SPECIAL SECTION // Faces of Research

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BREAKING THE CAREER BUBBLE TODAY’S MR JOBS ARE EXPANDING TRADITIONAL ROLES

PLUS Indianapolis Museum of Art works to grow its audience Critical thinking for researchers Five behaviors to help MR evolve

ADVERTISING SECTION Quirk’s Review August 2017 15 Top Hispanic Volume XXXI Number 8 Research Companies www.quirks.com

Quirk’s Marketing Research Review CONTENTS August 2017 • Vol. XXXI No. 8 SPECIAL SECTION // Faces of Research DEPARTMENTS 6 Click With Quirk's

page 8 In Case You Missed It... 50 11 Ask the Expert For marketing research and insights professionals 12 Survey Monitor page 18 Product and Service Update 26 50 Faces of Marketing Research page 58 15 Top Hispanic BREAKING THE CAREER BUBBLE 30 Research Companies TODAY’S MR JOBS ARE EXPANDING TRADITIONAL ROLES 64 Names of Note PLUS Indianapolis Museum of Art page works to grow its audience 68 Research Industry News Critical thinking for researchers 38 Five behaviors to help MR evolve 71 Calendar of Events page 73 Index of Advertisers 34 74 Before You Go…

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Quirk’s Marketing Research Review SECTION 58 651-379-6200 | www.quirks.com August 2017 15 Top Hispanic Volume XXXI Number 8 Research Companies www.quirks.com Publisher • Steve Quirk [email protected] | x202 Editor • Joseph Rydholm ON THE COVER [email protected] | x204 Digital Content Editor • Emily Koenig 26 Breaking the career bubble [email protected] | x210 Today’s MR jobs are expanding Circulation Manager • Ralene Miller traditional roles 38 Don’t jump to conclusions [email protected] | x201 By Kathryn Korostoff Critical thinking for marketing Production Manager • James Quirk researchers [email protected] | x206 By Terry Grapentine Directory • Ilana Benusa CASE STUDY [email protected] | x213 44 Doing the coolhunters one better V.P. Sales • Evan Tweed 30 Moving beyond the functional A case study in sales forecasting [email protected] | x205 How an art museum used the By George Terhanian, Matt Powell Sales • Lance Streff business concept of “jobs to and Jia Guo [email protected] | x211 be done” to segment and expand its audience. By Ron Halverson and Mindy Cultra COLUMNS ••• moving? make sure Quirk’s comes with you! 10 Trade Talk Send change of address information Keeping up with the changes to [email protected] TECHNIQUES By Joseph Rydholm 34 Living up to the name 22 Data Use Download the Quirk’s iPad, iPhone or Android app to view this issue. From ’marketing researcher’ to How to determine sample size ‘insights professional’ in conjoint studies An interactive downloadable PDF of By Carol Shea By Rajan Sambandam this magazine is available at www. quirks.com/pdf/201708_quirks.pdf.

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Pre-register now for the Study looks at hiring environment for creative 2018 Quirk’s Events professionals oin Quirk’s on goo.gl/oXtfmf January 30-31, J Best in show at the 2017 2018, in Irvine, Quirk’s Events Calif., or on goo.gl/f1wVQ4 February 27-28, in Brooklyn, N.Y., for Event spotlight: The Insight The Quirk’s Event. Show The conferences goo.gl/Lnqwsq set the stage for meetings with new friends and old, while packed ses- ResearchIndustryVoices.com sion schedules offer research and insights professionals a host of new ideas. The packaging is groundbreaking Quirk’s is dedicated to promoting the understanding, use and of mar- – but is it recyclable? keting research and consumer insights across all industries by hosting low-cost, goo.gl/mGsQxa inclusive events. Last year more than 2,100 people attended the events. We know these are gath- With the focus on storytelling, erings you won’t want to miss! Pre-register at www.thequirksevent.com to receive are we forgetting about the registration priority. data? goo.gl/voXQJy

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How did you get into the 5 networking strategies for young professionals marketing research industry? goo.gl/57sTfF quirks.com/articles/2017/20170626-3.aspx Hey pessimists! Change your Using MR automation to keep outlook and become a stronger up with the speed of business leader goo.gl/aEKARY quirks.com/articles/2017/20170626-2.aspx Sharing the big picture Coffee break: Two corporate researchers chat about to foster a positive work handling their fi rst MR project environment quirks.com/articles/2017/20170626-1.aspx goo.gl/tTKwrG

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In Case You Missed It news and notes on marketing and research

••• non-profi ts research Looking for the donation sweet spot

harities and nonprofits can increase engagement and revenue by setting Csuggested donation levels that are appropriate for their donor lists, accord- ••• employment research ing to research by the University at Buffalo School of Management. As reported by the University at Buffalo’s Matthew Workers split Biddle and published in the Journal of Marketing Research, the research on benefi ts of found that setting a low sug- gested amount increased the automation total number of donations. survey by the American Staffing Conversely, setting a high AAssociation, Alexandria, Va., con- default amount increased ducted online by Harris Poll, shows that the average amount nearly equal percentages of respondents donors gave but resulted say that automation (e.g., robots or in fewer contributions artificial intelligence) will be a good or overall. a bad thing for the future workforce. “About three-quarters Thirty-four percent of Americans say of charities do not use automation will be a positive develop- suggested amounts in ment for the workforce in the next 10 their online solicitations years or more, compared to 31 percent and those that do, tend to set who say it will be negative. Thirty-five low amounts, often out of fear percent are neutral on the matter or of backlash from their supporters,” don’t know. Eighty-three percent of said Indranil Goswami, assistant profes- Americans think that increased automa- sor of marketing in the UB School of Management, in Biddle’s article. “However, tion will revolutionize work and 82 per- our research shows high default amounts do not negatively impact donors’ behav- cent say this transformation is inevitable. ior or attitudes toward the charity or giving in general.” A majority of respondents think In a series of studies – including a university fundraising campaign sent to that automation will fundamentally 7,800 past donors and a hypothetical online drive with nearly 3,500 participants change the quantity (79 percent) and – the researchers found a low suggested amount brought in more donors, regard- types (68 percent) of jobs available less of the charity and the donors’ age, gender or mood. “Participants who had not in the U.S., while 72 percent say its previously donated responded positively to lower defaults,” Goswami said, “saying increased use will lead to higher the recommended amount ‘came from a trustworthy source’ and ‘felt like helpful unemployment. Nearly three-quarters guidance.’” (73 percent) do not believe that their On the other hand, for organizations with a strong set of annual donors, work can be easily replaced by robots asking for a higher contribution can or artificial intelligence and 85 percent influence donors to give a little more. agree that the human factor outweighs “Those who can’t commit that amount any benefits from mechanizing their may choose not to donate but people job. Ninety percent say that there are who identify strongly with your some tasks that automation will never organization’s mission will rise to the be able to take over from humans. quirks.com/articles/2017/20170801.aspx challenge,” Goswami said.

8 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com

Trade Talk By Joseph Rydholm, Quirk’s Editor Keeping up with the changes

’ve been thinking a lot about change plan to continue devoting a lot of space Ilately. Not the kind left in your pocket in the CRR to some of the topics and at the end of the day; I’m talking about issues that seem likely to contribute to the change that makes things different noticeable changes in the industry. from how they were before. It’s been on One of this year’s areas of focus, www.clarepix.com Pix Photography ©Clare Joe Rydholm can be reached my mind because we’re working on the for example, is quality. We have asked at [email protected] 2017 installment of our annual Corporate our content partners to write on topics Researcher Report (CRR) and each year related to quality based on data from the since 2014, when we began publishing the survey (including methodologies that listened-to or ignored. My guess would reports based on the findings from our deliver quality results; sample quality; be that trends were identified and annual survey of marketing researcher and how automating aspects of the MR brought to the attention of various salaries and work lives, I’ve been amazed process can enhance quality) because executives over the years but then at how little some of the numbers have in the end, quality – of information, of inertia and, in the case of Hamburger changed, especially the salary- and job strategies and insights offered based on Helper, according to the article, robust satisfaction-related ones. that information and of the methods profit margins probably got in the way I guess I’m not sure what I’ve been used for data-gathering – is one deliv- of the companies making any meaning- expecting as far as change goes – a mas- erable that can set an organization’s ful, substantial changes in response to sive drop in salary levels, perhaps, or a marketing research function apart from shifting consumer preferences. decline in job satisfaction? But typically other internal departments battling for Factors like inertia and safeguard- the most interesting parts of analyses budget and recognition from the C-suite. ing the bottom line are often out of your of survey results are the outliers, the control but something that is in your numbers that surprise – whether good Where were the insights control is quality. Hopefully the CRR or a bad (assuming they’re not due to departments? will give you some useful strategies for some kind of error). Absent those kinds I wondered about a lack of recognition keeping one step ahead of the changes. of standout findings, I’ve always wor- for MR as I read a recent Wall Street Journal You’ll find it included with our annual ried that the CRR articles on the results article (“So long Hamburger Helper: Researcher SourceBook, our directory of our survey are too similar from year America’s venerable food are of providers of marketing research to year. That’s one reason we’ve made struggling”) on how some of the big pack- products and services, which should a point of asking several open-ends on aged foods companies have been caught la nd with a thump on your desks in various timely topics, as a way to add flatfooted by the rise of consumer interest September. (Of course, you can always ac- some spice to the numbers while also in so-called clean-label food products, those cess the online version of the Researcher giving a voice to the honest thoughts of with ingredient lists that don’t require a SourceBook at Quirks.com.) The CRR will our researcher readers. It’s also why we degree in food chemistry to decipher them. also be available in PDF form and we will A natural first question is: Where were the distribute it at the 2018 Quirk’s Events in insights departments at these companies Irvine, Calif., and Brooklyn, N.Y., and at during all of this? Were they aware of and other industry conferences throughout tracking these societal shifts? 2018. Please let us know what you think The article makes no mention of of it and how we can make it better serve quirks.com/articles/2017/20170802.aspx internal marketing research, either your needs and interests.

10 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com SPONSORED CONTENT ••• advice for researchers ASK THE EXPERT Expert answers to important research questions.

Robert W. Walker Cara Woodland Paul Conner CEO and Founder, Surveys & Forecasts Global Voice of the Customer Manager, Founder and CEO, Emotive Analytics rww@safl lc.com Columbus McKinnon Corporation [email protected] www.safl lc.com www.emotiveanalytics.com 203-255-0505 314-752-0564

How do I get more out of my What are some pros and cons What are the best ways tracking research? of using digital ethnography to measure subconscious over traditional ethnography? (aka implicit or System 1) racking monitors the heartbeat emotions that people have Tof your business! Unlike past e [Columbus McKinnon Cor- with various marketing sales, tracking is predictive, al- Wporation] have a challenge in assets? lowing time to address problems. gaining access to our end users’ work In design, measures should always environment, with safety concerns, here are several ways. First, define be linked to business action. Im- remote locations and concern with Tthe level of emotionality you’re in- portantly, use real-time alerts to competitive intelligence. Digital terested in – dimensional (e.g., valence trigger prompt action. Remember to ethnography provides a way to ac- and arousal), primary emotions (e.g., minimize burden, optimize engage- cess this without physically being happy, sad, angry) or discrete feelings ment and build for mobile. Append present. It allows our end users to (e.g., confident, secure, disappointed). transaction-level data or scoring to document their work environment in Psychophysiological methods – e.g., generate insights. Push reporting an acceptable way to their organiza- facial EMG or coding, brain scanning deep into the organization though tion and provides us with a level or biometrics – work at the dimen- control charts and visualizations. of understanding that we wouldn’t sional level but are less reliable beyond With additional sample, tracking de- normally be able to receive when that, especially for discrete feelings. signs can also inform marketing mix interviewing them. It also allows us Implicit association measurement via changes or address trending topics. to see details in spaces we normally priming techniques works at all levels, wouldn’t be allowed – or fit – in. especially discrete feelings. Metaphor elicitation is another good approach, more qualitatively-based. If possible, use multiple methods to increase vali- dation and to solidify insights.

Have a question you’d like to have answered? Submit it to [email protected]. Want your fi rm to be featured as an expert? Contact [email protected] for more information. www.quirks.com/articles/2017/20170855.aspx. www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 11 ••• a digest of survey fi ndings and new tools IN FOCUS for researchers // Survey Monitor

shows that almost half (46 percent) of those who own DHAs say they use the devices at least regularly and two in 10 (19 percent) turn to them “all the time.” Playing music is by far the most common application for the assistants, cited by two-thirds (63 percent) of DHA owners.

Top 10 Ways People are Using Digital Home Assistants 1. Play streamed or downloaded music 2. Ask a question 3. Get news/weather/traffic 4. Get sports news 5. Control lights/thermostat/fans 6. Check/revise calendar/to do lists 7. Play videos 8. Search for/play podcasts 9. Read/compose emails/texts 10. Order products from or elsewhere ••• technology research “The use of voice opens up new Not much to talk about relationships between consumers, de- vice makers, voice service providers, Ownership, intent to buy remain low for digital home and advertisers that will need to be assistants carefully navigated,” says David Tice, SVP Consulting at GfK. “With these devices integrated so closely into their hough they are breaking new phone. Tablets (21 percent), car radios lives, consumers will be especially Tground in many ways, digital and navigation (20 percent), PCs (18 sensitive to false steps – whether it be home assistants (DHAs) such as percent), and TV sets (14 percent) violating the privacy of conversations, Amazon Echo and Google Home are registered much lower levels. prioritizing search results based on also leveraging consumers’ proven Less than two years after intro- payments, of certain shop- comfort with using speech to oper- duction, DHAs have yet to make more ping services above others or enabling ate digital devices. New research than a small dent in the U.S. market, intrusive advertising.” from GfK shows that 76 percent of with just 11 percent of consumers U.S. consumers (ages 13 to 64) have saying they own either an Amazon used voice commands on any device. Echo/Dot (10 percent) or Google Home Within this group, 69 percent say they (2 percent). And, among non-owners, have used speech to operate a smart- intent to buy a DHA is low (just 3 per- cent are “very likely” to purchase one in the next year). The findings come from GfK’s Commanding Media report, one of an annual series of reports known as The quirks.com/articles/2017/20170803.aspx Home Technology Monitor. The report

12 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com

IN FOCUS // Survey Monitor

respectively) and schools (40 percent American consumers expect local (71 for both) is clean and safe. Parents with percent), state (71 percent) and federal school-aged children under the age of 18 governments (65 percent) to play a role are more likely to worry; 45 percent of in ensuring people have access to clean this group question the safety of the tap drinking water, as well as consumers water in their schools. Government of- (39 percent) and businesses (35 percent). ficials polled worry the least, with only Experts are especially likely to see oppor- 16 percent who say they question the tunity for consumers (45 percent) and safety of water in their homes. businesses to be involved (40 percent). There is also concern among PSB, on behalf of Nestlé Waters North Americans that water supply issues America, conducted an online survey among ••• health care research will become more pressing within 6,699 American adults in May 2017. The audi- the next decade. Forty-two percent of ences included general population Americans Trouble on tap Americans surveyed believe water will (mapped to the U.S. Census on key demograph- become less available in the next 10 ics); an oversample of general population Water worries top-of-mind years and two-thirds (66 percent) be- respondents in Arizona, , Colorado, for Americans lieve water crises will have widespread Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, consequences for individuals, busi- Missouri, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, ccess to clean drinking water and nesses and the United States overall. South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, A the nation’s water infrastructure Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of Washington, and West Virginia; opinion elites, are major concerns for Americans respondents say climate change has had health/environmentally-conscious consumers; across the country, according to a great deal or somewhat of an impact government officials, academics, NGO employ- Perspectives on America’s Water, a new on access to clean drinking water by ees, utility company business decision-makers study. A total of 6,699 American adults reducing the overall amount (41 per- and engineers. shared their views on water-related top- cent) and quality (38 percent) of water ics in this online study conducted on available. About half (51 percent) say behalf of Nestlé Waters North America the impact of climate change on access by research firm PSB in May. to clean drinking water will increase Water is viewed as the most impor- over the next 10 years, but improving tant natural resource in Americans’ infrastructure (59 percent) or develop- daily lives, more so even than clean air ing innovations for purifying water (87 percent compared to 81 percent). Yet (58 percent) could help mitigate this 61 percent of American consumers and impact. Experts are especially likely to 66 percent of experts characterized wa- say climate change is impacting clean ter problems as a crisis or major issue drinking water (76 percent) and are for the United States. more likely than American consumers The study found that two in three overall to say this impact will increase ••• higher-education Americans (66 percent) believe their over the next 10 years (58 percent). own community’s clean drinking water Americans surveyed support invest- Why do students is at risk, while 59 percent say a major ment in infrastructure to address both overhaul of U.S. water infrastructure the causes and effects of water-related choose the major is needed to avoid that possibility. issues. In terms of specific infrastruc- City-dwellers are especially likely to ture improvements, Americans believe they do? fear their community’s clean drinking it is necessary to prioritize early detec- water is at risk (70 percent versus 63 tion systems that identify contamina- Study examines effects of percent in rural areas). There is almost tion in the water supply (64 percent), showing future salaries universal agreement (96 percent) that more efficient water collection and if the United States does not proac- purification methods (52 percent) and here are few questions as loaded tively invest in the country’s water infrastructure to increase water access, Tas, “What are you majoring in?” infrastructure system now, it will end quality and capacity (48 percent). Countless parents, even a president, have up costing more in the long run. To accomplish this, Americans expect derided some major choices, most often Many American consumers and ex- cross-sector collaboration from govern- for not being practical (translation: for perts question whether the tap water in ment at all levels, as well as businesses leading to careers that don’t pay much). their home (36 percent and 30 percent, and environmental organizations. As any parent of teenagers knows, such

