and compete more robustly against foreign multinationals. If anything, the days of relatively easy access for foreign brands into Latin American markets are over.

The Need for MI Timely MI is a necessary step for companies in the process of executing growth plans, such as entering new markets or segments, launching new products, or identifying potential acquisition targets or partners. MI supports the corporate decision-making process by providing companies with an overview of their political and economic environment, customers, or competitors, enabling executives to make quicker, more reliable decisions. Companies with relevant and targeted MI will gain a competitive edge, as they will be able to devise strategies and initiatives that are on-target, thus profiting more efficiently from opportunities while simultaneously avoiding potential pitfalls.

Guillaume Corpart is the managing director and Georgia Krivokapich is an analyst at Americas Market Intelligence. Guillaume is a veteran of Latin American competitive intelligence and strategy consulting and can be contacted at [email protected]. Georgia, based in Mexico and assigned to pan-regional analysis, can be contacted at [email protected].

ContextPolitical & Economic

Environment

CustomerNeeds, Wants &

Gaps

CompetitionCompetitive Landscape


Emotional values

are what differentiate

brands from

commodities.


BE MORE EMOTIONAL: HOW

ENGAGEMENT ASSESSMENTS CAN

MAKE RESEARCH MORE EFFICIENT, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND INSIGHTFULBy Robert Passikoff, Ph.D.

Show some compassion for the corporate researcher.

Facing a more complex marketplace, with more

complex consumers hot-wired to the Internet via mobile devices, more

complex and digitally dominant mediascape

outreach, optimizing research efforts for efficiency,

effectiveness, and insight has become more difficult.

Big Data has a lot more to answer for than the ability to capture virtually everything in the real and virtual worlds. And to paraphrase George Orwell, as all data is

important, but some data is more important than others, the corporate researcher’s conundrum has become identifying which is which. If a researcher can identify which is important from the consumer perspective (researcher opinions matter, but in the marketplace the final arbiter always ends up being the consumer), research efforts can be made more efficient, cost-effective, and insightful. While it is no easy task, emotional engagement assessments can help corporate researchers be more strategic and targeted in their efforts.

The Consumer Has Become More Emotional – So Should Your ResearchFact: The consumer decision process has become more emotional. You can argue all you want, but process-engineering and primacy of products and services, pricing, distribution, and the ability to reach out to consumers 24/7/365 has turned the rational aspects of marketing into table-stakes. You either have those things or you don’t get to play (or don’t get to play for long). Emotional values are what differentiate brands from commodities, and how you end up designing and conducting research can affect both your department’s budget and your corporation’s bottom line.

Sure, it was a simpler time back in the 1950s and 60s, when measuring and manipulating rational marketing levers could do it all and you knew what questions to ask. But this is the 21st century and the decision process is more emotional, whether consumers articulate it in focus groups or not, and whether researchers measure it or not.

Currently we estimate that the average category decision process is 80 percent emotional and 20 percent rational. This estimate is based on an examination of over a hundred categories and nearly a thousand brands, and the ratio differs slightly from one category to another. If you find that preponderance of the consumer decision process is more rational in your category, you are likely dealing with a commodity, or something that is going to soon become a commodity. Most brands don’t want to do that and count on corporate researchers’ skills to prevent that kind of transformation.We point this out because being able to accurately imbue your research efforts with real emotional engagement measures ensures that you are looking at research from a consumer’s perspective and not the corporation’s. Doing that guarantees that your research efforts can be made more efficient, cost-effective, and insightful.


Chart 1: Luxury Cosmetics Ideal

Chart 2: Percent-Contribution of Attribute, Benefit, Value Components

Maxim to Maximize Research EffortsYou need to know how the consumer looks at the category in which your brand competes. What they really think not what they say they think. In fairness, you also need to know how they see your brand in the category in which you compete. Know that, and you’ll know what to ask. Axiomatically, if you know what to ask, your research will be more efficient. More efficient results in shorter, more tightly designed research, and shorter, more targeted research forays cost less. QED.

The difficulty, as we pointed out earlier, is identifying what’s important to consumers at a time when everything is important. “Ask them,” you say? No, direct Q&A doesn’t work like it did 30 years ago. “Ask them to rate importance?” That might work for the rational elements, but doesn’t work all that well for the emotional ones. Satisfaction measures are lagging

indicators, and today, if you don’t satisfy, consumers don’t wait around for you to fix something. They have lots of other options immediately available to them. “Imagery ratings” are okay for making advertisements, but not strategic research, and are not a very good measure of real emotional values. Ralph Waldo Emerson put it best: “We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children. But that don’t make the cash register ring.”

What does make the cash register ring? Or at least provide insights and metrics that are predictive of positive consumer behavior in the marketplace, which should make the cash register ring? Emotional engagement metrics have been independently validated to do just that.

Real Emotional Engagement MetricsBrand Keys measures emotional engagement via a combination of psychological measures, which allows us to identify real emotional consumer values

in a category, and a three-step, higher-order statistical analysis, which allows us to “fuse” the emotional values with rational category attributes and benefits. The technique has a test/re-test reliability of 0.93 off National Probability Samples in the U.S. and U.K. and has been successfully used in B2B and B2C categories in 36 countries. The process of emotional engagement begins by measuring the consumer’s category “ideal.”

This is a complex process. Having consumers overtly ”rate the ideal” via importance scales may make for an unobjectionable cable reality TV concept, but it also makes for a highly inaccurate brand engagement yardstick in today’s marketplace. As communication scholar Everett M. Rogers pointed out, “Ideals are not simply an average of all observations about a category.” “Category” is critical in measuring emotional engagement because the consumer does not buy a smartphone the way they engage with and buy a soft drink. You really can’t trade away category-specificity for cross-category generalities like some industry approaches do if you want to accurately measure the consumer’s ideal where your brand competes and the place where your brand needs to be the beneficiary of your research efforts.

Measuring the ideal via real emotional engagement metrics identifies the behavioral drivers for each category-specific ideal. The ideal describes a precise path-to-purchase, describing how the consumer will view the category, compare brands and, ultimately engage with the brand, buy, and remain loyal. Chart 1, as an example, is the ideal for the Luxury Cosmetics category. In all instances + 5 (percentages or indices) represents a significant difference at the 95 percent confidence level.

Emotional engagement metrics also identify the percent-contribution each path-to-purchase driver makes to category engagement, which allows researchers to understand the influence each driver makes. Expectations consumers hold for the drivers are expressed as an index number, benchmarked to a category mean of 100.

Assessments from our 2014 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, currently measuring 64 categories and 555 brands, found that overall expectations for the ideal in the categories has increased by 30 percent, while individual brands have only grown by 6 percent. Even without a statistical app, it’s clear that the gap between what consumers expect and what brands deliver is pretty big. This gap identifies real opportunities for brands that distinguish them and, from a consumer perspective, believably respond to them.


Chart 4: Brand vs. Competitor

Chart 3: Brand vs. IdealCategories that are more emotionally-driven are likely to have higher expectations that grow faster. More rational categories have lower expectations and move more slowly.

Emotional engagement assessments also identify the attributes, benefits, and values (ABVs) that form the components of each driver as well as each individual ABV’s percentage-contribution to engagement, loyalty, and profitability. (See Chart 2 on previous page.)

How well brands meet the expectations consumers hold for each driver that describes their ideal for the category, dictates the level of consumer emotional engagement with the brand. (See Chart 3, top right.)

Inclusion of a competitor allows researchers to conduct emotional engagement Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analyses. (See Chart 4, bottom right.)

The four charts within this article represent the standard output from an emotional engagement assessment.

Applying Engagement Assessments to Make Research More Efficient, Cost-Effective, and InsightfulThe bottom line to making research more efficient, cost-effective, and insightful is the ability for corporate researchers to be more strategic, targeted, and efficient in the research they design and execute, with more effective strategies identified. Engagement assessments provide researchers with that roadmap. Here’s how:

1. Where should research be directed? In this example the brand is weaker than the competition on two drivers; Entrusted Brand That Knows Me and Effortless Transformation. While the gap between the brand and the competition is greater on the Effortless Transformation driver, the emotional engagement assessments identify Entrusted Brand That Knows Me as the driver making a significantly larger contribution to engagement, sales, and loyalty. So the return on investment – and in research inquiry – is better spent there.

2. What should the research ask about?Look at what’s inside the driver. By “opening” up the emotional engagement driver and examining the ABV components, researchers can condense areas of inquiry to those items that only make substantive contributions to that driver, thereby allowing research designs to be more efficient and, thus, more cost-effective.

It is worth noting that by examining all four of the emotional engagement drivers in this manner, researchers can create a very efficient overall, brand engagement value equation, representing a condensed – yet

meaningful – high percentage-contribution measure of the category ideal.

3. What do consumers really expect?Being attentive to the engagement expectation gap between the ideal and the brand presents researchers with a real opportunity to conduct the right kind of drill-down research. If you can identify a position, strategy or tactic that addresses that gap, you’ll soon see an increase in the brand’s engagement level. Shortly after that, corporations and brands will see more positive consumer behavior in the marketplace. Brands that are assessed as better meeting expectations held for the category ideal always have larger market shares and are always more profitable than the competition. The right research should always be able to say it contributed to that.

Another advantage of emotional engagement assessments is the fact that

they are predictive of shifting consumer values and expectations 12 to 18 months before they show up on traditional research radar screens, and we’ll be addressing how loyalty metrics can help you do that in the next issue of Alert!.

The noted management consultant, Peter Drucker, pointed out, “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” We’d like to point out that emotional engagement assessments provide corporate researchers with the ability to do both.

Robert Passikoff, Ph.D. is founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc. (www.brandkeys.com) a brand loyalty and consumer engagement research consultancy. He is the author of Predicting Market Success and The Certainty Principle. His new book, Branding in the Digital Age, will be published in September 2014.


You can earn an MRA Certificate in Qual or Quant ResearchCredentials help advance your marketing research career! MRA Certificate holders demonstrate to clients, management and the profession an advanced level of expertise and dedication. MRA has approved two Certificates in a new series provided by Research Rockstar. These live, online, interactive, instructor-led classes are fun and fast-paced. They take place in a virtual classroom, so no travel required! Classes are recorded and available for review for sixty days.

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HAS EARNED A CERTIFICATE IN

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HAS EARNED A CERTIFICATE IN

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CORPORATE RESEARCHERS: LOVING THEIR JOB, BUT NOT THEIR CAREER?By Kathryn Korostoff


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job “Market Research Analyst” has a “much faster than average” growth rate outlook through

2022.”1 In 2012, CNN Money put the job at number seven on its list of “best jobs in America,” for job growth and earning potential.2 As a “job,” market research is certainly getting some visibility. But how do those already in the career, specifically in corporate research, feel?

Our surveyIn February 2014, market research training company Research Rockstar conducted an online survey of 71 corporate researchers, drawing a sample primarily from their in-house list, plus some records collected through social media sites catering to market researchers.

While the sample size is small, readers will understand that this is a highly qualified population. A third of these corporate researchers identify themselves as market research project managers, 30 percent as market research executives, and 15 percent as junior staff, with the remainder fragmented among various other job titles. Half have been with their current employers for one to six years.

This data revealed some strong themes.

Areas of highest satisfactionIn many ways, corporate researchers are a fairly satisfied lot. Sixty percent or more report being satisfied with eight of fourteen job items tested (see Table 1, next page). Indeed, they report particularly high satisfaction in certain areas:• Interesting projects• Respect from colleagues and supervisors• Relationship with clients

Two items, however, jump out distinctly as the areas with which corporate researchers are least likely to be satisfied: opportunity for advancement and access to mentoring. Indeed, 44 percent report being dissatisfied with advancement opportunities.

Is it possible that corporate researchers love their jobs…but not their careers? One could argue that the difference between doing a job and having a career is in the employer’s longer term investments in professional development, an area that’s clearly lacking for corporate researchers. An interesting dichotomy emerges: Researchers feel respected for their

1 http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm

2 http://money.cnn.com/pf/best-jobs/2012/snapshots/7.html

44% of corporate researchers

are dissatisfied with their advancement

opportunities.


work and find their work interesting, yet are not getting the career development they want.

Career development and mentoring are typically designed and delivered through an organization’s professional development or human resources function. In many companies, managers are trained to provide supervision, mentoring, and career planning support. This begs a question: Are corporate researchers working in companies that lack such programs, or are corporate researchers just being left out of them?

Does mentoring matter?Corporate researchers are clearly dissatisfied with current mentoring access. But objectively, does mentorship really matter? Is this random buzzing from attention-starved worker bees, or a legitimate demand? Well, it turns out that our respondents are onto something.

In 2009, tech giant Sun Microsystems did an experimental design study comparing a test group of employees in a mentoring program with a control group that did not get mentoring. They found that 25 percent of employees in the mentored test group had a salary bump within the study’s time frame, compared with 5 percent of employees in the control group.

The mentees were also promoted five times more often than those not in the program. And wait, there’s more: Retention rates were much higher for mentees (72 percent) than for employees who received no mentoring.

Perhaps mentoring addresses both of these corporate researcher concerns – not only does it enhance employee satisfaction, it apparently has an indirect but definitive impact on compensation levels.

Clearly, the Sun Microsystems study was not conducted specifically among corporate market research professionals. Whether the results apply can’t be stated with certainty. But the research, which is consistent with other studies on the power of mentorship, suggests that corporate researchers aren’t just grumbling. Access to mentoring can be a career game changer and is a legitimate request.

Opportunities for advancement: A unique challenge for Corporate Researchers?Do corporate researchers feel differently about their work than people in other careers? Are corporate researchers distinct in their dissatisfaction with compensation, support and advancement opportunities, as opposed to, say, engineers and salespeople?

Apparently not. Advancement opportunities are a universal source of dissatisfaction. In 2012, the Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shed some light on this issue. In a survey of 600 U.S. employees, only 18 percent reported being “very satisfied” with career advancement opportunity. Similarly, a 2001 study by TMP Worldwide had similar results. Of 4,000 employees, TMP found that they prioritized opportunity for advancement, even more than compensation and “satisfying work.”

So, yes; corporate researchers want opportunities to advance, as do most employees from various careers.

What about skills? Are time management, writing, and insights development the foundations for research success? With over 60 percent rating these items as very important to their professional lives, (a number that rises well over 85 percent if we use a top 2 box approach), these do emerge as the universal skills of research success. Regardless of being a “quallie” or a “quantie,” the fundamentals are universal.

Nine other items tested, such as statistics, public speaking, and Excel, rated lower in importance. Not surprisingly, skills related to quantitative and qualitative methods drew varied ratings as some of our participants leaned to one side or the other.

If we look at the top three “important” skills and compare them to the corporate researcher’s self-reporting of their expertise level with each, we see modest gaps. Of course, one could also observe that of the top three skills at least 40 percent consider themselves less than expert. (See Table 2, next page.)

25% of mentored employees saw a salary

bump, compared to 5% in the control group.

Satisfied Very Satisfied Total (5+6)The respect I receive from my supervisor 37% 46% 83%

The respect I receive from my colleagues 49% 32% 81%

My relationship with suppliers 44% 32% 76%

My relationship with clients 54% 20% 74%

Opportunity to work on interesting projects 34% 37% 71%

The support I get from my supervisor 37% 32% 69%

The computing infrastructure (including software, tools) that supports my work 51% 15% 66%

The amount of time I am given to complete my work 37% 24% 61%

The compensation I receive for my level of work 39% 17% 56%

The amount of decision making authority I have 37% 20% 57%

My access to training 24% 27% 51%

My ability to influence my employer's business strategies 44% 10% 54%

Opportunity for advancement 20% 10% 30%

My access to mentoring 15% 12% 27%

Table 1


Takeaways for managers of Corporate Researchers Based on these findings, two key recommendations seem obvious:1. Offer mentoring, but offer it well – make

your program good and solid. Throwing together a program does not work. In a 2000 study published in the Academy of Management Journal, research based on a survey of over 1,620 professionals found that a poor mentoring relationship can do more harm than having no mentoring at all.3

Alternatively, work with professional groups to create cross-company mentoring. If there are not enough mentors available in one company, perhaps collaboration can be created.2. Develop new models for career

advancement. Can conventional thinking about corporate research career paths be challenged? Can a corporate research organizational structure be designed that supports the corporate research employees and offers options for career development? Now may be the time

3 “Marginal Mentoring: The Effects Of Type Of Mentor, Quality Of Relationship, And Program Design On Work And Career Attitudes.” By Belle Rose Ragins, John L. Cotton, Janice S. Miller. 2000.

to consider such options, given other industry changes taking place (such as shifting roles and activities between corporate researchers and market research firms).

Corporate Researchers love the work they do, but not their career possibilitiesAre corporate researchers being left out in the career cold? Compared to other professionals, are corporate researchers being unusually neglected by company policies and practices for professional development?

It does not appear so, as a lack of mentoring and career path stalling are common issues in a variety of fields. And really, isn’t compensation a hot topic for people everywhere these days?

Still, the Research Rockstar study, when examined in the light of these other findings, leaves us with a few burning questions, perhaps best tackled as a follow up project:

• What percentage of corporate researchers have a professional development plan created by, or with input from, their supervisors?

• Do existing plans offer specific skill development and career advancement path options?

• What do corporate researchers want to see as available career path options?

• What types of mentoring will be beneficial for corporate researchers?Further exploration of these and

related questions may shine a light on ways to make sure that corporate research professionals thrive within organizations, giving and getting the best value possible.

Kathryn Korostoff is the founder and president of Research Rockstar. Over the past 20 years, she has directed 600+ primary market research projects and published over 100 bylined articles.

It’s a vast market out there,but we can help you get to know it better.Putting your finger on the human pulse. Any numbers. Any time.

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Telephone sampling, IVR and related services.

341642432154

7411

923

97

547541

2415 59134261000107

9706

1274

762

693

916

121

Very Important(5 on a 5 point scale)

High Expertise 6+7 on a 7 point scale)

Gap

Time management 68% 54% 14%

Market research insights development

63% 53% 10%

Writing 66% 61% 5%

Table 2


EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKING WITH MARKETING DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMSBy Sanjay Kumar Rao, Ph.D.

Is traditional marketing research designed to provide useful assessments of the impact of executive decisions, strategy and action on revenue, market share, and profit? The concept and reality of a marketing decision support system, which integrates distinct streams of traditional marketing research with tools and techniques of forecasting and competitive intelligence, can in fact provide executives with real world, time-sensitive intelligence.


• What would be the estimated impact on profits of alternative courses of action, such as launching with alternative product configurations aimed at distinct segments, supported by varying levels of marketing investments?The questions represent challenges faced

by executives in several industries that rely on innovation to sustain growth and serve the rapidly evolving needs of its markets. For the marketing team, the questions represent a need to integrate diverse streams of research on consumers with information on the market and the ability of marketing actions to generate desired response. Further, the challenges demand the strategic marketing researcher to deploy technical skills that demonstrate proficiencies in market research, marketing modeling, forecasting and financial analysis.

A common misperception prevailing in some industries is that such questions cannot be answered by marketing research. Another erroneous perception is that answering such questions requires piecemeal research, analysis and predictive modeling conducted over several years, if at all, much of it fraught with uncertainties that may only serve to reduce the reliability of results.

Advances in the fields of market research and marketing models coupled with the availability of detailed micro-level data on consumer behavior and market performance, however, have made possible the development of marketing decision support systems (MDSS). Such systems are designed to integrate seemingly disparate data, research, analysis and predictive capabilities toward making reliable assessments of the impact of a range of marketing strategies on product performance.

Marketing Decision Support SystemsAn MDSS is a system of interlinked marketing models calibrated on customer, market and corporate research. The models seek to represent a realistic market environment, customer segments of relevance to the product under consideration, segment decision making processes, and the influence of marketing effort on such decisions. By definition and construction, such a system is unique to a product, its market and the types of decisions that need to be modeled for reliable prediction. A typical system can predict measures that represent top line performance such as revenues, market shares and growth over time, as well as costs and net financial impact in terms of profit, profitability, returns on investment and, where necessary, the present value of future performance.

Event impact modeling

injects much needed realism

into an MDSS that can help to fine tune its key

components.

Consider the following situation.

A manufacturer of digital communication devices is in the midst of developing a revolutionary product that

combines the best in office productivity software, entertainment experience and telecommunication. The product represents one of several variations which together can define a new generation of products that serves the rapidly evolving needs of a large group of consumers with distinct American and global market segments.

While the product is about five years away from launching, development executives are looking to answer questions such as:• Which types of product features are likely

to have the most impact on product trial, revenue and growth in a three year window of time after launch?

• If the product was offered with distinct features for each of the five largest segments, e.g. five distinct products were launched, what would be the incremental impact on revenue?

• What types of marketing investments, i.e. TV advertising, online outreach, print advertising, in-store promotions, direct to consumer marketing, would yield the most revenue within three years of launch?


The most effective MDSS is best constructed using raw inputs developed from the conduct of product-specific primary market research, compilation of retrospective customer and market data using historical, longitudinal secondary data, assumptions and potential impact data collected from issue-specific Delphi sessions and benchmarking through data from similar or analogous products and their market performance over time.

Where possible, analogues from within and outside a product’s industry are used to refine the reliability and predictive power of one or more models in the MDSS.

Figure 1 outlines a schematic of an MDSS.

Customer SegmentsDetailed learning about customer segments likely to be interested in the product under consideration is a critical foundation for an effective MDSS. Outputs are reliable to the extent that characteristics of potential customers are accurately captured for use toward describing – and subsequently predicting – behaviors vital to generating trial, repeat purchases, and loyalty. The ability of marketing models to adequately describe and predict future behavior is dependent upon the breadth and depth of information available about customer proclivities and reactions to the new product and its variations.

A segmentation scheme that integrates information on past, current and future customer behavior with underlying covariates in awareness, attitudes, experiences and preferences is a vital building block for an effective MDSS. Surveys of the relevant customer population designed to collect data on such constructs can provide the basis for the application of marketing science models that result in the identifying, profiling and sizing of relevant customer segments that best represent the addressable market in the MDSS. Methodologies such as those based on latent class models and classificatory auto-regression (CART) are best suited to developing such integrated segmentation schemes.

Normative and Predictive ModelsUnderstanding key drivers of segment interest, trial, repeat purchase and sustained loyalty to products in the category and the new product and its variants in particular is another vital input likely to impact the usefulness of an MDSS. Such understanding needs to be descriptive and pedagogical so as to contribute to the development of insights about what has worked historically and what may work in the future. Perhaps more critically, such understanding is best codified into normative and predictive models of

customer behavior that – depending upon assumptions of product characteristics, marketing activities, competitor reactions, market environment and changes thereof – can reliably forecast product performance in terms of sales, market share and market growth over a reasonable time horizon. Surveys designed to collect data on new product optimization, estimate competitor impact, assess impact of specific marketing actions on customer behavior and potential customer expectations from current and new products in the future, provide vital inputs for such goals. Reliance on understanding customer reactions in the past to analogous product, competitor and marketing activities is also an important source of information. Calibrating models of customer reaction to variations in product characteristics, marketing activities, competitor reactions and the market environment is accomplished by adopting proven frameworks provided by marketing science methods such as conjoint and discrete choice analysis, method of maximum differences, marketing and sales response modeling, time series analysis, simultaneous/structural equations modeling (SEM), and seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR). Such frameworks provide a scientific methodology to describe, understand and predict customer behaviors to a wide range of actions contemplated by a

Marketing Decision Support Systems For Effective Executive Decision Making

CustomerSegments

Response & Predictive

Models

MarketEvolution &

Uncertainties

Marketing / Sales Force / DistributionStrategies

ProductStrategies

Research & Analyses

EstimatingCompetitiveResponses

ForecastingFinancial

Implications

Decision Support System

Integrated Models

A custom decision support system can be built and used to forecast the market value of alternative strategy options based on financial implications

Marketing research, existing strategies and baseline information provide critical inputs to developing a decision support system involving multiple stakeholders, influences and market uncertainties

Figure 1


manufacturer and a marketer of a product or its competitors.

Event Impact ModelingWhile marketing science models provide a reliable, numerical view of the market and the action/reaction paradigm characterizing behaviors of potential customer segments for the new product and its variants, an MDSS can usually benefit from information that fine tunes its key components. Such fine-tuning is accomplished by scanning the market environment for events that represent external, often transient or one-time perturbations to the system. Examples of such events could be the introduction of disruptive new technologies, regulatory actions limiting market definitions or assumed technology use, unexpected patent litigation or outcomes, the availability of new markets or customer segments, e.g. new geographies, mergers or acquisitions leading to changes in addressable market potential, or revision of the product itself. If and when a hot list of such events is developed, conducting research, analysis and making subsequent changes to the marketing and customer behavior models help refine – and inject much needed realism into – the MDSS.

