Tag Archives: mra

Jun 10 2011

Nope, I’m Not CMRP Nor PRC #MRX

Lightner Witmer, the father of modern clinical...

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At the MRIA 2011 annual conference, Bernie Malinoff asked a panel of experts about the future role for individual certification. It’s a question I’ve been asked a few times so here are a few of my thoughts.

Let me start by saying I am not a CMRP nor a PRC and I currently have no intentions of obtaining either of those certifications. However, I am not without credentials. I have a PhD in Experimental Psychology for which I wrote a dissertation comparing response effects in paper and online surveys (random responding, acquiescence, extreme responding, social desirability). I was the first person at York Univeristy to conduct an online survey which meant I had to plead with the Computer Helpdesk people to give me a page on their website so I could code my own HTML, save data on their server, and download the data to use at my own discretion. Further, my Master’s thesis was on the generalizability of non-random samples. I took every single research methods, psychometrics, and statistics class that was available to me.

While a graduate student, I requested special permission to take an ethics class alongside students who were destined to become Clinical Psychologists, permission required because students in my stream were not required to take an ethics class. After graduating, I became a Certified Industrial Organizational Psychologist in the the Province of Ontario, Canada, a process which included standardized testing of research methods and ethics. I suspect these ethics courses and requirements made me more sensitive to ethical issues than is required by market researchers, but erring on the side of caution is always a good thing.

In my specific case, obtaining additional credentials feels like overkill. But, not many people have a career path which is so oddly relevant to market research. A few researchers come through the Georgian College market research program but most of us come through the market research school of life – on the job training, a course or two here and there – and certainly not extensive, focused training.

On the job training is great but definitely not sufficient. You only learn what your colleagues teach you and they only teach you what they have learned is relevant for your specific role. But market research is a gigantic content area requiring skills in statistics, research methods, survey design, focus group methods, observational methods, and much, much more. Learning one of those areas isn’t sufficient to become a skilled and trusted researcher. Even if you never run a focus group, learning those skills will directly improve your survey design skills. Even if you only run focus groups, learning statistics will improve your focus group skills.

You cannot learn all of these extremely important skills from your colleagues as part of your day to day work. That is why I advocate market research training. Whether it’s the Georgian College program, which I highly recommend, or the CMRP or PRC programs, I highly recommend that all researcher wannabes take part in standardized training to ensure they learn the field of market research. Learn from people who know the entire content area, not just the area they use on the job. Learn from people who have no vested interest in pleasing a client or generating certain results. Learn from people who love market research and want other people to love it as well. This training will ensure we all have a good base of skills and provide to our clients the best possible product.

I’m fortunate that my new employer has an education allowance and I know I will be taking advantage of it. Why not find out if your employer does the same.

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Jun 8 2011

McQuivey: Connected Human in the 21st Century, Forrester #MRZ_AC #MRX

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Session summary of the Marketing Research Association 2011 annual conference. These are my interpretations of the session. They were written during the session and posted immediately afterwards. Any inaccuracies and silliness are my own.

Keynote: What It Means to be a Connected Human in the 21st Century
James McQuivey, Ph.D., Forrester Research