14 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com Survey Monitor // IN FOCUS derision can backfire – leading a student much they think they would earn work- future earnings with economics or busi- straight into an impractical major. But ing full-time at age 30 if they graduated ness degrees downward by 12.12 percent it begs the question: Why do students with a bachelor’s degree in each of the on average, and upward by 33.42 percent choose the majors they do? five majors. A student’s answer to that on average for no degree. “It may seem evident that stu- question might be different than the Not only did correcting students’ dents choose a major based on a range first, Wiswall says, if the student sees misinformation about earnings by spe- of factors, including but not limited herself as particularly exceptional (and cialization change their beliefs about to earning potential,” says Arizona likely to earn more than average) or not their own earning potential but it also State University Associate Professor of so great (and liable to make less). Given changed many students’ minds about Economics Matthew Wiswall. “But the the high-ability sample of students which major to choose. Two-thirds re- question is somewhat understudied.” taking the survey, it was not surprising ported some likelihood that they would How much does earning potential that students predicted their future graduate with a different major than matter to a student’s choice of major? earnings would be higher than average. the one they identified at the begin- What if the student is misinformed about Students’ perceptions of their earn- ning of the experiment. Some who had actual earning potential – could accurate ing potential followed the same pattern identified humanities/arts as a possible information change the student’s mind? as their thinking about how much peo- major at the outset switched to a high- Those are questions that Wiswall and ple today earn in those different fields. er-paying major. A substantial number his coauthor, Basit Zafar at the Federal “Students believe their earnings will be said they were more likely than before Reserve Bank of New York, answered in highest if they complete a major in the to major in humanities or arts. their paper, “Determinants of college economics/business and engineering/ The study also reveals the extent major choice: identification using an computer science categories and lowest to which earnings expectations and information experiment,” published in if they do not graduate or graduate in a ability perceptions influence students’ the Review of Economic Studies. humanities and arts field,” Wiswall says. choice of major. It makes clear that To answer their questions, Wiswall After recording their answers to the while earnings expectations and ability and Zafar set up an information experi- two baseline questions, students saw ac- perceptions both play a significant role ment – a novel approach that would not tual earnings data by specialization. Then in the selection of a major, they are not just rely on observation to determine they were asked again about their outlook the only factors that matter – or even students’ preference but ask the stu- for their earning potential. The research- the most important factors. “Even with dents. The researchers recruited a group ers’ goal: to see if accurate earnings data our rich data on beliefs across a variety of first-year undergraduate students, would change students’ outlook about of [monetary] and [non-monetary] sophomores and juniors from New York their earning potential in a given major. aspects of majors, major choices in our University. The students were sent a It did. Students revised their forecast for results are still primarily the result of survey with questions about their per- ceptions of earnings and ability relative to five major categories: business and economics, engineering and computer science, humanities and other social sciences, natural sciences and math, and lick bugs never graduate/drop out. First, the survey asked students how much they think a 30-year-old work- ing full-time with a bachelor’s degree in each of the five majors earns. “We have real data on earnings by major eliminate human error but students could be misinformed if with report automation they haven’t seen the data themselves,” Wiswall says. In many cases, students software + services overestimated earnings, often by a lot. For example, students overestimated full-time earnings for female gradu- ates in economics and business by 31.1 percent and male graduates in the same majors by 16.6 percent. metricstudios.com (808)721-7530 Next, the survey asked students how www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 15 IN FOCUS // Survey Monitor taste,” Wiswall says. study conducted by Talend, a Redwood many businesses still do not systemati- Taste encompasses all the other fac- City, Calif., software firm. cally track basic customer feedback. tors that influence a students’ decision. The study, which was conducted by Fifty percent or less of the surveyed It explains why even when students Researchscape, reveals that despite a companies are deploying elementary have accurate earnings information, wealth of data available about customer barometers of customer satisfaction, some still choose lower-paying majors behavior and purchasing choices, com- such as: online reviews (used by only over higher-paying majors. These influ- panies have a long way to go in terms 36 percent of respondents); social ential taste factors might include par- of effectively using this data to better media sentiment (utilized by only 43 ents’ majors or other family influences, meet consumer expectations. percent); and past purchase or com- experiential influences before college, Sixty-three percent of IT respon- munication preferences (employed by a student’s competitiveness or appetite dents indicated that using data to only 50 percent combined). for risk or plans for life beyond career. better understand customers is a top The consumer survey showed that The understanding that earnings business priority for 2017, with 80 online reviews have become the new perception influences students’ major percent of companies ranking it at an word-of-mouth for many, with 40 choices, and that students do benefit eight or above on a 10-point scale. Due percent indicating these forums have from the accurate information, has im- to the strategic nature of customer-360 the greatest impact on large pur- portant practical implications. For one, initiatives, many are being led by chases – almost twice the weight of it suggests that school administrators C-level executives: CEOs or COOs hold friend and family recommendations. and others could provide that accurate this responsibility at nearly half of Additionally, 57 percent of respondents earnings information for students participating companies (42 percent listed “having a negative review unad- to help them make better-informed combined), followed by CIOs and CTOs dressed while continuing to receive choices. “College major is a big deci- (39 percent combined). Today’s IT orga- offers for similar products” as the top sion, and an important one,” Wiswall nizations also recognize the importance reason they would break up with a says, “especially given the rising cost of of putting customer data in the hands brand. Other reasons cited by consum- higher education. In that environment, of more employees, with 80 percent of ers for breaking up with a company it’s hard to argue that providing misin- surveyed companies indicating they’re include: if the company falls victim to formed people with accurate informa- making customer data accessible across a data breach (53 percent) and not pro- tion isn’t a good thing.” multiple business units. viding live/real-time customer service “Our survey shows most consumers support (42 percent). are data driven, with 57 percent report- Overall, the survey suggests there is ing they rely on data to inform buying still room for organizations to use data decisions,” says Ashley Stirrup, chief more effectively to better understand marketing officer, Talend. “While the and address customer needs. The re- majority of companies recognize the wards for improvement may be compel- importance of data in driving company ling – industry research suggests busi- strategy, many are just scratching the nesses are losing $62 billion per year surface when it comes to understand- through poor customer service. As big ing the dramatic impact customer-360 data and cloud tools improve, customer initiatives can have on increasing their acquisition and retention may become share-of-wallet and inspiring lasting increasingly competitive. Companies ••• customer experience customer loyalty.” can seize today’s window of opportu- Approximately 80 percent of IT nity by optimizing customer manage- Drowning in data, respondents indicated their budgets ment tools and data to keep pace with have grown over the past five years. constantly evolving consumer needs, thirsty for insights Under increasing pressure to improve deliver top notch engagements and the customer experience, many have maintain a competitive edge. IT pros cite better data use invested that budget in a range of as priority customer relationship management tools, including: live chat (66 percent); hile 88 percent of IT leaders data visualization (60 percent); speech Wbelieve their organization truly recognition (52 percent) and retarget- understands its customers, only 61 ing tools (58 percent). percent of consumers feel companies Despite the seemingly heavy invest- understand their needs, according to a ment by IT in customer support tools,

16 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com Join usJanuary for a Vision 18-21, Trip 2018 to Haiti IN FOCUS ••• eye-tracking ••• LGBTQ research Product and Tobii adds virtual Tracking study reality to MR will report on Service Update Based on HTC Vive headset LGBTQ population

ye-tracking research solutions Identify consumer, media Efirm Tobii Pro, headquartered in trends Sweden, has launched Tobii Pro VR ••• millennials research Integration, a solution for conducting ittsburgh-based researcher eye-tracking research within immer- PCivicScience has launched a track- Lightspeed, sive virtual environments (VR). The ing survey aimed at studying America’s solution allows researchers to collect LGBTQ community. The research will VICE partner and record eye-tracking data from a combine daily tracking questions, ad VR environment and gain insights on hoc surveys and the firm’s respondent on Millennial human behavior. Based on the HTC Vive database to: measure the LGBTQ popula- headset integrated with Tobii eye-track- tion; identify consumer, media, life- insights platform ing technology, the product comes with style and wellness trends; and provide the Tobii Pro ongoing reports to corporate, nonprofit Includes post-Millennials for research applications. and civic leaders. Although the U.S. www.tobiipro.com Census originally planned to introduce arren, N.J., researcher questions about sexual orientation and Lightspeed has partnered with gender identity in the upcoming 2020 WVICE Media, Brooklyn, N.Y., to intro- ••• CX research Census survey, the agency reversed duce VICE Voices, a Millennial insights course in March. Due to the relatively platform. The research panel and Qualtrics low incidence rate of LGBTQ people in portal combines Lightspeed’s recruit- the U.S. population and poor survey ment, community management and enhances CX response rates, commercial market survey design with VICE’s content on research data on these consumers are youth culture, connecting brands with platform limited as well. The scale and anonymi- representative segments of Millennials ty of CivicScience’s survey methodology and post-Millennials through mobile Adds diagnostics is designed to overcome these chal- surveys, quick polls, online focus lenges. CivicScience will also publish a groups and video testimonials. VICE rovo, Utah, software company biannual report on LGBTQ population Voices will initially launch in the U.S., PQualtrics has made enhancements growth and change. with further launches in additional to its customer experience (CX) manage- civicscience.com markets expected to follow beginning ment platform, Qualtrics Customer later in 2017. Experience. Enhancements include a www.lightspeedresearch.com diagnostic assessment and methodol- ••• concept research ogy to help companies improve their CX programs for better customer satisfac- Get back quick tion results and higher returns on CX program investment. insights on tested www.qualtrics.com stimuli (iM)mediate from iModerate

enver-based insights agency iMod- Derate has launched (iM)mediate, a research approach that allows clients to test stimuli like concepts, advertis- quirks.com/articles/2017/20170804.aspx ing, messaging and other streamlined

18 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com research objectives with targeted analytics solution for social and related app for qualitative research that pro- audiences and receive the necessary voice of the customer data. The solution vides in-the-moment insights at the insights in a few days. For each piece is enabled in more than a dozen lan- point of engagement, allowing clients of stimuli tested, clients will receive guages, including Mandarin, Japanese to see and hear from customers in- a First Impression Score, a quantita- and Arabic and offers new capabilities context. tive indicator of respondent reactions, like automated F1 scoring, target- and www.mustard-research.com which iModerate then rounds out with facet-level analysis and more. qualitative feedback for greater depth. www.converseon.com n Customer data platform AgilOne, www.imoderate.com Sunnyvale, Calif., has launched a cus- n New York research agency Kantar tomer data and engagement hub, avail- Millward Brown has partnered with able on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace. ••• Briefl y -based data and analyt- The hub allows marketers to create a ics company Samba TV to launch a single customer profile, apply predic- n Shelton, Conn., researcher SSI is measurement solution for ad- tive intelligence to customer data offering organizations a way to test vertising effectiveness. The joint initia- and orchestrate omnichannel person- its B2B panel by allowing them to tive matches Kantar Millward Brown’s alization delivered through Oracle submit questions for its B2B All-Access Ignite panel, which includes PC and Responsys, part of the Oracle Marketing Omnibus survey, a free survey it con- mobile users, with Samba TV’s smart Cloud. ducts monthly. Companies can provide TV and connected device households to www.agilone.com one to three questions on a topic of create a single-source verified passive their choice and then receive a data set measurement of TV advertising. n Covington, Ky., artificial intelligence which includes submitted questions, www.millwardbrown.com start-up Wyzerr has launched an online demographics and firmographics like www.samba.tv platform to create feedback surveys company size, industry, role and level. that feel like games. The surveys, which www.surveysampling.com n Sweden-based media measurement the company calls Smart Forms, can firm MMS has released its digital ad capture up to 25 questions in under 60 n Dallas-based technology company ratings service, which covers video seconds. UBMobile has launched its Gesture- advertisements on broadcasters’ Web wyzerr.com Based Surveys platform, which lever- sites and apps viewed across PC, smart- ages features on mobile devices like phone, tablet and smart TV. The data n Atlanta-based marketing technology dragging, swiping, tapping and captur- is delivered to Sweden’s market daily company Gauge Insights has launched ing images and video. The company via MMS’s ad analytics Web applica- its mobile application, Gauge, enabling says question types have also been tion and gives a holistic view of ad brands to create customized research reimagined and redesigned with the campaign impressions, de-duplicated campaigns to provide product feedback aim of making the survey experience cross-device reach and rich target group and customer rewards. The firm has more fun. definitions. The service is built on partnered with Philadelphia-based www.ubmobile.com Nuremberg, Germany, researcher GfK’s research company Focus Pointe Global data integration and data science capa- (FPG) to beta test the app, and Gauge’s n Santa Monica, Calif., digital media bilities, building on a joint project that technology will help power the FPG company mitú and Burbank, Calif., firm started after the two firms established Think Tank platform. Gauge Insights ThinkNow Research have launched the a partnership in 2015. will leverage Focus Pointe Global’s re- Bidimensional Identity Measure (BIM), mms.se spondent panel to grow its user pool. a method for marketers to measure www.gaugeinsights.com how multicultural audiences self-iden- n Perrysburg, Ohio, tify with their American and specific company IntelliShop has launched n San Francisco-based marketing ethnic cultures. The BIM was born out MysteryShopMe, a customer experience analytics company Jumpshot has made of mitú’s first empirical study, A New improvement service aimed at small available a suite of products that pro- Scale to Measure Multigroup Ethnic business owners. The service allows vides marketers with data on search, and American Identity in the U.S., in businesses to set up a program and browsing and purchase behaviors. New partnership with ThinkNow Research. receive information about their custom- products include: Search Feed, which www.wearemitu.com ers’ experiences within 48 to 72 hours of provides a view into daily searches and www.thinknowresearch.com placing an order. clicks consumers perform on search www.intelli-shop.com engines; Transaction Feed, which looks n New York-based digital consultancy into large e-commerce sites to provide a Converseon has rolled out Conversus n U.K.-based research agency Mustard composite of online purchase behavior; 4.0, a new version of its AI-based text has introduced Pickles, a and Upstream Analytics Feed, which www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 19 gives insights into the domains and Me Think is opening up its video search, hyper-targeted demographic and profile pages users visited multiple steps prior edit and share platform to anyone who audiences, enabling them to reach their to reaching a Web site up to 21 days works with video, offering up to 10GB targeted audience without any manual earlier. of storage and use of its video analytics intervention. Clients can also gather www.jumpshot.com platform for free. SearchEditShare.video insights from their data by creating allows researchers, planners, agencies custom bands, complex and nested quo- n St. Louis-based research agency Brädo and brands to gather in-the-moment tas and manage respondent sources. Creative Insight has introduced its new consumer feedback. www.toluna-group.com Brä do Innovation Lab, a mobile proto- watchmethink.in typing suite equipped with 3-D printers, n Simmons Research, New York, has laser cutters, modeling software and pro- n Newton, Mass., software solutions integrated RMT DriverTags into Holistic totyping tools for creating new product company MarketSight has adopted R, Psychographics, its system that mea- and packaging ideas. The Innovation Lab an open-source language and environ- sures consumer psychographic traits is part of the firm’s new headquarters ment for statistical computing and to explain why certain TV shows have in downtown St. Louis, a space that also graphics, within its data reporting and high ratings and certain ads gener- includes a full-service research facility visualization application. The integra- ate higher ROI. The integration also and a digital lab. tion expands the product’s analytic serves as the foundation for Predictive brado.net capabilities, allowing users to run any Consumer Insights, a consumer re- type of R script and easily view results. search and predictive insights solution n U.K.-based mobile survey solutions New analytics features include linear that maximizes return on ad spend. firm OnePoint Global has made avail- regression and correlation, with ad- www.simmonsresearch.com able its survey app development code, ditional features to be added during the allowing clients to own, create, launch next several months. n Online panel provider Branded and manage their own survey apps to www.marketsight.com Research, San Diego, has launched a the app stores. new direct payment feature for U.S. www.onepointglobal.com n Warren, N.J., researcher Lightspeed panelists using Dwolla’s white label has launched LifePoints, a mobile API, providing participants with same- n San Francisco-based survey technol- engagement app that is fully integrated day payments after participating in ogy company Survox is offering API with Lightspeed’s survey design and online surveys. integration with insights solution provides in-the-moment campaign brinc.co SurveyGizmo, enabling brand research- tracking, geo-specific and behavioral ers currently using SurveyGizmo to use monitoring, quick polls, consumption n Nielsen, New York, has introduced Survox’s voice-based survey capability. dairies, IHUTs and video ethnographies. the Nielsen Connected System, a Researchers can leverage Survox Services LifePoints is available in Apple and technology platform for FMCG and to provide fully-automated voice surveys Google Play stores in the U.S. and will companies that includes data, or any of the Survox-equipped research launch in additional markets across analytics and role-based applications call centers to conduct interviewer-led 2017 and 2018. from Nielsen and a group of connected surveys. Data from all survey sources are www.lightspeedresearch.com partners to assist in decision-making populated into SurveyGizmo for analysis and achieving profitable growth. and reporting. n Nashville-based marketing firm www.nielsen.com www.survoxinc.com Targoz Strategic Marketing has launched the Reading Pulse Survey, n State College, Pa., behavior analyt- n In San Francisco, measurement which provides book publishers, agents ics firm VideoMining has introduced company Verto Analytics has launched and sellers with a picture of readers ShopperImpact@, a product that Audience Profiles, a media measurement and delivers data on what they read uses granular in-store behavior data product targeted for U.S.- and Europe- and how to influence them to buy. and analytics at the retailer account based publishers. The product offers www.targoz.com level to enable shopper-centered behavioral, demographic, device usage practices in category management and competitive insights, allowing pub- n Nielsen, New York, has introduced and shopper marketing. lishers to create audience profiles that advertising measurement on YouTube’s www.videomining.com monetize users via advertising. mobile app with Nielsen Digital Ad www.vertoanalytics.com Ratings, expanding its current mea- n Port Washington, N.Y., researcher surement coverage of YouTube ads on The NPD Group has expanded its Retail n Harpeth Marketing, Franklin, Tenn., desktop and mobile Web browsers. Tracking Service to cover the U.S. team has released an e-book, How to Manage www.nielsen.com sports equipment market. Data will Sales in the Industry, avail- include the major categories of basket- able for free on the firm’s Web site. n In Wilton, Conn., researcher Toluna ball, football, baseball, softball, soccer, www.harpethmarketing.com has reported that its QuickSurveys hockey and field hockey, racquet digital insight platform now allows sports, golf and lacrosse. n U.K. behavioral research agency Watch clients to select from more than 200 www.npd.com

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How to determine sample size in conjoint studies | By Rajan Sambandam

snapshot hat is the right sample size decide if this is an appropriate sample size for for a conjoint analysis study? It’s a simple, a study. Wubiquitous question that doesn’t seem to have Alternatively, we can think about the sample Rajan an easy answer. Bryan Orme (2010), president size that is likely to yield a significant differ- Sambandam of Sawtooth Software, the maker of the most ence between two numbers (say, proportions). explores practical widely-used software for conjoint analysis, lists An independent samples t-test is commonly used a variety of questions that could affect the an- to understand if two proportions are different. approaches swer. He recommends some general guidelines As before, it can be reversed to determine the to estimating (such as having at least 300 respondents when sample size needed for a given difference to be possible) but does not provide a more specific statistically significant. For example, to detect a conjoint study answer. Given that, is it possible to come up difference of 7 percentage points, a sample size sample size. with a general recommendation that can be of about 400 is needed. easily applied by practitioners? Specifically, is it In practice, samples in the n = 400 range are possible to develop a simple, practical recom- often taken as an acceptable default, as error mendation that can be applied before knowing reduction begins diminishing beyond that. And any details about the study? We think it is. of course, if subgroup analyses are required, Let’s start with what we normally do when overall sample size may need to be adjusted to estimating appropriate sample size in mar- compensate. The great advantage here is that ket research surveys. There are two common these calculations are made without needing to approaches to sample size estimation – based consider the number or type of questions in a on a single number or based on the difference survey. So, sample size decisions can be usefully between numbers. made ahead of time, rather than waiting for For a single number from a survey, we are questionnaire finalization. usually interested in understanding the associ- But conjoint analysis is not the same as ask- ated precision. Conventional margin of error cal- ing simple, direct scaled questions in a survey. culations can estimate the error bound around Let’s consider what is different about the con- a single proportion (the calculation for propor- joint process, how it impacts sample size and if tions is easier than that for means and hence there’s a way to determine it ahead of time. more often used). Since a sample of size 400 has about +/- 5 percent margin of error, we can be Sample size in conjoint confident that it can keep the error below +/- 5 For the purpose of this discussion let’s as- percent. Our error tolerance and budget will sume we are talking about discrete choice, the most widely-used type of conjoint analysis. Respondents are repeatedly shown a few (say, quirks.com/articles/2017/20170805.aspx three to five) products on a screen (described on multiple attributes) and asked to choose the