Dynamic ImpactThe value of an MDSS is enhanced when the outputs of the marketing science models are available over a full time frame, e.g. 3-7 years, rather than only as static estimates representing a steady state. This is made possible by a keen understanding of what the steady state is, what factors are likely to make the market environment less than steady (or dynamic), what is the likely pattern of market adoption under dynamic conditions and what actions by the manufacturer would move the system toward steadiness. A marketing scientist can conduct systematic research and analysis to develop such understanding and apply its learning. Conducting Delphi sessions with opinion leaders in the category tightly focused on specific objectives requiring insight and numerical estimates of impact is usually a vital step. By their experience and involvement with multiple products in the market under consideration, such leaders have typically developed the necessary expertise and foresight to provide valuable guidance on how the market would behave under less than predictable circumstances. Assessing rates, magnitudes and typical patterns of product uptake under alternative definitions of what represents a dynamic market situation is also possible by reviewing historical data in analogous cases within a category, or in adjacent categories that

share some important traits that matter to the investigation. Working off research that characterizes the current, steady and dynamic states, a marketing scientist can develop numerical representations of how customers – and the aggregate market – will likely behave in the continuum of time linking the three states. Examples of such representations include predicting product uptake rates through to the steady state, estimating changes in the sizes of market segments, predicting product sales, market shares and their sources, and assessing the change (if any) in the available market potential.

Financial ImpactAn important part of a viable MDSS that offers sustained value to its users in marketing, strategic planning and corporate departments is the ability to transform outputs of marketing research and science into meaningful financial measures. Such measures enable key resource allocation decisions and budgets that have a foundation in reliable customer feedback; and as a consequence, can be expected to provide results in line with expectations. Working with executives charged with planning and financial analysis responsibilities, a marketing scientist builds into an MDSS the ability to make assumptions about costs, prices, expected margins and their variations over time. Also included are similar best guess estimates of competitor cost and profit structure. Top line estimates of performance, i.e. sales, market share, over time and the underlying resource allocations are then subject to cost and price parameters in order to develop reasonable working measures of profit and profitability. The MDSS is structured to recognize product, competitor, marketing and financial assumptions in a framework that reflects customer and market response to alternative strategies.

Simulations for StrategyThe value of an MDSS is not confined to making decisions about resource allocations, enabling performance forecasts, and understanding and predicting customer behaviors not otherwise possible through conducting piecemeal market research. When used as a tool for simulation, an MDSS provides a valuable basis for developing marketing strategies. When brand teams are required to outline strategies that have impact on specific customer behaviors – and by extension on the top and bottom line – a significant need is to understand and quantify such impact without conducting expensive additional research, analysis or modeling. Relying upon an MDSS in such situations enables

brand teams to ask a multitude of “what-if” questions, construct hypothetical scenarios that represent self and competitor strategies, and obtain accurate answers in the context of a well-defined marketplace over time. An MDSS can serve as a viable system at the center of organized research that builds a detailed picture of a future marketplace subject to seemingly conflicting strategies from multiple product teams. Depending upon the type of simulations likely to represent the impact of alternative strategy and market assumptions, the marketing scientist can build into an MDSS standard simulation tool, such as a Monte Carlo analyzer. Outputs from marketing science models subject to alternative inputs representing alternative strategies are fed into such an analyzer so that a range of potential outcomes, subject to realistic estimates of market uncertainties and responses are generated. A study of such outcomes, their underlying drivers, the associated strategic assumptions and product and resource requirements shaping them provides a reliable, empirical basis for devising strategies that have measureable impact.

MDSS: Structuring Marketing Research ActivitiesA case can be made to structure disparate marketing research activities supporting a new product under the rubric provided by an MDSS. An MDSS provides a rational, quantifiable basis for making critical marketing decisions on the basis of cumulative, integrated marketing and other research, the value of which is assessed through acceptable top and bottom line business measures. Equally important, an MDSS allows a marketing research team to develop insights based not merely on a single, stand-alone project, but in the context provided by other research projects with related or non-overlapping objectives concerning the same product. The validity of such insights is also available for assessment in terms of their impact on market and financial performance. Every marketing research project (qualitative, quantitative, hybrid or integrated, primary or secondary, involving use of brand or corporate data) can be seen as providing vital inputs to an MDSS, which is set up to answer a raft of questions important to decision making. When research activities are structured to answer business questions on the basis of rational measures, it can only result in better business decisions.

Sanjay K. Rao, Ph.D., is vice president in the life sciences practice at CRA’s Washington, DC office, where he oversees CRA’s marketing research capabilities. Sanjay has a Ph.D. in Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.


KEEPING INFORMED

Combatting Questionable Quality of Online Data CollectionBy Vaibhav Kushwaha

Online data collection has seen tremendous change in the past five to six years, from computers and laptops to mobile phones and tablets. The industry now reaches consumers worldwide, 24/7. Social media has played a huge role in this transformation. These changes have also changed the dynamics of the market. Data collection companies are moving from focusing on quantity of business to focusing on quality of business.

The quality of online data collection is something that is often talked about within the data collection industry, but it’s also something many panel companies fear to

address. It’s estimated that 25 percent of online data collected is of poor quality due to the respondents’ lack of authentic interest in the survey. This has made data quality an ongoing topic of debate among researchers.

With growth of online panels and communities, quality of data collection was bound to take a hit. Most surveys are taken by professional “survey takers” who seek simply to make money and are not regular consumers. Lacking this critical quotient of interest has a negative effect on the outcome of many research projects and results in tainted data.

Poor quality data from online data collection is the worst fear of sample companies and a nightmare for researchers. The perspectives of sample providers have to change if they want to survive in the current market research industry.

In order to combat questionable data quality, it’s important for market researchers to investigate the methods and techniques of their services company. There are a few things market researchers should look for when seeking to hire a sample provider for research projects:• A company that uses an accumulated

set of checks to ensure no duplication of respondents in their panels and that the pool is diversified. Also, look for a sample provider that will control respondents’ behaviors in terms of the number of surveys they can take per month.

• A company that ensures respondents arekept engaged. A great research company offers panelists a fun experience with an inventive structure to encourage valid and genuine responses.

• A company that uses survey qualitychecks like red herring questions. Thisis just one way to increase respondents’awareness while answering the survey.Even if it is not a foolproof solution, ithelps survey-takers pay closer attention tothe questions they’re answering.Apart from having all the checks in place,

can we be sure the data collected is quality data? If the sample represents the universe under study and respondents are answering carefully and honestly, then yes, we can say that the data collected is of good quality. Below are two major aspects that come into play in ensuring quality data:

1. Sample representation of theuniverse under study: This is determined at the survey design stage. For example, we recently received a survey where the client was looking for national representation of a sample but the target was IT decision makers. The project was simple and any sample provider could have finished it off, but would the data collected be honest and factual? In India, we have 18.2 percent of the population in the 15-24 year old bracket, so of these, how many actually have a job? And from those, how many will have significant decision making authority in their respective companies?

These things have to be taken care of by the researcher while designing the study. Once the study is in the final stages and data is ready to be collected, these problems will weaken the project if not taken into consideration by the sample provider.

2. Respondents answering carefullyand honestly: This is the major concern of every sample provider. Will the respondents answer questions honestly and carefully? Will they run through the survey too quickly? Many steps have been taken into consideration when we try to ensure respondents are honest and careful in their

approach. During the final field stages, it’s understandable that clients sometimes want to finish quickly and, therefore, increase respondent incentives. However, it’s important to have patience and allow respondents time to answer on their current incentive plan; otherwise professional “survey takers” will come into play and data can become skewed. Unfortunately, many market research companies follow this practice of increasing incentives to get the survey done quicker, which results in inaccurate data. While this data will at first appear fine to their client, both the client and company can face significant negative consequences in the long run.

General practice should be followed that a survey will only be incentivized based on difficulty level and length of the survey. Once incentives are set, they should not be altered.

Many other things lead to respondents running through surveys, including poor questionnaire design or boring topics. Sample providers are trying to make surveys more engaging because all these factors can impact the level of participation of a respondent. Though this cannot be managed throughout the length of the survey, this can be controlled to a great extent with a more engaging questionnaire design.

While these are not hard and fast rules that will always improve data collection, they are very simple and easy-to-use “white hat” techniques. If used correctly, these techniques can ensure data collected is of good quality.

Vaibhav Kushwaha is the director of global operation and vo-founder at Orchidea Research Group, which offers research, consulting, and online panel services. Contact him at [email protected].


You were probably promoted because you’re a competent technical professional. You know how to build a bridge, negotiate a deal, or justify a

capital expenditure. Unfortunately, whether you’re a middle manager or a CEO, your technical skills usually won’t help you be a better leader.

But effective leadership has an undeniable business value. In one study,1 Jack Zenger and colleagues examined the best (top 10 percent) and worst (bottom 10 percent) leaders at a large commercial bank. On average, the worst leaders’ departments experienced net losses of $1.2 million, while the best leaders boasted profits of $4.5 million.

Sink or Swim is Not a PlanAs any disgruntled employee will attest, exceptional leadership isn’t commonplace. One recent Center for Creative Leadership study2 reveals that up to 50 percent of managers are ineffective. Sadly, your company probably isn’t doing much to help you. First, they most likely use the wrong criteria to select leaders by focusing on technical – rather than leadership – skills. Second, most invest little to develop leaders, and training is often an isolated, one-size-fits-all event. Without follow-up, 90 percent of information from training programs disappears after three months.

Without organizational support, leaders wanting to improve are left to their own devices. But when they search on Amazon for “leadership books,” they’re assaulted with more than 100,000 options. No wonder leadership feels so complex and impossible.

Luckily, there’s good news. Though psychologists used to believe leaders were “born,” recent research tells a much different story: leadership is an acquirable

1 “How Extraordinary Leaders Double Profits: Decoding Leadership Trends to Discover the Patterns.” by Jack Zenger, Joe Folkman and Scott K. Edinger. 2010. http://zengerfolkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Double-Profits.pdf

2 http://www.astd.org/Publications/Newsletters/ASTD-Links/ASTD-Links-Articles/2011/01/Derailment-How-Successful-Leaders-Avoid-It

skill. Recently, a study by Richard Arvey at Singapore’s NUS Business School3 revealed that a whopping 70 percent of leadership is learned. That means anyone can learn to become an effective leader!

Two Behaviors All Leaders Must MasterFor decades, scientists have known everything we need to know about how successful leaders behave. It’s like finding your TV remote tucked under a couch cushion after hours of searching elsewhere: The secrets to leadership really have been here all along.

In 1945, a group of Ohio State University researchers set out to disprove the notion that leadership was an inborn personality trait. With 70 International Harvester Company foremen as their subjects, they discovered4 that leadership effectiveness was related to the presence of two independent behaviors.

First, effective leaders showed consideration, displaying support, compassion, and friendliness to their team.

3 http://bschool.nus.edu/departments/ManagementNOrganization/publication/RichArveypublist/leadership%20role%20occupancy.%20arvey.pdf

4 http://jom.sagepub.com/content/5/2/127.abstract

Second, they initiated structure. They clearly defined the role each employee played and drove their performance. Let’s re-name these behaviors “People” and “Results,” respectively.

Indeed, you probably feel an inherent tension between People and Results. On one hand, you must build relationships by connecting with your team, earning trust and motivating them. On the other, you must drive top-and bottom-line results through their performance and productivity. I can drive them to perform, leaders think, OR I can be their friend:

People ß-------- X--------à Results Left Side Leader Right Side Leader

Depending on your upbringing, culture, and role models, you’ll find a comfortable position between them. For a select few, that position is in the middle, leveraging each outcome to support the other. The rest fall somewhere to the left or the right, and some to the extremes:

The Cool Parent: Left-side leaders act like the “Cool Parent.” Focusing on the happiness of their team at all costs, they don’t set expectations, give honest feedback, or make tough decisions. Working for a left-side leader might feel pleasant… at first. But as soon as you need tough – but true – feedback, he or she freezes like a deer in headlights.

The Trail of Dead Bodies Creator: Right-side leaders drive results so aggressively that they leave a “Trail of Dead Bodies.”5 This leader requires grueling hours, is never satisfied, and withholds recognition lest employees become complacent. Though right-side leaders help you “up your game” initially, in the long-term, you suffer both physically (from over-work) and mentally (from lack of appreciation).

The best leaders are able to move to the middle, focusing on people and results. These bankable leaders create prosperity in the form of achievement, health,

5 http://www.tashaeurich.com/content/AMA%20Article%20-%20Cool%20Parent%20or%20Trail%20of%20Dead%20Bodies.pdf

KEEPING INFORMED

Without organizational support, leaders wanting to improve are left to their own devices. But when they search on Amazon for “leadership books,” they’re

assaulted with more than 100,000 options. No wonder

leadership feels so complex and impossible.

Happy People and Bottom-Line Results: How Bankable Leaders Deliver BothBy Dr. Tasha Eurich

Why won’t my employees just do what I tell them? Why am I struggling to motivate my team? Why aren’t they giving me the performance I need? If any of these questions sound familiar to you, you’re not alone.


happiness and wealth for themselves, their team, and their organization. Think of the best manager you’ve ever had. He or she might have been a walking contradiction, achieving all of these things at once:• Care for and understand team members

AND set aggressive performance targets. • Help team members succeed AND expect

responsibility for successes and failures.• Provide recognition AND push continuous

improvement.• Help you enjoy your job AND ensure

everyone maximally contributes.

Three Actions to Become

More Bankable1. Gather the FactsJust like you can’t start a weight-loss program without getting on a scale, you must begin your journey by learning the truth about yourself. We’re often the worst evaluators of our behavior. You may have placed yourself in the middle of the continuum, believing you place an equal emphasis on People and Results – but your team might say, “Are you kidding? You’re a total slave driver!” Use your resources and gather the facts, whether it’s through an assessment or feedback in the form of

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2. Be Laser-FocusedResearch by Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi of Booz & Company6 shows that as the quantity of executive teams’ goals increases, revenue declines. Similarly, leaders often choose too many development goals. Give yourself the greatest chance for victory by developing one thing at a time. It is far better to make progress in one area than to make little or none in five!

3. Practice DailyIt’s likely that you’ve had a development plan before…that gathered dust in a drawer. You were probably engaging in Delusional Development – the futile hope that just by wanting to get better at something and knowing enough to be dangerous, you’ll show improvement. The amount of deliberate practice you choose will be proportionate to your improvement. The journey to Bankable Leadership is like learning a violin concerto: You have to learn the concepts (reading music) and behaviors (playing the violin). Then you practice every day to create beautiful music.

Bankable Leadership Happens Day By DayFrom music to science to athletics, people with average talent have achieved extraordinary things. Scientists used to think that superior athletes achieved greatness because of biological differences. But we now know that the best marathon runners, for example, simply train more7 in the weeks leading up to the marathon.

The same is true for exceptional leaders. That’s why the “I just wasn’t born to be a leader” excuse doesn’t hold water. A person may not want to be a leader, which is entirely different. But with focus and commitment, anyone can become a more effective leader. The daily commitment it requires isn’t always sexy – but will make you a more bankable leader…guaranteed.

A proud leadership geek, executive coach, speaker, contributor to Huffington Post, and author, Dr. Tasha Eurich is the author of the new book, Bankable Leadership: Happy People, Bottom Line Results, and the Power to Deliver Both. With an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University and B.A. in Theater and Psychology from Middlebury College, she serves on the faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership.

6 http://www.booz.com/global/home/what-we-think/books/essential_advantage

7 http://michaelzweifel.blogspot.com/2013/10/daniel-coyle-interview.html


Angels and Demons and Measuring Data Quality the Right WayBy Annie Pettit, Ph.D.

Vanquish all bad data from my dataset!

Yes, we all try to do that. But are we doing it properly? Obtaining valid and reliable results from surveys requires good quality data, but poorly

designed, lengthy, and boring surveys cause respondents to disengage, leaving us with bad data and incorrect action outcomes. Bad data wastes our time and our money.

When we look at the data quality of surveys, we’ve got to wade through different kinds of people participating in the research. First, we desperately need to find the Lazy Larrys. We need to find the people who are masking themselves as someone else. We want to find bots that are randomly choosing any answer option. And, as much as we don’t want it to happen, we need to find people who will say anything in a survey to get to the tiny pot of gold at the end.

At the same time, we must recognize that there are a lot of good, honest, hard-working people who are trying their best when answering surveys. Good Faith Gail leads a busy life. She goes to work every day, takes the dog for walks, cooks and cleans for a

KEEPING INFORMED

family of five, cares for her aging mother, and parents the little ankle biters that for some strange reason constantly want mommy’s attention. Unfortunately, all of the pieces of her life mean that she can never truly pay complete attention to our surveys. As a result, she sometimes makes mistakes in her answers. She doesn’t mean to; it just happens.

What we really need to do is figure out how to separate Lazy Larry from Good Faith Gail. For this study, we designed a generic cereal survey with many questions from horrid grids and poorly written questions, as well as lots of “select all that apply” questions, open ended questions, rating questions, and more. We gave our 8,000 respondents every possible opportunity to respond to the questions as they wished, and in the end formulated 30 possible errors.

The great news is that 23 percent of our respondents made no errors. The bad news is that 77 percent made at least one error. In other words, 77 percent of our survey completes could have been classified as poor quality data and deleted: money in the garbage and increased field times. However,

AngelsDemons

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we know this isn’t fair. We know that Good Faith Gail’s responses are in that collection of poor data because she made one or two small errors. We need a way to tease apart the Gails from the Larrys.

To do this, we grouped our respondents into (1) Demons who made many errors and (2) Angels who only made one or two errors. This segmentation gave us the ability to see which errors the Demons tended to make, and which the Angels tended to.

Red herring questions are a favorite of researchers. All you have to do is insert a fake answer into one of your questions, and you’ll know that when people choose, for example, that brand name – it can’t possibly be a valid response.

In our survey, people did choose the red herring answer. In fact, about 6 percent of Angels chose a red herring answer and about 15 percent of Demons. That difference of 9 points isn’t great enough to say with confidence that anyone who chooses a red herring is a bad respondent whose data should be removed. The brand names we make up often sound like real brand names or they’re local brand names that don’t show up in a Web search. It would be completely unfair to delete 6 percent of the data just because people chose one red herring.

But here’s a completely different story. When we identified people who selected two red herring answers, it became clear who the Angels and Demons were. Only 1 percent of Angels chose two red herrings, while 40 percent of Demons did the same. This is a great indicator of poor data quality.

Speeding is another of our favorite data quality measures. In this study, about 8 percent of Angels and 40 percent of Demons were in the fastest half of the normal curve. That alone is a nice difference between the groups, but I really don’t like deleting 8 percent of Angels just because they are computer literate, can type well, can read quickly, and have experience answering surveys.

To Penalize Angels To Penalize Demons

Use 1 red herring Use 2 red herrings

Use grids with only positive items Use grids with positive and negative items

Create one data quality question and delete data based on a mistakes to it Use a rank question

Identify short verbatims

Require 3 or more mistakes before deleting data

We’ve used only one or two questions in attempts

to pick out people who weren’t paying attention. Very often, we used weak grid questions where every single option was phrased

in a positive way making it nearly impossible to not

straightline. We’ve failed to recognize that real human

beings get distracted and make mistakes. Even good intentioned, honest reliable people – like your

mom or grandpa.

However, if we really ramp up the definition of speeding to the fastest 1.5 percent of completes, we’ve now got a case where none of our Angels got a speeding ticket, but 30 percent of our Demons did. The fastest 1.5 percent of respondents were Demons. Delete them all and your Angels will all be safe.

Straightlining is also a commonly used indicator. Unfortunately, we are not generally good at implementing this solution. We often don’t use best practices in question design, which means that every item in the grid is phrased in a positive way. This problem isn’t straightlining, it is bad question design. In our survey, we found that about 14 percent of Angels ended up straightlining on a weak grid question. Sure, 60 percent of Demons also straightlined, but are you willing to automatically delete

14 percent of Angels just because they answered honestly?

Our survey also included a well-designed grid question. In this case, respondents were again asked how much they agreed with each statement. But, instead of phrasing every question in a positive way, half of the questions were phrased in a negative way – this cereal tastes good, it smells bad, it looks good, it’s expensive, the box is good. People answering honestly shouldn’t straightline and that’s what our results showed. Only 3 percent of Angels straightlined on the well-designed question, whereas 60 percent of Demons straightlined. If you write a best practice grid question, then absolutely use straightlining as a data quality measure.

A much less used data quality question is the rank question. Unfortunately, it relies on the fact that our basic numeracy and literacy skills are not always what they should be. In this case, we asked our respondents to rank order 8 items from 1 to 8. About 8 percent of Angels and 50 percent of Demons failed this measure by choosing the same number twice, or choosing a number that wasn’t from 1 to 8. The fact that 8 percent of Angels failed this does make me a bit nervous, but when 50 percent of Demons fail, I have to pay attention to it.

We also looked at a variety of contradictions to different types of questions within the survey. For example, a household of five people should probably spend more than $10 a week on groceries. In this case, about 8 percent of Angels contradicted themselves just once and about 40 percent twice. With an Angel failure rate that high, it doesn’t make sense to delete their data even though about 74 percent of Demons contradicted themselves twice. Unfortunately, contradictions are not a guaranteed way to separate Angels and Demons.

Open ends are highly sought after, since respondents use those sections to tell us


things that they couldn’t say elsewhere. These, too, are helpful when it comes to data quality. When asking respondents to list out three reasons for their choice, about 1 percent of Angels shared fewer than 10 characters compared to 57 percent of Demons. This single measure may delete about 1 percent of our good data, but it would also delete a great portion of the poor data.

Finally, let’s consider a brand recognition question. We might assume that most people would recognize Kellogg’s, Adidas, iPhone, and more, from a list of well-known brands. Yet, about 4 percent of Angels indicated that they only knew one or two of the brands compared to 48 percent of Demons. Perhaps expecting everyone to know global brands is unreasonable. Readers could have simply misread or missed an option. New immigrants might not know them all. Non-shoppers or non-consumers might not recognize all the brands. We simply can’t assume that our survey respondents have the same life experiences that we do or that they know all the same brand names we do. In this case, if we were to delete data based solely on this one question, we would lose 4 percent of Angels. Not terrible, but not good either.

From this article, I hope a few things have come to mind for you. First, although

To summarize, here is what we can and should do. If you want to penalize Demons, use a red herring question. But make sure you incorporate two red herring items, not just one. In addition, not instead, make sure your grids incorporate both negative and positive phrasing so that you can validly measure straightlining. Also, see if you can find a place where a ranking question is appropriate. Demons have high failure rates on ranking questions so we should use that to our advantage, and do a simple character count on open-ends that everyone ought to have a reasonably lengthy response to.

The most important thing is to make sure that you measure multiple errors. We know Angels make all kinds of mistakes, not just the obvious, simple or lazy ones. But Angels will not make three, four or five mistakes. The next time you prepare a survey, make sure it’s designed to penalize Demons and not their Angel counterparts.

Annie Pettit, Ph.D., is the chief research officer of Peanut Labs and vice president, research standards at Research Now. She specializes in social media listening research, survey methods, and data quality. Find her on Twitter at @LoveStats.

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23 percent of our respondents answered the survey perfectly, they are the minority. I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect and there’s no way we should expect our respondents to be perfect. We know that many respondents are acting in good faith. They might have kids at their feet, a boss on the phone, or a spouse calling them to dinner. Any of these things mean that we don’t have all of their attention. And honestly, why should they give us 100 percent of their attention? We do offer incentives, but for the most part, in no way do they compare to how much money a respondent can or does earn for the same time spent at a full-time job. I’d love to know how many of you were checking emails, watching TV, or doing something else while reading this. If you can’t pay 100 percent attention to this one thing, why should anyone else?

We need to improve how we write our surveys. Historically, our data quality practices have been weak. We’ve used only one or two questions in attempts to pick out people who weren’t paying attention. Very often, we used weak grid questions where every single option was phrased in a positive way making it nearly impossible to not straightline. We’ve failed to recognize that real human beings get distracted and make mistakes. Even good intentioned, honest reliable people – like your mom or grandpa.


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FIELDAGENT.NETGet it onDownload on the

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*based on 2013 Mobile Consumer Habit survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of Jumio

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COME SEE THE POWER OF FIELD AGENT ATMAR KET R ESEARCH I N TH E M O B I LE WO R LD - CH I CAG O, MAY 27 - 3 0

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Market Research Provider Directory

The Market Research Provider Directory is a special advertising supplement to Alert!.