  • Dr. Everett Rogers is the father of Diffusion of Innovation, brought S-curves to life
  • Our tools and theories are not perfect but that’s fine; we make mistake and learn how to predict the future better because of that
  • Everything he studied in career is now useless, had to rethink adoption curve and what penetration looks like, can’t rely on certain set of early adopters anymore
  • Digital adoption revolution is occuring, adoption is faster than ever, things they adopt stimulate adoption of many other things, it’s a loop, We are on the verge of changing what it really means to be human
  • Top digital product 2010: Kindle, iPad, Kinect; Are these anomonlies, how well they have sold? No, not in same year, with same growth. Virtuous cycle enable a digital life.
  • Circle: How we connect (home networks, internet, high speed), What we connect (ipads, games, laptop, phone; xbox or game console pushes people over 4+ threshold of connected items), How we experience (power of apps, this way cool game, addicted drug of choice, give me more better experiences)
    Entering the era of experience. Industrial revolution, Era of Production (make better faster stronger stuff),  Era of Distribution (amazon and walmart distribute), Era of Experience (differentiate from competitors based on experience, distinct value for customer)
  • Digital products will enable and require other non-digital products be reborn as digital experiences
  • Beauty category: Bathroom, above mirror is a camera, stand in front of mirror and it shows you what you would look like with your hair redone or makeup done. Whoever owns that mirror owns the customer – the makeup company, the computer company
  • Flight apps already do this – they tell you if your flight is on time before the announcements in the terminal, relax – you already missed your flight :)     It’s a digital experience even though it doesn’t change the way you fly
  • Food assistant app – pick recipes, shopping list with an app, update your spouses app with your shopping list
  • Meal snap – take a picture and it estimates the calories in the food, that’s a personal relationship, more than your personal training who sees you once per month
  • Total Product Experience – expand product beyond normal boundary, reinforces product not just brand, creates a new depth of customer experience more persistent and more meaningful
  • Device, Platform, Service or application
  • (Had to leave half way through, be sure to download the prez from the Forrester website)
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Jun 7 2011

Blyn: ESPN Brand Health #MRA_AC #MRX

ESPN America

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Session summary of the Marketing Research Association 2011 annual conference. These are my interpretations of the session. They were written during the session and posted immediately afterwards. Any inaccuracies and silliness are my own.

General Session: Rapid Heartbeat: The Creative, Inspiring and Never-Ending ESPN Brand Health Narrative
Barry Blyn, ESPN

  • 50 researchers at espn; focused on what and why of radio, international, ad sales; ESPN is the conduit, not the story, use maverick, innovative ideas
  • Philosophy: fanatical about listening to audience; find something that needs to be fixed, they like rust removal – tweak it a little better
  • Let’s present results from any instrument that answers the problem whether focus groups or surveys, use the right media, quant or qual, know what instrument to play
  • A typo in your survey suggests other things are wrong
  • There are 222 million sports fans in the US, 9 in 10 americans, that’s a luxury that you cannot target, must target avid sports fan. 8/9/10 on a scale is the avid sports fan. ESPN reaches a lot of fans, probably 212 million. 52 million checks sports news everyday – these are the target group.
  • ESPN Miranda rights – highest rated year last year, #1 favorite netwrk among adult men, 107 million people touch ESPN in a week, average person spent 6 hours per week with ESPN, ESPN.com had 40 million unique visitors in April.
  • Dave Chappel says “stay in your lane”, do what you know best; people wants sports news and information, stay where you know what to do
  • 3/5 consumers say ESPN is at its peak, 1/5 see it on the way up about 18%, 23% on its way down; Focus is the 23% of rust removal
  • Assignment #1: Relentlessly monitor the brand health. Type your brand name and “sucks” into google.
  • (Green on green slides, sigh)
  • Do research in ball barks, athlete homes, ball field to appeal to your fans; maybe not the best methodologically but the experience is unbeatable
  • Brand eulogy project: (Second time heard this today) What would happen if this was gone? What eulogy would you deliver if ESPN was gone. Lots of duds but 50 good ones is enough.  This data frames the brand tracker.
  • ESPN wants to be seen as the “fan”- paint your face and carry the beer not the “agent” – boring, doesn’t much care about the game; That is why anchors are in the game, stop pushing your brand with logos everywhere
  • Let people touch the brand – world cup food truck, helmet cam, NBA RV tour, MNF storefront displays, US open viewing trucks
  • Poke fun at yourself – “For ten days we weren’t watching ourselves either” ad during the Michael Phelps sweep of gold medals
  • Launch a brand campaign – contest to demonstrate love of sports, bacon is big in this :)
  • Deprivation project: Paid people $400 to NOT watch TV. What is emotional connection? Where are blindspots, where did people go instead? Create a 5-tool player, good in every aspect. 52% of ESPN use at least two platforms, the rest only 1 platform. People don’t want to use every platform your provide. Recruited 60 people. Did it for 2 weeks during football season. Gave them every tool to respond – video, photo, audio journals, focus groups, surveys.
  • Other ESPN platforms should reflect back on the overall bland even though they stand for their own unique thing. Every apple product shines light back on the Apple brand.
  • Script the plays: They did conflict groups, groups that didn’t like the brand as well as groups that like it. End it off with something they like, agree on. They learned: leverage ESPN technology, improve the comfort and chemistry of the talent, don’t put celebrities in the booth put skill in the booth
  • There are actually people named ESPN in the US and they found those people
  • Surveys don’t really work for them
  • Wants to have jury consultant review the body language of the sportscasters, lots of people think all sportscasters are the same but they aren’t
  • Trying to take humble news, less logo waving, more fans
  • 50% of viewers are female, 30% of users are women, you can’t just paint is pink, they launched wESPN. Tough Putt :)   Serve women without being condescending
  • Figure skating has a bigger fanbase than hockey
  • If you don’t know what to talk about, talk about football, it’s the biggest one
  • Men watch women’s softball, another popular sport :)
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Jun 7 2011