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one they prefer. A typical conjoint Figure 1: Sample Size Needed for Specified (+/-) Error Band - One Product exercise is considerably different 12% from a simple, direct, scaled ques- tion. On each screen a respondent 10% has to consider several attributes, usually involving a trade-off between benefits and costs and has to provide 8% a response (and repeat several times). Many factors can vary between stud- 6% ies, such as the number of attributes Percentage and levels per attribute, number of products displayed per screen, num- 4% ber of screens per study and sample size. In developing the design for a study, all these factors have to be 2% taken into account. How does sample size fit into this? 0% 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Traditionally conjoint designs Sample Size (once finalized) are tested to esti- Margin of Error Purchase Likelihood Error band mate the standard errors that are likely to occur with the utility scores Figure 2: Sample Size Needed for Significant Share Difference - Two Products (which are the primary output 16% metric). A standard convention is to ensure that all utility scores have 14% standard errors of .05 or less (which translates to about +/- 10 percent er- 12% ror bound around utility scores). The 10% test determines what sample size will provide the target standard error 8% values. Beyond the fact that this can Percentage only be done with software when the 6% design is finalized (and hence quite late) there are a couple of other prob- 4% lems. One is that the test is only an approximation and the other is that 2% the utility scores are not the primary 0% output metric of interest. 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Sample Size The actual output metrics that % Difference Needed Share of Preference are of practical interest are utili- ties of attribute levels transformed This is, of course, very similar tions applied to general survey data into shares of products, specifically to the situation in regular surveys are applicable to conjoint results. purchase likelihood scores (in the when determining sample size. So, We tested 10 studies ranging in case of single product simulations) the question is whether the same cal- size from two to nine attributes, and shares of preference (in the culations used to determine sample with two to 10 levels per attribute. case of multiple products). Products size in regular surveys can be applied The number of respondents per created in the conjoint simulator are here. One way to answer this ques- study varied from 402 to 2,552. Since often evaluated using these metrics tion is to do so empirically. That is, studies with larger sample sizes can to determine appropriate market we can take an actual conjoint study, also be tested with randomly chosen actions. In the case of purchase like- compute purchase likelihood, share subsets of data, we ultimately had lihood scores, the manager may be of preference values and related er- 29 data points to study. For purchase interested in the uncertainty (error ror bounds, which can then be com- likelihood, we developed a distribu- band) surrounding the score, while pared to the corresponding general tion of margin of error scores for in the case of share of preference survey calculations. Repeating this each study, to identify the maxi- the interest may be in determining process over a variety of studies will mum error. For share of preference, whether the shares of two products allow us to generate enough data to we created a series of two product are significantly different. determine if the sample size calcula- simulations (with shares in the 40-60

24 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com data use //

percent range) and tested the differ- not impact sample size consideration, is cheap and plentiful (e.g., B2C), ence in share required for statistical for most practical conjoint studies it perhaps a compromise can be made significance at various sample sizes. would appear that complexity should in terms of fewer choice tasks and (Technical note: This is the classical not be a factor. But when studies more sample when questionnaires get t-test rather than the Bayesian ver- have abnormalities in design (say, too long. When sample is expensive sion where results may differ). 12 levels for an attribute), it might and limited (e.g., B2B), the opposite Charted results are shown in be useful to consider increasing the approach may work better. Figures 1 and 2. sample size. When regression analysis is Question 2: Can I use fewer Can be easily calculated conducted predicting purchase likeli- choice tasks? This is a common Conjoint studies go through various hood and share of preference needed question that comes up as the design stages of design and iteration. How for significant difference, we find is being finalized and is generally do we determine appropriate sample excellent models (with near perfect triggered by the prospect of an overly size before we know anything at R2 values). In both cases, the beta long questionnaire. The subtext here all about the design? The simplest weight is about 0.80, implying that is that this is to be done without recommendation based on outcome using conventional sample size cal- increasing sample size for the study. metrics of practical interest is to use culations is a slightly more conserva- We analyzed two studies by compar- conventional margin of error and tive approach. ing results from the full set of choice significance testing calculations as The close correspondence be- tasks with that from a half set of guidelines. These are well-known tween the sample size calculations randomly chosen choice tasks. As and widely-used heuristics that can for regular surveys and for conjoint expected, margin of error increases be easily calculated and appear to be shares makes sense given that the (for purchase likelihood) while the somewhat conservative. If there is a only variables used in these tests are ability to detect significant differ- sense that the study will have abnor- the proportions (shares) and stan- ence decreases (for share of prefer- mal complexity, it may be prudent dard errors. Simply put, if a set of ence). So there is a clear sacrifice to increase the sample size beyond proportions and standard errors are that is made when fewer choice tasks these guidelines. available, their origins may not mat- are used. ter, only the outcome. Johnson and Orme (1996), show Rajan Sambandam is chief research officer at TRC Market Research, Fort This raises a couple of questions. that the number of choice tasks and Washington, Pa. He can be reached at Question 1: What about complex- sample size can be traded off. Orme [email protected]. ity? Earlier we said that the com- (2010) considers two common forms plexity of conjoint questions makes of survey error and suggests that REFERENCES them different from direct survey sampling error is based on sample Johnson, Richard and Orme, Bryan (1996), How many questions should you ask in choice-based questions. Hence even if sample size size and measurement error is based conjoint studies?, Sawtooth Software Research calculations from regular surveys (mainly) on number of choice tasks. Paper Series. apply to conjoint results, would they Hence the implication is that total Orme, Bryan (2010), Getting Started with not vary based on study complexity? survey error can be managed by Conjoint Analysis: Strategies for Product Design For example, would more-complex trading off between the two types and Research, Second Edition, Research studies require larger sample sizes? of error. For practical purposes, one Publishers LLC. Study complexity can be based on a way to think about this is in terms variety of variables such as number of sample availability. When sample of attributes, levels, concepts per screen, etc. We have not been able to test all of them, but by varying the number of attributes (< five and seven-to-nine) we found no difference (using four data points in each group). Further, in Figure 2 (which has 29 data points), the average scores at each sample size are displayed but the actual varia- tion is quite minor, indicating that the study complexity does not have much of an impact on the sample size calculations. While we cannot say definitively that complexity does www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 25 ••• research careers Breaking the career bubble Today’s MR jobs are expanding traditional roles

| By Kathryn Korostoff

Career path options for marketing research and customer insights snapshot professionals have changed dramatically in the past three years and they are still evolving. If you haven’t taken a close look lately, your Kathryn Korostoff looks at trends for career-planning ideas may need a refresh. You may be making errone- Cous assumptions about skill or credential requirements. You may have marketing research and consumer outdated perceptions of job titles and volumes of openings – and of who insights career planning. else is competing for these same positions. So, what is the state of career-planning for insights professionals, circa 2017? What are the most in-demand skills? What are the current job titles and in what relative volume do they exist? This article sum- marizes my research into these questions, drawing on analysis of over 30,000 job postings from Indeed.com and LinkedIn.

Skill set was standardized If you’ve been in the insights profession for more than 10 years, you re- member a time when the skill set – while certainly not trivial – was stan- dardized around focus groups, in-depth interviews and surveys. If you had some solid quant or qual skills, you were qualified for many job openings. If you had both quant and qual credentials, you were golden. In 2017, things are much more complex. Two major factors have driven this complexity. The explosion in market research-related data tools, sources and methods and the corresponding increase in demand for people who have mastered them. Today, discovering and measuring customer attitudes and behaviors can be done using more than 20 major methods and literally over 100 tools. It is not possible to be an expert in every- thing anymore. The good news: There are a lot of opportunities for specialists, especially those who master new methods and tools. There’s quirks.com/articles/2017/20170806.aspx still opportunity for generalists too but to pursue a generalist role in 2017 and beyond, the successful candidate needs to be methodology- and

26 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com petitive analysis” and other groups are being reorganized or otherwise better integrated. This opens some new career path options, where you will likely be facing some new competition (colleagues who may know more about Python and Tableau and less about ap- plications are a common example). In Table 1 I list the top 20 skill requirements for marketing research and customer insights- related professionals (see sidebar for notes on methodology). In analyzing the top 20, some themes become apparent: Intelligence is hot. There are many job openings requiring skills related to business or market intelligence. Indeed, the debate many people have had about “research” ver- sus “insights” seems rather trivial when we data source-agnostic. And in 2017, you can’t credibly claim to be a data- consider the enormous employer demand for agnostic advisor if the only methods you recommend are focus groups, “intelligence.” interviews and surveys. You will need to be able to advise when to use There are a lot of specialties. Thus, many those methods and when to use options that leverage in-house data skills did not make the top 20. Does that mean sources (customer databases, e-commerce databases, etc.). they are unimportant? No; just that skill re- The evaporation of traditional boundaries between various data- quirements are very fragmented. For example, based corporate functions. Previously siloed, “marketing research,” “secondary research” had fewer mentions “customer analytics,” “business intelligence,” “Web analytics,” “com- than the items in the top 20 – but still had >400 job-posting mentions and thus is clearly Table 1: The Top 20 Skill Requirements for Marketing Research and Customer Insights-Related a skill that will resonate with some employ- Professionals ers. Same for “shopper insights” – an obvious- Big Data ly important area of specialization. Related to Business Intelligence the rise of specialties is the broad use of very Data Analysis Data Visualization precise skills across job postings. For example, “focus group” outpaced “qualitative research.” Market Intelligence Top 10 Skills mentioned in May 2017 job postings (sorted Market Research alphabetically) And “R” outpaced “predictive analytics” (for Questionnaire/Survey Research which R is commonly used). R Statistics Quant is hot. Many top skills are quantita- Strategic Marketing tive. There is no denying that this is the case. User Experience (UX) It appears that many qualitative methods are Behavioral Science/Behavioral Economics not as widely specified in job postings, al- Customer Experience (CX) though they can obviously apply. For example, Customer/Consumer Insights a top 20 skill is “user experience” – which Focus Groups factually often does use qualitative research Marketing Research Next 10 Skills mentioned in May 2017 job postings (sorted methods. Thus, a qualitative researcher may alphabetically) Predictive Analytics find more opportunities for career advance- Quantitative Research ment by making a clear connection between SPSS their methodology expertise and how it ap- Strategic Insights plies to more commonly specified specialties VOC such as “user experience.” www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 27 Even niche skills have many from a June 2017 job posting. What title openings. A few skills that did not even Methodology notes do you think it may have had? make it close to the top 20 still had over • Job postings from both Indeed.com and 100 postings as of May 2017. Examples: LinkedIn were used. Because of month-to- The [job title] will turn data into ethnography/ethnographer – approxi- month fl uctuations and observations about information, information into insight mately 120 postings; category insights job-posting overlap, I’m reporting relative and insight into business decisions. (often associated with, but different volume, not absolute numbers. This role will conduct full lifecycle ac- from, shopper insights) – approximate- • After considering data source options, I tivities to include requirements analy- ly 130 postings; competitive intelligence decided to focus on current job postings: sis and design, develop analysis and – just over 100 postings. thus, the research shared in this article reporting capabilities. The [job title] As you consider the top 20 skills in is based on analysis of over 30,000 job will discover and curate new and exist- postings. Table 1, please note the following: ing data sources to create solutions • To avoid being biased by specifi c job for the business. This is a key position • Some skills mentioned in job post- titles, I searched using phrases such as which helps bring data to life. The [job ings read like job titles; the two obvi- “research,” “insights” and “analysis” title] will be responsible for querying related to: broad categories such as ously can overlap. “market research,” “customer insights,” and analyzing large sets of structured • Some skills overlap. I consolidated “customer/consumer attitudes,” “customer/ and unstructured data and developing patently equivalent skills but those consumer behavior” and similar; solutions from this data, including ad that I judged as different enough discovering, measuring, predicting or hoc analysis. experimenting with customer attitudes or (based on frequency of separate behaviors; and application categories to mentions) are in the table even capture job postings related to common The title? Data Analyst. Just that. though there is obviously some research applications such as brand loyalty, Try this one. What do you think overlap. For example, there are pricing research, product , the job title is? segmentation, etc. many openings that require “R or SPSS”; thus “R statistics” and • Data was gathered in May 2017. I had Under minimal supervision, plans “SPSS” sometimes overlap, but both previously gathered higher-level counts but and conducts user research activities are included in Table 1 because they the May 2017 effort was the fi rst in-depth (e.g., usability testing, online surveys, data collection. I plan to do another round also often exist separately. at a six-month interval. interviews, contextual inquiry and • Some skills are very broad (“market focus groups) and translates find- research”), others are very precise • If anyone is interested in collaborating ings into actionable customer insights (“R statistics”). That’s simply a reflec- on this research, please get in touch. that inform product development and tion of how job postings are written. optimization. This includes active • Because of month-to-month fluctua- involvement in the entire product de- tions and job posting overlaps (be- Don’t use ‘market research’ or velopment process, including identify- tween LinkedIn and Indeed.com), it ‘customer insights’ ing customer needs, ideation, testing would be misleading to rank order Defining the career category quickly led and ongoing optimization. the top skills from 1 to 20. Instead, I me to realize: There are many positions divide them into two categories: top posted that specify requirements that Can you guess? User Experience 10 (sorted alphabetically) and next are relevant, yet the job titles don’t use Researcher. 10 (sorted alphabetically). the phrases “market research” or “cus- And lastly: • Some popular skills are rather tomer insights.” Two examples: generic and nearly universal, so A job posting seeking candidates Provides support through research, including them in the table would with expertise in “measuring brand customer insights and analysis of diminish other items. Nearly uni- perceptions” and “social media re- the company’s markets, competition, versal skills excluded from the top search” had the title Brand Manager. customers and end users. Analyzes the 20: analysis (analytic thinking/ana- Thus “marketing researchers” seeking competitive environment, customer lytical thinker/related variations); career advancement might consider insights, future trends, product usage written and verbal communications; brand manager as one of their op- and makes recommendations based on project management (and varia- tions: it leverages existing skills and, findings. Provides updates to inform tions related to budget and schedule with a bit of a logical skill extension, product/solution design, marketing planning); presenting (and varia- may be a viable path. and business strategy. tions related to presentation skills, “Business intelligence” job post- presenting to executive audiences ings often specify classic market Any guesses? Senior Advisor, Market and presenting for impact); and cus- research skills. Thus, for example, Intelligence. tomer loyalty (which has the added someone seeking a career path that There are many job openings – and problem of being used to mean at specializes in using research to in- hot career paths – that leverage mar- least two different things). form product development/product keting research skills but they have roadmap strategy may find their next new (and diverse) job titles. The core great job is in business intelligence. phrases in Table 2 represent the top Consider the following description 15 phrases. The challenge is that they

28 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com Take a fresh look Understand that traditional Anyone who cares about advancing boundaries are blurring, especially their career (or the career of some- those between market research, busi- one else) in this space needs to take ness intelligence and customer analyt- a fresh look: What are the current ics. You next great job opportunity may career path options? What are the be in a new department or at least a skill requirements? differently-integrated one. Based on this research, I see some Be ready to brag. As a profes- great news: There are many opportu- sional researcher, you have awesome nities out there. Still, to successfully skills that are needed in the new pursue many of them, you need to be blended world of all things data. clear about which ones you want – For example, did you know there is you may need to (perhaps just lightly) widespread angst about the lack of update your skills, credentials and ROI for many big data projects? And network to get there. that it is often attributed to lack of Some final thoughts: clarity around project goals? That is a You can’t do it all. You will have classic client management skill – and to make a choice: Do you want to be one many professional marketing re- are modified in very diverse ways. a generalist or a specialist? Which search and customer insights profes- There are openings for Junior Brand would you rather be? Or do you fore- sionals have mastered. Analyst and for Brand Managers that see an evolution – perhaps starting in I hope this research helps you to have job requirements that intersect one role and evolving to another? refresh your career assumptions. heavily with those of many marketing Don’t get hung up on language – research and consumer insights pro- especially “research” versus “insights” Kathryn Korostoff is founder and lead instructor at Research Rockstar LLC, fessionals. Consider it a slot-machine versus “intelligence” – when looking a Southborough, Mass., marketing approach to job titles: Pull the lever for job postings. Titles can be very research training and staffing services and see what comes up! (Note: The misleading. Searching for skills may be firm. She can be reached at kkorostoff@ items are sorted alphabetically, not a better way to find openings that align researchrockstar.com. by volume of job postings.) with your credentials and interests.

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www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 29 case studydy

snapshot

The Indianapolis Museum of Art sought growth through a deeper understanding of its role in visitors’ lives.

••• innovation research

It’s no secret that museum attendance in the U.S. is in decline among everyone but the 65+ set. People are Moving busier than ever and competition for their free time is encroaching from all sides, whether it’s other cultural venues, alternative out-of-home activities or simply the Iallure of staying home and binging on Netflix. How does beyond the a museum remain relevant – and grow – in today’s dis- traction-filled digital age? The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) took on this vexing question in a unique way: functional by hiring a research agency to conduct a museum study using a methodology it typically applies to consumer How an art museum used the business brands. That agency was Chicago-based Halverson Group and that methodology is called Jobs to Be Won. concept of “jobs to be done” to segment and Instead of taking the familiar path of audience re- expand its audience. search – focusing, for example, on member and visitor perceptions of cultural institutions – Halverson Group | By Ron Halverson and Mindy Cultra broadened the IMA’s competitive set beyond other cul- tural institutions, focusing on all the life situations that motivate people to seek leisure activities of any kind. This

30 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com quirks.com/articles/2017/20170807.aspx

is because a key tenet of Jobs to Be Won is to break through typical category walls and put one’s organization into the shoes of people navigating their busy, complex lives. The ap- proach is to ask: What jobs do people need to get done in their lives and how can my product or service get “hired” for these jobs? Derived through survey design, a job to be won is a job that is winna- ble, viable and valuable enough for an organi- zation to pursue for growth. And, in many cases, it makes sense to Figure 1: Research helped boil down hundreds of motivations to eight core jobs. go after more than just one job. It’s important to note that the hires people make to The first step in the study was to identify the fulfill the jobs in their lives are not purely functional broader jobs of leisure. What are people hiring leisure – they are rooted in deeper motivations. For example, activities to do for them? Next, Halverson overlaid these we don’t hire lawn mowers to cut grass; instead, we jobs on the IMA’s current and future states. Was the hire them to keep up with the Joneses or take care of IMA being hired to do people’s leisure jobs as often as it our homes. This emphasis on motivations is essential could be? What jobs was the IMA doing well (and which because while people often change the solutions to the could it do even better)? Importantly, what jobs was jobs they are seeking to get done (for example, they can the IMA fulfilling for current IMA members (key to not fire their lawn mower and hire a service to cut their alienating a small but powerful segment)? Finally, what grass), their original motivations remain consistent. jobs could it go after to increase its audience base (that Viewing their products or services through a user’s mo- is, from what other leisure activities that do the same tivational lens can help businesses implement smarter job could the IMA steal visits)? The study for the IMA and more enduring innovations, as well as develop more led to just these answers. relevant marketing strategies. Act in certain ways Energize and direct Decisions about leisure activities are, for the most part, So, to reiterate: jobs are the motivations that energize and based on our everyday situations and the mood state direct people’s behaviors in the context of the situations we’re in, which motivate us to act in certain ways. Just in their lives. Now let’s bring it back to the art museum. as we may hire a lawn mower (yes, that lawn mower) to What jobs might people hire an art museum do for them? help us in our quest to be upstanding property owners, Remember, it’s not “show them art” – that’s a function. we hire activities and destinations to do jobs for us in a (As we established above with that ill-fated lawn mower, variety of life circumstances – we have kids to entertain, functional solutions do not have the staying power of those we want to breathe fresh, clean air after a long week at that tap into people’s deeper moods and emotions.) What work or we want to learn something new. motivation-based job(s) could an art museum do for visitors? Researchers at Halverson Group surveyed more than To thrive in today’s world, the IMA needed to find out. 1,000 people in the Indianapolis area and adjacent states the zoo to the movies as solutions. So where did the IMA fit in The eight this picture? When it first hired Halverson Group, the IMA was firmly anchored in Purposeful Pause (and Jobs of Leisure that was where its members liked it). But Purposeful Pause activities only made up 10 percent of all leisure Outdoor Escape: Connect with the outdoors, fi nd a change of scenery, activities that people hired in a year. move your body while relaxing your mind in a slow-paced natural environ- What if, in addition to Purposeful ment. Pause, the IMA could get itself hired for jobs sought after by a larger seg- Purposeful Play: Be playful while expanding one’s mind. Do something ment of Indianapolitans? Pushing into jobs that more people were look- that everyone can agree upon – allowing everyone to have fun, create fond ing to get done could attract a new memories and make an impression. audience. Purposeful Play, in which Indianapolis folks were spending 14 Purposeful Pause: Seek tranquility where it’s possible to get away from percent of their leisure time over the it all, relax and unwind by immersing in a passion, observing beauty and ap- course of a year, was a viable place to preciating culture and the arts. grow – a job to be won for the IMA. Social Celebration, sought after 16 percent of the time, was worth IMA’s Mental Reboot: Renew yourself and nurture the spirit by seeking indi- consideration as well. vidual time in a slow-paced environment to think and refl ect, often involving Understanding the jobs of leisure outdoor activity. helped IMA explore viable territories for growth. The next step was to turn Pure Fun: Indulge yourself and others with the lighter side of life, pro- these jobs to be done into jobs to be won by the IMA through developing voke laughter and fun without having to think too deeply. actionable strategies for growth.