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Anderson, Niebuhr & Associates, Inc.6 Pine Tree Dr., Ste. 200Arden Hills, MN 55112651.486.8712www.ana-inc.comContact: John [email protected]

Full service specialists in high-quality custom research and excellent client service! Forty years of satisfaction, healthcare, B2B, B2C, industrial/high-tech, education, government, non-profit/association, etc. Methods: phone, mail, Web, mixed-mode, focus groups, in-depths. Services: study design, sampling, expert survey construction, data collection, statistical analysis, reports and presentations; research training workshops.

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Selected as one of the Best New Agencies of 2013 by the MRS, Antedote is a leading innovation and insight consultancy. We help our clients solve some of the world’s toughest innovation and insight challenges. We deliver insights and strategy that empowers them to make an impact. We harness leading edge technology to enable us to get to deeper insight, including our own online qualitative research platform.

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Ascribe has been providing innovative technologies to transform comments and open text responses into actionable insights since 1999. Combining the latest language processing techniques with human-assisted methods, Ascribe’s software processes hundreds of millions of unstructured survey responses each year. Ascribe helps customers in 57 countries, including the top 20 market research firms in the world.

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Research and survey professionals have been relying on ASDE’s expertise for over 19 years. For U.S. and Canada, we can meet your needs for telephone samples (landline, cell phone, targeted, ethnic, custom, business), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) surveys, address-based sampling and list matching/appending.

AVC Research304 Front St.Belvidere, NJ 07823908.475.3366Contact: Aileen [email protected]

MARKET RESEARCH VALIDATIONS. Validations are used to ensure quality and act as a deterrent to invalid fieldwork. For over 10 years, AVC Research has specialized in validations. We can tailor your project to your specific needs, large or small. We provide fast, efficient turnaround. Our reports have been used frequently for legal purposes. We also do product placement callbacks that are prompt and cost effective.

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B2B International is a leading B2B market research company. Providing the complete range of customized B2B research services from our offices across the globe, our high quality market insights help clients from all industry sectors make informed, strategic business decisions.

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Babbletype1 International Plz., Ste. 550Philadelphia, PA 19113888.678.7782www.babbletype.comContact: Angela [email protected]

Babbletype transcription services come highly referred and are designed to reduce your costs and turnaround, and dramatically improve the quality of your reports. Don’t settle for memory or cryptic “notes.” We offer ultra-easy, standard, all-inclusive pricing and have incredible volume discounts. We also handle language translation, teleconferencing and content analysis.

Baltimore Research8320 Bellona Ave., Ste. 210Baltimore, MD 21204410.583.9991www.baltimoreresearch.comContact: Heather Collins, [email protected]

54-year-old, full service marketing research firm and focus facility. Our service quality is unparalleled and we are experienced across diverse industries. Facility features eight well-appointed focus suites, chic client lounges, test kitchen with observational viewing, private bathrooms in every suite and ample free parking. Full-time chef on staff for a superior culinary experience. Each suite is outfitted with the latest technology. Highly experienced recruiting team with acute attention to detail. Deeply profiled medical database.

Boston Field & Focus, Inc.111 Speen St., Ste. 105Framingham, MA 01701508.876.1287www.bostonfieldfocus.comContact: Annette [email protected]

Performance Plus operates focus facilities, mall intercepts and other research facilities in several New England locations. Our Framingham headquarters can accommodate several large concurrent studies. Our flagship downtown Boston location at historic Faneuil Hall is the fourth highest traffic destination in the country! This location ensures access to millions of respondents just outside our door.

C&C Market Research1200 South Waldron Rd., Ste. 138Fort Smith, AR 72903479.785.5637www.ccmarketresearch.comContact: Ashley [email protected]

C&C Market Research has been in business for over 25 years and currently has over 45 facilities in the coastal U.S. We are ready to help with your next quantitative/qualitative research project. We have experienced staff in all locations ready to provide a high standard of confidentiality, credibility, and quality.

Canadian Viewpoint, Inc.9350 Yonge St., Ste. 206Richmond Hill, ON L4C 5G2Canada905.770.1770www.canview.comContact: Alan [email protected]

Our expertise and diverse service offering makes our team among the strongest in the business and well positioned to support your research objectives. Complete programming, hosting and proprietary panel resources. Proprietary consumer panel: 260,000+ English / French Canadian consumers. Physician panel: 11,000 Canadian doctors. Mall interviewing (two Toronto malls). CATI telephone facility.

Cido Research201-170 Robert Speck Pky.Mississauga, ON L4Z 3G1Canada416.503.4343www.cidoresearch.comContact: Roland [email protected]

Cido is the most trusted partner in global MR data collection. With offices in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Hong Kong, China and India, we have field experts that know how to get your project done, on time and on budget. Services include programming/hosting, online sample, specialty panels, emotional engagement analysis, CATI and qual/face-to-face interviewing.

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CFR delivers clients individualized research solutions. Our focus is on providing honest, dependable and knowledgeable service that builds sustainable business relationships. We are experienced in various methods of data collection, recruiting, tabulations, panel management, and many more specific research services. The CFR team, led by a dedicated project manager, brings a valuable asset to your business.

Concepts in Focus1329 Kingsley Ave., Ste. AOrange Park (Jacksonville), FL 32073904.264.5578www.conceptsinfocus.comContact: Kathy [email protected]

Think Jacksonville – a growing and diverse market. Concepts in Focus, northeast Florida’s premier focus group facility, top-rated by IMPULSE – designed with your needs in mind: personalized service, suburban atmosphere, attention to quality recruiting, two spacious suites, high-speed Internet, free digital recordings, FocusVision. We invite you to visit “Florida’s First Coast!”

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With five indispensable divisions, CRG Global, Inc. offers full service research. Our advanced technologies include QualTopics qualitative software, 11 eye tracking labs, 300+ laptops/tablets for offsite testing, and computers with high-speed Internet in our 20+ locations. Select facilities offer sensory testing booths, fragrance chambers, commercial test kitchens and focus rooms.

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CSS/datatelligence3 Signal Ave., Ste. AOrmond Beach, FL 32174386.677.5644www.cssdatatelligence.comContact: Carolyn Corbett or Chari [email protected]

CSS/datatelligence is a full service firm. Expertise in sensory and consumer insights research. We provide test design, reports, and recommendations. Advanced analytics and reporting include behavior choice, segmentations, drivers of liking, turf analysis, A&U, discrete-choice, max-diff, eye tracking with facial coding, EEG with qualified expert analysis. Qualitative offerings include QualTopics, ethnography, in-home immersions and segment group discoveries.

Culturati Research & Consulting, Inc.12625 High Bluff Dr., Ste. 218San Diego, CA 92130858.792.0500www.CulturatiResearch.comContact: Marissa [email protected]

Culturati is a full service market research firm committed to research and consultation that takes a deep dive into the transformation of the Total Market with a specialization in the most influential ethnic segment: the Hispanic population. We combine our qualitative, quantitative and online research expertise to offer innovative, cost-effective, quality research that yields quick, actionable solutions.

Custom Intercept Solutions520 Nicollet Mall, Ste. 450Minneapolis, MN 55402612.294.2032www.customintercept.comContact: Craig [email protected]

Custom Intercept Solutions provides onsite, point-of-experience intercept and online survey solutions. We can provide fully trained staff anywhere in North America and you get the results in almost-real time. Charts and graphs are available 24/7 for you to view, crosstab, filter or simply download to print or use in presentations.

Customer Lifecycle, LLC319 North Weber Rd., #360Bolingbrook, IL 60490630.412.8989www.customerlifecycle.usContact: Karin [email protected]

CLC is a global research consultancy that works with B2B/B2C companies to plan and conduct research to accurately identify and measure requirements for customer acquisition, satisfaction and loyalty, share of wallet growth, and retention. We help organizations get better business results through improved integration of research findings into the day-to-day operations of the organization.

Decision Point1512 Langley Ln. Madison, WI 53718608.695.3027www.decision-point.netContact: Nicole [email protected]

Decision Point is a full service agency offering research, social media, and marketing services. Our approach is simple, identify what matters most to your consumer and use that insight to drive your business. Our experience enables us to identify the solution that is best for your company. Our research services include ethnographic research, quantitative research, customer satisfaction and brand equity research.

Direct Resource, Inc.122 South Michigan Ave., Ste. 1270Chicago, IL 60603312.566.0810www.direct-resource.comContact: Bridgid [email protected]

Direct Resource, Inc. has creatively achieved successful research solutions for 24+ years. We specialize in multi-country and B2B, managing qualitative and quantitative projects both locally and globally.

Field Agent™2429 North Gregg Ave.Fayetteville, AR 72703972.322.5712www.fieldagent.netContact: John [email protected]

Field Agent™ is changing the way the world collects business information. Field Agent™ was conceived by a team of researchers who helped solve the problem of gaining real-time access to information and insights. As a “solution first,” “technology second” organization, our clients gain real-time information from the Point of Influence™.

Field Research, Inc4125 Mason Dr.Hoffman Estates, IL 60192847.776.8660www.fieldresearchinc.comContact: Susan [email protected]

Field Research, Inc. provides superior service for every project. We serve our clients by providing professional and reliable data collection and recruiting in the Chicago area with Medical Personnel and Consumers, in addition to our nationwide Medical Database. Experienced staff for intercepts, audits, pre-recruits, exit interviews,distribution checks, CLT, product testing, executive interviewing and IDIs.

Focuscope, Inc.515 North State St., Ste. 1920Chicago, IL 60654708.386.5086www.focuscope.comContact: Kevin [email protected]

Focuscope is an industry leader in providing high quality data collection and superior client service since 1980. Offering the most progressive technology available, social media software, project management, online community platform, online surveys, usability testing, video and Web conferencing. Impulse 10 year Honor Roll of Excellence.

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G3 Translate116 East 27th St.New York, NY 10016212.889.5077www.g3translate.comContact: John [email protected]

G3 Translate is the primary translation resource for market researchers working in global markets. Whether you require the translation of surveys and focus group materials, or in-language coding of verbatim responses, G3 provides the best value – unparalleled speed, competitive rates and exceptional customer service. G3 Translate: Guiding Global Growth.

GMI (A Lightspeed Research Company)3 Mountain View Rd., 3rd FloorWarren, NJ 07059908.605.4500www.gmi-mr.comContact: Kathy [email protected]

GMI empowers insights around the world and adds value at every stage of the research process. With millions of deeply profiled double opt-in panelists across 40 proprietary panels, real-time respondent sourcing and advanced sample balancing capabilities, GMI, a Lightspeed Research Company, offers a wide range of respondent access in a single, trusted partner.

Hanover Research1700 K St. NW, Ste. 810Washington, DC 20006202.559.0050www.hanoverresearch.comContact: Gretchen [email protected]

Hanover Research is a global, full service market research firm providing knowledge support to both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Through our unique, fixed-cost model, we provide customized, timely, and authoritative research and advice enabling our clients to make informed decisions, identify and seize opportunities, and heighten their effectiveness.

IDG Research Services492 Old Connecticut Path, P.O. Box 9151Framingham, MA 01701508.766.5617www.idgresearch.comContact: Jean [email protected]

At IDG Research we have two primary practice areas: Marketing/Media-Related Research and Employee Engagement. Our clients come from technology, media, biopharma, education and more, but our focus on quantitative research remains the same. For U.S. or global research initiatives, we can design a program to meet your objectives.

Illuminas3801 South Capital of TX Hwy., Ste. 200Austin, TX 78704512.652.2714us.illuminas-global.comContact: Amelia [email protected]

Illuminas is a full service, global consultancy dedicated to helping companies leverage market intelligence. Solutions are customized to enlighten clients’ unique strategies and empower them to make informed decisions, and Illuminas’ team of expert researchers utilize extensive quantitative and qualitative experience to recommend the most appropriate tools for client objectives.

Information Alliance1755 North 400 East, Ste. 101North Logan, UT 84341435.750.8767www.infoalli.comContact: Steve [email protected]

Information Alliance is an independently owned research provider. We have been providing telephone, online and mixed mode surveys for clients for over 10 years. Our team of researchers has over 100 years of combined research experience. We know how to get your project done right.

ISA (Interviewing Service of America)15400 Sherman Way, Ste. 400Van Nuys, CA 91406818.989.1044www.isacorp.comContact: Paul [email protected]

Interviewing Service of America (ISA) has been at the forefront of high quality data collection since 1982. Our offerings include CATI, online panel, focus groups, face-to-face, multicultural, sampling, and tabulation. We meet client’s needs whether reaching respondents via telephone, online, intercepting at taquerias, or collecting diary data via mobile phone.

Issues and Answers Network, Inc.5151 Bonney Rd., Ste. 100Virginia Beach, VA 23462757.456.1100www.issans.comContact: Carla [email protected]

Issues and Answers is a global marketing research company specializing in telephone data collection and all types of quantitative and qualitative research in the U.S. and internationally. We offer: 5 U.S.-based Call Centers, 400 CATI, focus groups, online, in-person, political polling, 4 on-staff moderators and international research alliance partnerships.

Just Qual+245 North Tamiami Trail North, Ste. BVenice, FL 34285941.882.0204www.justqual.comContact: Eric [email protected]

Just Qual+ conducts qualitative and quantitative studies across the healthcare spectrum of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Our team is known for being creative and flexible while leveraging technology to make research more efficient and effective. Our expert team specializes in hybrid methodologies, combining various research tools to maximize conversations with healthcare professionals and consumers around the world.

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L&E Research5505 Creedmoor Rd., Ste. 200Raleigh, NC 27612877.344.1574www.leresearch.comContact: Renee [email protected]

L&E Research is Impulse Survey Top Rated and GreenBook Health Certified with offices in Raleigh, Tampa, Charlotte and St. Louis. Our clients know that they can expect impeccable service from project planning, through recruiting, and execution. Our professional team of market research consultants provides daily updates, and accurate, on-time recruiting. We have a database of over 100,000 active recruits updated daily.

Lifestory Research20271 S.W. Birch St., Ste. 100Newport Beach, CA 92660949.234.6940www.lifestoryresearch.comContact: Eric [email protected]

Understanding people is about knowing their story. Lifestory Research provides insight through cutting-edge quantitative and qualitative research, set within the context of life. Lifestory helps you quickly achieve your business objectives by translating consumer and employee needs into business results. We specialize in the scientific study of persuasion.

Management Decisions, Inc.6525 West Bluemound Rd., Ste. 31Milwaukee, WI 53213414.774.0623www.managementdecisionsinc.comContact: Lesa [email protected]

Since 1952, Management Decisions, Inc. has been perfecting the art and science of data collection, building our reputation as an innovative market research service company. From design, development and programming through sampling, quality interviewing, data analysis and reporting, we provide strategic solutions for our clients in today’s constantly changing marketplace.

Mid-Iowa Interviewing, Inc.1239 73rd St., Ste. BDes Moines, IA 50324888.425.6232www.midiowainterviewing.comContact: Doug [email protected]

MII is a locally-owned and managed field service providing data gathering services since 1971. Focus facility, access to malls, field management, recruiting, one-on-one interviewing, CAPI, store audits, mystery shopping, on-site interviewing and project setup and management throughout the state. Will travel to non-facility locations.

The MSR Group1121 North 102nd Ct., Ste. 100Omaha, NE 68114402.392.0755www.theMSRgroup.comContact: Rob [email protected]

At the MSR Group, we design and execute consumer and B2B research for a wide variety of industries. Our expertise includes customer satisfaction and advocacy (APECS®), branding research, advertising/concept testing, online surveys, feasibility studies and more. In-house data collection through our 250-station CATI call center and our top-rated focus group facility. Independent research services with no outsourcing.

OLC Global (Formerly On-Line Communications, Inc.)401 South Dewey Ave.Bartlesville, OK 74003800.765.3200www.olcglobal.comContact: Peggy O’[email protected]

Since 1985, we have provided our industry partners the excellence they expect for them to return over and over again for our telephone interviewing, recruit to Web, chat, bilingual, biliterate Spanish and IDI’s. Our call blended system gives us inbound 800 data collection capability as well as inbound, outbound IVR.

Olson Research Group, Inc.1020 Stony Hill Rd., Ste. 300Yardley, PA 19067267.487.5500www.olsonresearchgroup.comContact: Paul [email protected]

Olson Research Group has been supporting the life sciences sector for nearly two decades by providing both qualitative and quantitative market research services and harnessing the latest technological offerings. What drives our deliverables is our proprietary database of HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS, PAYERS and PATIENTS from all corners of the healthcare space.

Online Market Intelligence (OMI)Lesnaya 43, Ste. 100127055 MoscowRussian Federation+7 495.660.94.15www.omirussia.ru/enContact: Alexander [email protected]

Online Market Intelligence (OMI) is a leading LOCAL provider of online fieldwork in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Baltic states. With OMI online panels you can access consumers, vehicle owners, IT professionals, physicians and mobile users. OMI is the only ISO 20252 & 26362 certified company in Russia.

Opinions 4 Good (Op4G) 93 Middle St.Portsmouth, NH 03801603.766.5858www.Op4G.comContact: Frank [email protected]

Providing full service market research services with panel of unique highly qualified leaders and engaged members who participate in Internet-based research for the opportunity to earn funds for themselves and/or to donate up to 100 percent of their earnings directly to one of our partnering charities. Panel member trust is the key to our quality data. Staff speed, execution, and delivery assure client success.

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Opinions LTD33 River St.Chagrin Falls, OH 44022440.893.0300www.opinionsltd.comContact: Mark [email protected]

Opinions LTD offers complete data collection services from coast to coast with 25 strategic locations. Quantitative Services: Mall Intercepts, In-Home Use Tests, Field Management, In-Store Intercepts, Bilingual Interviewing, Central Location Tests and CATI/Telephone Surveys. Qualitative Services: Focus Groups, Ethnographies, IDI’s, and nationwide recruitment. The Opinions LTD team will work hard for you!

Precision Opinion101 Convention Center Dr., Plz. 125Las Vegas, NV 89109702.483.4000www.PrecisionOpinion.comContact: James [email protected]

Precision Opinion for the past 20 years has been the most prestigious name in market research for quantitative and qualitative data collection. Compliant with HIPPA and ISO 20252, the Las Vegas based company provides high-tech quantitative data collection services via phone and Internet. Qualitative research is conducted at the state-of-the art Las Vegas focus group facility Precision Focus+.

Schwartz Research & Consulting, Inc.5027 West Laurel St.Tampa, FL 33607813.207.0332www.schwartzresearch.comContact: Randall [email protected]

A full service marketing research consultancy offering custom qualitative and quantitative services. Housed in our World Class Facility, minutes from Tampa Airport. Our facility boasts three focus suites, video streaming, DIGITAL/DVD/CD recording and streaming, bilingual staff, on-site call center, bilingual in-house moderators.

Shugoll Research7475 Wisconsin Ave., Ste. 200Bethesda, MD 20814301.656.0310 x601www.shugollresearch.comContact: Angela [email protected]

Leading full service/field service company. Offers expert and creative insights using quantitative and qualitative research methods for multiple industries. Field service has two locations in Bethesda, MD and Alexandria, VA covering the DC metro area. Eight focus group suites, IDI rooms, a CLT sensory lab, video streaming service, usability lab, large consumer and professional database including policy elites.

Smith Research, Inc.710 Estate Dr.Deerfield, IL 60015847.948.0440www.smithresearch.comContact: Nancy [email protected]

During our more than 45 years of experience in recruiting qualified respondents, we’ve mastered the art. We understand our clients’ objectives as well as the many circumstances that can arise in the course of meeting those objectives. Our staff is adept not only at identifying qualified respondents but also in determining when something is wrong with someone who says all the right things. Three Chicagoland locations.

SSI6 Research Dr.Shelton, CT 06484203.567.7200www.surveysampling.comContact: Tom [email protected]

SSI is the premier global provider of sampling, data collection and data analytic solutions for survey research, reaching respondents in 86 countries via Internet, telephone, mobile/wireless and mixed-access offerings. SSI staff operates from 25 offices in 18 countries, offering sample across every mode, online and CATI data collection, questionnaire design consultation, programming and hosting, online custom reporting and data processing. SSI’s 3,300 employees serve more than 3,000 clients worldwide.

STR, Survey Technology & Research894 Marcon Blvd., Ste. 200Allentown, PA 18109484.240.4824www.strcenter.comContact: Meg [email protected]

STR is a research services firm specializing in fully integrated multi-mode data collection, executive B2B interviewing and reaching hard to reach respondents. STR provides a full range of data collection services, including inbound/outbound phone, online, IVR and mailing/scanning from multiple centers nationwide.

Survey Analytics823 Delta Ave., Ste. FCincinnati, OH 45226513.801.5356www.surveyanalytics.comContact: Gina [email protected]

Survey Analytics is an enterprise grade research platform that provides companies with powerful cross-compatible tools to collect feedback. Survey Analytics can collect and quantify data in real time on a global scale from multiple channels. We specialize in the kind of “listening systems” that are geared toward deployment across all channels including Web, email, mobile, social media, custom panels and communities.

Tape To Type2423 North Racine Ave., Unit 1Chicago, IL 60614760.470.1111www.TapeToType.comContact: Karen [email protected]

Tape to Type is a team of U.S. transcriptionists who specialize in market research. One hundred percent of the transcripts we produce are provided for the qualitative research professional. That is what we do and we do it well – with over 15 years’ experience. We make your project our project and you’ll have your own manager who will work with you to ensure your transcripts are delivered on time according to your specifications.

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Telepoll Market Research180 Lesmill Rd.Toronto, ON M3B 2T5Canada416.977.0608 x222www.telepoll.netContact: Christine [email protected]

Telepoll Market Research is a boutique, data collection firm specializing in telephone market research since 1990. Our surveys assist organizations manage product and service offerings, markets, marketing campaigns and consumer perceptions. Telepoll delivers insight by applying proven and proprietary telephone data collection methods, crafted over 20 years in the trenches.

Thoroughbred Research Group1941 Bishop Ln., Ste. 1017Louisville, KY 40218502.276.5503www.torinc.netContact: Brad [email protected]

Thoroughbred Research Group is a full service research firm dedicated to exceeding client expectations. We consult with you to determine the best methodologies and processes for your specific needs. From Brand Health (using our ThoroughBrand® Brand Health tool), to Product Testing and Customer Satisfaction; we are your trusted source for research design, data collection, analytics and reporting.

Various Views Research, Inc.11353 Reed Hartman Hwy., Ste. 101Cincinnati, OH 45241513.489.9000www.VariousViews.comContact: Kevin [email protected]

Full service data collection company providing marketing research services from headquarters on north side of Cincinnati. Methodologies: Recruiting/facilitation of focus groups, IDIs, CLTs, HUTs, ethnography studies, panels, intercept interviewing, and quantitative customer satisfaction/tracking studies via telephone. Ad hoc: Consultation/study design, project management, screener/questionnaire design, moderating, videostreaming.

Vital Findings10557 Jefferson Blvd., Ste. ECulver City, CA 90232310.279.5510vitalfindings.comContact: Jason [email protected]

At Vital Findings, we believe that good, innovative market research should be judged by the actual impact it has on product development, marketing, and business strategy. Our mission is to elevate the market research profession beyond just delivering reports and PowerPoint bullets, using the tools of design, marketing science, and innovative research consulting to allow researchers to actually enable business action.

Wilkins Research Services, LLC (WRS)1730 Gunbarrel Rd.Chattanooga, TN 37421423.894.9478www.wilkinsresearch.netContact: Lisa [email protected]

As a market research company that has been in the business since 1971, we understand the need of gathering opinions for companies that desire a true connection with their customers. We offer a wide range of services including: Focus Groups, Telephone Surveys, Online Surveys, Recruiting Services, On-site and One-on-One Surveys, and a host of other services.

WorldOne200 Park Ave. South, Ste. 1310New York, NY 10003212.358.0800www.worldone.comContact: Kelly [email protected]

WorldOne, the leading global healthcare insights and intelligence company, offers clients in over 80 countries online/offline access to healthcare professionals; supporting the full range of quantitative market research services. Providing accurate, timely, and cost-efficient data collection with access to millions of fully verified physicians and allied health professionals.

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2014BLUE BOOKPRINTEDITIONMRA’s Blue Book Marketing Research Services Directory is a powerful reference source for professionals who purchase consumer and opinion research services. Blue Book provides comprehensive descriptions of marketing research services and facilities owned and operated by marketing research companies and suppliers of related services.

The 2014 print edition of Blue Book is now available for purchase - $75 members / $100 non-members. The print edition is separated into two sections for easy sourcing:• Geographic Section – Geographic Section is

arranged by geographic region beginning with the U.S., then Canada and other international locations. It is easy to jump to a particular section of Blue Book by using the convenient and clearly marked tabs on each page. The Geographic Section is where you still find the full listing detail for each company.