Rosenfeldt: Fear No Truth, Midas #MRA_AC #MRX

Midas Auto Service Experts at 3606 Durham-Chap...

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Session summary of the Marketing Research Association 2011 annual conference. These are my interpretations of the session. They were written during the session and posted immediately afterwards. Any inaccuracies and silliness are my own.

Fear No Truth
Garry Rosenfeldt, Midas

  • He works for the most despised and hated industry on the planet. :)   He sells something nobody wants – your brakes are seconds away from dying. They are completely undifferentiated from their competitors. George Foreman is not related to his brand. :)   How do they deal with the negative perceptions of their company.
  • They are based in Chicago. Largest auto service provider in the world. 2500 shops around the world. 1 billion in annual sales. Haven’t advertised mufflers in 30 years but that’s all consumers think about.  Midas is categry leader with share of just 4.3%. By far, the leader. It’s a constant battle to steal customers.
  • (Ok, this speaker is funny!)
  • Kids screaming, proctology appointment, dentist appointments and ballet are all as scary as getting your car serviced.
  • We watched videos of real people talking about initial anxiety, fear of being treated like they know nothing, fear of being taken advantage of.
  • “This is a photoshopped picture of our shop so it’s even more boring than what you see.”  :)
  • Where do they want to be? Strong consumer advocate and experts. “an oasis of trust and competence”
  • Fundamental questions: who are we, what do we know, what should we do, how do we stay focused.
  • 7 segments of customers: 4 groups will never ever go to Midas, don’t waste your time there. 4 groups will – relationship seeker, smart shopper, knowledge partner.
  • Relationship seeker – young females, want primary provider, use LOF to test new providers (lube oil filter?)
    16% currently use, 30% would but haven’t, 46% is total opportunity
  • Did focus groups of current and potential customers. First, asked them to record themselves before and after getting their car serviced. Video diary of themself.  Got 46 hours of video. Best, most successful piece of research they’ve ever done.
    At focus group, prepared 100 pieces of stimuli. Made room look like service center. Groups were 3 hours long.
  • “You deserve a break today” moment.  Their aha moment. Customers all identified the ideal experience in identical way. All 14 groups the same. Never happens. Exact same 15 stimuli were selected in each group as the best experience though it boiled down to three. Greeting, explanation, and thank you.
    Customers are skeptical to downright hostile. Risk must be minimized. Some store franchise owners live in a bubble and they need to watch the video. There is a segment of owners who have no idea that customers attitudes are so bad.
  • Advertising a service that everyone does is a great way to attract people to try your business. You’re only out $17 if it goes bad.
  • Women are better than men. CRITICAL. Auto service is directed to men. Women are more discriminating detecting details of shops. Women are a higher class of customer, they remain loyal. Women talk and create effective word of mouth. Experience trumps message and if you don’t deliver you will lose.
  • If you say something on TV, have a service model in place to match it.
  • Need to get buy-in from franchise owners who think Midas Corporate is just wrong. Customers can be very convincing, especially when they’re yours which is why the videos are so powerful. Use the videos as propaganda. Chicago, Boston, Toronto, and LA were chosen because they have more tough, franchise owners who are very anti-corporate.
  • They created ads with women in their ads. “oh look, they have women in their ads. I’ll go to Midas!”  Moms and babies always do the trick. (Remember the burping baby ad, and the lady singing the Midas jingle to her baby.)    These ads were actually a disaster.  They took the research too literally. They didn’t test it with consumers first.
  • What should they do? Raise expectations, new service model to match tone, do not paint the shop pink or add flowers. (HA!)
    Update the retail image, new colours for the shop. (The sample colours all look equally nondifferential to me.)
  • Produced better commercials.  Total Car Care commercial was among the best commercials they’ve done. Help you with their life, alternative to dealer, total customer care, not just a picture of women but a message.  Word of Mouth commercial shows looking for a mechanic via social media. Brand new, we’ll see how it works.
  • Need a cool acronym – GET it right – Greet, explain, thank
    Be where they are – why follow Midas on facebook? Car care seminars, give people tools to talk to friends about brand, partner with organizations.
  • Retention rate has improved substantially, all numbers jumped with improvements.
  • CSi – Customer Satisfaction Initiative. Feedback by phone, web, and email. 30 000 surveys every month. Participation by store is mandatory. Highly correlated with retention.
  • Dashboard “graphs stuff.” (chuckle from the graph fans)
  • The carrot: President’s Award – Top 50 store owners go to convention, works sometimes, motivates people already doing well.
  • The hammer: Punitive measures combined with public humiliation. (Chuckle) Monthly communications to say scores are bad. Internal posting of customer feedback, 5 worst shops have their picture. (Ouch!) This did work really well.
  • Accept your weaknesses. HOW research is presented is just as important as the research itself. Secure a quick win. Take bold dramatic steps. Get rid of people who won’t or can’t go along.
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Jun 7 2011