Social Celebration: Energize and excite through an adventure that is out Three-part growth strategy of the ordinary and indulgent in a way that inspires and feels young at heart Halverson Group used the Jobs of in a fast-paced, social setting – focused on needs and desires, not obliga- Leisure framework to help the IMA tions. develop a three-part growth strategy. 1. Protect and nurture its base. Along for the Ride: Do something for no good reason other than to As mentioned above, at the time be social and feel a sense of belonging, where you can almost picture one Halverson Group was engaged by person asking “What do you want to do?” and another responding, “I don’t the IMA, the museum was firmly know, what do you want to do?” anchored in fulfilling the job of Purposeful Pause. By adding programming that would fulfill Current and Connected: Seek intellectual stimulation and personal chal- this job for members and current lenge while staying up-to-date and learning about a subject to feel mature visitors in more life situations, and wise, connecting with others and meeting new people. the IMA would protect and grow its membership. To activate this strategy, the IMA reinvented and to find out what situations lead them hire Indianapolis metro-area activi- expanded its Summer and Winter to seek leisure, what they hope to ties to do for them, from providing Nights film series to steal even get out of it and the activities and Pure Fun to a chance to go Along for more visits from movie outings, destinations they turn to. The deeper the Ride. (See sidebar for a list of all which make up a major competitive motivations they uncovered ranged eight jobs.) Halverson Group overlaid share of the Purposeful Pause job. from “I want to feel sophisticated the various leisure activities in the and refined” to “I want to create a Indianapolis area with the jobs these 2. Lure new audiences. Halverson tradition” to “I want to act like a kid activities are most often hired to do. Group also recommended that the again” and so on. The research showed that, in a given IMA broaden programming to cap- Through multivariate analyses, year, Indianapolitans were most often ture the more frequent Purposeful Halverson Group boiled down the seeking to hire activities for a Mental Play life situations to expand its hundreds of motivations to eight Reboot or a Social Celebration. And audience, while staying true to its core jobs (Figure 1) that people could they were turning to everything from mission. From the research, the

32 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com IMA had learned that the interac- introducing the IMA to a vast new interested in ‘purposeful play.’ That’s tive exhibits that were currently audience that was interested in ful- going to require us to continue to at the museum did not equal filling the jobs of Social Celebration push the envelope. We want to be go- “play” in people’s minds, so to and Pure Fun. This past winter, ing in that same direction while still steal visits from other providers of with its Winter Solstice celebra- doing enough of the traditional mate- Purposeful Play, the museum had tion, the IMA edged in on the job rial so core audiences still feel it’s the to lead with fun. Not long after of Social Celebration, competing IMA they always loved.” Halverson Group completed its with other destinations that attract Just as artists get more notice study with the IMA, the museum families who want to unplug and when they are willing to push created a mini-golf course with appreciate the lighter side of life. boundaries, so are cultural institu- holes designed by local artists, bet- tions more likely to be given more ter fulfilling the job of Purposeful Grew by almost 70 percent consideration when they think Play. This new initiative allowed The larger point is, by understanding outside that typical box called “our the museum to keep its core audi- the jobs to be done in people’s lives competition.” In fact, getting out of ence and fulfill their desired job, and strategically identifying which that box is something all organiza- while simultaneously stealing ones the IMA can get hired to do, the tions can benefit from doing. Out-of- visits away from, for example, IMA is winning new jobs. Despite the-box ideas can be abundant but the zoo (another destination that implementing an $18 admission knowing which ones will pan out can fulfills Purposeful Play). charge (the museum was previously be paralyzing. Identifying jobs to be free), membership grew by almost 70 won cuts through the uncertainty to 3. Drive awareness and consider- percent in one year. It’s not surpris- help stakeholders align around a few ation. The third recommendation ing, then, that one of the biggest pro- high-probability growth strategies. was to strategically recruit the ponents of the Jobs to Be Won work broader community to the IMA is Charles Venable, the Indianapolis Ron Halverson is president of the Chicago-based strategic agency through special seasonal events Museum of Art’s CEO, who, after the Halverson Group. He can be reached at anchored by key holidays and social research was completed, told the [email protected]. celebrations. These events would Indianapolis Business Journal, “We’re Mindy Cultra is managing director at lead to dramatic increases in visits looking at how to get people here who Halverson Group. She can be reached at for non-core programming, while want large social gatherings – people [email protected].

*

www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 33 ••• research careers Living up to the name From ’marketing researcher’ to ‘insights professional’

| By Carol Shea

snapshot While many corporate marketing research professionals have begun referring to themselves and their industry using the term “insights” (or, at the very least, they have increased their emphasis on delivering insights and not just data), a Boston Consulting Group study found that business The author draws leadership doesn’t think that their insights personnel understand business issues. Further, these from an industry leaders think their researchers don’t consistently answer the “so what” about the data they pro- vide and don’t translate research results into actionable business recommendations. study to propose five WIn addition, the 2016 Quirk’s Corporate Researcher Report identified the pain points and chal- behaviors that will lenges facing client-side insights professionals. The three top issues were: “too many projects for our staff,” “too many projects for our budget” and, most critically, “not being able to get insights help researchers evolve acted on.” Research results not being acted on is an incredible waste of resources that torpedoes with the needs of their ROI in an environment where budget and staffing is already tight. These critical problems require us to rethink not just what we call ourselves and the industry end clients. but how we conceptualize our roles and our departments in order to increase the value of the insights function and protect budgets. This article provides background into why these problems exist and share our vision for addressing them.

Critical pivot point A quick historical recap of the marketing research profession1 identifies how we reached this critical pivot point. Era 1: Pioneer era – 1900 to 1950 The birth of the marketing research field began at the turn of the 20th century with pioneers like George Gallup and Elmo Roper bringing door-to-door survey research methods to connect marketers to consumers. Era 2: Survey era – 1950 to early 2000s This era brought scientific rigor in sampling and new analytical techniques. Phone became the mainstream way to reach consumers and online research and qualitative research were born. The

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REGISTER NOW! Call +1-706-542-3537 Õ marketresearchcourses.org marketing research function within com- sultative partners with business clients data and drawing on other sources of infor- panies became well established and grew. versus simply project managers. Some of mation in our analyses.” Throughout these first two eras, the positive trends include: • The third quote emphasizes a theme marketing research’s role was to answer of hiring the right talent – “If you hire questions as they arose within the • In the early 2000s, researchers rec- based on strategic thinking and curiosity, the organization: How should we price this ognized the need to be more strategic rest should take care of itself.” While we product? Are consumers satisfied with and consultative. Industry articles agree that you need baseline talents our service? Why is the competition envisioned researchers as knowledge and motivations to succeed in any job, growing while we are not? curators, moving from reporting re- we shouldn’t undervalue the human Thus, the management of the re- sults to pulling together insights from capacity to learn, which this third search function was largely focused on many sources to create a well-rounded philosophy appears to do. the management of research projects to understanding of consumers that our answer these questions. Research direc- clients require. Corporate marketing While these techniques work to tors sought to optimize each phase of the research departments and job descrip- slowly build strategic and consultative process: designing, conducting, analyzing tions started changing their names to insights departments, they do not work and presenting research studies. They include “insights.” fast enough for a profession facing the sought better analytical (e.g., multivari- problems and pressures identified at ate methods), consumer connection (from • However, it wasn’t until about 2010 the start of this article. Lean (staff and door-to-door to online) and logistical (e.g., that the term insights became the budget) insights departments mean sampling, field recruiting) techniques. mainstream way to refer to our field. In that leadership doesn’t have much time Overall, the research function’s role that year, Forrester Research industry to mentor and quickly build these skills was to deliver knowledge to management. predictions began referring to the mar- among new researchers and company Era 3: Insights era – 2010 to now keting research function as the insights management is not patient. Rapid technological and societal function. The American Marketing Too many insights departments are change bring us closer to the consumer Association changed Marketing Research still functioning with an Era 2 mind-set. than ever with online panels, mobile and magazine to Insights magazine in New researchers are well trained in re- social research techniques. Studies that 2013 and the Marketing Research search methods but lack an understanding used to take months in Era 2 now take Association/CASRO merger has brought of how to be strategic and consultative. weeks. Simultaneously, the growing recog- us the new Insights Association. Of course, it is essential to effectively nition of the importance of and the ability manage projects, but how can one be to collect and analyze large consumer Having conducted over 30 in-depth strategic when the primary goal is mov- behavioral data begins to overshadow our interviews with senior insights leaders ing from one phase of a study to another? reliance on traditional research tech- from a wide variety of Fortune 500 corpo- There is no clear and comprehensive niques. Big data is the “knight in shining rate teams in CPG, health care, finance, development path for moving an Era 2 armor” for many companies and corporate technology, services and others, our firm, project management-focused research research departments have shrunk. InsightsCentral, learned that throughout department to an Era 3 consultative, stra- In Era 3, management still needs this last decade, many researchers have tegically-focused insights department. questions answered but they have new successfully elevated their organizational partners and tools to provide insights. roles to strategic insights partners. They New model needed They are awash in information and have done so based on years of experience A new management model for strategic frustrated that they don’t often enough with a wide variety of management chal- skills-building is needed to help directors understand the “so what” about the lenges, multiple research methods and train staff and help individual research- data nor receive actionable business great mentorship. These insights leaders ers build these new skills more quickly. recommendations. shared their proven techniques for build- So, our firm’s team collaborated with The expectation about the research ing strategic skills among their staff and sharp-minded, big-thinking insights and department deliverable has changed. they tended to fall into three camps – as marketing professionals from success- Knowledge is no longer enough. exemplified in these quotes: ful Fortune 500 companies to define the Management expects insights depart- specific skills and behaviors required for ments to recommend actions as well. • The first quote emphasizes understand- insights professionals to be more consulta- Yet, the management of the market- ing and aligning with the business driv- tive and strategic as is required in Era 3. ing research function is still research ers – “Prioritization and focus on key business To validate the specific behaviors and study-focused and based on methods cre- questions by partnering with stakeholders before, skills identified through our qualita- ated during the first two eras where our during and after research to create alignment tive process, we designed and fielded a management role was best described as on approach, insights and recommendations.” validation study in partnership with the project direction. • The second quote emphasizes the Insights Association. Over 300 corporate need to synthesize data and not be insights professionals, the majority of Profession has made strides overly primary research focused to the whom were in management, participated It’s important to note that in the last exclusion of other techniques. It’s not in the study in 2016. decade or so the insights profession has either/or it’s AND. “We have an emphasis First, we asked all 300-plus corporate made strides in becoming strategic, con- on integrated analysis, going past the primary insights professionals the importance of

36 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com being strategic. After all, we had assumed this to be the case from the large amount of secondary and qualitative research we conducted but we wanted to ensure we weren’t overstating the need. Based on the response, there isn’t any overstate- ment. Every participant, all 100 percent of the insights professionals, agreed that being more strategic was important to the profession (when was the last time you saw 100 percent in ANY result?). In addition, nine out of 10 respon- dents agreed that improving strategic skills is important. But how can that hap- pen more quickly? Even with the methods described in the quoted statements above, corporate research professionals told us that im- proving the strategic skills of researchers is a tough job, as evidenced by the agree- ment levels to these statements:

Improving researcher/insights personnel strategic skill performance is challenging: 73 percent

Your current methods for developing researcher/ insights professional actionable strategic skills are NOT adequate: 61 percent

Your organization does NOT provide the support would be exhibited by a strategic, consul- as insights professionals by: defining (e.g., time, budget, resources) to build and apply tative insights professional. best-in-class strategic skills so that strategic thinking skills: 48 percent In the last decade, the insights profes- insights directors can more objectively sion has made some progress from being assess and develop their team members; In essence, many professionals viewed as project managers to consulta- and providing individual insights profes- agree that we don’t have the support tive partners. But, as indicated by the sionals with a blueprint for building or techniques in place to rapidly build facts shared at the start of this article their own strategic abilities. these skills. InsightsCentral contends and the results of our own analysis, there Models, structured processes and job that one fundamental barrier is a lack is a long way to go for us to live up to the aids can provide the blueprint individuals of clarity around the definition and ex- name of “insights professionals.” Too need to achieve excellence by being more pectations of performing strategically. many executives have low confidence in strategic. These types of tools can reduce The professional literature describes marketing insights and don’t consistently training time and build sustainable learn- qualities such as being “consultative,” act on our deliverables. While it’s true ing by allowing employees to learn more “proactive” and “better storytellers” that business leaders and the insights efficiently on-the-job. For insights man- as contributing to strategic skills. team need to align on business objectives agement, these tools streamline processes However, these vague qualities make it and how best to use research learnings, and makes delegating easier. difficult for insights leaders to improve the onus is on insights professionals to By incorporating new management the strategic abilities of their staff. make that happen or we’ll continue to see models, structured processes and job Our team concluded that a better defi- our departments and budgets cut. aids that support the ability to be more nition of Era 3 strategic skills and a path As an industry, we need to develop strategic and consultative in our roles, for building strategic skills that will move new ways of speeding up the strategic insights professionals can reduce the risk all insights professionals firmly into that skills development of insights profession- of research results sitting on a shelf un- era were critically needed. Therefore, als and shift how the organization views used and effectively bring the voice of the based on the results of our qualitative the department’s role towards being a customer to critical business decisions. and quantitative research, we developed strategic partner. the Era 3 model for managers to use to Management models that incorpo- Carol L. Shea is president of InsightsCentral Inc., a Cincinnati research firm. She can develop their staff and individuals to use rate structured processes and job aids, be reached at 513-321-1261 or at carol@ to improve their skills. such as the balanced business scorecard, insightscentral.com. The Era 3 model (Figure 1) is composed the BCG Matrix and Deming’s PDSA of five primary behaviors and over 150 cycle, are established tools that shape REFERENCES specific skills and competencies. The five the way we think, manage and run our 1 Amended from A Nation of Numbers: The Development of Marketing Research in America by behaviors are defined as shown in the organizations. The Era 3 model likewise Paul Scipione. chart, along with the skill qualities that provides a framework for working smart www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 37 ••• the business of research Don’t jump to conclusions Critical thinking for marketing researchers

| By Terry Grapentine

snapshot In our recent book, Critical Thinking for Marketers: Learn How to Think, Not What to Think, my co-authors David Dwight, David Soorholtz and I focused on helping marketers reason more clearly but the book’s topics are equally useful to marketing researchers. In par- Terry Grapentine ticular, researchers’ application of critical thinking skills not only helps them reason explains how more clearly about marketing research issues but places them in a more valuable posi- tion to help the marketers they serve make better marketing decisions. researchers can learn IIn part, the book describes 60 logical fallacies, which are errors in reasoning, in how to think, not the context of real-world vignettes, drawn from our own experiences. The discussion below presents three such vignettes: Affirming the Consequent, the Ludic Fallacy only what to think, and Appeal to Possibility. to improve marketing Affi rming the Consequent success. Location: Off-site meeting between HR and the sales department. Issue: HR and sales force management are reviewing the results of a sales-training system the company has had in place for 18 months. Tom (human resources VP): “My department has reviewed the sales force’s perfor- mance before and after we deployed the new training system. Sales are up and I, for one, would attribute that to the new training system. What do you think, Brian?” Brian (sales VP): “Well, we spent a lot of time screening different training system companies and it seems we selected the right one. I vote that we continue with the program.” Tom: “I agree, Brian.” Tom and Brian are assuming that the improved performance of the sales force can be attributed to the training program and their inference seems reasonable. If the sales