• Specialty Cross Reference – The Specialty Cross Reference Section is arranged by business specialty for finding a company with the specific skill set or facility that you need. The specialties are then broken out by geographic region to further help you focus in on the company that is right for your project. Company names and phone numbers are listed, along with the page number(s) where you will find their listings in the Geographic Section.

www.BLUEBOOK.org

AVAILABLE

Scan to Purchase


CAREER GOALS

2014 MRA INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES CONFERENCE • JUNE 4-6, 2014 • CHICAGO

Diane Hessan, Chairman, Communispace

Among Our Keynote Speakers:

Simon Chadwick, Managing Partner, Cambiar

Jerry Haselmayer, CEO, SEEK

Dan Teeter, Director, Vehicle Connected Services, Nissan

Dan Roam, Author, The Back of the Napkin, Blah Blah Blah, and (soon) Show & Tell

IF YOU ARE A

ISC WAS DESIGNED FOR YOU.

RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, OR INNOVATOR,

CORPORATE RESEARCHER, RESEARCH ANALYST,


1. Use Relevance and RepetitionDid you know that networking can be a truly great learning tool? We tend to learn best when the information presented is immediately relevant and when things are repeated. At the MRA conferences, information density will be at an all-time high. Take the opportunity to discuss each session with someone nearby to find out how the content applies to them personally. This will force you to repeat the material and will help you remember it later.

What to say: “Will the information we were just given make a difference for you?”

2. Career DevelopmentWhich speaker has your dream job? What is their title? MR can lead to a variety of careers and there’s a good chance there are career paths you haven’t even considered. Networking provides a unique opportunity to clarify your goals so that you can better verbalize them and, in turn, persuade others that you’re a great fit.

What to say: “What do you like about what you do?”

3. Relationship BuildingMR is by its nature a collaborative industry, which makes this industry conference particularly valuable. Take this opportunity

Three Ways to Make the Most of an MRA ConferenceBy Jill Donahue

I’ve attended a lot of MRA conferences and still find networking to be both the most challenging and the most rewarding part of the experience. If you’re attending the MRA Insights & Strategies Conference in Chicago this June, here are three things I’ve learned that may come in handy:

to build relationships for business, mentoring or friendship. Have a drink and mingle at the Chairman’s reception at ISC and sit with your new friends at The Second City to seal in some quality time. After the conference ends, find a way to be generous with your knowledge or share a common interest with your new connections.

What to say: “Have you made plans for The Second City? Let’s meet in the lobby to catch the bus together.”

Jill Donahue is MRA’s Chairman of the Board and senior brand insights manager at Nestle Purina PetCare. She can be reached at [email protected].




Among Our Keynote Speakers:





IF YOU ARE A

ISC WAS DESIGNED FOR YOU.

RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, OR INNOVATOR,

CORPORATE RESEARCHER, RESEARCH ANALYST,



ISC.MARKETINGRESEARCH.ORG/ALERT

In Chicago, June 4-6, you along with hundreds of marketing research’s best and brightest can gather in a unique collegial environment to see and hear nearly 30 hours of competitively selected presentations covering MR’s state-of-the-art.

For Corporate ResearchersLearn to integrate and sell the value of marketing research both internally and externally.

For ResearchersSpecialists across disciplines share techniques to manage intelligence, uncover actionable insights and communicate research effectively.


You’ll also gain a competitive edge through support from your fellow researchers which begins through hallway meetings and best-in-class networking opportunities that can extend for a lifetime.That’s why ISC is how the best researchers sharpen their game.

For InnovatorsThese often rapid-fire lectures and demonstrations will introduce new possibilities for marketing research due, among other factors, to the digital revolution.

For Research ExecutivesManage creative resources and strategies critical to your business success through presentations and closed-door discussions.



In Chicago, June 4-6, you along with hundreds of marketing research’s best and brightest can gather in a unique collegial environment to see and hear nearly 30 hours of competitively selected presentations covering MR’s state-of-the-art.

For Corporate ResearchersLearn to integrate and sell the value of marketing research both internally and externally.

For ResearchersSpecialists across disciplines share techniques to manage intelligence, uncover actionable insights and communicate research effectively.


You’ll also gain a competitive edge through support from your fellow researchers which begins through hallway meetings and best-in-class networking opportunities that can extend for a lifetime.That’s why ISC is how the best researchers sharpen their game.

For InnovatorsThese often rapid-fire lectures and demonstrations will introduce new possibilities for marketing research due, among other factors, to the digital revolution.

For Research ExecutivesManage creative resources and strategies critical to your business success through presentations and closed-door discussions.





Some of our Keynote Speakers

Show & Tell1. Lead with the truth and the heart will follow.When we tell the truth in a presentation, three good things happen: we connect with our audience, become passionate and find self-confidence.2. Lead with a story and understanding will follow.When we tell a story in a presentation, three great things happen: we make complex concepts clear, make ideas unforgettable and include everyone.3. Lead with the eye and the mind will follow.When we tell a story with pictures in a presentation, extraordinary things happen: people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience’s mind and banish boredom.

The Connected Car is Here – What’s Next? The Future of Mobility and Market IntelligenceConnected cars have taken off in the past couple years as smartphone and tablet technology has made its way to radios and nav screens. What seemed like the distant future (self-driving autonomous cars?) is now just right around the corner. Where is all this innovation going? Find out more about the future of mobility and how this will impact market intelligence.

MR Thought LeadershipMeet Our Keynote Speakers

ISC.MARKETINGRESEARCH.ORG/ALERT 2014 MRA INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES CONFERENCE • JUNE 4-6, 2014 • CHICAGO




Lessons Learned: How to Build a Culture That Inspires Your PeopleWhat was once a small MR startup in the suburbs of Boston is now Communispace, employer of more than 500 people worldwide. While their size means they are no longer qualified as a startup, the company has been intentional about maintaining a vibrant startup culture. The 10 year growth experience taught chairman and former CEO of Communispace Diane Hessan how to successfully build and support an inspired team. In this session, learn to use agility, communication and authenticity to develop strong leaders, find ways to stay small within a large company and maintain always-on innovation.

Revolution, Boiling Frogs and Big DataResearchers live to discover trends, and there are none more important than those occurring within the research industry itself. Based upon a deep qualitative dive involving 33 industry leaders across a variety of modes, we explore the new Ying and Yang of research: emotion and big data. Despite all the hype, many are confused about where big data leads us as researchers. Meanwhile, the need to measure and leverage intimacy, connection and human interaction is on the radar like never before. How are both evolving as apex drivers of successful marketing? And perhaps most importantly, how must researchers act upon these new realities, modernize their approach, evolve their business model and reduce the risk of competition? Over the last five years, Cambiar — this year teaming with SEEK — has conducted studies to challenge assumptions about the future of MR and to address the perceived barriers that limit us as researchers. In this session we will explode three myths, clearly define the challenges facing the industry and offer real life examples of new and “traditional” companies that are addressing these issues successfully through innovation.






Some of our Keynote Speakers

Show & Tell1. Lead with the truth and the heart will follow.When we tell the truth in a presentation, three good things happen: we connect with our audience, become passionate and find self-confidence.2. Lead with a story and understanding will follow.When we tell a story in a presentation, three great things happen: we make complex concepts clear, make ideas unforgettable and include everyone.3. Lead with the eye and the mind will follow.When we tell a story with pictures in a presentation, extraordinary things happen: people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience’s mind and banish boredom.

The Connected Car is Here – What’s Next? The Future of Mobility and Market IntelligenceConnected cars have taken off in the past couple years as smartphone and tablet technology has made its way to radios and nav screens. What seemed like the distant future (self-driving autonomous cars?) is now just right around the corner. Where is all this innovation going? Find out more about the future of mobility and how this will impact market intelligence.

MR Thought LeadershipMeet Our Keynote Speakers





Lessons Learned: How to Build a Culture That Inspires Your PeopleWhat was once a small MR startup in the suburbs of Boston is now Communispace, employer of more than 500 people worldwide. While their size means they are no longer qualified as a startup, the company has been intentional about maintaining a vibrant startup culture. The 10 year growth experience taught chairman and former CEO of Communispace Diane Hessan how to successfully build and support an inspired team. In this session, learn to use agility, communication and authenticity to develop strong leaders, find ways to stay small within a large company and maintain always-on innovation.

Revolution, Boiling Frogs and Big DataResearchers live to discover trends, and there are none more important than those occurring within the research industry itself. Based upon a deep qualitative dive involving 33 industry leaders across a variety of modes, we explore the new Ying and Yang of research: emotion and big data. Despite all the hype, many are confused about where big data leads us as researchers. Meanwhile, the need to measure and leverage intimacy, connection and human interaction is on the radar like never before. How are both evolving as apex drivers of successful marketing? And perhaps most importantly, how must researchers act upon these new realities, modernize their approach, evolve their business model and reduce the risk of competition? Over the last five years, Cambiar — this year teaming with SEEK — has conducted studies to challenge assumptions about the future of MR and to address the perceived barriers that limit us as researchers. In this session we will explode three myths, clearly define the challenges facing the industry and offer real life examples of new and “traditional” companies that are addressing these issues successfully through innovation.




Corporate Researchers

� Taking Big Data to the Small ScreenNeal Massey, Executive Director, Business & Consumer Insights, Starz Entertainment

It is critical for researchers to bridge the gap for management to turn

large volumes of data into easily accessible insights. Discover how data visualization and interactive dashboards can insert research into management decisions to transform your business into a data-smart enterprise. This interactive, collaborative, mobile solution adopted by Starz’ management and research teams resulted in consistent understanding of customer engagement throughout the organization, shorter research cycles, better communication between managers and improved understanding of insights.

� Redefining Community Success and ROI: What Does Success Look Like for the New, Evolved Online Community?Katy Mallios, Consumer Insights & Intelligence Consultant, SPYCH Market Analytics and Drew Senesac, Customer Insights Coordinator, HSN

Traditionally, an online customer community is deemed successful when it lives up to its potential as a dedicated and real-time research space

in which community members provide valuable insights over a period of time. Undoubtedly, when constructed and managed correctly, communities are highly valuable from an insights perspective – fulfilling the desire for an agile and nimble research tool. What happens when a

customer community becomes more than a research and insights hub? What larger impact can a truly evolved online community have on the overall business? What are the new definitions of community ROI? In this presentation, you will see a detailed case study of how SPYCH and HSN’s approach to a branded 3-month online customer community proved not only to be the ultimate insights-curation tool, but a means by which customer value and engagement tangibly increased among HSN’s best and most valuable customers. Not only will you be exposed to a behind the scenes look at techniques and best practices from an insights perspective – how to inspire engagement, increase participation, fun/insightful methodologies to utilize etc. – but also the positive impact the community had on HSN customers from a measurable and tangible value to the HSN business.

� The Zero Moment of Memory: How Yahoo Canada Needed to Understand if Technology Is Helping or Hampering Our MemoryOlga Churkina, VP, Research, Fresh Intelligence and Nick Drew, Research Director, Yahoo Canada

The nature of human memory is changing. What we choose to remember – if not what we’re actually able to remember – has changed

as digital tools allow us to delegate more to devices and the Web. At the same time, they create new gaps and vulnerabili-ties in our lives: If we take a photograph of every moment, do

we remember it better or worse? Yahoo Canada, working with Fresh Intelligence, developed a research study to uncover and explore the effect of technology on memory. We will review the research approach, which combined brain-imaging technology, in-depth qualitative mobile research and quantitative online research. The results have deep implications for publishers and marketers, across the range of online and offline channels.

� How to Become a Trusted Research PartnerDavid Santee, President, True North Market Insights

Presenting data or sharing a report is not sufficient to have an

impact. It’s difficult to convey insights and make sure they’re acted upon, but if we don’t influence strategic decisions, why are we here? To increase effectiveness and become more impactful, learn and practice David Santee’s “Get It! Triangle”: 1. How to establish trust, 2. How to convey that you understand your data in the context of other relevant data, and 3. How to be persuasive.

� Market Research: Safety Net for High-Flying InnovationGiulia Hamacher, Manager of Primary Market Research, Motorola Solutions

When the market research function is designed to absorb risk,

innovative ideas flourish as individuals and teams are freed from the fear of failure. The key to innovation is the ability to rapidly assess a multitude of ideas and proceed with those that are most likely to succeed. It is well-accept-

Business Leadership & Intelligence

Technical Skills & Techniques

Promoting the Value of MR

Analytics & Data Synthesis

Demographics & Target Markets

Intro to New MR Tools & Opportunities

Mobile & Online

PRC Credit

In addition to the four tracks, these icons represent specific areas of interest. They are designed to help you find the education you need. Check the boxes on the left or design your own schedule online.

ed that market research delivers the data on which to base these decisions. More importantly, confidence and creativity soar when backed by a solid market research process – just as a trapeze artist gives his best performance knowing the safety net is in place. Several recent product innovations at Motorola Solutions were realized because early-stage research provided validation and focus. This presentation examines the structure of a market research program designed to encourage innovation, including establishing a process for early screening of ideas that is recognized across business functions and designing research that measures the value-proposition of ideas.

� The New Mobile Research: Anyone, Anytime, AnywhereMeredith Kunza, Head of Quality Assurance, WhistlerBlackcomb

With mobile research on the rise, the ability to capture in-the-moment

customer experiences has never been greater. But not all mobile customers are alike. How do you target all kinds of mobile users? And how do you get the best results from mobile research, even offline? This interactive presentation will highlight innovative ideas for starting or expanding your mobile research, even on a tight budget. Learn how to integrate your mobile research into a single source of customer insights, and how to create compelling, real-time reports that drive decision-making. WhistlerBlackcomb added mobile research to its voice of the customer program, including capturing feedback from active sightseers, hikers and bikers using tablets to conduct


Choose Your Own Adventure // Cut class! Mix and match! You don’t have to stick to the CR track...

offline mobile surveys on the mountains. With an integrated approach, a small team can now create comprehensive, real-time reports in hours, rather than weeks, and for every level of the organization.

� Small Team, Big Results: How Strategic Partnerships Optimize InsightsKristen Kolb, Insights Strategist, Clayton Homes

You don’t need a big research team to have big insights goals. But how

can a small research team really make a difference? Outsource too much and you risk wasting money; rely too heavily on internal research and you can burn out a small team. By seamlessly blending strong partnerships with internal efforts, lean teams can increase the impact of their insights tenfold. Learn how a one-woman research team transformed her organization into a data-driven company, doubling the amount of research to meet the unique research needs of six business units and over 300 retail locations while cutting research costs in half. Learn techniques to make your research faster and more efficient, how to make the most of a tight research budget, how to coordinate vendors and technology for best results, consistently provide eye-opening insights and prove the value of insights to become a trusted, strategic advisor.

� What Got You to the Top, Won’t Keep You There: Adapting Your Strategy for the TimesMelissa Barrow, Senior Marketing Analyst; Chris Roden, Senior Manager of Optics and Analytics and Rob Sáenz, Business Intelligence Analyst, Interstate Batteries

A major emphasis for Interstate Batteries this fiscal year is the identifi-cation of erosion – or decaying revenue and eventually lost customers.

In this session, Interstate Batteries will cover the birth of their

Brand Building: A Love StoryGian Gonzaga, Ph.D., VP, Quantitative Insights, and Dan Lazar, President, Chatter Inc.

business and adaptive changes to their service model, the marketing intelligence team’s research approach and trials of getting tribal knowledge out of physical warehouse distribution centers and into a dimensional data warehouse in a usable format for discovery. The session will conclude with a demonstration of the data visualization process they used so that all players would be able to digest research insights, regardless of skill level.

� Narrowing the Choices: Getting Consumer Insights That Lead to Great Advertising DecisionsDeanna Meyler, Ph.D., Partner in Charge, Strategic Planning & Smartargeting, Bozell

Every research project has its own exciting parameters to work

within. Learning from past projects sometimes impacts how we think about and implement similar research in the future. In this case study, a brand wanted to know which creative idea would work best on a national level. The creative team was confident that all ideas were excellent, but there were only three weeks to gain insight – on a small budget. The research solution was an online multi-method research approach of a short survey with follow-up chats among a national panel sample. The obstacle? Respondents loved more than one concept and could clearly articulate why. No clear concept winner required a deeper understanding of how respondents felt each concept was “sticky” and encouraged a greater “call to action” compared to the others. More

advanced statistical analysis revealed a clear winner that thrilled the brand. The process revealed best practices for similar research moving forward. This presentation will share the case study of where the research started, what happened, and how subsequent research has been impacted from what was learned.

� Making a Splash: How Vitaminwater Dove Deep and Found TreasureRoberto Cymrot, Knowledge & Insights Group Director, The Coca-Cola Company

In an era of shortened attention spans and meeting the demands

of consumer choice, it is a challenge for any brand to make an impact and stay relevant. Coca-Cola’s vitaminwater team identified an opportunity to both grow the ingredient-enhanced water category and evolve with it. The vitaminwater team partnered with Brandtrust to conduct emotional qualitative research into the psychological motivations related to consumption of their products and the essential equities of their brand. The results of the study informed their 2014 brand plan and helped anchor vitaminwater’s long-term growth strategy. In this session, learn how to face the chaos of an evolving category and reestablish your brand as a front-runner. Additionally, learn the ways in which a deeper, emotional understanding of consumers can provide the best direction for where to invest to improve your brand.

� Marketing of Research: Selling Insights Inside the OrganizationAndrew Ladd, Sr. Manager, Strategic Insight, Tribune Co.

Delivering the final presentation is rarely enough to maximize the

impact of research in today’s ever-complex business environments. Research from the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) shows that superlative insights are rarely enough to break through the complex layers of modern organizations. Internally marketing our work becomes a chief challenge facing today’s research professionals. Existing workflows and increased productivity expectations have created a “deliver and dash” relationship between researchers and stakeholders. Developing a research communications position with insights teams helps work “live” beyond project timelines. The Tribune’s research team has worked to develop a unique research capability within its core insights team – the research communications function. Join Tribune in understanding the impact of this unique research capability within its core insights team – and how you can improve the impact of your work through some key lessons from their implementation to date. Specifically, learn how consistent communication on key subjects facilitates a “research ready” mentality within the organization, and tools that “socialize” research outputs – because it’s more important to internalize, than receive, research.



Corporate Researchers

� Taking Big Data to the Small ScreenNeal Massey, Executive Director, Business & Consumer Insights, Starz Entertainment

It is critical for researchers to bridge the gap for management to turn

large volumes of data into easily accessible insights. Discover how data visualization and interactive dashboards can insert research into management decisions to transform your business into a data-smart enterprise. This interactive, collaborative, mobile solution adopted by Starz’ management and research teams resulted in consistent understanding of customer engagement throughout the organization, shorter research cycles, better communication between managers and improved understanding of insights.

� Redefining Community Success and ROI: What Does Success Look Like for the New, Evolved Online Community?Katy Mallios, Consumer Insights & Intelligence Consultant, SPYCH Market Analytics and Drew Senesac, Customer Insights Coordinator, HSN

Traditionally, an online customer community is deemed successful when it lives up to its potential as a dedicated and real-time research space

in which community members provide valuable insights over a period of time. Undoubtedly, when constructed and managed correctly, communities are highly valuable from an insights perspective – fulfilling the desire for an agile and nimble research tool. What happens when a

customer community becomes more than a research and insights hub? What larger impact can a truly evolved online community have on the overall business? What are the new definitions of community ROI? In this presentation, you will see a detailed case study of how SPYCH and HSN’s approach to a branded 3-month online customer community proved not only to be the ultimate insights-curation tool, but a means by which customer value and engagement tangibly increased among HSN’s best and most valuable customers. Not only will you be exposed to a behind the scenes look at techniques and best practices from an insights perspective – how to inspire engagement, increase participation, fun/insightful methodologies to utilize etc. – but also the positive impact the community had on HSN customers from a measurable and tangible value to the HSN business.

� The Zero Moment of Memory: How Yahoo Canada Needed to Understand if Technology Is Helping or Hampering Our MemoryOlga Churkina, VP, Research, Fresh Intelligence and Nick Drew, Research Director, Yahoo Canada

The nature of human memory is changing. What we choose to remember – if not what we’re actually able to remember – has changed

as digital tools allow us to delegate more to devices and the Web. At the same time, they create new gaps and vulnerabili-ties in our lives: If we take a photograph of every moment, do

we remember it better or worse? Yahoo Canada, working with Fresh Intelligence, developed a research study to uncover and explore the effect of technology on memory. We will review the research approach, which combined brain-imaging technology, in-depth qualitative mobile research and quantitative online research. The results have deep implications for publishers and marketers, across the range of online and offline channels.

� How to Become a Trusted Research PartnerDavid Santee, President, True North Market Insights

Presenting data or sharing a report is not sufficient to have an

impact. It’s difficult to convey insights and make sure they’re acted upon, but if we don’t influence strategic decisions, why are we here? To increase effectiveness and become more impactful, learn and practice David Santee’s “Get It! Triangle”: 1. How to establish trust, 2. How to convey that you understand your data in the context of other relevant data, and 3. How to be persuasive.

� Market Research: Safety Net for High-Flying InnovationGiulia Hamacher, Manager of Primary Market Research, Motorola Solutions

When the market research function is designed to absorb risk,

innovative ideas flourish as individuals and teams are freed from the fear of failure. The key to innovation is the ability to rapidly assess a multitude of ideas and proceed with those that are most likely to succeed. It is well-accept-







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit


ed that market research delivers the data on which to base these decisions. More importantly, confidence and creativity soar when backed by a solid market research process – just as a trapeze artist gives his best performance knowing the safety net is in place. Several recent product innovations at Motorola Solutions were realized because early-stage research provided validation and focus. This presentation examines the structure of a market research program designed to encourage innovation, including establishing a process for early screening of ideas that is recognized across business functions and designing research that measures the value-proposition of ideas.

� The New Mobile Research: Anyone, Anytime, AnywhereMeredith Kunza, Head of Quality Assurance, WhistlerBlackcomb

With mobile research on the rise, the ability to capture in-the-moment

customer experiences has never been greater. But not all mobile customers are alike. How do you target all kinds of mobile users? And how do you get the best results from mobile research, even offline? This interactive presentation will highlight innovative ideas for starting or expanding your mobile research, even on a tight budget. Learn how to integrate your mobile research into a single source of customer insights, and how to create compelling, real-time reports that drive decision-making. WhistlerBlackcomb added mobile research to its voice of the customer program, including capturing feedback from active sightseers, hikers and bikers using tablets to conduct


Choose Your Own Adventure // Cut class! Mix and match! You don’t have to stick to the CR track...

offline mobile surveys on the mountains. With an integrated approach, a small team can now create comprehensive, real-time reports in hours, rather than weeks, and for every level of the organization.

� Small Team, Big Results: How Strategic Partnerships Optimize InsightsKristen Kolb, Insights Strategist, Clayton Homes

You don’t need a big research team to have big insights goals. But how

can a small research team really make a difference? Outsource too much and you risk wasting money; rely too heavily on internal research and you can burn out a small team. By seamlessly blending strong partnerships with internal efforts, lean teams can increase the impact of their insights tenfold. Learn how a one-woman research team transformed her organization into a data-driven company, doubling the amount of research to meet the unique research needs of six business units and over 300 retail locations while cutting research costs in half. Learn techniques to make your research faster and more efficient, how to make the most of a tight research budget, how to coordinate vendors and technology for best results, consistently provide eye-opening insights and prove the value of insights to become a trusted, strategic advisor.

� What Got You to the Top, Won’t Keep You There: Adapting Your Strategy for the TimesMelissa Barrow, Senior Marketing Analyst; Chris Roden, Senior Manager of Optics and Analytics and Rob Sáenz, Business Intelligence Analyst, Interstate Batteries

A major emphasis for Interstate Batteries this fiscal year is the identifi-cation of erosion – or decaying revenue and eventually lost customers.

In this session, Interstate Batteries will cover the birth of their

Brand Building: A Love StoryGian Gonzaga, Ph.D., VP, Quantitative Insights, and Dan Lazar, President, Chatter Inc.

business and adaptive changes to their service model, the marketing intelligence team’s research approach and trials of getting tribal knowledge out of physical warehouse distribution centers and into a dimensional data warehouse in a usable format for discovery. The session will conclude with a demonstration of the data visualization process they used so that all players would be able to digest research insights, regardless of skill level.