Richards and Bland: Audience Segmentation, American Cancer Society #MRA_AC #MRX

American Cancer Society

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Session summary of the Marketing Research Association 2011 annual conference. These are my interpretations of the session. They were written during the session and posted immediately afterwards. Any inaccuracies and silliness are my own.

Using Audience Segmentation for Event Growth
Melanie Richards, Ph.D., American Cancer Society, Inc.
Alex Bland, American Cancer Society, Inc.

  • American Cancer Society – Official sponsor of birthdays
  • Help people stay well, communicate information, find cures though own research and funding research, help people fight back through advocacy and empowering volunteers –> do this through events, Relay for Life, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, DetermiNation
  • DetermiNation – prepare athletes for endurance events, as they train they raise money to fight cancer
  • Problem – Needed to identify right audience for program, motivations, demographics, psychographics, behaviours for people interested/supporting endurance event. Not trying to convince new people.
  • Approach – create a set of persona groups.
    Segmentation was used. E.g., Best Buy sets up stores differently depending on the geolocation, some have cell phones at the front, some have movies at the front
  • Started with a survey – past and future participation, motivations, awareness, 1500 completes. Used clustering and Bayesian algorithm. (Ha! Crazy hard math)
  • Created 5 personas, must be culturally inclusive, segments are generalized ideas not exact descriptions. (Would have liked to see the personas. :(   )
  • (Latercomer Dan Womack took the obstructed seat behind the column. We all laughed at him.)
  • Decided to target 3 personas all of which were high income folks who generate more donations. Developed 1 communication that spoke to aspects of all 3.
  • First develop creative materials and ad testing. Then they tested tthe creative on the three personas. Started with bulletin board focus groups. Moved to online focus group. Then did flash polls. (See multi-method style here)
  • Winning ad is similar to: If you can run you can run further; If you can train you can train harder; If you do you can fight cancer
  • Wanted to use the data for more than just the creative. Apply personas back to original constituent database to communicate to them better and develop better event experience.
  • Lessons learned: Discuss important variables ahead of time. Choose variables that matter to you. Learn the next steps that will make the results immediately actionable. (Oh yeah!)
  • It’s never going to be perfect (We need to hear that a lot more.)
  • (Have you sponsored an ACS athlete today?)
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