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38 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com training program is effective and course, you might find this to be a it was not the varying light levels all other factors are held constant, trivial logical fallacy or one that is that affected worker productivity sales would increase. Sales increased; self-evident. After all, we all know but the simple fact that management therefore, the sales training program that “correlation is not causation.” was paying attention to its workers. has been effective. This conclusion Nevertheless, training programs are Dealing with Affirming the may be correct but the logic isn’t. expensive and management should Consequent: When a colleague con- Definition: Affirming the require better justification to ap- fronts you with an argument that af- Consequent is a type of argument prove such expenditures. firms the consequent, employ the fol- that takes the following form: Tom should be looking for mul- lowing two strategies. First, simply Premise: If A is true, then B is true. tiple, empirically-based indicators point out that there are potentially Premise: B is true. that support the belief that the sales multiple causes of B – the conse- Conclusion: Therefore, A is true. training program is working. He quent of whatever A is. Second, help In the above vignette, Tom’s argu- should not just focus on the single your logic-challenged friend think ment takes this form: metric of sales volume if he wants to through the following question: If A Premise: (A) If the sales-training make a strong argument supporting is true, what else should be true in system is effective, then (B) sales his conclusion. addition to B? If you can’t think of will increase. Think of it this way: If the sales- anything, then maybe A is false. Premise: Sales increased (B is true). training system is working, what else Remember, antecedents don’t Conclusion: Therefore, the train- should be true? Example empirical necessarily guarantee consequents. ing system is effective (A is true). indicators that could corroborate Correlation is not causation. However, Tom’s argument is not Tom’s claim might be the following: valid. Validity in this context means After the sales-training program, (1) The Ludic Fallacy that, if his argument’s premises are the percentage of initial prospecting Location: Pharmaceutical market- true, his conclusion is guaranteed to calls that result in a sale increases; ing “war room.” be true. The classic example of this (2) reps follow up on customers’ Issue: Planning the advertising kind of validity, which you probably inquiries quicker; (3) there are rollout of an over-the-counter flu first came across in college, is dem- fewer customer complaints; and (4) remedy prior to the fall flu season. onstrated in the following argument: customers express a higher level of Kevin (senior big data analyst): Premise: All men are mortal. satisfaction with the sales force’s “In one of our recent big data proj- Premise: Socrates is a man. performance. The more relevant evi- ects, we examined tracking the word Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates dence Tom can produce to support his ‘flu’ in Google’s search engine and is mortal. claim, the stronger his argument will found a high correlation between In this example, the premises be that the training program actually people doing Google searches on the are true and, as such, they logically affected sales positively. word ‘flu’ and retail sales.” guarantee the conclusion to be true An important lesson for mar- Laura (VP sales): “Wow, Kevin, – if Socrates is a man and all men keting researchers in this regard that’s an amazing result. Think about are mortal, by definition, Socrates is not to let marketing managers how we can use that information to is mortal. In contrast, the logical believe that a marketing program’s manage inventory at the regional structure of Tom’s argument simply successful outcome means that the level, as well as to fine-tune our does not guarantee his conclusion program was well-designed. Other ads and POS.” to be true because other factors may factors could have played a role, Raechel (logistics analyst): “That’s have caused the sales increase. “If which marketing research can shed a great idea. Our team can work with the sales training system is effec- light on. In this regard, one of the Kevin’s and develop an inventory and tive, then sales will increase” is more famous examples often cited strategy for the next flu Tom’s premise but it is not a truism in marketing research textbooks, in season.” like “All men are mortal.” Tom set it chapters on experimental design, is Laura: “And I’ll schedule a meet- out as a true premise but that does called the Hawthorne Effect. “The ing with our digital group to work not mean it is true. Training is not term was coined in 1958 by Henry with them on honing our digital guaranteed to achieve the results; A. Landsberger when analyzing strategy.” it might and it should but it is not earlier experiments from 1924–32 This invented and abridged a certainty. Sales and training have at the Hawthorne Works [a Western conversation certainly seems plau- a more complex relationship than Electric factory outside Chicago]. sible, given that it is partly true. death and taxes. The Hawthorne Works had commis- Google did publish an article in one Discussion: Sales might have sioned a study to see if their workers of the top scientific journals, Nature, increased, for instance, because of would become more productive in describing how accurately “Google an improving economy, mistakes higher or lower levels of light. The Flu Trends” tracked the spread of made by competitors, changing workers’ productivity seemed to im- that virus in 2008.2 So, about now you consumer tastes or the simple fact prove when changes were made and might be asking, “Where is the fal- that the sales force is 18 months slumped when the study ended.”1 lacy here?” It emerges when we look older and more experienced. Of Subsequent research indicated that at what happened a year after those

40 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com data were analyzed, when the U.S. implications in the forecast; and, • What is measured in marketing flu season seems to have confounded • these models cannot take into research studies is not measured Google’s algorithms. account events that have never hap- without error. For example, survey Definition: Google fell victim to pened – for example, the mortgage respondents are notorious for the Ludic Fallacy, in which highly crisis of 2008. their poor top-of-mind recall in precise (notice, we say “precise” not These factors are especially reporting past brand purchasing “accurate”) statistical and probabilis- relevant to marketers (and it turns behaviors. tic models fail to model the nuances out, pollsters) who rely on marketing of the real world. Google’s estimate research that incorporates high-level And, to underscore the major for the number of cases during the statistical analyses – especially in re- weaknesses of highly precise statisti- 2009 Christmas peak of national flu gard to modeling consumers’ antici- cal models is Taleb’s black swan – the season was almost double that of pated purchasing (or voting) behav- unforeseeable event (i.e., it was once the CDC and some of its state data ior. With respect to these studies, you believed that all swans were white, showed even larger discrepancies. should realize the following: until a black swan – an unforeseeable Discussion: Ludic comes from event – was discovered in Australia). ludus, a Latin word for game and • Researchers cannot measure all Dealing with the Ludic Fallacy: was popularized by Nassim Nicholas facets of all consumer beliefs that How does one, then, ensure that the Taleb in his 2007 book, The Black affect brand choice. Human belief Ludic Fallacy does not infect one’s Swan. In his book, Taleb contends systems are simply too complex. marketing arguments? We have sev- that complex statistical models and “Not everything that counts can be eral suggestions: algorithms – the outputs of which counted” is a quote often attrib- First, all marketing research find- are often used to support marketing uted to Albert Einstein but most ings need to be combined with man- arguments – are inherently biased likely originated from a book writ- agement’s background knowledge. because of the following factors: ten by William Bruce Cameron.3 Ask the question, “Are the research • all relevant information about • There are many factors surround- findings logically consistent with ev- a topic is not in the possession of the ing consumer behavior that are im- erything we know about this subject statistician or the decision maker; possible to measure. For example, matter?” If not, investigate. Don’t let • small changes in the premises how one’s competitors will respond the numbers do the thinking for you. supporting a forecast may have large to a marketing effort. Second, brainstorm alternative

www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 41 scenarios regarding a marketing ef- Conner (brand manager): “The ucts have somewhat higher purchase fort, based on different assumptions. market our shampoo brand competes frequencies.4 However he’s incorrect For example, when launching a new in is ultra-competitive. So Jackie, I in his direction of causation (the product, consider different launch just think we’ll be better off try- large brands advertised their way scenarios based on different com- ing to increase our brand’s market to frequency of use) and, thus, has petitive responses or changes to the share by getting our customers to use inadvertently used the correlation-is- economy. The goal is not necessarily our brand slightly more frequently causation argument as justification to uncover these black swans as it rather than trying to steal brand for his Appeal to Possibility. is to be flexible and adaptive as you share from our competitors.” The interesting facts that Conner determine that not all of the assump- Jackie (CMO): “Either way, Conner, does not know (and have nothing tions on which the launch plan is it’s not going to be easy. Certainly, if to do with this fallacy) are that, built are actually correct. we try to steal share, we’re going to generally, as market share increases Third, as we’ve discussed in have to increase our ad budget.” so does “mental and physical avail- previous vignettes, don’t confuse Conner: “Regardless of the strat- ability” of the product. Compared correlation with causation in any big egy, we’ll need to spend more on to small-share brands, larger-share data or marketing research analysis. advertising. Right now I’m thinking brands have higher consumer aware- If you’re not sure or misinterpret about the strategy for the campaign. ness and physical distribution, what is causing the correlation I think we need a campaign to drive causing a kind of selection effect in between two factors, then you don’t frequency rather than win new cus- which larger market-share brands really understand what can derail tomers. The Nielsen data show that simply capture relatively more heavy that correlation. the customers of the larger market- users than smaller-share brands do.5 Regarding the last point, in share brands purchase their brands So causality goes the other way – in- examining customer satisfaction slightly more frequently than do our creasing frequency of product usage scores and sales for a major power customers. So it is possible to drive does not cause market share growth sports manufacturer, management frequency. And if it’s possible, I’m but market share growth attracts discovered a positive correlation sure we can pull it off.” heavier brand users. between sales and customer satisfac- Jackie: “Well, I can’t think of any In addition to often invoking a tion, which management attributed reason why your suggestion won’t false correlation-causation relation- solely to their product’s quality. Over work. OK, let’s develop a campaign ship, Appeal to Possibility often joins time, as the company grew, these aimed at frequency.” ranks with Appeal to Ignorance for satisfaction scores declined although Just because something is possible its justification – “Well, Action X product quality – as measured by doesn’t mean that it will be true. is possible, and no evidence exists metrics such as warranty claims – Moreover, “possible” is a vague term that refutes my claim!” But lack of stayed constant. The problem was and begs the question, “How possi- evidence is not evidence supporting a that, as the company got larger and ble?” Future events with probabilities proposition. took on more independent distribu- of occurring 1 percent and 99 percent The same is true when combin- tors, the quality of the distributors’ are both “possible,” yet the former ing an Appeal to Possibility with customer service declined. This was is not likely to happen, whereas the an Appeal to Novelty. You often not discovered until some damage latter is more probable. hear Appeal to Novelty when you had been done to the manufacturer’s Definition: Appeal to Possibility go to a marketing research confer- brand equity. Had managers better occurs when someone asserts that ence. Someone is giving a talk about understood what was causing the if X is possible, then X is likely to the latest and greatest bells and initial high customer satisfaction be true. But an Appeal to Possibility whistles. Companies latch onto them scores, they could have been more often appeals to other logical falla- because of their novelty and possi- proactive in screening and managing cies, directly or implicitly, for its bility. What consultant Annie Zelm the independent dealer network. justification. calls the “grapefruit diet strategy” is Again, don’t let the numbers do Discussion: In the above example, one of these fads, in which a firm fo- your thinking. Conner links his Appeal to Possibility cuses on a single strategy – say social to Nielsen data showing that larger media – versus integrating multiple Appeal to Possibility market-share brands are associated strategies to ensure product success. Location: “War room” of a national with higher purchasing frequencies. In general, there is an attempt to consumer products manufacturer and His stated premise is that increas- simplify, and this is how appeals to marketer. ing purchase frequency is something possibility and novelty combine – it Issue: Brand strategists are that the larger brands do through is simple (and romantic) to assume debating plans for increasing the advertising and concludes that it is that the novel approach is working market share of one of their shampoo something they can replicate purely by itself, not that it is part of a more brands. To increase share, should because it is possible. complex mix. Without disciplined they focus on increasing purchase First, Connor is correct is claim- diligence to find the root cause frequency or market penetration? ing that higher market-share prod- through causal analysis, marketers

42 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com often link the desire to believe in TouchPad? Yet, during this same the novel with the desire to believe period, we’ve seen an ever-growing in possibilities and come up with number of marketing conferences, a fashionable me-too strategy that seminars and books dispensing most likely will not work. As dis- advice to marketers on “how to be cussed by Zelm: successful.” A recent Google search “The grapefruit diet has been of “marketing success” turned up 296 around for decades but it seems we million references! still haven’t learned we can’t live How do you explain this paradox? on citrus fruit alone. Nor should We believe that most of these efforts marketers rely entirely on a single to improve business performance while neglect- have failed in one fundamental way: ing others. Some businesses lean so Although many organizations and heavily on social media that they’ve consultants provide excellent advice significantly reduced their efforts in on what to think when formulating inbound marketing, public relations, marketing strategies and tactics, they e-mail marketing, have failed to help today’s marketer and traditional advertising. and marketing researcher know how “Social media offers the obvious to think about these issues. advantages of instant communica- By constantly working to develop tion and direct engagement, so it’s and improve your critical-thinking hardly a passing fad. That said, it’s skills, you’ll avoid falling victim to a mistake to assume your 50,000 the fallacies outlined above and de- ‘likes’ are 50,000 likely rive the most value from the insights clients or that your target audience you gather for your company or will find you on Twitter without be- organization. ing prompted to look. Social media is important but, like all other tactics, Terry Grapentine is an independent marketing research consultant based it’s just one element of a balanced in Ankeny, Iowa. He can be reached at marketing strategy. To be successful, [email protected]. you need to engage your audience across multiple channels online, in REFERENCES person and on paper.”6 1Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Dealing with Appeal to Hawthorne_effect 2 Possibility: Here are two thoughts Ginsberg, J., et al. (2009). “Detecting in- fluenza epidemics using search engine query on how to deal with Appeal to data.” Nature. Retrieved from: http://www. Possibility: nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7232/full/ nature07634.html • Don’t use the word possible; use the 3O’Toole, G. (2010). Not everything word probable. In most cases, this is that counts can be counted. The Quote the more correct term. Most things Investigator. Retrieved from: //quoteinves- tigator.com/2010/05/26/everything-counts- are possible but not everything is einstein/ probable. 4Sharp, B. (2010). How Brands Grow: What • Investigate tacit assumptions. Does Marketers Don’t Know. Chapter 2, Victoria, an Appeal to Possibility implicitly Australia: Oxford University Press. assume another logical fallacy for 5Private correspondence between Byron its justification (e.g., Appeal to Sharp and Terry Grapentine. Sharp also Ignorance or Appeal to Novelty)? discusses this topic on pages 112-113 of his Perform some due diligence of the book (2013), Marketing: Theory, Evidence, Practice. causal link. 6Zelm, A. (2014). “Are these 4 marketing fads dragging your strategy down?” Retrieved Failed in one fundamental way from: http://www.kunocreative.com/blog/ As many as 95 percent of new prod- bid/89613/Are-These-4-Marketing-Fads- uct introductions fail, according Dragging-Your-Strategy-Down to AcuPoll, a Cincinnati research 7Burkitt, Laurie and Bruno K. (2010). “New, firm.7 Do you remember New Coke, improved, and failed.” Forbes.com on NBCNews.com. Retrieved from: http://www. Coors Rocky Mountain Spring nbcnews.com/id/36005036/ns/business- Water, Kellogg’s Breakfast Mates, forbes_com/t/new-improved-failed/#. McDonald’s Arch Deluxe and HP’s V1Xww_krLIU www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 43 ••• new product research Doing the coolhunters one better A case study in sales forecasting

| By George Terhanian, Matt Powell and Jia Guo

snapshot Before Malcolm Gladwell became a super-famous writer, he penned a long article in The New Yorker in 1997 that chronicled the adventures of professional coolhunters searching for the next big thing in the athletic shoe industry. Gladwell wrote about people named The authors explore DeeDee and Baysie who scoured the edgiest streets of big cities everywhere for what how they predicted was hot, before it became mainstream hot. The companies they worked for – Converse, Reebok, others – then placed bets on which shoes to take to market. first-year sales of the BIf you dig deeper, you realize this approach didn’t deliver the goods. As Gladwell Under Armour Curry 2 observed, there’s a fundamental challenge to : “The quicker the chase, the quicker the flight.” In other words, once everyone knows what’s cool, it’s no longer basketball shoe. cool. That’s not a good thing for an athletic shoe manufacturer, particularly when it can take 18 months for a shoe to move from the drawing board to the store shelves. There are other challenges with coolhunting, too. It places a tremendous amount of faith in a small number of so-called experts, which runs counter to today’s more contemporary “wisdom of crowds” philosophy. Why rely on a handful of experts when, through technology, your customers and prospects can be at your near-imme- diate beck and call? So if you’re Converse, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Under Armour or any company trying to make killer products people love, you need to make sure you’ve got a trustworthy way to distinguish the winners from the losers, no matter how you come up with the product ideas. You also need to move fast to account for how quickly fashion trends change. You might even need to plan for a hot category’s imminent decline or even its obsolescence. Before we dive into the specifics, we’ll set the scene, beginning with a brief overview of the athletic shoe market.

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        hot in 2016, with sales up another $900 million to $4.4 billion. For a relatively young brand like Under Armour, the popularity of clas- sics poses an obvious challenge: It’s hard to roll out classic shoes system- atically when you’ve not been around very long. Nike and Adidas, in contrast, are positioned perfectly to exploit the opportunity, as evidenced by the ongoing re-release of various retro Jordan styles and skyrocket- ing sales of the old-school Adidas Grown steadily canvas glory, were about to embark Superstar in 2015 and 2016. Both These should be decent days for on a four-decade market-leading run. brands have got a lot of styles left in athletic shoe manufacturers. The In 2015, as Figure 1 shows, classic the vault, too. market has grown steadily over the kicks like retro basketball and run- past few years, with sales of $17.5 bil- ning shoes were in high demand, Important considerations lion in 2016, a $400 million increase growing in sales from $2.8 to $3.5 Context and culture are important compared to 2015, and a $1.7 billion billion after near-zero growth the considerations for brands that are increase versus 2014. year before. Performance basketball thinking about developing and taking But people’s tastes and prefer- shoes suffered the opposite fate, to market a new shoe. A few years ences change quickly, with fashion barely moving the needle in 2015 ago, for example, shoe companies cycles in sport compressing. These after fabulous $500 million growth to knew that many kids wanted to be a days, a three-year cycle can be a life- $2.3 billion in 2014. Basketball shoes baller or at least look like one. They time. That’s a dramatic decline com- didn’t exactly rebound in 2016, with dreamed about it. They practiced the pared to a decade ago, and a massive sales of $1.9 billion, down $500 mil- moves. They mastered the walk. They one compared to a century ago when lion compared to 2015. And if classics talked the talk. Converse Chuck Taylors, in all their were hot in 2015, then they were red These kids aren’t that much dif- ferent from those of earlier gen- erations. For instance, it’s almost impossible to find a photo of a seri- ous hoopster, or hoopster wannabe, from the 1920s through the 1960s not wearing Chuck Taylors. Then came The global b2b the 1970s, when Adidas arrived on the scene. “If Adidas can make NC State’s David Skywalker Thompson fly, then market research maybe they can make me fly, too,” the kids would say. That’s until they saw Julius Erving in his signature specialists Converse Dr. Js take off from the foul line, shift into mid-flight maneuvers, elevate to the rafters and then throw down a thunderous dunk. Converse Weapons were the brand of choice thereafter. Magic, Bird, Isaiah – they all wore them. When Michael Jordan descended from the Carolina blue sky in the mid-1980s, things really started to change, with the big shoe companies recruiting and rewarding a bevy of basketball superstars – Sir Charles, Patrick Ewing, TMac, Penny Hardaway, Allen Beyond Knowledge Iverson, Reggie Miller, Kobe, KG, Derrick Rose, LeBron, Kevin Durant, www.b2binternationalusa.com Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry, to name several – for signing their names to their shoes.