� Narrowing the Choices: Getting Consumer Insights That Lead to Great Advertising DecisionsDeanna Meyler, Ph.D., Partner in Charge, Strategic Planning & Smartargeting, Bozell

Every research project has its own exciting parameters to work

within. Learning from past projects sometimes impacts how we think about and implement similar research in the future. In this case study, a brand wanted to know which creative idea would work best on a national level. The creative team was confident that all ideas were excellent, but there were only three weeks to gain insight – on a small budget. The research solution was an online multi-method research approach of a short survey with follow-up chats among a national panel sample. The obstacle? Respondents loved more than one concept and could clearly articulate why. No clear concept winner required a deeper understanding of how respondents felt each concept was “sticky” and encouraged a greater “call to action” compared to the others. More

advanced statistical analysis revealed a clear winner that thrilled the brand. The process revealed best practices for similar research moving forward. This presentation will share the case study of where the research started, what happened, and how subsequent research has been impacted from what was learned.

� Making a Splash: How Vitaminwater Dove Deep and Found TreasureRoberto Cymrot, Knowledge & Insights Group Director, The Coca-Cola Company

In an era of shortened attention spans and meeting the demands

of consumer choice, it is a challenge for any brand to make an impact and stay relevant. Coca-Cola’s vitaminwater team identified an opportunity to both grow the ingredient-enhanced water category and evolve with it. The vitaminwater team partnered with Brandtrust to conduct emotional qualitative research into the psychological motivations related to consumption of their products and the essential equities of their brand. The results of the study informed their 2014 brand plan and helped anchor vitaminwater’s long-term growth strategy. In this session, learn how to face the chaos of an evolving category and reestablish your brand as a front-runner. Additionally, learn the ways in which a deeper, emotional understanding of consumers can provide the best direction for where to invest to improve your brand.

� Marketing of Research: Selling Insights Inside the OrganizationAndrew Ladd, Sr. Manager, Strategic Insight, Tribune Co.

Delivering the final presentation is rarely enough to maximize the

impact of research in today’s ever-complex business environments. Research from the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) shows that superlative insights are rarely enough to break through the complex layers of modern organizations. Internally marketing our work becomes a chief challenge facing today’s research professionals. Existing workflows and increased productivity expectations have created a “deliver and dash” relationship between researchers and stakeholders. Developing a research communications position with insights teams helps work “live” beyond project timelines. The Tribune’s research team has worked to develop a unique research capability within its core insights team – the research communications function. Join Tribune in understanding the impact of this unique research capability within its core insights team – and how you can improve the impact of your work through some key lessons from their implementation to date. Specifically, learn how consistent communication on key subjects facilitates a “research ready” mentality within the organization, and tools that “socialize” research outputs – because it’s more important to internalize, than receive, research.



Researchers

� Latinacculturation: Beyond Traditional AcculturationErwin Chang, Marketing Research Manager, Novamex

In the traditional acculturation model, immigrants to this

country move from low/unacculturated to mid-acculturation to high acculturation and, at some point, probably assimilated. Latinacculturation explains a different process of acculturation found among Hispanics in the U.S. It demonstrates that Hispanic immigrants embrace a very unique U.S.-Latino culture that differs from their origins before they move towards the mainstream culture. In this session, learn how taking into consideration Latinacculturation can make a difference when conducting research in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Predicting Box Office Success by Gathering Emotional Insight of the Modern MoviegoerJon J. Penn, Founder and President of the Media and Entertainment Practice, Penn Schoen Berland and Rana el Kaliouby, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Affectiva

� Social Network Analysis Tools and Practical ApplicationsBarbara Leflein, President and Founder, Leflein Associates, Inc. and Michael D. Lieberman, Founder, Multivariate Solutions

Go behind the scenes at some of the nation’s largest media and PR firms to understand how social media research is evolving on the front

lines. By necessity, the young executives in media and PR industries are developing new and exciting ways of listening, managing and tracking social media conversations for the benefit of their brands. Hear their stories to learn what’s working and what’s missing. Then, learn to use social network visualization tools to make sense of Big Data and present results.

� What’s the Difference Between Loyalty and Commitment?Rob Klein, President, Klein & Partners

Often times satisfaction is a poor predictor of future behaviors because

satisfaction is transactional. When you understand how people feel about your brand in addition to what they experience during a single transaction, you will have a better understanding of what they will do in the future. In this session, the origins and the theory of commitment and its use in brand research will be discussed. Using real data from the healthcare industry, attendees will see how understanding a person’s level of commitment to a brand tells so much more than simple satisfaction can. Addition-ally, an element to learning why people do what they do that is often overlooked is the concept of “market barriers.” Just because

someone is attracted to your brand does not mean that they can or will actually choose it. Sometimes life gets in the way. When you understand how people feel about your brand, you will be way ahead of the game in marketing to them.

� Telephonic Survey Research: Reviewing the Present and Predicting the FutureDavid Dutwin, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Methodologist, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS)

This presentation will provide information on the relative efficiencies

and targeting abilities of landlines and cell phones, both the state of the art today and projecting into the near future. It will review trends in costs and cooperation on both frames. It will then focus on a







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit



future in which cell phones are the only type of phones utilized to conduct high quality telephon-ic research and detail the methods by which one can target cell phones geographically and review the status and future status of targeted cell phone lists. Finally, the presentation will discuss the future possibilities of conducting surveys on smart-phones and text.

� Using Multi-Faceted Research to Guide the Discovery and Understanding of New Target ConsumersChristie Hickman, VP, Consumer and Market Insights, Outdoor Industry Association

As Gen Y emerges as the largest and most diverse population of consumers

in history, companies are being forced to rethink their value proposition, brand relevance and marketing strategies. The outdoor industry, like many others, is faced with redefining its relevance to an emerging customer base with unique values and expectations. In order to understand today’s new complex consumer, Outdoor Industry Association, the leading trade association for the outdoor industry, is using a multi-faceted research approach to create a holistic picture of its changing consumers. This presentation will focus on obtaining a custom-er-centric view of your industry/brand, marrying primary research with trends and social media listening to dimensionalize your knowledge and using insights to drive innovation, strategy and best business practices.

� Mobilizing Urban Parents Around the WorldNiels Schillewaert, Ph.D, Managing Partner and Co-founder, InSites Consulting

Dorel’s flagship stroller brands Quinny and Maxi-Cosi were cannibal-

izing, with a need to reposition the Quinny brand towards urban parents. In order to discover universal insights and translate

them into actions for future branding and innovations, a three week global consumer consulting board was conducted between the Quinny team and more than 120 urban parents from cities around the world. This immersion experience will illustrate the six universal insights that were the basis for a recently launched “Longboard Stroller” and the repositioning of the brand. The session will also dive into the usage of mobile and how to create engagement with a hip target group over the course of time.

� What Do Clients and Suppliers Really Think About Each Other?Larry Brown, President & Founder, Bridgemark Solutions and John Geraci, President & Founder, Crux Research, Inc.

How do clients really choose which research suppliers to work with? What makes a good client from the supplier’s standpoint? In conjunc-

tion with Bridgemark Solutions, Crux Research recently conduct-ed an extensive industry poll among 290 individuals working in the market research field. This session will look closely at both sides of the industry to shed light on what really makes these relationships tick in order to help facilitate more efficient and rewarding relationships between suppliers and clients. This will be a highly interactive session and attendees will be encouraged to share their own experiences and insights.

� The Truth Is In Their Stories – Lessons Market Researchers Can Learn From JournalistsTom Bernthal, CEO and Co-Founder and Gareth Schweitzer, President and Co-Founder, Kelton

How do you strike the balance between fact and impact, when a good research presentation requires both? The best journalists are particularly

adept at striking this balance, with numerous tools and tricks researchers can lean on to improve their storytelling techniques as well. Kelton’s founders, Tom Bernthal and Gareth Schweitzer, made the transition from journalism to research, bringing some of the fundamentals to their new trade. This actionable, how-to presentation will discuss important journalistic techniques that can help instantly improve storytelling capabilities.

� Kids Do the Darndest Things: Understanding How to Work with Kids and Teens in a Qualitative Research ProjectPam Goldfarb Liss, President/Big Brain, LitBrains – Igniting Ideas!

In this workshop, multiple case study examples will be examined, including

creative approaches to working with children and teens in a variety of qualitative research environments such as online, in-person and mobile. The presentation will address nuances with each age group and how to work more efficiently to gain the most productive insights. Learn how to recruit the best possible kid/teen respondents, things to consider in kid/teen qualitative research events, important cognitive differences between age groups, the best kid/teen-friendly research approach-es, projective tools and activities tailored for kids and teens, ways to best analyze and report on kid/teen insights, and opportunities to partner with parents for even better context surrounding subject matter.

� Brand Building: A Love StoryGian Gonzaga, Ph.D., VP, Quantitative Insights and Dan Lazar, President, Chatter Inc.

It is the holy grail of branding, but do we understand why someone loves a brand? Defends it? Proselytizes on its behalf? More

importantly, how can we measure and research it? In this session,

former eHarmony researcher Gian Gonzaga, Ph.D. will demonstrate how academic research and methods around the psychology of human relationships can help strategy consultants and corporate researchers better study and create consumers’ love of a brand. He and company president Dan Lazar will give a sneak peek into Chatter Inc’s proprietary research on the psychology of love and the methods that can be used to algorithmically match brands with their highest potential customers – much like dating websites match couples.

� The Roadmap to Consumer PassionDave Kaplan, VP, Bravo Research, NBC Universal and Boaz Mourad, Ph.D., Co-CEO, Insight Strategy Group

Bravo Media and Insight Strategy Group conduct-ed a study to understand

social, psychological, and behavioral drivers of consumer passion – in particular, its effect on

intent to buy, purchases and social advocacy for brands. This research statistically identified the levers that advertisers and brands can pull in order to propel consumers from simply “liking” a brand to “loving” it and from “loving” it to being “passionate” about it. Through interviews with people connected by secend and third degrees to a passionate person, the study also gauged how passion spreads and the influence passion has on people within their social networks. Tangible approaches to messag-ing and engaging with consum-ers were uncovered in order to create a marketer’s “roadmap to passion.” Learn passion’s role in the future of entertainment media and how its positive marketing effect can be measured.

Choose Your Own Adventure // To innovate, turn to the next page.



Researchers

� Latinacculturation: Beyond Traditional AcculturationErwin Chang, Marketing Research Manager, Novamex

In the traditional acculturation model, immigrants to this

country move from low/unacculturated to mid-acculturation to high acculturation and, at some point, probably assimilated. Latinacculturation explains a different process of acculturation found among Hispanics in the U.S. It demonstrates that Hispanic immigrants embrace a very unique U.S.-Latino culture that differs from their origins before they move towards the mainstream culture. In this session, learn how taking into consideration Latinacculturation can make a difference when conducting research in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Predicting Box Office Success by Gathering Emotional Insight of the Modern MoviegoerJon J. Penn, Founder and President of the Media and Entertainment Practice, Penn Schoen Berland and Rana el Kaliouby, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Affectiva

� Social Network Analysis Tools and Practical ApplicationsBarbara Leflein, President and Founder, Leflein Associates, Inc. and Michael D. Lieberman, Founder, Multivariate Solutions

Go behind the scenes at some of the nation’s largest media and PR firms to understand how social media research is evolving on the front

lines. By necessity, the young executives in media and PR industries are developing new and exciting ways of listening, managing and tracking social media conversations for the benefit of their brands. Hear their stories to learn what’s working and what’s missing. Then, learn to use social network visualization tools to make sense of Big Data and present results.

� What’s the Difference Between Loyalty and Commitment?Rob Klein, President, Klein & Partners

Often times satisfaction is a poor predictor of future behaviors because

satisfaction is transactional. When you understand how people feel about your brand in addition to what they experience during a single transaction, you will have a better understanding of what they will do in the future. In this session, the origins and the theory of commitment and its use in brand research will be discussed. Using real data from the healthcare industry, attendees will see how understanding a person’s level of commitment to a brand tells so much more than simple satisfaction can. Addition-ally, an element to learning why people do what they do that is often overlooked is the concept of “market barriers.” Just because

someone is attracted to your brand does not mean that they can or will actually choose it. Sometimes life gets in the way. When you understand how people feel about your brand, you will be way ahead of the game in marketing to them.

� Telephonic Survey Research: Reviewing the Present and Predicting the FutureDavid Dutwin, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Methodologist, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS)

This presentation will provide information on the relative efficiencies

and targeting abilities of landlines and cell phones, both the state of the art today and projecting into the near future. It will review trends in costs and cooperation on both frames. It will then focus on a







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit



future in which cell phones are the only type of phones utilized to conduct high quality telephon-ic research and detail the methods by which one can target cell phones geographically and review the status and future status of targeted cell phone lists. Finally, the presentation will discuss the future possibilities of conducting surveys on smart-phones and text.

� Using Multi-Faceted Research to Guide the Discovery and Understanding of New Target ConsumersChristie Hickman, VP, Consumer and Market Insights, Outdoor Industry Association

As Gen Y emerges as the largest and most diverse population of consumers

in history, companies are being forced to rethink their value proposition, brand relevance and marketing strategies. The outdoor industry, like many others, is faced with redefining its relevance to an emerging customer base with unique values and expectations. In order to understand today’s new complex consumer, Outdoor Industry Association, the leading trade association for the outdoor industry, is using a multi-faceted research approach to create a holistic picture of its changing consumers. This presentation will focus on obtaining a custom-er-centric view of your industry/brand, marrying primary research with trends and social media listening to dimensionalize your knowledge and using insights to drive innovation, strategy and best business practices.

� Mobilizing Urban Parents Around the WorldNiels Schillewaert, Ph.D, Managing Partner and Co-founder, InSites Consulting

Dorel’s flagship stroller brands Quinny and Maxi-Cosi were cannibal-

izing, with a need to reposition the Quinny brand towards urban parents. In order to discover universal insights and translate

them into actions for future branding and innovations, a three week global consumer consulting board was conducted between the Quinny team and more than 120 urban parents from cities around the world. This immersion experience will illustrate the six universal insights that were the basis for a recently launched “Longboard Stroller” and the repositioning of the brand. The session will also dive into the usage of mobile and how to create engagement with a hip target group over the course of time.

� What Do Clients and Suppliers Really Think About Each Other?Larry Brown, President & Founder, Bridgemark Solutions and John Geraci, President & Founder, Crux Research, Inc.

How do clients really choose which research suppliers to work with? What makes a good client from the supplier’s standpoint? In conjunc-

tion with Bridgemark Solutions, Crux Research recently conduct-ed an extensive industry poll among 290 individuals working in the market research field. This session will look closely at both sides of the industry to shed light on what really makes these relationships tick in order to help facilitate more efficient and rewarding relationships between suppliers and clients. This will be a highly interactive session and attendees will be encouraged to share their own experiences and insights.

� The Truth Is In Their Stories – Lessons Market Researchers Can Learn From JournalistsTom Bernthal, CEO and Co-Founder and Gareth Schweitzer, President and Co-Founder, Kelton

How do you strike the balance between fact and impact, when a good research presentation requires both? The best journalists are particularly

adept at striking this balance, with numerous tools and tricks researchers can lean on to improve their storytelling techniques as well. Kelton’s founders, Tom Bernthal and Gareth Schweitzer, made the transition from journalism to research, bringing some of the fundamentals to their new trade. This actionable, how-to presentation will discuss important journalistic techniques that can help instantly improve storytelling capabilities.

� Kids Do the Darndest Things: Understanding How to Work with Kids and Teens in a Qualitative Research ProjectPam Goldfarb Liss, President/Big Brain, LitBrains – Igniting Ideas!

In this workshop, multiple case study examples will be examined, including

creative approaches to working with children and teens in a variety of qualitative research environments such as online, in-person and mobile. The presentation will address nuances with each age group and how to work more efficiently to gain the most productive insights. Learn how to recruit the best possible kid/teen respondents, things to consider in kid/teen qualitative research events, important cognitive differences between age groups, the best kid/teen-friendly research approach-es, projective tools and activities tailored for kids and teens, ways to best analyze and report on kid/teen insights, and opportunities to partner with parents for even better context surrounding subject matter.

� Brand Building: A Love StoryGian Gonzaga, Ph.D., VP, Quantitative Insights and Dan Lazar, President, Chatter Inc.

It is the holy grail of branding, but do we understand why someone loves a brand? Defends it? Proselytizes on its behalf? More

importantly, how can we measure and research it? In this session,

former eHarmony researcher Gian Gonzaga, Ph.D. will demonstrate how academic research and methods around the psychology of human relationships can help strategy consultants and corporate researchers better study and create consumers’ love of a brand. He and company president Dan Lazar will give a sneak peek into Chatter Inc’s proprietary research on the psychology of love and the methods that can be used to algorithmically match brands with their highest potential customers – much like dating websites match couples.

� The Roadmap to Consumer PassionDave Kaplan, VP, Bravo Research, NBC Universal and Boaz Mourad, Ph.D., Co-CEO, Insight Strategy Group

Bravo Media and Insight Strategy Group conduct-ed a study to understand

social, psychological, and behavioral drivers of consumer passion – in particular, its effect on

intent to buy, purchases and social advocacy for brands. This research statistically identified the levers that advertisers and brands can pull in order to propel consumers from simply “liking” a brand to “loving” it and from “loving” it to being “passionate” about it. Through interviews with people connected by secend and third degrees to a passionate person, the study also gauged how passion spreads and the influence passion has on people within their social networks. Tangible approaches to messag-ing and engaging with consum-ers were uncovered in order to create a marketer’s “roadmap to passion.” Learn passion’s role in the future of entertainment media and how its positive marketing effect can be measured.

Choose Your Own Adventure // To innovate, turn to the next page.



� Emerging Technologies: Webcam Interviews and Their Role in the Qualitative Research ProcessWally Balden, Managing Director, Online Research, Delve (a Focus Pointe Global Company); Thor Falk, President, Falk Research Associates, Inc. and Lorelle Scheibe, Research Manager, Innovation Testing, Kimberly-Clark

Webcam interviews have shown the potential to provide significant benefits vs. in-person. FPG/Delve teamed with Kimberly-Clark to conduct a research-on-re-search project to see how they compare. In this

session learn what steps need to be taken to ensure research objectives are satisfied with this new technology, what research applications are most applicable for webcam interviews, what in-person techniques work best for webcam interviews, how to effectively “connect” with the respondent via webcam, the technical issues that must be addressed in order to ensure a successful session and how to respond to technical issues taking place in the respondents home environment.

Innovation

� Coding Photos, Videos and Other Mobile Media for AnalysisDave Koch, Vice President, ADAPT

Researchers are often left with hundreds or even thousands of photos,

videos and recordings with no consistent and efficient way to analyze them. This presentation will tackle formatting issues and naming conventions to keep in mind when collecting multimedia formats. Areas covered will include mobile surveying, tips on how to set up questions and instruct respondents to make sure usable media is received, and how a combination of technology and human coders can efficiently reduce multi-media information into coded data files that can be easily analyzed using standard industry analysis tools.

� Access Richer Insights Faster While Empowering Enterprise-Wide CollaborationJohn Williamson, Founder, 24tru

Turn qualitative insights into searchable data. Stakeholders across the

enterprise are able to discover and share relevant research insights within mouse clicks, putting research at the center of the innovation process where it can drive competitive advantage. Harness the power of video for unparalleled richness, gain more leverage from your qualitative research investment and avoid redundant projects due to lack of data preservation and access. Ignite collaboration around the “voice of the consumer” to put research where it belongs: in the hands of decision-makers.

Long-Term Digital Community for Deep InsightsErin Barber, VP, Online Immersion, C+R Research and Kerry Hecht, Director (US), Dub







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit


� Your Mom Was Wrong – Why You Should Follow a Fast CrowdSandy McCray, Insights Curator, Intengo and Scott Tang, Marketing Strategy & Analysis Lead, SapientNitro

It has never been more important for marketers to move from concepts to conclusions to clarity at a hyper-pace, and that means expanding

beyond traditional research to find fast methods that won’t compromise quality. Let’s face it; nobody can create all the iterations that should be considered for any given idea. Crowdsourced ideation will uncover concepts and thoughts you hadn’t identified prior to concept screening/testing. Prediction markets harness the power of the wisdom of the crowd and pinpoint successful concepts from the myriad of ideas, removing over-stated purchase intent and flat-line results. Utilizing a general population sample, prediction markets are fast and efficient, finalizing concept screening/testing results in as little as 10 days. This session will review a Sapient client case study to demonstrate the power and

speed of crowdsourced ideation, followed by a prediction market exercise to identify the ideas most attractive for a specific target audience.

� Predicting Box Office Success by Gathering Emotional Insight of the Modern MoviegoerRana el Kaliouby, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Affectiva and Jon J. Penn, Founder and President of the Media and Entertainment Practice, Penn Schoen Berland

2013 was a record year at the global box office, yet it’s never been harder for Hollywood marketers to win over the hearts, minds and attention of

moviegoers. With enormous pressure on Hollywood marketers to show the social, monetary and free time value of watching a movie at a theater on opening weekend, 80-85 percent of all spend in theatrical marketing campaigns is on TV ads, which now must engage moviegoers in new and different ways given the changing environment. The old adage that your TV campaign could just drive awareness and purchase intent is over; cam-paigns today must break through to create social and emotional


engagement and purchase urgency. Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) and Affectiva will show a comparison of all measures to box office sales and will prove that new measurement methods are needed to understand the modern moviegoer and ultimately help movie ad companies maximize returns from their marketing campaigns. In addition, they will illustrate the synergistic benefits of testing movie ads with both PSB’s survey measurement system and Affdex automated facial coding through case studies that bring the utility of this new measurement system to life.

� Meet Generation WorldChip Walker, Director, Global Brand Strategy, BAV Consulting

New research from BAV Consulting conducted in the U.S., Brazil and China

finds that many consumers hold views that are the opposite of what they tell us. In this session, the audience will learn how global consumers respond consciously and unconsciously regarding their personal values and to a range of brands, how to understand a new global consumer with a psyche that is complex and conflicted, and how brands like Land Rover and Virgin have taken advantage of growing consumer conflict through a new branding approach called “Brand Paradox.”

� Moment-of-Truth Market Research: iBeacons and the Possibilities of MobileVenkat Rajagopal, Director, Business Development and Sriram Subramanian, CEO & Co-Founder, ZoomRx

In the summer of 2013, Apple announced a key new feature in iPhones and iPads: iBeacons. The basic functionality enabled by iBeacons is

micro-location targeting. By knowing the micro-location of a customer, companies can push

highly targeted and relevant content to the customer’s smartphone. Applications of this technology are many, but the most interesting possibility is conducting Moment of Truth (MOT) research. By leveraging iBeacon technology, researchers can survey customers directly at the moment of truth for a much lower cost than traditional MOT research. This session will focus on: 1) Familiarizing researchers with the emergence of iBeacons, 2) Specific applications of iBeacon-technology in retail and healthcare market research, 3) Best practices for using iBea-con-technology in regards to privacy and security, and 4) A live demonstration of iBeacon-tech-nology enabled market research.

� Did You Save Room for Raspberry Pi? New Research Modes Fueled by the Makers MovementChris Robson, PRC, Senior VP, Research Science, ORC International

Over the last few years a movement of amateur inventors – known as

“Makers” – has radically altered the investment and skills needed to fully realize an Internet connected hardware device. Central to this is the open availability of cheap and accessible platforms such as the Arduino and Raspberry Pi. The confluence of smart devices and open-source hardware develop-ment opportunities brings exciting new opportunities for researchers to move away from the tired paradigms of question-ing and surveys, towards new modes of digital ethnography where we watch and measure rather than ask. Want to build a biometric feedback device? Need to count who is looking at a shelf display in a store? Could you use custom audience feedback devices? Would you rather measure what people are actually doing rather than ask them questions afterwards? Better yet, do you want to do this


Choose Your Own Adventure // Want to visit the C-suite? A few executive sessions are open to everyone.

all for $50? The opportunities for brand new research modes are only limited by your imagination.

� Tuning in to the Voice of the Competitor (VOTC): Going Beyond GoogleSean Campbell, CEO, Cascade Insights

Bring the Voice of the Competitor’s (VOTC) customers, partners, and

influencers into your building. During this presentation attendees will learn how to use over 20 web-based tools and sites to better collect and analyze OSINT from the Web. Attendees will also take away knowledge of how to effectively gather and analyze information about a competitor’s customers and partners, vary VOTC collection and analysis efforts based on the geography or region targeted, methods for effectively integrat-ing competitor interviews into VOTC efforts, and ways in which VOTC contrasts with VOC research and lessons that can be learned from this comparison.