46 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com measures. (Although Under Armour Table 1: Comparative Performance of the Curry 2 Low vs. Key Competitors and Norms launched the Curry 2 High a bit 1 2 3 4 5 before the Curry 2 Low, we decided to Quintile Ranking 0-20% 21-40% 41-60% (61-80%) 81-100% g produce a first-year forecast for it, as Overall Purchase KD8 C2 Low; C2 High; well. For additional details on meth- Intent LB13 odology, please see the sidebar.) C2 High; LB13; Intensity of Liking Through this process, we learned KD8 C2 Low that you can’t always trust comedi- Price and Value LB13; KD8 C2 Low; C2 High ans or snarky sneakerheads. Despite C2 Low; C2 High; Uniqueness being mocked, the Curry 2 Low LB13; KD8 turned in a slightly stronger concept C2 Low; C2 High; Believability test performance overall than its LB13; KD8 Curry 2 High counterpart. Compared C2 High; LB13; C2 Low Need Fulfi llment to all shoes in our concept-testing KD8 normative database, however, the Better than Curry 2 Low did not stand out. In Competition C2 High C2 Low; KD8 LB13 fact, we identified no hall-of-famers Source: The NPD Group among those we tested, with the Table 2: (Expected) Source of Volume for the Four Shoes LeBron 13 the only one to place in Quintile 4 or 5 in at least one cat- Curry 2 Low Curry 2 High LeBron 13 KD 8 egory (Table 1), which is where you A similar product from Under 16% 14% 6% 10% Armour really need to be for sales to soar. A similar product from Nike 29% 41% 48% 44% Really needs to appeal A similar product from Adidas 10% 7% 13% 10% The dynamics of the basketball A similar product from New Balance 7% 6% 6% 9% shoe market are fascinating, partly A similar product from Reebok 11% 3% 8% 5% because the market is shrinking A similar product from Puma 4% 5% 3% 2% and partly because of Nike’s domi- A similar product from Asics 6% 4% 4% 4% nant presence. Including the Jordan brand, Nike accounts for more than A similar product from a brand not 6% 4% 2% 6% listed 80 percent of unit and dollar sales in the U.S. That’s great for Nike but it Nothing 12% 16% 10% 11% can also present challenges. If Nike Source: The NPD Group introduces a new shoe, then it’s like- ly that a lot of people who’ll buy it Although many kids today still discount dinner crowd. And even are previous Nike buyers. That’s how want to be ballers, it’s less impor- we wondered whether coolhunters it works for a big brand with substan- tant to look like one. That’s a major (if they exist anymore) would start tial market share. If a smaller brand reason for the decline in the per- combing the world’s hippest assisted- like Under Armour rolls out a new formance basketball shoe market. living centers for the next big thing. shoe, however, then that shoe really But basketball shoes are still big But none of that seemed to bother needs to appeal to previous Nike buy- business, with the major brands in Steph. A hand in the face. A slap ers; otherwise, Under Armour won’t a heated competition to sign and on the elbow. A poke in the eye. An grow share. It needs to take sales retain the best players, sometimes elbow to the ribs. He deals with that from its competitors, not itself. for life in LeBron James’ case. Most stuff all the time. They’re “fire,” he So how are these dynamics play- industry analysts also attribute said, when asked about the Chef. ing out? We explored this question Under Armour’s remarkable rise in within our survey by asking respon- the basketball shoe category to its Find out for ourselves dents who expressed interest in buy- relationship with two-time NBA most As much as we’d like to take Steph at ing a particular shoe (among the four valuable player Steph Curry. his word, we decided to find out for tested) what brand they would buy if Speaking of Steph, we heard the ourselves. Through survey research, that shoe were not available. buzz last year during the 2016 NBA we assessed the appeal and then es- As Table 2 shows, Nike would be playoffs about the Chef, the low- timated likely first-year sales of the second choice if any of the four first- cut all-white version of the Under Curry 2 Low basketball shoes – not choice shoes were not available. On Armour Curry 2. Comedian Jimmy only the all-white Chef but its color- the one hand, that’s good news for Kimmel anointed them “a great pair ful siblings, too. We also assessed Nike – it’s part of the reason why of shoes ... whether you are a Steph the Curry 2 High, the Nike LeBron Nike’s the major player in the cat- Curry fan or just a middle school 13 and the Nike KD 8 – all launched e gory. On the other hand, the Curry lunch lady.” Others described them as previously – to understand how they 2 Low and High are (Nike) share the shoe of choice for the early-bird compared to the Curry 2 Low on key stealers. That should please Under www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 47 Armour, not Nike. so long. Nor did we expect Under George Terhanian is chief research and So was the Curry 2 Low “fire”? We Armour and retailers to break from analytics office at The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., research firm. He can forecasted1 the Curry 2 Low to sell the past and cut the Curry 2 Low be reached at george.terhanian@npd. 54,400 units in its first full year in price by about 20 percent at year’s com. Also based in Port Washington, the U.S., a small number compared end and more than double that at Matt Powell is the firm’s vice president, to our forecast of 862,000 first-year the start of the new year. Combined, industry analyst – sports. He can be units for the Curry 2 High. Why these two factors increased Curry 2 reached at [email protected]. such a seemingly low figure for the Low first-year sales to 68,314 units. If Jia Guo is executive director in the Curry 2 Low? There were at least six we had worked directly with Under firm’s Portland, Ore., office. She can be reasons: Armour to produce the Curry 2 Low reached at [email protected]. forecast, rather than making our • More people buy high- than low- own assumptions about the compa- REFERENCES top basketball shoes – that’s just ny’s marketing activities, the input 1We forecasted sales for channels that NPD tracks, only. Our forecasts did not include the way it is. to our forecasting model would have direct-to-consumer sales from the Under Armour • You could not find the Curry 2 been more accurate and our Curry store/e-commerce site. Low in as many places as the other 2 Low forecast would have been 2The rest of the Curry 2 Low line is available shoes we tested. But that may spot on. Had this been a slam dunk online. have been intentional; a success- contest, we’d give our overall effort ful limited-edition product can do a score of eight, possibly nine, out of wonders for a brand. 10, but with room for improvement. Details on the sales forecast • Timing was not quite right. Testing new or enhanced product methodology Under Armour launched the first concepts systematically to estimate To evaluate and compare the four shoes Curry 2 Low in February, after the their sales potential makes a lot fairly, we assigned each survey respondent December holiday buying season of sense, particularly when the – 1,456 men aged 16-65 who purchased and too late to take full advantage resulting evidence informs impor- athletic shoes in the previous 12 months of people’s propensity to buy in tant decisions on price, marketing, – randomly to one of four shoe concepts (specifi cally, shoe descriptions). Between February and March. An October or distribution, production, position- 354 and 378 men with identical or nearly November launch would have been ing, product features and the like. identical characteristics then evaluated preferable from a sales optimiza- Mistakes can be costly. And they’re one shoe concept only. Next, we forecasted tion perspective. easy to come by in the athletic shoe fi rst-year sales, taking into account several factors: • Steph Curry’s performance in the industry – and other industries, too. 2016 NBA finals was less than stel- A rigorous concept test replete with 1. Performance on key, predictive survey lar. That didn’t help shoe sales. a precise forecast of future product measures: purchase intent; intensity • Sales of performance basketball sales is an important safeguard for of liking; price/value; uniqueness; believability; need fulfi llment; better than shoes, overall, were declining, as any company to put in place. competition Figure 1 suggested. Obviously, it’s important to come • It was our understanding at the up with great product ideas, too. 2. Normative information for similar time of the forecast that Under Maybe coolhunters like DeeDee and products in our concept testing database Armour had taken its foot off the Baysie can help, although there are 3. Expected and actual shoe distribution, Curry 2 pedal in preparation for a lot of other ways – more effective using our point-of-sale (POS) data the Curry 3 launch. ones – to generate product ideas today. But when you’re able to put 4. Under Armour’s expected marketing spend Of course, Under Armour may a number (i.e., expected sales) on 5. The size and changing nature of the have factored most of this into its those ideas, as we’ve done here, it athletic shoe market using our POS data, strategy. Case in point: the Chef was makes it much easier to make the and specifi cally, dollar sales, units sold, not available several months after right decisions. average selling price and sales velocity (which you can think of as sales adjusted its launch on the Under Armour Web So what can you learn from test- for distribution) for: the athletic footwear 2 site – it had sold out. So maybe it ing a new concept? Or testing the category since 2013, by month; athletic was indeed “fire,” as Curry pro- actual product – your own or a com- footwear by type (e.g., running shoes, claimed. petitor’s – once it hits the shelves? basketball shoes) since 2013, by month; high- and low-top basketball shoes since Can you forecast sales? Ensure you’re 2013, by month; brand share for Nike, Near-perfect able to stock the shelves to meet ex- Adidas, Under Armour and others So, how did we do? Our Curry 2 High pected demand? Plan for future sce- forecast of 859,991 first-year unit narios? Figure out what people want 6. Past sales performance of similar shoes, using our POS data sales was near-perfect, off by about and need? Identify likely buyers and 2,000 units. Our Curry 2 Low forecast their characteristics? And, in basket- 7. In-market sales performance of of 54,440 unit sales was too conser- ball lingo, “beat your opponent to the each tested shoe, using our POS data, vative, primarily because we did spot”? Absolutely. That’s why we’ve specifi cally: dollar sales, units sold, average selling price and sales velocity since June not expect retailers to keep so many shared this case study. Information. 2015 Curry 2 Low shoes on the shelves for Insight. Intelligence. A 3-pointer.

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eet some of the marketing research individuals and teams Mwho are standing out from the crowd! They are the influencers in the industry who are rising through the ranks because of their innovation, skills and potential, pushing research and insights to be better and faster.

FACES of MARKETING RESEARCH

Data visualization expert

SANFORD BUSSE DATA VISUALIZATION DIRECTOR

ith over 15 years of experience across the globe in delivering interac- His next vision for the research Win data design, analysis and tive dashboards, tailored to the unique landscape is the ongoing development reporting – and now leading the data requirements of research. The bespoke of a new dashboard-design tool cater- visualization eff orts for E-Tabs – San- service brings a wealth of insights to ing to the specific needs of market ford is a market research visionary in researchers’ fingertips, empowers them research, something no other tool does many senses of the word. to tell engaging stories with data and adequately. Get in touch with E-Tabs to As the industry continues to ensures greater efficiencies by reduc- discuss your dashboard needs. embrace effective visualization of data, ing a time- and labor-intensive stage of www.e-tabs.com Sanford acts as shepherd on this jour- research. Any project requiring a dash- 0208 205 4665 ney. Along with his team, he supports board will benefit greatly from consul- [email protected] research agencies and insight teams tation with Sanford and the team.

50 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES of placed to support global pharma from contribution across the company since MARKETING West to East Coast. We shine a light on he joined the Philadelphia office a RESEARCH four of our key faces of research. year ago. Tom’s expertise in individ- Tom Winter has relocated from ual-level choice modelling, segmenta- London to run San Francisco. With 14 tion and price-demand assessments years of experience and a background has helped cement RP’s position as a Global health care in genetics and life sciences, Tom has leader in advanced quantitative tech- established himself as an expert in niques. His background in radio also specialists from immuno-oncology, immunology and means he’s a joy to listen to! virology and been instrumental in Rachel Howard heads up the coast to coast helping shape the launch strategies office in New York and has become of various market-leading products. an expert in emerging markets, hav- Tom loves SF, although work is keeping ing started her career in Singapore. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: CLAIRE him busy, so he’s on the hunt for more Rachel is a keen commentator on the RICHARDSON, DIRECTOR; TOM faces to expand the team! pharmaceutical industry and has NOLTE, HEAD OF BUSINESS Claire Richardson heads up had many articles published in the ANALYTICS NORTH AMERICA; Boston. A seasoned market research trade press, co-presented Webinars RACHEL HOWARD, DIRECTOR; professional, Claire has gained a and spoken at various industry TOM WINTER, DIRECTOR reputation for expertise in patient conferences. With offices on Madi- understanding and recently co-hosted son Avenue, Rachel’s biggest fear is a successful Webinar on patient cen- maxing out her ! esearch Partnership is celebrating tricity with Pharmaceutical Executive. Research Partnership is now hir- R20 years in business this year with She pioneered the use of simulated ing. Visit www.researchpartnership. expansion across the U.S., opening consultations at RP and is a strong com/careers. new offi ces in San Francisco and New proponent of observational research York. With headquarters in Philadel- researchpartnership.com techniques as a means of gaining real- 215-682-9200 phia and a satellite offi ce in Boston, world insights in health care. [email protected] Research Partnership is now expertly Tom Nolte has made a significant www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 51 SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES of MARKETING RESEARCH to manage customer projects. Our company can supply and The Ruby line of research soft- support the various types of Ruby ware was created by market research products offered by Red Centre Soft- professionals who have many years of ware, which include the flagship Research software industry experience with ad hoc and application Ruby Desktop, a profes- tracker studies that are often com- sional crosstabulator; Ruby Laser, solutions expert bined with complex data structures which runs in Windows browsers to prepared with innovative cleaning, provide online access to Ruby Data; TON KOSTER weighting and construct features. RubyGo (designed for tablet display) MANAGING DIRECTOR With the Ruby line, our market and its companion RubyPocket (de- research professionals can provide signed for phones) to provide access modern state-of-the-art Windows- to Ruby online Reports and interac- on Koster is managing director of based software with the same tive Ruby Dashboards. TKnowledge Navigators, a market strength and capabilities as your Contact Ton at Knowledge Navi- research solutions fi rm based in the current software, plus integration gators to help you with a smooth Netherlands that provides expertise with MS office, Visual Studio or transition to Red Centre Software’s and solutions that focus on research, VBA, SPSS and R to provide decks market research solutions. analytics and technology. Ton special- of tables and charts in PowerPoint, izes in providing solutions that help www.knowledge-navigators-research.com Excel, Word or for online interactive www.redcentresoftware.com companies’ data process and analysis deliverables on PC, IPhones, smart- +31(0)653329348 teams that are for instance working phones or tablets. [email protected] with Quantum and Quanvert solu- Along with providing the tions to maintain and update end-cli- software, Knowledge Navigators go ent deliverables. Using Ruby products the extra mile to provide technical by Red Centre Software, Ton can services that support the customer assure your team has the right tools relationship.

52 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES of MARKETING RESEARCH

Passion in social sciences and behavioral economics

MARGARET MUELLER PRESIDENT s a sociology Ph.D. student, AMargaret Mueller learned quickly that academia was not for her. Instead, she had fallen in love with market research – specifi cally the company where she had worked before going back to school. That company: Shapiro+Raj (then known as Leo J. Shapiro & Associates). “It was everything I loved about soci- ology,” Margaret says. “Understand- ing people’s attitudes, motivations and behaviors; what drives them; and why they do what they do.” Over her 14 years at Shapiro+Raj, Margaret has been a driving force of the company’s evolution from traditional mar- ket research to a leading branding and marketing insights company that integrates social sciences and between what people think and feel a real gift for someone who is a social behavioral economics with account and what they actually do.” scientist at heart, but wants to live planning and brand strategy. Now Shapiro+Raj also helps clients pull in the world of business,” she says. as President, Margaret – with CEO together all their disparate data and “Distilling weeks of research down to a Zain Raj – is leading a 60-year-old information, identify the most power- few nuggets of insights into what will company, with a rich history of ful commercially-viable insights and actually have an impact on a client’s rigorous social science-based market craft strategic plans for their brand. business – that’s a real art. And I get research, into the future. “The At the heart of Shapiro+Raj’s to sit at the intersection, between the world is changing so quickly that work are the social sciences and behav- art and the science.” the old ways of operating don’t work ioral economics – Margaret’s intellec- www.shapiroraj.com anymore,” Margaret says. “We are tual passions. But Margaret is happiest 312-321-8293 developing methods and tools that working with clients to solve business [email protected] help our clients connect the dots problems. “This industry has felt like www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 53 SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES of at Forrester and applied it expertly their brand – thus increasing sales MARKETING to his approach to working with and helping make more effective RESEARCH Toluna’s CEM clients. marketing decisions as a result. At Toluna, Cory is responsible for managing client relationships About Toluna for our Customer Experience Mea- Toluna is a leading provider of surement offering. Day-to-day, he real-time digital consumer insights Customer helps leading brands collect voice and empowers companies to brain- relationship expert of the customer feedback in real- storm ideas, uncover new business time, obtain a better understanding opportunities and answer their of customer experiences and senti- questions in real-time. Toluna is CORY LONG, DIRECTOR ment and make expert recommenda- transforming the way marketing CLIENT DEVELOPMENT - tions on how to integrate real-time decisions are made by bringing con- CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE feedback with Toluna’s vast digital sumers and brands together via the MEASUREMENT insights portfolio. This real-time world’s largest social voting commu- feedback empowers companies to re- nity of 13+ million members across ory joined Toluna in 2014, com- act quickly and capitalize on success 68 countries. This real-time access to Cing from Forrester Research. or course-correct efficiently. consumers is coupled with its state- At Forrester, Cory was responsible Since joining in 2014, Cory has of-the-art market research survey for managing client relationships, demonstrated Toluna’s consultative and analytics platform. Toluna has promoting customer satisfaction approach to working with both cur- 21 offices in Europe, North America, and loyalty by demonstrating an rent CEM clients and prospects in Asia Pacific and MENAP. understanding of customers’ critical building and executing the best CEM business issues and delivering prod- www.toluna-group.com solution for their brand from Tolu- 203-834-8585 ucts and services that help clients na’s suite of offerings. This approach [email protected] meet their business objectives. has allowed leading companies to Cory has taken his experience bring customers into the heart of

54 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com SPONSORED CONTENT

and led its mobile business division. Lisa FACES got her start in market research at Har- of ris Interactive, where she helped develop the company’s full-service online project group. She later joined the RESEARCH panel team, focusing on research-on- research, survey methodology, specialty panel development and online user engagement for the Harris Poll Online. Pioneer in Wilding-Brown serves on the boards of the MMRA and UTA’s Master online research of Science in Marketing Research, has presented at various conferences LISA WILDING-BROWN and has published research related to CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER online survey design, online quality and mobile best practices. Lisa chairs a isa Wilding-Brown has been in committee focused on enhancing user Lthe industry since the inception is responsible for panel quality, best experience for the Insights Associa- of online research. Lisa’s specialties practices and sampling methodologies tion’s Online Sampling Forum and is include sampling and survey design, as well as spearheading the fi rm’s DIY an active contributor to the GRBN’s panel development and management, platform scheduled to debut in 2017. participant engagement initiative. online and mobile recruitment and Prior to Innovate, Lisa was part of innovatemr.com full-service mixed-mode fi eld manage- the executive team at uSamp where she 888-229-6664 ment. As Chief Research Offi cer, Lisa developed the company’s global panel [email protected]

FACES expression coding and virtual shop- of ping. This paved the way to innovate MARKETING new shopper metrics from online to RESEARCH brick-and-mortar, helping clients devel- op and optimize through- out the entire shopping process. Under Colin’s leadership, IDG became the first to successfully model Innovating shopper purchase behavior to visual attention research and specializes in solutions for shelf insights, package optimization and con- version measurement. Our approach COLIN VALDISERRI leverages a fusion of quantitative data CO-FOUNDER AND CEO and qualitative intimacy with a team of moderators who were the recipients of the Gold IDEA (Industrial Design n 2004, Colin Valdiserri and Jacob King vational insights, IDG grew to become a Excellence Award) in the research cat- Iformed Informed Decisions Group to diff erentiator in shopper research. egory for highly successful new product focus on non-traditional research meth- IDG uniquely leveraged our con- development and launch. ods centering on the behavioral sciences. sumer science background with new With Colin’s background in consumer www.idg-consulting.com technologies, including mobile eye- 440-454-0399 psychology and Jacob’s expertise obser- tracking, neuro-measurement, micro- [email protected] www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 55 SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES manager for Fieldwork Network and and requires constant and detailed of most recently global project manager communication. She brings this value MARKETING of Fieldwork Network. As the newly- of partnership to her entire team. RESEARCH appointed vice president of Fieldwork “Teamwork is at the heart of every- Network International, Abby leads a thing we do. Creating partnerships team of project management special- with our clients and local vendors is ists set up to cover all time zones. critical to conducting successful re- Fieldwork has fi elded projects in 50 search, particularly across continents. International countries over the past 35+ years. And it makes the job fun.” As global management specialists, fielding specialist Abby and her team handle all aspects About Fieldwork of the fielding process, which includes Fieldwork has been a leader in multi-market proposals, screener world-class marketing research ser- ABBY GOODELL advice and development, overseeing vices and facilities for over 35 years. VICE PRESIDENT, FIELDWORK the recruiting and data collection As market research has expanded from NETWORK INTERNATIONAL process, coordinating local logistics the standard focus group to incorpo- like moderation and translation and rate other methodologies and tech- ielding research in countries ensuring on-site clients are cared for nologies, Fieldwork has expanded with Fall over the world takes a lot of from Bangkok to Barcelona. All of this it. We have 15 research facilities across experience. Abby Goodell has years of concludes with a single consolidated the U.S., a multi-market project man- it. Abby has been with the Fieldwork invoice. Abby and her team make con- agement team that covers the globe organization for 19 years. She started ducting research in far-flung countries and recruiting capabilities for any type as a recruiter in the Fieldwork Denver as smooth and seamless as possible. of project in any location. offi ce and then embraced roles as a cli- Abby particularly enjoys the con- ent services manager, facility director www.fi eldwork.com nections she makes with clients. She 800-863-4353 of the N.Y. offi ce, multi-market project understands that each study is unique abbyg@networkintl.fi eldwork.com