� Unleashing the Power and Dynamics of Prediction MarketsLinda Rebrovick, CEO, Consensus Point and Julie Wittes Schlack, SVP, Innovation and Design, Communispace

This session will describe the value of predictive market research in the broader trend towards engaging gamification techniques for consumer

collaboration. It will begin with the global outlook for predictive market technology over the next three years and the importance of predictive market research methodology for the future of the industry. Case histories will illustrate how several of the largest global companies have used prediction markets in support of everything from prioritizing features and new initiatives to optimizing concepts, messaging, and promotions.

� Visual BI – The Better Way to Present DataRudy Nadilo, President, North America, Dapresy and Aaron Reid, Ph.D., Founder & Chief Behavioral Scientist, Sentient Decision Science

It’s time to ditch PowerPoint for research reporting. New visual BI technology can provide visually engaging, dynamic reporting

capabilities in an easy to use, cost effective manner. This market research information strategy is organization friendly, makes data more operational and deploys data in a visually engaging manner via personalized “role based” dashboards and infographics. There will be visual examples of how data can be deployed with actual client case studies of how tracking research with continual weekly, monthly and quarterly data collection are enhanced with automated reporting.



� Emerging Technologies: Webcam Interviews and Their Role in the Qualitative Research ProcessWally Balden, Managing Director, Online Research, Delve (a Focus Pointe Global Company); Thor Falk, President, Falk Research Associates, Inc. and Lorelle Scheibe, Research Manager, Innovation Testing, Kimberly-Clark

Webcam interviews have shown the potential to provide significant benefits vs. in-person. FPG/Delve teamed with Kimberly-Clark to conduct a research-on-re-search project to see how they compare. In this

session learn what steps need to be taken to ensure research objectives are satisfied with this new technology, what research applications are most applicable for webcam interviews, what in-person techniques work best for webcam interviews, how to effectively “connect” with the respondent via webcam, the technical issues that must be addressed in order to ensure a successful session and how to respond to technical issues taking place in the respondents home environment.

Innovation

� Coding Photos, Videos and Other Mobile Media for AnalysisDave Koch, Vice President, ADAPT

Researchers are often left with hundreds or even thousands of photos,

videos and recordings with no consistent and efficient way to analyze them. This presentation will tackle formatting issues and naming conventions to keep in mind when collecting multimedia formats. Areas covered will include mobile surveying, tips on how to set up questions and instruct respondents to make sure usable media is received, and how a combination of technology and human coders can efficiently reduce multi-media information into coded data files that can be easily analyzed using standard industry analysis tools.

� Access Richer Insights Faster While Empowering Enterprise-Wide CollaborationJohn Williamson, Founder, 24tru

Turn qualitative insights into searchable data. Stakeholders across the

enterprise are able to discover and share relevant research insights within mouse clicks, putting research at the center of the innovation process where it can drive competitive advantage. Harness the power of video for unparalleled richness, gain more leverage from your qualitative research investment and avoid redundant projects due to lack of data preservation and access. Ignite collaboration around the “voice of the consumer” to put research where it belongs: in the hands of decision-makers.








Mobile & Online

PRC Credit


� Your Mom Was Wrong – Why You Should Follow a Fast CrowdSandy McCray, Insights Curator, Intengo and Scott Tang, Marketing Strategy & Analysis Lead, SapientNitro

It has never been more important for marketers to move from concepts to conclusions to clarity at a hyper-pace, and that means expanding

beyond traditional research to find fast methods that won’t compromise quality. Let’s face it; nobody can create all the iterations that should be considered for any given idea. Crowdsourced ideation will uncover concepts and thoughts you hadn’t identified prior to concept screening/testing. Prediction markets harness the power of the wisdom of the crowd and pinpoint successful concepts from the myriad of ideas, removing over-stated purchase intent and flat-line results. Utilizing a general population sample, prediction markets are fast and efficient, finalizing concept screening/testing results in as little as 10 days. This session will review a Sapient client case study to demonstrate the power and

speed of crowdsourced ideation, followed by a prediction market exercise to identify the ideas most attractive for a specific target audience.

� Predicting Box Office Success by Gathering Emotional Insight of the Modern MoviegoerRana el Kaliouby, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Affectiva and Jon J. Penn, Founder and President of the Media and Entertainment Practice, Penn Schoen Berland

2013 was a record year at the global box office, yet it’s never been harder for Hollywood marketers to win over the hearts, minds and attention of

moviegoers. With enormous pressure on Hollywood marketers to show the social, monetary and free time value of watching a movie at a theater on opening weekend, 80-85 percent of all spend in theatrical marketing campaigns is on TV ads, which now must engage moviegoers in new and different ways given the changing environment. The old adage that your TV campaign could just drive awareness and purchase intent is over; cam-paigns today must break through to create social and emotional


engagement and purchase urgency. Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) and Affectiva will show a comparison of all measures to box office sales and will prove that new measurement methods are needed to understand the modern moviegoer and ultimately help movie ad companies maximize returns from their marketing campaigns. In addition, they will illustrate the synergistic benefits of testing movie ads with both PSB’s survey measurement system and Affdex automated facial coding through case studies that bring the utility of this new measurement system to life.

� Meet Generation WorldChip Walker, Director, Global Brand Strategy, BAV Consulting

New research from BAV Consulting conducted in the U.S., Brazil and China

finds that many consumers hold views that are the opposite of what they tell us. In this session, the audience will learn how global consumers respond consciously and unconsciously regarding their personal values and to a range of brands, how to understand a new global consumer with a psyche that is complex and conflicted, and how brands like Land Rover and Virgin have taken advantage of growing consumer conflict through a new branding approach called “Brand Paradox.”

� Moment-of-Truth Market Research: iBeacons and the Possibilities of MobileVenkat Rajagopal, Director, Business Development and Sriram Subramanian, CEO & Co-Founder, ZoomRx

In the summer of 2013, Apple announced a key new feature in iPhones and iPads: iBeacons. The basic functionality enabled by iBeacons is

micro-location targeting. By knowing the micro-location of a customer, companies can push

highly targeted and relevant content to the customer’s smartphone. Applications of this technology are many, but the most interesting possibility is conducting Moment of Truth (MOT) research. By leveraging iBeacon technology, researchers can survey customers directly at the moment of truth for a much lower cost than traditional MOT research. This session will focus on: 1) Familiarizing researchers with the emergence of iBeacons, 2) Specific applications of iBeacon-technology in retail and healthcare market research, 3) Best practices for using iBea-con-technology in regards to privacy and security, and 4) A live demonstration of iBeacon-tech-nology enabled market research.

� Did You Save Room for Raspberry Pi? New Research Modes Fueled by the Makers MovementChris Robson, PRC, Senior VP, Research Science, ORC International

Over the last few years a movement of amateur inventors – known as

“Makers” – has radically altered the investment and skills needed to fully realize an Internet connected hardware device. Central to this is the open availability of cheap and accessible platforms such as the Arduino and Raspberry Pi. The confluence of smart devices and open-source hardware develop-ment opportunities brings exciting new opportunities for researchers to move away from the tired paradigms of question-ing and surveys, towards new modes of digital ethnography where we watch and measure rather than ask. Want to build a biometric feedback device? Need to count who is looking at a shelf display in a store? Could you use custom audience feedback devices? Would you rather measure what people are actually doing rather than ask them questions afterwards? Better yet, do you want to do this


Choose Your Own Adventure // Want to visit the C-suite? A few executive sessions are open to everyone.

all for $50? The opportunities for brand new research modes are only limited by your imagination.

� Tuning in to the Voice of the Competitor (VOTC): Going Beyond GoogleSean Campbell, CEO, Cascade Insights

Bring the Voice of the Competitor’s (VOTC) customers, partners, and

influencers into your building. During this presentation attendees will learn how to use over 20 web-based tools and sites to better collect and analyze OSINT from the Web. Attendees will also take away knowledge of how to effectively gather and analyze information about a competitor’s customers and partners, vary VOTC collection and analysis efforts based on the geography or region targeted, methods for effectively integrat-ing competitor interviews into VOTC efforts, and ways in which VOTC contrasts with VOC research and lessons that can be learned from this comparison.

� Unleashing the Power and Dynamics of Prediction MarketsLinda Rebrovick, CEO, Consensus Point and Julie Wittes Schlack, SVP, Innovation and Design, Communispace

This session will describe the value of predictive market research in the broader trend towards engaging gamification techniques for consumer

collaboration. It will begin with the global outlook for predictive market technology over the next three years and the importance of predictive market research methodology for the future of the industry. Case histories will illustrate how several of the largest global companies have used prediction markets in support of everything from prioritizing features and new initiatives to optimizing concepts, messaging, and promotions.

� Visual BI – The Better Way to Present DataRudy Nadilo, President, North America, Dapresy and Aaron Reid, Ph.D., Founder & Chief Behavioral Scientist, Sentient Decision Science

It’s time to ditch PowerPoint for research reporting. New visual BI technology can provide visually engaging, dynamic reporting

capabilities in an easy to use, cost effective manner. This market research information strategy is organization friendly, makes data more operational and deploys data in a visually engaging manner via personalized “role based” dashboards and infographics. There will be visual examples of how data can be deployed with actual client case studies of how tracking research with continual weekly, monthly and quarterly data collection are enhanced with automated reporting.



Research Executives

� How to Think and Lead More ProductivelyJohn Canfield, President, Canfield & Associates CLOSED SESSION: EXECUTIVES ONLY

This session will introduce and practice John Canfield’s acclaimed Good

Thinking curriculum. This is an interactive, hands-on working session open only to research executives. Participants will practice new approaches and tools in small groups, working on issues from participating leaders.Part 1: Good Thinking Curriculum Kick-OffIntroduction to the curriculum, presentation, provision of materi-als and assignments, etc.Part 2: Executive Think TanksAttendees break into groups to discuss curriculum, create innova-tion solutions, etc., as John works with each as prudent.Part 3: Executive Think Tank OutcomesAttendees from the earlier session regroup to share learner out-comes.

Choose Your Own Adventure // Corporate researchers work to integrate MR into decision making processes. Should you?

Taking Big Data to the Small ScreenNeal Massey, Executive Director, Business & Consumer Insights, Starz Entertainment

� Privacy By Design: How to Become a Trusted Research PartnerStuart Pardau, Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stuart L. Pardau & Associates

The maintenance of robust privacy/data security policies and

practices is a key component of being a trusted research partner. This session will emphasize the significance of the privacy by design and the two primary principles which underscore it: simplified choice and transparen-cy. The session will cover the need for simple, clear and transparent privacy policies and clear language for registration and respondent engagement. We’ll address privacy audits of your firm’s practices and regular training of your employees, the creation and maintenance of protective client and vendor agreements, the connections between technology and privacy, best practices and industry requirements that include MRA’s Code of Marketing Research Standards and risk management strategies, including obtaining adequate insurance.

� Expanding Our Capacity to Achieve Business Goals Through Mindful AwarenessQua Veda, IT Market Research Analyst, Intel Corp.CLOSED SESSION: EXECUTIVES ONLY

In this session, Qua Veda will describe how employees at Intel

began to apply mindful awareness practices to meet increasing demands at work while improving their wellbeing. As employees shared their experiences with colleagues, the program expanded and evolved. Within a year, hundreds of engineers, knowledge workers and managers had completed the 9-week series of sessions, called Awake@Intel. The Awake@

Intel program integrates intentional awareness with intellectual and emotional under-standing. This wisdom is then applied to the challenges of the workplace and the elevation of one’s wellbeing and happiness. Qua will provide recommenda-tions and considerations for implementing a mindful awareness program in your workplace.







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit


� Executive Leadership and Market ResearchRob Stone, Ph.D., CEO, Market Strategies International

See isc.marketingresearch.org for more information.

� Long-Term Digital Community for Deep InsightsErin Barber, VP, Online Immersion, C+R Research and Kerry Hecht, Director (US), Dub

Learn how to leverage digital communities for quick and insightful research. We’ll look at the online community through multiple case

studies (retail, quick serve restaurant and consumer packaged goods), diving into specific activities that include mobile, webcam and co-creation. Through our research in several 4-6 month communities, we were able to dig into shoppers’ and consumers’ experiences and motivations to find out what commands attention online and in stores, how social media is being used by consumers for brands and in stores and what consumers – especially Millennials – think of brands’ ideas and marketing.


� Implementing an Early Warning System to Monitor Trends Beyond the ACARick Britton, Senior Market Research Consultant and Douglas Dunham, Market Research Consultant, Health Care Service Corporation

With the health insurance industry in a state of disruption from Afford-able Care Act (ACA), what other environmental changes could affect the

landscape of health insurance in the next 3-5 years and beyond? The HCSC trends management program is designed to be an early warning system for trends that are or soon could be affecting consumers, employers, providers or brokers. By sensing upcoming developments from within and outside the health care industry and understanding their implications, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans can align strate-gic initiatives to stay ahead of the market and competitive curve. The objectives of this session are to discuss why understanding evolving, imminent and longer term trends are important for health insurance carriers; exploring how to identify, prioritize and understand long range trends that can affect the industry; presenting ways of integrating trend knowledge in a strategic manner; and identifying ways to disseminate relevant trend insights to key internal stakeholders.




Research Executives

� How to Think and Lead More ProductivelyJohn Canfield, President, Canfield & Associates CLOSED SESSION: EXECUTIVES ONLY

This session will introduce and practice John Canfield’s acclaimed Good

Thinking curriculum. This is an interactive, hands-on working session open only to research executives. Participants will practice new approaches and tools in small groups, working on issues from participating leaders.Part 1: Good Thinking Curriculum Kick-OffIntroduction to the curriculum, presentation, provision of materi-als and assignments, etc.Part 2: Executive Think TanksAttendees break into groups to discuss curriculum, create innova-tion solutions, etc., as John works with each as prudent.Part 3: Executive Think Tank OutcomesAttendees from the earlier session regroup to share learner out-comes.

Choose Your Own Adventure // Corporate researchers work to integrate MR into decision making processes. Should you?

Taking Big Data to the Small ScreenNeal Massey, Executive Director, Business & Consumer Insights, Starz Entertainment

� Privacy By Design: How to Become a Trusted Research PartnerStuart Pardau, Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stuart L. Pardau & Associates

The maintenance of robust privacy/data security policies and

practices is a key component of being a trusted research partner. This session will emphasize the significance of the privacy by design and the two primary principles which underscore it: simplified choice and transparen-cy. The session will cover the need for simple, clear and transparent privacy policies and clear language for registration and respondent engagement. We’ll address privacy audits of your firm’s practices and regular training of your employees, the creation and maintenance of protective client and vendor agreements, the connections between technology and privacy, best practices and industry requirements that include MRA’s Code of Marketing Research Standards and risk management strategies, including obtaining adequate insurance.

� Expanding Our Capacity to Achieve Business Goals Through Mindful AwarenessQua Veda, IT Market Research Analyst, Intel Corp.CLOSED SESSION: EXECUTIVES ONLY

In this session, Qua Veda will describe how employees at Intel

began to apply mindful awareness practices to meet increasing demands at work while improving their wellbeing. As employees shared their experiences with colleagues, the program expanded and evolved. Within a year, hundreds of engineers, knowledge workers and managers had completed the 9-week series of sessions, called Awake@Intel. The Awake@

Intel program integrates intentional awareness with intellectual and emotional under-standing. This wisdom is then applied to the challenges of the workplace and the elevation of one’s wellbeing and happiness. Qua will provide recommenda-tions and considerations for implementing a mindful awareness program in your workplace.







Mobile & Online

PRC Credit


� Executive Leadership and Market ResearchRob Stone, Ph.D., CEO, Market Strategies International

See isc.marketingresearch.org for more information.

� Long-Term Digital Community for Deep InsightsErin Barber, VP, Online Immersion, C+R Research and Kerry Hecht, Director (US), Dub

Learn how to leverage digital communities for quick and insightful research. We’ll look at the online community through multiple case

studies (retail, quick serve restaurant and consumer packaged goods), diving into specific activities that include mobile, webcam and co-creation. Through our research in several 4-6 month communities, we were able to dig into shoppers’ and consumers’ experiences and motivations to find out what commands attention online and in stores, how social media is being used by consumers for brands and in stores and what consumers – especially Millennials – think of brands’ ideas and marketing.


� Implementing an Early Warning System to Monitor Trends Beyond the ACARick Britton, Senior Market Research Consultant and Douglas Dunham, Market Research Consultant, Health Care Service Corporation

With the health insurance industry in a state of disruption from Afford-able Care Act (ACA), what other environmental changes could affect the

landscape of health insurance in the next 3-5 years and beyond? The HCSC trends management program is designed to be an early warning system for trends that are or soon could be affecting consumers, employers, providers or brokers. By sensing upcoming developments from within and outside the health care industry and understanding their implications, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans can align strate-gic initiatives to stay ahead of the market and competitive curve. The objectives of this session are to discuss why understanding evolving, imminent and longer term trends are important for health insurance carriers; exploring how to identify, prioritize and understand long range trends that can affect the industry; presenting ways of integrating trend knowledge in a strategic manner; and identifying ways to disseminate relevant trend insights to key internal stakeholders.




Networking Opportunities at ISC

Expo ReceptionWednesday, June 4, 5:15-6:15 PMOne of the main reasons market researchers come to ISC is to check out the latest MR products in person and to meet their champions face-to-face. Grab a light bite and bond over cocktails while perusing cutting-edge product, service and technology solutions.Designated Expo hours are also offered between education sessions to allow you plenty of time to visit with exhibitors

Opening Night ReceptionWednesday, June 4, 6:30-8:30 PMThe Chairman’s Party has become an attendee favorite! Cocktails, a dinner buffet and live jazz and blues set the stage for a fun and festive atmosphere. This is the perfect venue to catch up with old colleagues and make new friends.One ticket included with Conference registration. Guest tickets available for $250 each and include the Expo Reception.

Colleague ConnectionsThe Colleague Connections program is designed for first time conference attendees. As part of the Connections program, you will be paired up with a veteran member and or industry leader who will help you make new business acquaintances and get the most out of your conference experience. Whether you simply want someone new to meet and talk with or want to connect around a specific interest, the Connections Program will help you achieve your goal.


Can you imagine being able to say you saw Chris Farley perform Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker on stage before it ever hit SNL? Or that you saw Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert or Mike Myers before they were famous? With its ever increasing roster of comedy superstars, The Second City is where up-and-coming comedians cut their teeth… and where you will be on Thursday night!

Prepare to laugh until you cry over original scenes, songs and hilarious improv in two acts, written and performed by six of the nation’s best comedians. The entertainment, full service bar and dinner buffet are for ISC attendees and their guests exclusively. Transportation will be provided to and from the theatre.

One ticket included with Conference registration. Guest tickets available for $150 each.

A full belly laugh is a good icebreaker.

Evening at The Second CityThursday, June 5, 6:30-10 PM


MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – SECOND QUARTER 2014 65 MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – FIRST QUARTER 2014 65


Networking Opportunities at ISC

Expo ReceptionWednesday, June 4, 5:15-6:15 PMOne of the main reasons market researchers come to ISC is to check out the latest MR products in person and to meet their champions face-to-face. Grab a light bite and bond over cocktails while perusing cutting-edge product, service and technology solutions.Designated Expo hours are also offered between education sessions to allow you plenty of time to visit with exhibitors

Opening Night ReceptionWednesday, June 4, 6:30-8:30 PMThe Chairman’s Party has become an attendee favorite! Cocktails, a dinner buffet and live jazz and blues set the stage for a fun and festive atmosphere. This is the perfect venue to catch up with old colleagues and make new friends.One ticket included with Conference registration. Guest tickets available for $250 each and include the Expo Reception.

Colleague ConnectionsThe Colleague Connections program is designed for first time conference attendees. As part of the Connections program, you will be paired up with a veteran member and or industry leader who will help you make new business acquaintances and get the most out of your conference experience. Whether you simply want someone new to meet and talk with or want to connect around a specific interest, the Connections Program will help you achieve your goal.


Can you imagine being able to say you saw Chris Farley perform Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker on stage before it ever hit SNL? Or that you saw Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert or Mike Myers before they were famous? With its ever increasing roster of comedy superstars, The Second City is where up-and-coming comedians cut their teeth… and where you will be on Thursday night!

Prepare to laugh until you cry over original scenes, songs and hilarious improv in two acts, written and performed by six of the nation’s best comedians. The entertainment, full service bar and dinner buffet are for ISC attendees and their guests exclusively. Transportation will be provided to and from the theatre.

One ticket included with Conference registration. Guest tickets available for $150 each.

A full belly laugh is a good icebreaker.

Evening at The Second CityThursday, June 5, 6:30-10 PM



Discover – Industry veterans provide perspectives on overcoming the day-to-day challenges faced by you – the corporate researcher. Find practical and applicable information in every session.

Interact – Network and learn from your peers and presenters at one of several networking events designed specifically for corporate researchers.


Register for ISC Today!

Thank You Exhibitors, Genius Lab Hosts and Sponsors

2014 MRA INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES CONFERENCE • JUNE 4-6, 2014 • CHICAGOISC.MARKETINGRESEARCH.ORG/ALERT

Conference HotelThe Hyatt Regency McCormick Place is a dramatic 33-story hotel located in Chicago’s South Loop immediately off I-55 and connected to the McCormick Place Convention Center via an enclosed “Grand Concourse” pedestrian walkway to the South Building, North Building, and Lakeside Center. Special Conference Rate: $259 by May 13, 2014.

Conference PricingYour registration includes: Breaks, breakfasts and lunch • Expo Reception • Opening Night Reception • Evening at The Second City • All education sessions • Entry to the Expo • Access to the Genius Labs • Free Conference App • Colleague Connections networking program • Attendee rosterSave 10% by registering three or more attendees from your organization! Register them all at the same time to take advantage of reduced registration fees while building the knowledge of your team.

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Discover – Industry veterans provide perspectives on overcoming the day-to-day challenges faced by you – the corporate researcher. Find practical and applicable information in every session.

Interact – Network and learn from your peers and presenters at one of several networking events designed specifically for corporate researchers.


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2014 MRA INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES CONFERENCE • JUNE 4-6, 2014 • CHICAGOISC.MARKETINGRESEARCH.ORG/ALERT

Conference HotelThe Hyatt Regency McCormick Place is a dramatic 33-story hotel located in Chicago’s South Loop immediately off I-55 and connected to the McCormick Place Convention Center via an enclosed “Grand Concourse” pedestrian walkway to the South Building, North Building, and Lakeside Center. Special Conference Rate: $259 by May 13, 2014.

Conference PricingYour registration includes: Breaks, breakfasts and lunch • Expo Reception • Opening Night Reception • Evening at The Second City • All education sessions • Entry to the Expo • Access to the Genius Labs • Free Conference App • Colleague Connections networking program • Attendee rosterSave 10% by registering three or more attendees from your organization! Register them all at the same time to take advantage of reduced registration fees while building the knowledge of your team.

Early Bird – By April 18 StandardMember $1,249 $1,549

Non-member $1,599* $1,899*

*The non-member rate includes a complimentary one-year MRA membership.

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Voice of the Customer: Execution Over AnalysisBy Annette Franz Gleneicki and Simon Leech

How did AIG go beyond simply analyzing its customer feedback to operationalizing it and improving their customers’ experience?

Prior to 2007, all feedback stemmed from distribution channels, but the company had no listening posts tied directly to consumers. AIG started their Customer Feedback

Program in early 2007, with a focus on end consumers. The program, which is managed by a small, dedicated team, consists of both transactional and relationship surveys that are conducted by sending an email invite to customers with a link to take the survey online. This allows for real-time feedback, analysis, and follow-up.

Being able to listen to customers in real-time is critical. Such feedback allows companies to identify customer and market needs more quickly, test product concepts, gather competitive data, and make business decisions and product or service adjustments in an efficient manner. Real-time feedback also allows companies to resolve critical service and quality issues and identify key business process improvements more quickly.

Key Learning: You don’t know everything that’s important to the customer from the office; you really do need to get the direct and unfiltered customer perspective.

As their key metrics, AIG a) measures and monitors overall satisfaction, and b) uses Net Promoter Score1 (NPS) methodology; each for different reasons. Measuring overall satisfaction allows tracking, monitoring and response to individual service interactions. This results in customer experience improvement at the interaction point. NPS is utilized to focus on customer loyalty and to trend customer perceptions over time, which drives customer experience at the macro level and can be influenced by larger initiatives like e-delivery or enhanced self service capabilities.

Business Integration is Important to SuccessAs with any enterprise-wide initiative, business buy-in and integration was critical to the success of AIG’s Customer Feedback Program. Rather than assigning a research team to the challenge and walking away, the program department started with senior

1 All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

Execution over analysis does not imply that customer feedback

shouldn’t be analyzed. It simply states that getting started is what’s important. Focus on the right things and develop

the framework for a successful feedback program.

KEEPING INFORMED

leadership, convincing them that they’d be flying blind without customer feedback at their fingertips. This critical step helped to solidify business participation.

In addition, AIG institutionalized the feedback from a reporting perspective, integrating it into long-standing operation dashboards. The entire organization, therefore, has the ability to hear what customers are saying, can incorporate the insights into business decisions and process improvements, and respond while sentiments are fresh. In addition, feedback that results in service recovery opportunities is acted on quickly, tracked, measured and used for business process improvements.

The data is also integrated into AIG’s training, quality, and lean process improvement departments in such a way that the Voice of the Customer (VoC) is woven throughout all they do. It demonstrates a convergence of processes not only within these functions, but also in their efforts to improve the customer experience.

Key Learning: Business integration means that there is no separate group working behind the curtain or operating in a vacuum; the program is incorporated into business processes, and business owners manage it, participate actively, and act on the feedback.

Closing the Loop With CustomersIf you’re going to ask customers for feedback, it is imperative that you close the loop with them. Closed-loop processes entail following up with individual customers

about their questions or concerns – or to just say “thank you” for their feedback. Sharing the results and the resultant improvements with customers also lets them know their feedback is heard, valued, and used. Customer feedback programs are living, breathing programs that are “on” all the time. AIG built action management and closed-loop processes into the program, thus ensuring that the right people follow up on alerts, close the loop, and save at-risk customers in real-time.

AIG not only alerts internal business owners when low scores (less than 6 on a 10-point scale) are received for the service request process, customer care experience, insurance purchase process, or customer service representative experience, but also sends kudos alerts for any response with an overall satisfaction score of 10. For kudos, customers get thank you notes, and employees are acknowledged within the organization.

Improving the Customer ExperienceImproving the customer experience is, ultimately, why AIG listens to customers. As a result of listening to the VoC, AIG is revising processes based on the customer view of the processes, not based on their own, internal perspective of the processes.

This customer feedback program is an early warning system. Listening to customers in real-time means AIG can catch issues customers are having early in the purchase process, thereby allowing corrective measures – saving a lot of future customer effort and pain.

By integrating the program into the business, AIG fueled a range of improvements. For example, in its Life eService group, the team identified a gap in certain online capabilities. Today, its ePolicy Delivery program offers customers a paperless option; many service forms can be submitted electronically; and enhanced policy information can be accessed online.

Further, by unlocking powerful insights that loomed within the customer research, AIG was able to create tangible business results, including identifying and regaining lost customers and saving potential customers (those who didn’t finish the purchase process).


Other Benefits of Customer ListeningAdditional opportunities were afforded as a result of AIG’s Customer Feedback Program, such as gained perspectives on the distributor experience, better understanding of what is being said about the brand through social media, and using text analytics to define comment categories and identify sentiment.

The team learned several lessons over seven years running the Customer Feedback Program, including:• Feedback is a gift. Appreciate it. Use it

wisely.• Business participation and ownership is

critical for meaningful impact. When the business partners talk about the program, it generates buy-in throughout the organization.

• Create a small, focused team to oversee the initiative.

• Don’t make it a money issue. Budget for the feedback program can come from a specific department (such as research) the first year, but other departments will likely end up investing once its’ worth is realized.

DID YOU KNOW...

AND DONT FORGET…Issues & Answers is also a Qualitative Resource with 4 moderators on staff!

Peter McGuinnessApparel

InsuranceTelecommunications

Amber ReillyAgriculture

GovernmentMedical

Shelly ClarkBeverage Sector

FinancialTravel

Carla LindemannB2B

Consumer GoodsPharmaceutical

Peter McGuinness or Carla [email protected]

757-456-11005151 Bonney Road, Suite 100

Virginia Beach, VA 23462

ISSUES & ANSWERS HAS ADDED AN INTERNATIONAL CALL CENTER WHILE CONTINUING TO MAINTAIN 5 CALL CENTERS IN THE U.S.

This latest expansion includes a fully equipped CATI facility with both B to B and Consumer capabilities. The additional facility boasts a fully bi-lingual staff conversant in almost two dozen languages. This unique expansion will allow us to do telephone research in Europe, Asia, and MENA.

• ROI is difficult. Rich feedback equals rich benefit, but it takes some analysis to understand what it all means.

• Share the results incrementally.• Execution over analysis. Like AIG, if you

just need to get started; do it. You can improve questions, data feeds, analysis, etc. down the road. It’s never too early to just start listening.

• Engage with an expert partner. Have the right tools and resources to align with the program goals and business objectives.

• Feedback results in a corrected line of sight to the customers and helps employees see and hear how their contributions impact the customer experience.

• Open-ended text box responses yield surprising insights.

• Internally communicate quickly and often. Share information, best practices and insights on a regular basis. Recognize and appreciate your employees. There are many creative ways to deliver the message. Execution over analysis does not imply

that customer feedback shouldn’t be

analyzed. It simply states that getting started is what’s important. Focus on the right things and develop the framework for a successful feedback program. Line up the right people, tools and partnerships. Ensure that you have executive, business and employee buy-in and participation. Help executives appreciate that customer listening data will prevent them from flying blind. And make sure you close the loop with customers and communicate with employees to provide a clear line of sight. When it comes to getting buy-in and building a customer-focused culture, employees consider the things that you frequently talk about to be important.

Simon Leech is senior vice president, operations development at AIG Life and Retirement. He has been with the company for 31 years and started the Customer Experience Program in 2007. Annette Franz Gleneicki is a customer experience executive. She is currently director, customer experience management strategy at Confirmit.


Developments in Consumer Spending from Euromonitor’s Global Consumer Trends SurveyBy Eileen Bevis and Lisa Holmes

Current consumer spending outlook: Desire to decrease spending, but unwillingness to cut back on products and services?Although many people say they want or need to trim their overall household spending, they are not always willing to follow through on their cost-cutting desires by actually spending less money, especially when that would entail purchasing fewer of their favorite products and services. This has a potentially negative impact on their quality of life. To further explore these spending habits and trends, Euromonitor International conducted an online survey of over 16,000 consumers in nine major developed and emerging markets. We’ve drawn on these survey results to uncover markets where shoppers are planning to spend more, explore product and service categories which have risen or fallen in consumers’ list of purchase priorities, and identify consumer segments looking for bargains and strong value.

Anticipating decreased overall spending (or at least more of the same).Whether they are still reeling from the effects of the recent financial crisis or deciding where to spend new levels of disposable income, Internet-connected consumers around the world are closely examining their personal finances and household spending levels. As in the past few years, many of these consumers, particularly those in developed countries, have a strong desire to maintain or cut back on their spending. Indeed, over one-third of online consumers reported decreases in their overall spending in 2011 and 2012, and the same number anticipated decreases in 2013 and 2014. (See Overall Consumer Spending Patterns and Overall Spending Plans table on next page.)

A tale of two economies: Emerging vs. developed markets.Although many consumers anticipate static or decreased spending in the coming year, there are strong regional patterns where the planned cut-backs are most common and where consumers tend to be a bit more optimistic about their finances. In fact, the discretionary income and spending habits of consumers often mirror the strength and trajectory of their country’s economy. Coming off a period of sustained (and, in some cases, meteoric) economic growth, online consumers in emerging markets are nearly three times as likely as their counterparts

KEEPING INFORMED

in developed countries to say they will increase their spending in the next year. Respondents in India and China lead the way, with over one-third anticipating overall spending increases and fewer than one-quarter expecting to decrease their spending. At the other end of the spectrum are developed countries, such as the U.S., France, and Japan, where consumers take a much more conservative approach to their spending. Fewer than one-in-twenty French or Japanese respondents are planning spending increases, while close to half anticipate decreases. (See Overall Spending Plans for 2013-2014 table on next page.)

Savings also on the rise in many emerging markets.Although online consumers in emerging markets may be anticipating increases to their overall spending in the coming year, many are also planning to increase their savings. This conservative urge to make financial preparations for future household needs is strongest in Brazil and India, where nearly half of respondents plan to grow their savings and only one-in-ten believe they will actually decrease their savings. Most emerging market consumers are not planning to follow in the debt-laden footsteps made by certain developed market consumers in the 2000s.

Mixed plans for saving in developed countries.The lessons of recent financial crises have also changed the savings mindset of many in developed countries. Japanese and American respondents are among the most likely to anticipate saving more in the coming year. However, not all consumers in developed markets have yet reached a point where they are able to begin growing their savings in the aftermath of the market collapse. Those in Western Europe, a region that lags behind others in terms of economic recovery, are the least likely to increase their savings in the coming year. In an even more pessimistic sign, these consumers are also the most likely to anticipate saving less in the coming months than they have in previous years. (See Planned Changes in Saving table on page 73.)

Where are consumers increasing their budgets?Given that many consumers in developed markets are trying to decrease overall spending and many in emerging markets are trying to save more (while also spending

as much or more) we next explore what these intentions mean for spending on particular products and services. Will same-category spending remain fairly steady? Or are consumers re-categorizing their financial priorities within the scope of their often constrained budgets?

Spending to remain stable in many categories.Consistent with the fiscally responsible intentions of many developed and emerging consumers in the coming year, a large number of respondents also plan to maintain their level of spending on specific product categories. Approximately half anticipate no changes in their travel, technology, entertainment, apparel, or restaurant budgets as they look toward 2014. This planned spending stability may also indicate lingering unwillingness among shoppers to cut back on their day-to-day, and even special occasion, spending as they seek to keep their overall budgets in check. (See Planned Changes in Spending by Category table on page 72.)

Spending on new places and new entertainment is most likely, especially in emerging markets.Survey results show that consumers who are planning increases in their overall budgets are shifting their spending in the coming year to focus on novel experiences, whether in-person or virtual, such as travel, technology, and cinema or concerts. In turn, these products and services top the list of categories where spending is most likely to increase in the coming year. In emerging markets, new travel opportunities may have such strong appeal thanks to both increased disposable income and improved infrastructure, giving consumers access to previously unreachable destinations. Even among those in developed countries, online consumers are most likely to anticipate increases to their holiday and travel spending in the coming year. (See Planned Spending Increases table on page 72.)

Strategies for saving without sacrificing.Although many hope to grow their travel and technology budgets in the coming year, there is no escaping the fact that, on the whole, consumers are looking for ways to fatten their wallets or savings accounts. Somewhat surprisingly, few consumers have taken this desire to maintain or trim spending to mean that they need to buy fewer products and


Overall Spending Plans for 2013-2014

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who gave each response regarding their intended spending activities in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).

Increased Stayed the same Decreased

0% 40%20% 60% 80% 100%

India

China

Russia

Germany

UK

US

Brazil

France

Japan

Overall Consumer Spending Patterns, 2011 to 2014

2011-12

2012-13

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends survey; 2011, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers who gave each response regarding their overall spending in the listed year

2013-14


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%




0% 40%20% 60% 80% 100%

India

China

Russia

Germany

UK

US

Brazil

France

Japan


2011-12

2012-13


2013-14


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%





services overall; only one-in-ten are doing so. Instead, consumers are turning to more creative means to maintain their standard of living at a lower cost. In particular, frequenting discount stores and buying private label goods, rather than brand names, are becoming popular strategies for saving without sacrificing among respondents. Nearly one quarter of both developed and emerging market consumers, some of whom proudly claim a “recessionista” nickname, are increasing their trips to discount stores in the coming year. (See Planned Money-saving Practices table on page 73.)

Using credit cards to maintain standard of living, without losing cash.Another cost-saving tactic, at least in the short-term, is to rely on credit cards to cover cash shortfalls or buy non-necessities. Here, consumers in emerging and developed markets differ on their plans to use credit cards in the coming year. While more respondents in emerging markets seem open to increasing their credit card usage, very few in developed countries are increasing their reliance on this solution.

Where are consumers planning to spend less?As discussed, many consumers seek to have it all, balancing a desire for lower overall spending and higher savings with an unwillingness to give up the products and services that they enjoy. However, the majority of global consumers aiming to cut their personal budgets have identified at least a few areas where they plan to decrease their spending in the coming year.

Topping the list for consumers in both emerging and developed markets is a reduction in visits to fast food restaurants. Well over one-third of respondents are planning to decrease their fast food spending. Dining at full-service restaurants is next on the list of planned cut-backs. Whether these intentions are simply wishful thinking, both for their wallets and their waistlines, or indicate a real commitment to eating more home cooking, remains to be seen. However, consumers do seem to be much more willing to cut back on dining out than to downsize their annual holiday travel or even limit their outings to see entertaining shows. (See Key Areas of Decreased Spending graph on page 72.)

Upcoming trends in consumer spending: Expectation for more of the same in 2014 among many online consumers.Although there are large sets of consumers who are either expanding their budgets, or looking ahead to a year of cutbacks and

discount shopping, many online consumers anticipate that they will stay the course in the coming year and keep their spending on a wide variety of products and services stable. Without drastic changes in their day-to-day and special occasion budgets, these consumers will likely look to many of the same brands and retailers as they have in the past. With this in mind, the best opportunities for increasing sales may be with the two groups of consumers planning to either increase or decrease their spending, as explored in the following sections.

Spending reduction provides an opportunity for both shoppers and retailers to get creative.Just as shoppers are turning to less expensive discount stores and private

labels in an effort to save money without reducing their purchases, companies and retailers can take advantage of the current cost-cutting climate to both grow sales and gain shopper loyalty in the future, when finances improve. In particular, firms may be able to win customers by offering volume discounts or creating loyalty programs with frequent rewards. Advertising and other communications should focus on how firms save consumers money without sacrificing quality.

Continued spread of “recessionistas” in developed markets.The term “recessionista,” referring to consumers (usually women) who are both trendy and frugal, captures the current mood of many shoppers in developed markets who have lived through an extended period of


0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Planned Spending Increases, 2013-2014

Emerging markets Developed Countries

Spending on travel/vacations

Technology

Visits to the cinema, concerts, or theatre

Clothing and footwear

Visits to full-service restaurants

Visits to fast food restaurants

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Planned Money-saving Practices, 2013-2014

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who said they plan to increase spending on the indicated category in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).


Visits to discount stores

Credit cards to manage shortfalls

Credit to buy non-necessities

Purchase of private label/store brand goods

Purchase fewer products and services



0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%




Technology





0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%




Visits to discount stores

Credit cards to manage shortfalls

Credit to buy non-necessities

Purchase of private label/store brand goods

Purchase fewer products and services

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who said they plan to increase each activity in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).

Key Areas of Decreased Spending, 2013-2014

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Planned Changes in Savings, 2013-2014

Planned Changes in Spending by Category, 2013-2014

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who gave each response regarding their intended savings activities in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers who gave each response regarding their intended spending activities in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).

Plan to increase savings Plan to decrease savings

India0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

China Russia Germany UK USBrazil France Japan



Technology








global recession and economic uncertainty. Even as the economy and their personal finances improve, these consumers are likely to remain price-conscious for some time. Retailers and brands that appeal to this group by offering discounts, private label alternatives, or even durable, long-lasting products may enjoy a short-term boost in sales, as well as long-term consumer loyalty.

Optimism and potential for increased spending in emerging markets.Just as their counterparts in developed countries are feeling the effects of recession and economic uncertainty, online consumers in emerging markets are generally optimistic about their personal finances in the wake of strong economic growth in their country.

disposable income to spend on new tech devices and applications. The generation of Millennials, born between the early 1980s and mid-to-late 1990s, continues to lead the way in adopting technology into every area of life. Just one example of this technology integration: nearly one-in-five Millennials who own a smartphone spend at least six hours every day on it. These consumers are also accustomed to a short replacement cycle on their tech devices, expecting to buy the latest smartphone or tablet with greatly improved features every few years. Further, as Millennials age, increasing their spending on technology along the way, the next wave of “Gen Z” consumers will enter the marketplace, with an even greater appetite, and budget, for new technology.

Growth of technology will also impact consumer shopping and brand marketing.In addition to sales of devices, this growing familiarity with technology will impact consumers’ attitudes and behaviors throughout the shopping and purchase process – purchase impetus, identification of product options, pre-purchase research and comparison shopping, choice of retail channel, and final purchase occasion/decision. Already, a consumer’s purchase decision-making process is not linear, and technology will disrupt it further. Investments in marketing technologies will bear fruit now and later, granting companies access to consumers regardless of the hold-steady, cut-back, or spend-more financial intentions they hold at any given time.

ConclusionConsumer spending trends will undoubtedly continue to be a key area of interest for companies, retailers, and brands hoping to grow their customer base and attract new types of shoppers, particularly from the growing middle class of consumers in emerging markets with new levels of disposable income. A continued understanding of where consumers are interested in increasing their budgets, and where they may be cutting back can also help these firms best position their advertising and impact new product development, ultimately setting them up for success with their target market.

Eileen Bevis is survey manager and Lisa Holmes is survey analyst at Euromonitor International, the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence and strategic market analysis, headquartered in London.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%





Plan to increase savings Plan to decrease savings

India0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

China Russia Germany UK USBrazil France Japan



Technology







0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Key Areas of Decreased Spending, 2013-2014

Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who said they plan to decrease spending in each category in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).



Technology





Source: Euromonitor International Global Consumer Trends, 2013Note: Showing the percentage of consumers in each market who said they plan to increase each activity in the next 12 months (mid-2013 to mid-2014).


Whether or not these economies sustain their rapid growth, emerging markets now have a new middle class of consumers with disposable income and access to products and services that were previously unavailable to them. With a particular interest in travel, technology, and entertainment, online consumers in emerging markets are a key target for many brands or retailers hoping to grow their sales.

Technology spending will continue to grow, particularly among young consumers.Technology is one area where consumer spending is poised to explode in the coming years, particularly as young consumers progress in their careers and amass more


Avoiding an “Off-Road” Survey Research Experience: Things to Keep in Mind Before Running a Do-It-Yourself SurveyBy Kristin Cavallaro

In today’s market, we are all experts in everything.

KEEPING INFORMED

approach. In a similar example to the laundry detergent, we asked about a specific luxury car brand. In the affirmation question, it was reported that 3 percent of the population owned this specific brand compared to 1 percent in the multi-code approach. The offline benchmark showed that the incidence of brand ownership was 1 percent – a 66 percent difference.

Other Things to Keep in Mind During Questionnaire Design• Keep questions simple and easy to

understand and answer, without technicaljargon.

• Keep the overall survey length under20 minutes; anything longer has beenshown to cause respondent fatigue. Astudy conducted in 2004 and revalidatedin 2009 shows this effect. When lookingat the number of characters across thesame open-end question at differentpositions in the survey, we clearly see thecharacter count decrease as the questionis positioned later in the survey. Thetendency to satisfice by selecting fewerknown brands, for example, is also evident.This is an indication that respondentsare not as attentive or energetic as theywere earlier in the survey. (See Numberof Characters per Open Question: LongSurvey graph on following page.)

• Include a “don’t know,” “none of theabove,” or “prefer not to answer”option where appropriate. If you force arespondent to answer a question that theyare uncomfortable with or cannot answer,they will select a response option thatwill result in not only a poor respondentexperience, but bad data.

• Before submitting the questionnaire to theDIY tool, have someone review it for errors.The person reviewing the questionnaireshould also confirm that it is easy tounderstand and answer. Just because itmakes sense to you, doesn’t mean thatrespondents will understand. While it maybe convenient to create the questionnairewithin the DIY survey tool, it might be bestto create a master copy first. This will notonly give you the opportunity to keep thequestionnaire in a usable format for futurereference, but will also serve as a referencefor your study; a blueprint that you canthen use to build your research within theDIY tool.

Know Your Sample

The sample is the “fuel in the tank” – the power that drives the research insights needed. The target audience for the project will determine the sample “grade” and ingredients. What is the population to be sampled? Who do you need to talk to? Is it a representative sample of the general population or current customers from an internal database? This may be a determining factor in which DIY survey tool to use. If you are choosing a DIY tool with built-in sample (you create your questionnaire and collect data using sample provided), talk to someone at the company to be sure the people going into your survey were recruited in a way that fits the needs of your study. For example, if you are looking for a survey among the general population, the sample should be recruited across a diverse set of sources to yield a representative picture of the population. Good data begins with good sample, so make sure to know exactly where you are getting yours from and how it is constructed. It is also important to know how respondents will be invited to participate in your survey. Do you need to construct an invitation or will the DIY tool provide one for you?

Know the DIY ToolsThere are a variety of DIY survey tools in the market today. It is vital to look at the capabilities and functionality of each to determine which ones fit the needs of your research project. As mentioned earlier, the sample required might limit which DIY tools you are able to use.

When choosing a DIY tool, it’s also important to consider ease of use and variety of options. Does your study require the use of pictures or video? Are there multiple countries and languages that need to be translated? Is the tool easy to use? An easy-to-use tool may reduce the risk of error.

DIY tools range from basic models to top of the line models with multiple add-ons, enabling advanced skip logic and other features. Be sure to research which tool best fits the needs of your study. If you already have a DIY tool in mind, take the time to understand its capabilities before writing the questionnaire to avoid later rewrites.

One example to think about is question type. Do you want the respondent to be able to choose multiple items from a list such as, “Which of the following items did you purchase in the past 6 months?” Or would

The Internet is full of how-to tutorials and videos for just about anything you want to do. Trying to fix the brakes on your car seems pretty easy, right? There are tons

of YouTube videos showing you how to do it. What can go wrong? Well, for one, your brakes could fail while going down a steep hill.

Similar disasters can happen when you try to run your own survey research. While cost savings do exist when taking out the “middle man” in market research, survey research is more complex than many people believe or understand. Misjudging the rules of the road on a seemingly small part of the process could cost thousands, or millions of dollars, in business decisions made from less than perfect survey data. If your company is considering a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach for your next research project, here are a few key things to think about to help make your study a success.

Know Your ProblemThe first step is to identify the research problem you are trying to answer. By clearly stating the final destination of your journey, you can better create the appropriate questions in the survey instrument and stay focused on the end goal during the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results.

Know the Right QuestionsThe most important tool in your research toolbox is the questionnaire or survey. It doesn’t matter whether the data collection is being done online, face-to-face or by phone: If the questionnaire is not written correctly, you cannot be confident about the data.

In the two examples on the following page, we see how a similar question can yield completely different results. The first question is one that is typically referred to as an “affirmation question” (yes or no). The second is a multi-code question. As you can see, they produce different results.

Affirmation questions are subject to acquiescence bias, i.e. respondents think they know which answer is required. In the case of affirmation questions, the perceived answer of choice is usually “yes.” To combat this effect, we suggest using a multi-code question where it isn’t as clear to the respondent what the researcher is looking for. We have found that the multi-code approach yields data that more closely resembles benchmark data than the affirmation


you prefer a single item like, “Please state how important brakes are to the safety of your vehicle.”

Are You Ready to Run Your DIY Research?DIY tools can be a good way to get to your research destination quickly and efficiently. You can cut costs, get a “quick read” on a concept or idea, or launch a study at 8:00 a.m. Sunday when most market research agencies are closed. When used properly, they can provide valuable insights; when misused, the approach can run the risk of producing unreliable data.

The guidelines here are a few of the most important. Simply put – make sure to define your research question and target population and then choose a DIY tool that fits your needs. If you have questions, ask experts; a sample provider, the DIY software service provider, or an experienced methodologist. When changing the brakes on your car, however; consult your local mechanic if you are unsure. Don’t end up in a ditch!

Kristin Cavallaro is a knowledge and data analysis specialist for SSI, a sampling and data collection company, and has been with the company for almost eight years. She holds an MBA in marketing research from Southern Connecticut State University.

Source: Cape, Pete, Questionnaire Length, Fatigue Effects and Response Quality Revisited

Number of Characters per Open Question: Long Survey (Blue=2004, Red=2009)

Affirmation Question: Have you used “Brand A” laundry detergent in the past 3 months? a. Yes b. No

52%

Multi-‐Code Question: Which of the following brands of laundry detergent have you used in the past 3 months? (Please select all that apply) a. Brand B b. Brand E c. Brand C d. Brand A e. Brand D F. None of the above

43%


Multimode, Global Scale Usage: Understanding Respondent Scale Usage Across Borders and DevicesBy Melanie Courtright, Kartik Pashupati, Annie Pettit and Roddy Knowles

This is an abstract from the paper that was submitted and presented at ESOMAR Congress in Istanbul on September 24th, 2013 and was awarded best methodological paper.*

KEEPING INFORMED

*(Copyright on the full paper is held by ESOMAR.)


IntroductionAs a result of the widespread availability of online and mobile technologies, online data collection has become the dominant paradigm in developed markets and is rapidly replacing other forms of survey research in emerging markets. More recently, the rapid adoption of smartphones has made market researchers focus their attention on the potential and limitations of this form of data collection.