56 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com SPONSORED CONTENT

FACES of MARKETING RESEARCH

Seasoned research professional

ASHLEY CUNNINGHAM- MORRISON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

&C Market Research started as a C“boots on the ground” business over 25 years ago and continues to be a leader in the market research industry today. Craig (president) and Cindy (vice president) have grown the company from the single offi ce they began with to over 45 geograph- ically-dispersed offi ces across the United States in high-traffi c shop- ping centers where C&C can help with all of your F2F data collection needs. We have also built up exten- sive databases over the years which allow us to assist with online market research projects as well. From proj- ects with hard-to-fi nd respondents and small samples to projects with general-population respondents and extremely large samples, C&C can help with them all. With few exceptions, our entire ing all projects, we ensure the high- Craig and Cindy, more affectionately management team started out as est level of quality and communica- mom and dad, with the business. She those “boots on the ground” and tion throughout project completion. began as an interviewer/recruiter worked their way up to the positions Our corporate team, local staff and in the Fort Smith office and after they hold today. This gives us all a facilities, coupled with our propri- graduating college, she managed great understanding of the market etary programming and data trans- the Northwest Arkansas location for research process and what it takes to mission capabilities, have ensured a few years. She now works in the successfully complete a project. Once countless successful projects for our corporate office and from operations a project has been commissioned to clients. to sales, she is involved in all areas of C&C, an experienced project manager Executive Director Ashley the company’s operations. is assigned to manage the day-to-day Cunningham-Morrison is no excep- www.ccmarketresearch.com operations of the project. By having tion to those “boots on the ground.” 479-785-5637 multiple C&C team members watch- From an early age, Ashley helped [email protected]

www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 57 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

••• special advertising section 15 TOP HISPANIC RESEARCH COMPANIES

A consumer’s cultural and ethnic background helps shape many of their beliefs, opinions and ideas. Making up a large and ever- growing percentage of the U.S. population, Hispanic consumers encompass people from various countries and cultural backgrounds who each hold valuable and insightful information for market research. Companies that specialize in Hispanic research can help uncover insights by providing different multicultural research services. These services include the availability of multilingual researchers and moderators who can help recruit and conduct Accurate Market Research in-person and other types of research with non-English-speaking Founded 1999 consumers, as well as provide access to Hispanic consumers Karlene Facey, MBA, CEO in the United States and in Latin American countries. These specialty research companies understand and can advise on conducting research with consumers from different countries with varying cultural ideas and opinions, providing you with diverse and valuable insights from these unique consumer groups. For assistance in conducting research involving Hispanic consumers, Accurate Market Research is a leader in consider these companies. market research to Latin America, North America and the Caribbean. AMR makes use of cutting-edge technology and new market research methodologies. We provide traditional and non-traditional, quantitative and qualitative research, with specialties in online communities, co-creation and other forms of online quirks.com/articles/2017/20170833.aspx research methodologies. Whether it is

58 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Asisa Research Group Founded 1988 | 12 employees Lilian Pagan, CEO; Claudia Guzman, Research Mgr. Founded in 1988, Asisa is a full-service marketing research firm with offices in the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. With technological platforms that can help any enterprise achieve their goals without sacrificing rigorous methodological controls and our large call center and full-service on U.S. Hispanic and Latino popula- facilities in Mexico and the U.S., propri- tions. Key features include extensive etary medical and consumer panels or sample coverage and superior response being the leader in telecommunications research, we offer efficient and cost- effective solutions for our clients’ needs. We provide services in the health care, automotive and cosmetics industries across 50+ countries. Phone 561-948-4354 (U.S.); +52-(55)8421-8949 (Mexico) quality, our agency offers a variety of www.amr-int.com services for qualitative and quantita- tive projects. A staff that combines over 60 years of experience, Asisa is led by a group of scholars and young profession- als in different areas: marketing, busi- ness, technology and psychology. The firm has worked with multinational corporations, governments and social ® rates. Panelists may take surveys by AmeriSpeak Panel organizations (BID, World Bank, ISSP, Web or phone, whichever they prefer; ABA, etc.). (NORC at the University of Chicago) multi-mode panels are far better at Phone 877-333-7939 J. Michael Dennis, AmeriSpeak Executive representing Hispanic and Latino popu- www.asisaresearch.com Director and NORC Senior Vice President lations than online-only panels. Our English- and Spanish-speaking panel Developed by NORC at the University of support team provides strong customer Chicago, AmeriSpeak® is a probability- service to our panelists, assures cul- based household panel designed to be tural sensitivity and privacy and allows representative of the U.S. population. clients to conduct their research in NORC’s AmeriSpeak Latino Panel pro- both languages without hassle. vides a robust, cost-effective, and scien- Phone 312-759-5218 tifically rigorous platform for research amerispeak.norc.org

www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 59 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

C&C Market Research, Inc. Founded 1992 | 700 employees Thomas Morrison, Project Director

C&C Market Creative Consumer Research is CASA Demographics the complete Founded 2005 | 43 employees Research answer to Felipe Viyella, CEO Founded 1976 | 76 employees all your data Patricia Pratt, CEO collection CASA needs. For Demographics over 25 years CCR’s mission leverages a na- our data is to pro- tional qualita- collection vide clients tive panel with specialists accurate, over 100,000 and field locations, coupled with our actionable Hispanics of proprietary programming and data information all accultura- transmission capabilities, have ensured to develop tion levels and countless successful projects for all our strategic language clients. We are the largest privately- solutions. fluency, owned and -operated data collection This includes providing company in the U.S. and have re- expertise recruitment, moderation and full- mained a leader in today’s marketplace conducting research among specific service project management for offline through hard work, ingenuity and a consumer targets, such as Hispanic and online qual studies. Recruitment dedication to quality. During that time, consumers. With the largest Hispanic teams in the 18 largest Hispanic metro we have followed the market demand department in Texas, including bilin- markets, centralized project manage- and strengthened our Hispanic inter- gual supervisors, interviewers, coders ment and over a half dozen special- viewing capabilities across the U.S. We and both male and female moderators, ized moderators nationally. Extensive currently have 18 offices in 13 major CCR can provide a variety of market experience in the automotive, CPG, markets with fully bilingual staff and research studies focused on this impor- financial services, food & beverage, in many cases bilingual managers. We tant consumer. Using in-person and health care, public affairs, TV/radio look forward to helping with your next telephone interviews, CCR has conduct- and e-commerce fields. Our capacity project. ed research projects among Hispanic to organize high-caliber studies and to Phone 479-785-5637 consumers in the U.S., Mexico, Central www.ccmarketresearch.com generate deep insights from consum- America and South America. CCR has ers has made us the go-to firm for a experience across multiple industries, host of leading brand, advertising and including health care, automotive, research partners. financial services and consumer goods. Phone 888-503-2170 extension 1 Phone 281-240-9646 www.casademographics.com www.ccrsurveys.com

60 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Galloway Research Service

Founded 1967 | 40 employees Elisa D. Galloway, CEO

Galloway Research Service is a nationally- recognized consumer and business in- sights provider, delivering high- quality survey research services for over 50 years. Our expert team partners with end users and research providers to deliver fast and reliable solutions to their market insights and research project needs across a full range of methodolo- gies, including focus groups, online, telephone and in-person surveys. From data collection through full-service turnkey studies, we tailor our services to achieve survey and market informa- tion goals in all types of industries. Our survey expertise includes Hispanic, military, medical, business, consumer, nonprofit, tourism and government markets. ket research anthropology), are bilingual in Spanish Phone 210-734-4346 www.gallowayresearch.com projects. We and English, “immersed” in American conduct focus and Hispanic cultures and understand groups, in-depth differences within countries of origin, interviews, across acculturation levels and vs. ethnographic mainstream. interviews and Phone 407-309-2742 and 914-621-1745 shop-along www.ingeniumresearch.com interviews. We have the capac- ity to do it in-person and/or online. We Ingenium Research have experience conducting research in the U.S. and Latin America (includ- Boutique ing Brazil). Our researchers have very Founded 2010 | 4 employees strong credentials. They have rigor- Maria Lucia Parra, CEO ous training and experienced teams (every researcher has at least 15 years Ingenium Research Boutique is a of experience), relevant educational one-stop shop for your total mar- background (psychology, sociology and

www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 61 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

MerkadoTeknia Offerwise Founded 2004 | 30 employees Research and Andrew Lissak, CEO Consulting LLC Founded 2011 | 5 employees Offerwise is Norma A. Mendoza Ph.D., CEO Mo’web GmbH home to the Founded 2004 | 43 employees largest and Herbert Höckel, CEO most represen- tative online Hispanic Mo’web utiliz- panel in the es digitaliza- industry with tion to make a focus on the better market unaccultur- research. In ated/Spanish-speaking segment. All its access recruitment is done in-house using our panels, among proprietary methods, which ensures 1.5 million transparency and consistent quality. respondents Truly a global panel company, we also worldwide, have expansive panels in all of Latin more than America. Our offices across the world 130,000 con- consist of market research profession- sumers and 70,000 B2B respondents als who understand their local cultures are from Hispanic markets. Equipped and the consumers you want to reach. MerkadoTeknia Research and with a diverse set of innovative tools, Talk to our team today and discover the Consulting empowers clients by pro- mo’web conducts national and inter- Offerwise difference! viding nationwide recruitment and national surveys. Mo’web offers the Phone 800-280-4947 consulting services on the Hispanic whole spectrum of classical market www.offerwise.com consumer. We manage qualitative and research. Leading your project as a quantitative research projects from full-service company or as a provider start to finish. From advising clients of selected services only. The company on the best methodologies to crafting was founded in 2004 in Düsseldorf, strategic insights reports, we provide Germany. To this day it is independent a one-stop solution to your research and managed by its founders. needs. We seek to discover unique in- Phone +49 211 8282800 sights based on our deep understand- www.mo-web.net ing of the psychology of the Hispanic consumer. We are driven to efficiently and effectively manage our clients’ projects, delivering the highest qual- Opinion Access Corp. ity of work. And we are committed to Founded 1995 | 400+ employees empowering our clients with cultur- Lance Hoffman, CEO ally-relevant knowledge that leads to desired results. Phone 915-317-9264 Opinion Access Corp. (OAC) is the com- www.merkaconsulting.com pany that everyone comes to for their Hispanic work – even our competitors, because we’ve been mastering survey- ing the U.S. Hispanic market since

62 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com 15 Top Hispanic Research Companies SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

1998. Regarded the highest-quality recruiting, project as one of the management and service, but is also leaders in a visually pleasing and comfortable the industry, facility experience that fuses the lat- OAC has been est in technology and fine design. We Vision Strategy & providing believe these factors combine to give researchers our clients not only the most enjoyable Insights and consul- experience but will also produce the Founded 2013 | 7 employees tants with a most valuable research results. Michele Cordoba, Brenda Lee, Founding Directors one-stop shop Phone 718-222-5600 for all of their www.rruresearch.com data collection and data processing needs for over two decades. Our 350+ CATI interviewing stations alongside our unique online surveying solutions and expert project management enable us to cater to clients with a wide range of varying budgets and goals for both Spencer Research, Inc. multicultural and general-population Founded 1958 | 20+ employees Vision Strategy and Insights is a full- work. Adam Weimer, Vice President service research and strategy firm with Phone 718-729-2728 www.opinionaccess.com 20+ years of experience in the develop- Spencer Research provides full-service ment and implementation of action- market research for the CPG industry, able research studies among general- specializing in the food and beverage market, Hispanic, African-American sector. We’ll assist you every step of the and Asian consumers. At VSI we take way from design to execution and data a ground-up approach to every project, analysis to presentation. With a Ph.D.- led by company principles immersed level psychologist, a home economist in every step of development and and multiple statisticians on staff, our implementation, assuring best-in-class team will help you evaluate all facets quality control and delivery of robust of your research initiative before in- and relevant research results. We vesting your valuable research dollars. provide full-service research services Services include: central location test- across all consumer categories. VSI ing; home use testing; designed experi- has developed proprietary techniques ments; discrimination testing; focus including MulticulturalCompass, an RRU Research – Fusion groups; research on research; claims approach designed to take into account tests; and more. Contact us to find out cultural and category consumption fac- Focus why our personalized services build tors unique to multicultural consumers across the acculturation spectrum. Founded 1975 | 25 employees long-term business relationships. Phone 818-261-8340 Maryanne Livia, President Phone 614-488-3123 www.visionstrategyandinsights.com www.spencerresearch.com

RRU Research has been providing excellence in recruiting and project management nationwide since 1975 and unveiled its NYC research facility, Fusion Focus, in 2013. At RRU, we believe our clients deserve an ex- perience that brings together not only www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 63 n Madison, Wis., researcher Digsite has joined the specialist emerging markets Names of Note appointed Patty team. Sigler as consumer insights director. n Forrester Research Inc., Cambridge, Mass., has appointed three new mem- n MarketVision bers to its board of directors: Dave Research, Boyce, senior vice president, product In Memoriam… Cincinnati, has and strategy, InsideSales.com; Tony n Allan Orman, who founded appointed Rebecca Friscia, independent business consul- Minneapolis-based firm Orman Frey as a research tant; and Yvonne Wassenaar, chief Guidance Research Inc. in 1975, died on associate for the operating officer, Airware. May 25 at the age of 85. field services team Frey and Kyle Crockett- n Toronto-based n Dot Nelems, who helped launch Smith as a research innovation com- and establish Norcross, Ga., research assistant for the in- pany Delvinia has firm Marketing Workshop, died in June formation services promoted the fol- following a long period of illness. team. lowing within its AskingCanadians n Health care re- team: Patrick n In Cherry Hill, N.J., TD Bank has search firm inVibe Prunskus to named Barry Baird as head of customer Labs, Costa Mesa, director of sales; Prunskus experience. Calif., has appoint- Crockett-Smith Theresa Chow ed Sunny Shah as to director of n In Burbank, Calif., JP Richards has vice president of insights. operations; Bosco been promoted to executive vice presi- Morais to op- dent, worldwide marketing and chief n Discovery Communications, Silver erations man- data strategist, Warner Bros. Pictures. Spring, Md., has named Christopher ager; and Michael McGrath as senior vice president, data Theophile to n INGATHER Research & Sensory, Denver, and analytics. McGrath will be based in senior project has appointed Bob Chapin as CEO and the New York office. manager. Jaclyn Carissa Deutscher as general manager. Coker, Delvinia’s n Charlie Wilton, partner at Toronto- finance and Chow n Sweden-based researcher Nepa has based research and marketing con- administrative appointed Ken Peterson as managing sultancy Sklar Wilton & Associates, has coordinator, has also been promoted to director of Nepa USA. been named a fellow of the Marketing manager, finance and administration. Research and Intelligence Association. n Burke, Inc., Cincinnati, has promoted n Cadence Research & Consulting, Thousand Joelle Gwinner and Thomas Mills to n Health care Oaks, Calif., has added Allison Robbins senior vice president, senior consul- research and to its strategy consulting practice as tant, decision sciences. consulting firm senior director. Research Partnership, n Columbia, Md., marketing agency London, has made n Russell Research, East Rutherford, Merkle has appointed Alex Yoder as new appoint- N.J., has appointed Eric Hunter as vice executive vice president, analytics. ments: Anne president of corporate strategy. Cunningham has joined the firm’s n Research services firm Fieldwork European divi- Cunningham has promoted Abby Goodell to vice sion as a director; president of Fieldwork Network Morten Anderson has joined the spe- International. Goodell is based out of quirks.com/articles/2017/20170813.aspx cialist quantitative team as an associate New York City. director; and Director Sue Rees has

64 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com n MFour Mobile Research, Irvine, Calif., n Research firm InsightsNow, Corvallis, has hired Julie Huang as tech lead for n Prosper Insights & Analytics, Ore., has hired Karen Lynch to lead the labs and engineering team, while Worthington, Ohio, has hired John its qualitative and hybrid research Ana Truong and Julian Ramirez have Sydnor as executive vice president and program. joined the operations team as research chief operating officer. manager and fielding expert, respec- n Research Now has hired Fergus Clarke tively. Also, the firm has hired Joseph n New York-based company SIS as regional director of Southeast Asia. Romano as a quality assurance engi- International Research has promoted He will be based in the firm’s Singapore neer, Jefren Inocando as a software Mano Keopraseuth to director of office. engineer, Thomas Lowerre as quality operations, SIS EMEA. The firm has assurance analyst and Brian Lee as also added Melanie Neu as senior n In Prague, social media management software engineer. project manager, market research, and platform Socialbakers has appointed Luca Facoetti as business development Yuval Ben-Itzhak as its new CEO and n In London, re- director. They will all work out of the Martin Huml as its president and COO. searcher Lightspeed London office. has promoted n Toronto-based researcher Hotspex has Leon De Koning n Kara appointed Michael Dorr as managing to vice president, Liebeskind has director of its U.K. business. Dorr is client sales EMEA. joined youth and spearheading the firm’s U.K. expan- Additionally, the family research sion, responsible for building the U.K. following have De Koning firm Smarty Pants, business, establishing an office and been appointed New York, as a further building the company’s brand to lead the firm’s manager. in the U.K. and Europe. new EMEA client Liebeskind verticals: Matt n Reston, Va., n Illumination Research, Cincinnati, has Shepherd will firm comScore has appointed five new hired Jim Miller as VP of quantitative transition his members to its board of directors: Lisa insights and client services. responsibilities Gersh, co-founder of Oxygen Media; to lead the Media Mark Harris, CFO of Hercules Capital n In the U.K., researcher IRI has Client vertical; Inc.; Jacques Kerrest, CFO of Intelsat; launched a new Growth Solutions Claudia Doeland Doeland Joshua Peirez, president of The Dun team to support the company’s clients will lead the & Bradstreet Corporation; and Susan across five focus areas: media strategy Enterprise verti- Riley, former CFO of several apparel and optimization, shopper market- cal; and Andreas and CPG companies. ing effectiveness, price and promo- Wittenberg will tions, in-store activation and range focus on support- n Research consultancy Kelton Global, optimization. Daniel Hunt has joined ing the Market Los Angeles, has hired Kurt Munger as IRI to lead the price and promotions Research Agency vice president of brand and design. practice, while two team members vertical. have been appointed from within n Irvine, Calif., retail technology solu- the business: Carl Carter will lead n Aaron Matthew Stockholm-based Wittenberg tions firm PriceSpider has hired the media practice; and software company Weissberger as vice president of client Webster will lead on in-store acti- Cint has expanded success and operations. vation and range optimization. its global leadership team and has opened a new office in Hong Kong. The n Chicago-based researcher IRI has ap- n New York marketing technol- new hires include: Leandro Margulis, pointed Nishat Mehta as president of ogy firm Tapad has appointed Varun vice president of strategic partner- the IRI Media Center of Excellence. Gudiseva as VP of market develop- ships and alliances in San Francisco; ment and analytics. Ronald Leung, APAC regional vice n Complete Research Connection, Columbus, president of supply; Heather Hughes, Ohio, has hired Lauren Barnett as a n Boston-based research and branding APAC regional vice president of part- project assistant to support its client consultancy Protobrand has appointed nerships and alliances in Hong Kong; services/project management team. Ryan Baum as vice president of re- and Diana Dalsgaard-Johansen, search design and innovation. Baum EMEA vice president of partnerships n Health care communications will be based in New York City. and alliances in London. company Michael J. Hennessy Associates, Cranbury, N.J., has hired 26 recent col- n The Marketing Research Education n Ipsos Marketing, New York, has lege graduates across multiple depart- Foundation has appointed two new appointed Lakshmi Madabhushi as ments, including market research and members to its board of directors: chief innovation officer, a newly- marketing. Carl Rossow, co-founder and COO of created role. Benenson Strategy Group; and Charles www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 65 Dodson, director marketing and cus- n Julia Mair has joined insights tomer experience, A.M. Todd, WFSI, and analytics firm Clarivate Analytics, n Omnichannel data company V12 Data, ADM. Philadelphia, as its CMO. Red Bank, N.J., has appointed Todd Dziedzic as VP of analytics. n Ivan Pollard has been named global n Complete Research Connection, CMO for Minneapolis-based food com- Columbus, Ohio, has added Courtney n Denver-based researcher GutCheck pany General Mills. Stewart and Hannah Baker as interns has added three new members to its for the summer. The internships team: Keith Johnson as chief prod- n Data and analytics company Samba are part of the Project Lead the Way uct officer; Shawn Vaughn as execu- TV, San Francisco, has appointed Jen STEM Program, which is sponsored by tive vice president of sales and client Whalen as vice president of marketing. Columbus City Schools. services; and Josh Ashton as vice president of people operations. n U.K. research n Research firm Marketing Workshop, agency Join the Atlanta, has added Julia M. Platt as an n Boca Raton, Fla., firm Connected Dots has appointed intern for the summer. Research & Consulting has added two new Leslie Butterfield hires: Sari Kaplan as director of pa- as non-executive n Westport, Conn.-based researcher tient engagement and Shawn Monroe chair of the board. Critical Mix has hired the following: as panel and programming manager. Courtney Alexander as customer n U.K. research development associate, Dallas; Tacie n Emeryville, Calif., health care analyt- agency Habit5 has Avedikian as director, customer devel- ics firm MedeAnalytics has appointed Butterfi eld appointed Hannah opment, Clovis, Calif.; Joe Trapani as Paul Kaiser as CEO. Green as head of enterprise data architect, Wellington, insight. Fla.; Kelly Alessandrini as customer n Research & Marketing Strategies Inc., development associate, Perrysburg, Baldwinsville, N.Y., has appointed n San Diego-based polling firm Ohio; Carl Nielson as director, cus- Shannon Beebe as health care trans- Competitive Edge Research has hired Jenny tomer development, Daniel Island, formation specialist and Josh Elander Holland as a research analyst. S.C.; and Mellissa Hill as director, as research associate. customer development, Toronto.