In survey research, we rely on scales to help understand people’s responses – whether it be to understand how people perceive brands, their various interests, intentions or attitudes. Understanding the differences in opinions is central to market research; however, are these differences really significant? (See Scales are a cornerstone of market research graphic, top right.)

A respondent’s surroundings (sometimes altered by his or her mood), the culture or even the actual nature or content of the researcher’s question may cause differences.

Another factor that is often forgotten is that people have a tendency to respond to questions in different ways, irrespective of the content. This is particularly true when people respond using rating scales. Paulhus defined this phenomenon as, “A person’s tendency to systematically respond to questionnaire items in a certain way regardless of content.”1

1 Paulhus, Delroy L. (1991). Measurement and Control of Response Bias. In Robinson, J.P., Sawyer, P.R. and Wrightman, L.S. (eds.), Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes,

We rely on scales to help understand people’s responses – whether it be to

understand how people perceive brands, their

various interests, intentions or attitudes.

Understanding the differences in opinions

is central to MR.


• Attitude toward helping others (AHO)• Material values scale (MVS 9)• Attitude toward advertising in general

(AAG)• Online privacy concerns• Lie acceptability scale

Additionally, within each group, we included statements that were reverse-scaled. This means that certain statements were worded in a positive fashion while others were worded with a negative slant.

ResultsLet’s start by looking at the ERS. When comparing across the different modes, we see that the results are broadly consistent. (See the Extreme response style – ERS – index graphic, page 77.)

If we then compare the mobile results – slider in app, Web grid and Web slider – we see there are differences between the different measures. However, they are not systematically attributable to the different ways in which we have measured the response.

Looking at the results for the ARS, we see a similar situation. There are directional differences, but none that can be attributed to the way in which the scale was related to the question. (See the Acquiescence Response Style – ARS – Index graphic on page 77.)

For the MRS, we see that the mobile slider tends to produce lower mid-point responding when compared to the other modes (statistically significant for three out of six scale types). (See the Midpoint Response Style – MRS – Index graphic on page 77.)

SummaryOur mobile devices study found that:• Response styles remain stable across

modes.• There is no concrete evidence to suggest

big differences in how response styles manifest themselves in mobile compared to Web.

• There is evidence to suggest that using a Web slider on a mobile device will cause a decrease in the tendency to select the mid-point.Although inconclusive, in our view, the

findings reinforce the need to consider respondent experience when designing a survey for mobile data collection.

WebStudy objectiveNext, we will look at the Web surveys. We had three hypotheses to test and one additional research question. We anticipated that response styles would not vary between men and women (H1); however, they would

Extreme Response StylesThrough the years, many response patterns have been identified and reported in academic literature. Baumgartner and Steenkamp identified seven different response patterns in 20012; we focus on three main ones here: Extreme Response Style (ERS), Acquiescence Response Style (ARS) and Mid-point Response Style (MRS).

The ERS is characterized by consistently responding at either end of the scale. For a given group of statements, respondents will give a consistent, highly positive or highly negative response. The ARS is a subset of ERS, but is identified by a consistently positive score. The MRS is when respondents consistently give a score that is in the middle of the scale.

Our analysis approach derived an index for each (on an individual level) – essentially measuring the propensity to follow a particular response style within a set of scaled responses. Specifically, this paper investigates the presence of these response

Vol. 1. San Diego CA: Academic Press.

2 Baumgartner, Hans and Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp (2001) “Research Styles in Marketing Research: A Cross-National Investigation”: Journal of Marketing Research.

styles using a scaled response across three different modes: mobile, Web and social media.

Mobile DeviceStudy objectiveFocusing on mobile, we set out to answer two questions:1. Are there differences in response style

when scales are administered using different mobile modes?

2. Are response styles different for traditional online surveys versus mobile phone surveys?We wanted to understand how different

scale executions affect response style, so the mobile study looked at standard grid questions on a mobile Web browser, sliders on a mobile Web browser, and sliders used in an app.

Study DesignFor the mobile element of the study, we interviewed 1,500 mobile respondents in the U.S. We used five-point Likert scales (agreement) for all statements and looked at a variety of different statement types (with reported reliability):• Health environment sensitivity• Personal health responsibility


vary by age (H2). We also expected to observe differences between countries (H3).

Additionally, the study gave us an opportunity to look at the impact that different scale lengths would have on response style.

Study DesignWe designed an online study which was administered in 10 countries with sample sizes of n=2,000 in each country.

The survey was seven minutes in length independently of scale type. We used four, five, seven and ten--point scales and also looked at labeled vs. unlabeled five-point scales.

The purpose of this design was to provide rigor and confidence in our data.

ResultsLooking at the response style indices for male and female, we saw no real difference, clearly showing that men and women exhibit the same response tendencies. (See Hypothesis 1 graphic on page 78.)

Looking across the age bands, we saw some small differences in the response style indices. In general, ERS and MRS seemed to increase with age up until 55-64, before declining again. This offers some support for the hypothesis that response style varies with age.

Looking across countries – our third hypothesis – the data showed some differences, which may not be surprising to some of us.

For example, respondents from Brazil and Mexico had the highest tendency to give extreme responses. Additionally, and consistent with findings from other academic studies, the Japanese are most likely to give a mid-point score.

We also wanted to look at the impact of the number of response options available, i.e. the length of the scale. ERS (the dark blue line) is fairly consistent across the different scale lengths, though it does dip for a five-point, labeled scale. (See the RQ3 graphic on page 78.)

The MRS is more interesting. It also dips for a five-point labeled scale (clearly the labels are having an impact on all response styles); however, the tendency to select a mid-point also drops with the more extensive scales.

SummaryWe found clear evidence for cultural differences in response style. We also saw that using a longer scale reduced the tendency for respondents to choose the mid-point.

Furthermore, we saw indications that a labeled, five-point scale can be used as a way to reduce the ERS: full labeling of the scale tells respondents what each point means.

Social MediaStudy objectiveThe third part of our research looked at social media and the use of sentiment when posting online.

We explored three aspects:• Are there differences in the way men and

women express sentiment when posting online? Are the different genders more/less prone to use extreme sentiment?

• Are we able to observe differences in the tendency to express a certain level of sentiment online based on geography?

• Does the age of the online contributor make a difference to the level of sentiment expressed?

Naturally, people do not talk in scales, but it is possible to convert the language we use to express ourselves into a ”strength of sentiment”. This is exactly what we did.

Study DesignUsing Conversition’s Evolisten software, we made a random sample of one year of publicly-available online comments from across the Internet and categorized them based on a five-point scale, from strongly negative through neutral to strongly positive.

The software capabilities only allowed us to work with English-speaking countries, so we included Australia, Canada, Ireland, the U.K. and the U.S. The set-up and


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quality control required a certain amount of reflection as it was necessary to define boundaries for the software and to help resolve any confusion.

Where possible, we included the author’s age and gender and combined it with their geographic location to make the data set more extensive.

ResultsLooking at the different levels of sentiment expressed by men vs. women when posting online, we determined that 39 percent of comments made by men were negative, compared to only 33 percent made by women; our findings show that women are more positive than men online. (See RQ6 graphic on page 79.)

While it was not possible to assign an age to all the authors, we do have some data. For those who provided this information, we looked at the decade in which they were born. The results show small differences; however, it seems that older and younger Internet users are least likely to post more positively. (See RQ7, Decade of Birth graphic on page 79.)

With country, our sample groups ranged from just over 9,000 in Ireland to 960,000 in the U.S. As with age, we found that the differences among country groups were not huge. People based in the U.K. and the U.S.

• Caution is advised when comparing scale responses from different countries. ∙ There is little variation in response style

by age or gender; however, response styles do vary by country.

• Use seven- or ten-point scales to minimize mid-point response style. ∙ Increasing the number of response

options reduces the tendency to give consistent mid-point responses.

• Use labels on each point of your five-point scales to minimize extreme response style. ∙ Scale labeling impacts extreme

responses and mid-point responses for five-point scales.

• When working with online sentiment, be certain that the differences are truly significant.

• We found differences in terms of gender, age and nationality: ∙ Women are more positive online ∙ Australians are more positive online

From Research Now, Melanie Courtright is senior vice president, client services, Americas; Kartik Pashupati is senior delivery manager, research methods and analytics; and Roddy Knowles is senior delivery manager, mobile research expert. Annie Pettit is chief research officer, Peanut Labs.

post more comments that are considered to be extremely negative, compared to those in other countries. Looking at the overall positive vs. negative, it seems that Australians are most likely to post positively. (See RQ7, English-Speaking Countries graphic on page 79.)

The key implication is that, even in social media, cultural differences can have a tendency to cause people to rate things differently – cultural differences must therefore be taken into account in all country comparisons.

SummaryThe research findings regarding social media:• Women tend to be more positive• Those who are older and younger tend to

be more negative in their online posts• Australians are more positive

Overall SummaryKey findings:• For mobile devices, carefully consider the

use of grids. ∙ We found the observable differences

in response style between mobile and computer responses to be inconclusive.

∙ We also found that, compared to mobile grids, mobile sliders produce slightly higher levels of extreme response and lower levels of mid-point response.


The Passing of a Marketing Research LegendCecil “Bud” Phillips, age 89, founder of M/A/R/C® Research, passed away January 21, 2014. Without question, Bud was a pioneer and a legend within the market research profession. Not only was he the founder and president of M/A/R/C Research, he was instrumental in the startup of the advanced research program at the University of Georgia and provided support to the research programs at the University of Texas at Arlington.

In 1950, Phillips joined TracyLocke, and began to bring order, credibility and stature to marketing research. By 1965, the research department under Phillips’ leadership had expanded beyond the agency’s client base to become a national company known as Marketing and Research Counselors – M/A/R/C.

Based on a simple philosophy, “Find out what people want and make it for them,” Bud Phillips’ pioneering research set the stage for industry innovation and expansion.

“The market research community lost one of its great leaders. The impact Bud Phillips had on so many people and the industry can’t be measured,” said current President and CEO, Merrill Dubrow.

Bud leaves behind his wife Cathy and a legacy of hundreds of outstanding researchers that he helped train and mentor over his lifetime.

Directions Research Announces New Hires and Numerous Promotions March 2014 – Directions Research Inc. (DRI) has announced two new hires; Glad Markunas as vice president of client service and Matt Roden as survey programmer/developer. Elaine Noble, Heather Harden, and Susan Sayre have all been promoted to senior analytical consultants. They are responsible for creating client-ready reports with strategic and synthesized insights, producing visually appealing and clearly structured decks, and providing thought leadership and consulting from a marketing viewpoint.

(In February, DRI also announced the following promotions: Jim Lane to senior vice president of marketing and client service. In his expanded role, Lane will work closely with senior management in guiding the marketing and growth strategy of the firm and Kim Jauch was promoted to Account Manager. She is actively involved in research design, data analysis, presentation of findings and general client services.)

INDUSTRY NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

ThinkNow Research Brings in Industry Veteran to Head Custom Research EffortsMarch 3, 2014 – ThinkNow Research, a Hispanic market research firm, announced that Carlos Yañez has joined the firm as head of the custom research division. In this role, he will be working closely with clients to design and execute numerous types of research studies. Over his 15+ year career, his primary focus has been on researching the growing Hispanic market on behalf of Fortune 500 clients.

MSU Launches New Part-time Master of Science in Marketing Research ProgramFebruary 2014 – This May, the Department of Marketing at Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business will begin offering a part-time Master of Science in Marketing Research program. After four successful cohorts of the full-time MSMR program, the part-time program seeks to reach a new kind of student – the working professional.

The 21-month program is designed to provide an opportunity for students to achieve a master’s degree while working full-time. The hybrid format consists of on-campus and online courses. The on-campus courses will take place within two one-week sessions and one 12-day session. The online courses will be delivered during weekly “live class time.” The part-time program consists of the same courses, taught by the same professors, as the full-time program, and students will be held to the same academic standards. For additional information go to marketing.broad.msu.edu/msmr.

Hall & Partners Announces Grant Bird, Managing Partner, LondonFebruary 27, 2014 – Hall & Partners announced that Grant Bird has been promoted to managing partner, London. He has nearly 15 years of experience in brand and communications research and has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands and their agencies to help develop integrated campaigns. Bird has been with Hall & Partners for over five years and most recently served as partner.

NYAMA Announces Distinguished Selection Committee and Ceremony Date for 2014 Marketing Hall of Fame® ProgramFebruary 27, 2014 – The American Marketing Association, NY Chapter (NYAMA) will hold the 2014 induction ceremony for its Marketing Hall of Fame® on Wednesday, May 28 at the offices of JWT New York. The organization also revealed its

distinguished selection committee, whose members represent many of the industry’s leading associations and organizations. This year’s stellar selection committee consisted of David W. Almy, CEO, Marketing Research Association (MRA); Gayle Fuguitt, CEO, Advertising Research Foundation (ARF); Nancy Hill, CEO, 4As; Bob Liodice, CEO, Association of National Advertisers (ANA); Kendall Nash, President, Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA); Bruce Nelson, former vice chair, Omnicom, and Earl Taylor, CMO, Marketing Science Institute. The selection committee was coordinated by Don Sexton, NYAMA president-elect and professor of marketing, Columbia University.

Blueocean Market Intelligence Acquires CognicientFebruary 18, 2014 – Global research and analytics firm Blueocean Market Intelligence announced it finalized an acquisition agreement with Cognicient, a leading market research technology provider specializing in data integration. The acquired assets include intellectual property and key staff. As part of the acquisition, Cognicient’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Page, will join Blueocean Market Intelligence as vice president of client services and technology at the company’s new office in London. He has 18 years of experience in the market research industry, specializing in the implementation of new technologies and methods.

Computer Market Research Reaches 30 Year MilestoneFebruary 18, 2014 – Computer Market Research (CMR) is proud to be celebrating 30 years in business since its founding in January of 1984. CEO of Computer Market Research, Del Heles, reflects on the past and shares his excitement for big plans to come. Heles says, “It’s shocking to think back on how much this industry has changed over the past few decades. When I first started CMR, the Internet didn’t exist. Fast-forward to today, and web-based applications are at the core of our company. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned throughout the years, it’s that having flexibility and the ability to quickly pivot is essential to staying in business. It’s dangerous to be locked into a single vision for a long period of time; you need to condition yourself to run off the planned course when there are bumps in the road.”

SIS Opens Office in Manila, PhilippinesFebruary 17, 2014 – SIS announced the opening of a Manila office in the Philippines, expanding its international market


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So you opened a call center thinking you’ll have control of your projects and profits.Now that online surveys are more mainstream, you wish you could close the centerbut still retain control. And, since you told your clients it’s better to have your ownin-house call center you feel awkward about back-pedaling.

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intelligence unit. Spearheading the team in Manila is Iris Lorenzo, the newly appointed senior vice president of market intelligence. Lorenzo brings over 15 years of experience in market and competitive intelligence to SIS International and several key personnel are joining her, including Gen Mariano, Karla Lizardo and Paulo Edrosolano.

Kimberly White Joins Lumi MobileFebruary 14, 2014 – Lumi Mobile, a specialist in consumer insight mobile technology and real-time audience engagement for market researchers, media companies and brands announced the appointment of Kimberly White as director of business development. White has more than 13 years of experience growing, building and developing client relationships and partnerships. In her new role, she will focus on developing new and existing client accounts and will be based in New York, operating globally.

The Marketing Workshop Announces Addition to Senior Management StaffFebruary 11, 2014 – U.S.-based research and consulting firm The Marketing Workshop (MW) has announced the hiring of Catherine Nodar to the position of vice president, client services. Nodar will assume the leadership role for one of the account teams. She has 18 years of professional experience and has honed her skills with client and supplier organizations.

New Chicago Office for Hall & PartnersFebruary 6, 2014 – Hall & Partners, a leading brand and communications research boutique, announced the relocation of its Chicago office to support the recent growth of the business. The new office offers more collaborative workspaces for client meetings and workshops. The new office details: 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2040, Chicago, IL 60601, +1 312-321-4150.

BrainJuicer Announces New Managing Director, Continental EuropeFebruary 5, 2014 – BrainJuicer Group PLC (AIM: BJU), goes regional in Europe on the back of a great performance in 2013. Mark Johnson, previously managing director of the Alpine region of Switzerland, Italy, and France, has been promoted to managing director, Continental Europe, combining Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands under his leadership. Johnson brings decades of insight to his role with experience on both the brand and the supplier side.

The Modellers Joins Hall & PartnersFebruary 4, 2014 – Hall & Partners announced that The Modellers, a full-service market research firm focused on the innovative application of marketing science, is joining forces with the global research agency. The Modellers, led by CEO and Founder, Jeff D. Brazell, is based in Salt Lake City, UT and has client teams across the U.S. Brazell will lead the newly combined team of The Modellers with Hall & Partners’ existing marketing science staff.

Ebony Marketing Systems Announces Addition to ServicesFebruary 3, 2014 – Ebony Marketing Systems, a multicultural market research and data collection company, is pleased to announce the addition of the Fordham Road BID Mall to their range of services. The Fordham Road Mall is one of the most highly trafficked malls and shopping destinations in New York City.

International Strategic Alliance CreatedJanuary 31, 2014 – Marketing research companies Fieldwork Network, i-view London, Viewpoint Europe and Estudio Silvia Roca, joined forces to create an international strategic alliance: FIVE Research. FIVE provides seamless service and support offering complete global coverage for any city, any methodology, anywhere in the world. The goal of FIVE is to offer clients high quality studies delivered through first rate facilities in different countries that actually have a connection; companies that are bound together by a common set of standards and research procedures to make multi-market international studies seamless in a way that has previously been difficult due to the vast diversity in operating practices and experience levels in different cultures.

Chris Papp Joins Project Service TeamJanuary 30, 2014 – SurveyHealthCare, the fastest growing healthcare market research data collection firm in the U.S., hired Chris Papp as a VP of project services. Papp comes to SHC with over 15 years of market research data collection experience in healthcare. Prior to joining SurveyHealthCare he worked at Schlesinger Associates as an operations manager and held senior support positions at Roger Green & Associates and Braun Research.

M/A/R/C Research Hires New Business Development DirectorsJanuary 29, 2014 – M/A/R/C Research welcomes Suann Griffin and Mike Fisher as the newest members of the new

business development team. Griffin came from World One, a global panel provider to healthcare marketing research firms, where she was a U.S. account manager and leader in global compliance. Her focus will be on client development with an emphasis on brands in the Southeast. Fisher joins M/A/R/C from Questback, bringing an elaborate background in dining and hospitality. His past focus has been in business development and consumer insights including eight years with Maritz Research and four with Hyatt, which will be capitalized on as he primarily focuses on client growth in the dining and hospitality sectors for M/A/R/C.

Joanne Van der Burgt to Lead Ipsos Canada’s Media Measurement PracticeJanuary 27, 2014 – Reports of print media’s death are greatly exaggerated. It hasn’t died, it has just evolved. That is the central premise behind Ipsos Canada’s latest move to help media companies measure their success, performance and audience engagement. Leading media research expert Joanne Van der Burgt has joined Ipsos’ burgeoning media research practice in Canada. Her role will be to introduce Ipsos’ extensive global media measurement capabilities to Canadian media clients as well as growing Ipsos’ media practice across the country.

Confirmit Acquires Social Intelligence and Text Analytics Innovator Integrasco January 22, 2014 – Confirmit announced the acquisition of Integrasco, a leader in social intelligence and text analytics. The acquisition brings advanced technologies for capturing social insights and analyzing unstructured text into the Confirmit portfolio of software offerings for customer experience, employee engagement and market research.

The Marketing Workshop Announces Addition of New Project Management LeaderJanuary 16, 2014 – U.S.-based research and consulting firm The Marketing Workshop (MW) announced the hiring of Kelly Mayer to the position of senior account manager. Mayer will be assigned to one of MW’s account teams where she will assume day to day responsibility for client and project management. She has spent most of her career in research functions on the client side of the business, most recently as consumer insights manager with ConAgra.

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Long Island City, New York 11101 • Phone 718.729.2622 (2OAC) or toll free 888.489.DATAwww.opinionaccess.com

So you opened a call center thinking you’ll have control of your projects and profits.Now that online surveys are more mainstream, you wish you could close the centerbut still retain control. And, since you told your clients it’s better to have your ownin-house call center you feel awkward about back-pedaling.

OAC can help you through the transition. We’ve been in the call center businesssince 1997, we are the experts so we can assure you that outsourcing is now thebest option. Working through our call centers here and offshore will allow you to putthe focus back on your core business and your bottom line.

With OAC you’ll retain control with a dedicated Project Supervisor who willbecome an expert on your projects. You’ll be able to monitor interviews live and/orthrough recordings. Our real time 24/7 Dashboard allows you to be hands on.And, as always, we guarantee the quality of our data.

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Ipsos Marketing appoints Chris Sinclair as new Regional Head in Europe & AfricaJanuary 16, 2014 – Chris Sinclair has been appointed regional director for Ipsos Marketing in Europe and Africa. Most recently, Sinclair was senior vice president within Ipsos InnoQuest in the U.S. Before that, he was the CEO of Future Thinking, a research agency in the UK specializing in FMCG and retail research. Sinclair is a seasoned CPG innovator who has developed, tested, enhanced and helped launch some of the world’s leading food and drink brands.

Schlesinger Associates Appoints Senior Positions for Qualitative AccountsJanuary 14, 2014 – Schlesinger Associates announced the creation of two senior positions for its qualitative operation. Scott Baker, PRC, has been appointed vice president, account management. The role oversees some of Schlesinger’s key accounts and is designed to offer greater flexibility for the company’s partnership solutions with its clients. Baker brings to the role extensive consumer and healthcare experience in qualitative research. He joins Schlesinger following 16 years at Adept Consumer Testing where his role was president. He is an active member and volunteer of the PMRG, AMA and of MRA, where he serves as a board director and by whom he has been honored for his volunteer work. Samantha Bacelieri-Centers has been appointed operations director, Schlesinger Qualitative. Bacelieri-Centers will oversee Schlesinger’s recruitment and project management services across the U.S.

Cross-Tab Announces Stephan Mayer as Vice President, Operations and Client ServicesJanuary 8, 2014 – Cross-Tab, a global market research outsourcing leader, announced that Stephan Mayer has joined the organization as vice president, operations and client services. He is based in Los Angeles. In this leadership role, Mayer will be responsible for providing client service to existing clients and creating solutions for potential clients. Mayer has 17 years of experience in the market research industry. Prior to joining Cross-Tab, he served as vice president, quantitative intelligence with Chatter, Inc., where he helped grow a quantitative research practice from the ground up.

Judith Passingham Appointed Global CEO of Ipsos Interactive ServicesDecember, 2013 – Ipsos announced the appointment of Judith Passingham as global CEO of Ipsos Interactive Services (IIS), the Ipsos online research division. She joined

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Schlesinger Associates Appoints Vice President for Global PanelsDecember, 2013 – Schlesinger Associates announced that Kristen Tripphahn has joined Schlesinger Interactive as vice president, global panels. She will drive the company’s continued global implementation and execution of best panel management processes, member acquisition and engagement. Tripphahn brings to the role a wealth of experience in panel recruiting, engagement, sampling and in global partnerships. She joins Schlesinger from uSamp where she held the post of senior director, global panel and sampling operations.

Harmon Research Group Opens New Call CenterDecember, 2013 – Harmon Research Group, Inc. recently completed construction of a new call center in San Jose, Costa Rica. The new center will house over 200 employees for their online and telephone data collection

divisions. Located across from the University of Costa Rica, it will provide access to over 30,000 college students covering all of the languages of the Americas. The new center has an upgraded and more robust network infrastructure that will allow for easier access to client’s servers located throughout the world. The center replaces the old location in La Uruca, Costa Rica.

personnel. The University of Georgia’s School of Continuing Education staff which supports the “Principles” courses is a pleasure to deal with. Last but not least, the MRII Board is large group of market research professionals who have become my friends.

Howard: Any advice for your successor at MRII?

Don: Enjoy yourself and the market research and educational professionals you meet. Always look for ways to expand the ”Principles” course line so that it continues to be relevant and leading edge.

MRA: Congratulations on your retirement from MRII and thank you for your tireless dedication and efforts on behalf of MRA and the research profession. You have made a huge difference and have been a good friend!

Be sure to visit Don at the MRII booth in June at the Insights & Strategies Conference in Chicago!

Continued from page 14


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ALERT! - Marketing Research Association · 2 MRAS ALERT MAGAINE SECOND QUARTER 2014 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Your Only Option: Indispensability By Amy Shields, PRC Welcome to spring