66 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com

join 5by5 as vice president of research folio of acquired offices in the U.K., Research and organizational strategy. Germany and France. n Private equity fund Stagwell Media Alliances/strategic partnerships Industry News LLC has acquired the Mobile Insights Survey and the Total Communication n In Toronto, market insights firm Survey from New York-based Nielsen, Maru/Matchbox has partnered which will relaunch as HarrisX, a with the Canadian Federation of new market research and consumer Independent Businesses (CFIB) to News notes experience specialist focused on establish the Angus Reid Business telecommunications and smart- Forum, a market research community n Paris-based e-commerce software phone customers. HarrisX will join where CFIB members will be invited company PrestaShop marked its 10th Harris Insights and Analytics, which to participate in online surveys to pro- anniversary on June 15. Stagwell acquired from Nielsen in vide business-to-business insights. Jan. 2017. Dritan Nesho has been ap- n The Marketing Research pointed as CEO of HarrisX. n New York-based data management Education Foundation has given a platform Lotame has formed a strate- $5,000 grant to Children of Promise, n Professional services firm KPMG gic partnership with Stockholm-based a nonprofit in New York that aims Australia has launched a new special- software company Cint, allowing to help children of incarcerated par- ist customer, brand and marketing publishers and advertisers to create ents to break the cycle of inter-gen- advisory venture, led by partner in custom research panels for audi- erational involvement in the crimi- charge Paul Howes, which has ac- ence insights and additional revenue nal justice system. The grant will be quired research firm Acuity Research streams. Lotame clients can use Cint’s used for Children of Promise’s after and Insights. Amanda Hicks, Acuity’s technology to create panels of site school program, which provides aca- founder, has joined KPMG as a part- visitors to conduct tailored research. demic support, hands-on learning, ner, together with her team. The new therapeutic services, arts education business will work with U.K.-based n Digital incentives company and physical fitness. customer experience think tank Rybbon, McLean, Va., has partnered KPMG Nunwood Customer Experience with survey platform Qualtrics, Acquisitions/transactions Excellence Centre. making Rybbon’s survey incentives automation available to Qualtrics n Minneapolis-based advertising n New York-based mobile market- customers. Researchers can tell agency Periscope has acquired ing firm Verve has acquired German Rybbon what reward to send when a Chicago-based data and analytics firm push marketing company matchinguu person completes a Qualtrics survey Anthem Marketing Solutions. The GmbH. Matchinguu’s proximity-based and the reward will be automati- Anthem office will become a full- push and in-app notification prod- cally presented when the survey is service arm of Periscope. Anthem uct will be integrated into the Verve complete. Rewards arrive from the Founder John Keenan will join Velocity platform, allowing Verve’s researcher’s e-mail address with Periscope as EVP/marketing analytics clients to reach European audiences customized branding. and Chris Carroll will be managing with experiences director of the Chicago office. that align with the needs and expecta- n Chicago-based researcher IRI has tions of consumers in the EU. formed a partnership with n Brentwood, Tenn., digital and to measure advertising campaigns on marketing agency 5by5 has acquired n Iselin, N.J., data collection firm the platform. IRI Lift for Pinterest, Sightline Research + Strategies. Schlesinger Associates has acquired an advertising measurement solution, Sightline Founder Mark McPeak will BDI Research (formerly Block de will help marketers determine the Ideas), a research services company impact of their Pinterest campaign based in Barcelona, Spain, with a on driving sales and help identify sister research facility in Madrid. optimization opportunities for will continue under the lift. The solution is expected to launch same brand name and leadership in Q3 2017. quirks.com/articles/2017/20170814.aspx by previous owner, Rosa Dalet. The acquisition adds to Schlesinger’s port- n Singapore-based retail solutions

68 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com firm Trax and Nielsen, New York, a new online system allowing partici- New accounts/projects have formed an alliance to pro- pants in the Professional Researcher vide the FMCG industry with shelf Certification (PRC) program to man- n In New York, radio network insights. The alliance, which will age their activity. The PRC credential Westwood One has selected Nielsen’s first service the U.S. market, will is an objective measure of knowledge Marketing Cloud and its data manage- also provide a new joint solution, and proficiency for research and ana- ment platform, allowing advertisers Shelf Intelligence Suite, which digi- lytics professionals. The new system to make better buying decisions across tizes the shelf and allows brands to automatically tracks all aspects of an Westwood One’s over-the-air radio and have a more frequent and accurate individual PRC’s account, including streaming audio channels. measurement of how their products continuing education credits and an are represented in-store and how it account status that can be reported n Research & Marketing influences their sales. and managed in real-time. Strategies Inc., Baldwinsville, N.Y., has received final approval n Lehi, Utah, customer experience Awards/rankings from Centers for Medicare & software and services firm MaritzCX Medicaid Services to conduct the and consulting firm Protiviti have n Jim Spaeth, co-founder of New Merit-based Incentive Payment aligned to provide companies with a York brand and media metrics consul- System Consumer Assessment of coordinated solution of research, tech- tancy Sequent Partners, has received Healthcare Providers and Systems nology and consulting services for the the Erwin Ephron Demystification Survey for the 2017 performance customer experience space. Award from the Advertising period survey administration. Research Foundation (ARF). The ARF n India-based researcher MRSS India presented Spaeth with the award at its New companies/new divisions/ has formed an alliance with Palo Alto, Audience Measurement Conference. relocations/expansions Calif., data analytics firm ScoreData to streamline analytics in customer n Dirk Mörsdorf, global direc- n MKM Partners, a Stamford, Conn., engagement. tor of Go-to-Market Solutions at equity research, sales and trading Nuremberg, Germany, research com- firm, is expanding its survey capabili- Association/organization news pany GfK, won the 2017 Innovation ties and is rebranding as Quantitative for his work entitled, “GfK Survey Group | QSG. Continuing to be n The QRCA is accepting applications MarketBuilder Voice – Quantitative directed by its Founder Wendy Farina, for its Global Outreach Scholarship Concept Tests on the Basis of Verbal the team has expanded to include for 2018, which aims to involve more Feedback.” The award, given by the professionals with experience in data international qualitative researchers Association of German Market analytics, market research and sales. in opportunities to learn and grow and Social Researchers, recognized outside their home regions. The dead- GfK’s approach that allows new prod- n Research firm Abt Associates has line for applications is Sept. 8. uct and service concepts to be tested opened a new office in Baton Rouge, using an analysis on verbal feedback. La., managed by Principal Associate n The Insights Association, Karim Belhadjali. Washington, D.C., has announced n Toronto marketing and re- its committee leadership. The com- search consultancy Sklar Wilton & n London-based translation and mittees and their respective chairs Associates was named the No. 1 em- language services firm GlobaLexicon include: Jude Olinger for the mem- ployee recommended workplace among has expanded its European bership committee; Peter Milla for small private employers by the Globe Operations Centre in Seville, Spain. the standards committee; Rob Stone and Mail and Morneau Shepell. Since the beginning of the year, the for the government affairs commit- firm says its team in Spain has more tee; Reg Baker for the research qual- n The American Marketing than doubled in size. To support ity advisory board committee; Ginny Association, Chicago, and the growth, the team recently moved to Kevorkian and Alice Butler for the American Marketing Association a larger office in Seville. chapter committee; Tim Hoskins and Foundation have named Lisa Scott Baker for the education com- Bowman, executive vice president n Research provider Consumer mittee; and Dave Rothstein for the and CMO at United Way Worldwide, Opinion Services has opened a benchmarking committee. Separately, as the recipient of the 2017 Nonprofit 6,000-square-foot facility located in the Insights Association has launched Marketer of the Year Award. suburban Seattle, which includes www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 69 classroom- and theater-style seating, by data scientist Mark Sear, will also Facebook’s Marketing Mix Modeling breakout focus rooms and professional focus on predictive analytics for Program, the only such partner firm AV with videostreaming. audience segmentation and engage- headquartered outside the U.S. ment, as well as using artificial intel- n The Bernett Group, a Boston-based ligence for digital advertising and n New York-based digital agency research firm, has opened a new 40- partnerships and systems integration Wunderman has launched a new divi- seat call center in Salt Lake City that between CNNIC and brands, tech sion, Wunderman Commerce, with will deliver phone data collection companies and universities. U.K.-based e-commerce consultancy solutions. Additionally, the company Salmon. The launch allows Wunderman has opened a new office in Austin, n Seattle-based videoconferencing to offer enterprise-level retail and mo- Texas, which will focus on growing its platform Discuss.io has opened its bile commerce capabilities. integrated survey solutions, including first U.K. office in London, led by Tariq mobile phones, online surveys and Mirza, managing director, Europe. Research company earnings/ custom panels. fi nancial news n Stockholm-based research firm n CNN International Commercial Nepa has launched its first U.S. n Consumer insight app OnePulse (CNNIC), responsible for TV news office in New York, led by Ken closed a $2.07 million seed funding channel CNN’s intercontinental Peterson, who was named managing round ahead of its summer 2017 launch commercial operations, has created a director, U.S. The firm will initially in the U.S. The investment round was new audiences and data group, which target retail chains and outlets, led by U.K.-listed agency network Next aims to develop audience measure- with plans to expand to hotels, 15 and Silicon Valley-based Foundation ment metrics to replace its research restaurants, gaming outposts, casi- Capital. The funding comes on top of a function which has relied on indus- nos and sports and entertainment previous round of $1.07 million led by try surveys for audience insight. hotspots. Nepa has also been selected Beacon Capital and BBH ZAG. CNNIC says the new group, headed by Facebook as a partner firm in

70 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review // August 2017 www.quirks.com CALENDAR OF EVENTS ••• can’t-miss activities

AMA will hold its 2017 The Strategy Institute will The American Statistical its 2017 OmniShopper Summer Conference on August hold its for Association will hold the 2017 International event on 4-6 at the San Francisco Financial Services Summit Women in Statistics and Data November 13-15 at Tryp Marriott Marquis in San Europe event on September Science Conference on October Barcelona Apolo Hotel in Francisco. Visit www.ama.org. 21-22 at The Tower Hotel 19-21 in La Jolla, Calif. Visit Barcelona, Spain. Visit in London. Visit www. ww2.amstat.org/meetings/ marketing.knect365.com/ IQPC will hold its CX Week digitalfi nancialmarketing.com. wsds/2017/index.cfm. omnishopper-intl. Canada 2017 event on August 21-24 in Toronto. Visit The Insights Association LIMRA will hold its 2017 The New England Insights cxweekcanada.iqpc.com. will hold its 2017 Insights Annual Conference on October Association will hold its 2017 Leadership Conference on 22-24 at the Gaylord National Fall Conference on November AMSRS will hold its 2017 September 26-28 in Palm Resort and Convention Center 14 at the Conference Center at National Conference on Beach, Fla. Visit www. in National Harbor, Md. Visit Waltham Woods in Waltham, September 7-8 in Sydney. insightsassociation.org/ www.limra.com/annual. Mass. Visit newenglandmra. Visit www.amsrs.com.au/ conference/2017-insights- com/event/neia-2017-fall- conference-information. leadership-conference. KNect365 (IIR) will hold conference. The Market Research Event ESOMAR will hold its 2017 The 2017 PMRG Institute (TMRE) on October 22-25 at MRS will hold its Financial Congress on September 10-13 will be held on October 2-4 the Rosen Shingle Creek in Services Market Research in Amsterdam. Visit www. in New Brunswick, N.J. Visit Orlando, Fla. Visit marketing. conference on November 16 esomar.org. www.pmrg.org. knect365.com/tmre. in London. Visit www.mrs. org.uk. AMA will hold its 2017 Annual NMSBA will hold its Shopper The 2017 Pharma Market Conference on September Brain Conference - Europe Research Conference (Europe) ESOMAR will hold its Big 11-13 at Caesars Palace in Las event on October 5-6 at Hotel will be held on October 24- Data World 2017 event on Vegas. Visit www.ama.org. Casa400 in Amsterdam. Visit 25 in Dusseldorf, Germany. November 27-29 in New York www.shopperbrainconference. Visit europe.pharmamarket City. Visit www.esomar.org. The 2017 Pharma CI USA com/amsterdam. researchconference.com. Conference and Exhibition will be held on September 12- The Merlien Institute will hold Research & Results will hold its 13 at the Hilton Parsippany its Qualitative360 APAC event on annual trade show on October To submit informa- hotel in Parsippany, N.J. Visit October 11-12 in Singapore. 25-26 at the MOC Convention tion on your upcoming usa.pharmaciconference.com. Visit apac.qual360.com. Centre in Munich. Visit www. research-results.com/trade- conference or event for Research Association New IQPC will hold its Call Center show/overview/index.html. Zealand will hold its annual Week (CCW) Fall event on possible inclusion in our conference on September 14 October 16-19 at Horseshoe ESOMAR will hold its Global in Auckland, New Zealand. Bay Resort in Horseshoe Qualitative 2017 event on print and online calen- Visit www.researchassociation. Bay, Texas. Visit www. November 5-7 at the Crowne org.nz/2017-Conference. callcenterweekfall.com. Plaza Porto in Porto, Portugal. dar, e-mail Sara Cady at Visit www.esomar.org. The Strategy Institute will The Insights Association [email protected]. For a hold its Fourth Annual Digital will hold the 2017 Corporate The Merlien Institute will more complete list of up- Customer Experience Strategies Researchers Conference (CRC) hold its MRMW Europe 2017 Summit on September 19-20 at on October 16-18 in Chicago. event on November 8-9 in coming events visit www. the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Visit www.insightsassociation. Berlin. Visit eu.mrmw.net. Park in Chicago. Visit www. org/conference/2017-corporate- quirks.com/events. digitalcustomerexp.com. researchers-conference-crc. KNect365 (IIR) will hold www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 71 SAVE THE DATES!

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www.quirks.com August 2017 // Quirk’s Marketing Research Review 73 ••• Conversations with BEFORE YOU GO corporate researchers 10 minutes with... Liesbeth Wenzel Chief Design Researcher, Milwaukee Tool Corporation

You received your BA in archaeological studies and a BFA in industrial design. How does this background help you in your role at Milwaukee Tool? A big part of what we do as researchers is understand the whole context in which a task is being performed. At Milwaukee Tool this means observing the entire construction job site, understanding all the tasks being performed, interviewing all the stakeholders up and down the chain to understand the pressures and motiva- tions for tool choice and behavior, etc. As an archaeologist, I was trained to look critically at the spatial relationships of structures and artifacts on an excavation site and extrapolate what they meant in terms of the culture; this is essentially what I do every day on the job site. As a designer I was trained in design thinking,

l e which to me is essentially the application of critical thinking to the product devel- z n e opment process. It helps me bridge the gap between understanding what is going on W h et under the surface of a job site and translating that into actionable insights that our sb Lie designers and engineers can solve for.

Describe a time when you successfully used the design-thinking framework. We recently designed a new concrete level at Milwaukee Tool. When we went out to research the topic, we started with very broad questions: “Who uses these tools? What types of applications do they use them on? What do they need to level?” “By keeping track of Our research uncovered that many concrete workers use levels in a completely dif- ferent way than we thought. This allowed us to reframe the project away from de- signing a specific tool to achieving the multiple jobs that tradespeople use the tool what’s coming and to accomplish. We then followed a typical design process: after ideating on ways to achieve those jobs, we created a range of features and rough mock-ups to com- making connections municate the concepts physically. We took those mock-ups back out into the field with the goal not to design the perfect level but to understand which of the needs we identified were most compelling, and to more tightly define design criteria for across product categories, specific features moving forward. After two rounds of research we had the design intent and user needs well-defined and moved the project into our NPD process. I’m happy to say the preliminary feedback from users has been fantastic: We’ve de- we can often identify new signed a tool that matches current behavior in a way that none of our competitors have done. The level will launch this fall. approaches we hadn’t Beyond MR, what are some of your favorite ways to keep up on consumer trends? Conferences. Technology is slowly making its way into the construction industry thought of before.” – and there are lots of conferences that showcase what’s coming. It’s incredibly valu- able to attend these shows to see how other companies are approaching the problems we all see on the job site – not just traditional tool companies but companies in parallel spaces as well. One of the challenges in our industry is staying on top of all of the trends in different categories – new products in pipe-fitting, for instance, are addressing completely different needs than those in job-site lighting. Some of the most forward-thinking work comes out of the mining industry and trickles its way Read the full interview at quirks.com/ articles/2017/20170822.aspx. down. By keeping track of what’s coming and making connections across product categories, we can often identify new approaches we hadn’t thought of before.

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