••• neuromarketing research
Headsets enable neuromarketing data collection during in-depths
IDIs, meet EEGs
South Iselin, N.J., researcher Schlesinger Associates and Interactive Video Productions (IVP), a Morganville, N.J., media company, are partnering to provide an EEG neuromarketing data collection service for in-depth interviews. The procedure is designed to capture the non-verbal emotional responses via brain imaging technology of respondents wearing an IVP MobiLAB headset and to report the emotional traces to the moderator. Post-session, researchers can also log in to a secure online dashboard to access and compare results of their entire EEG neuromarketing study.
www.schlesingerassociates.com
••• entertainment research
Sony and GMI identify India’s music fans
28 segments in 23 cities
Sony Music Entertainment and GMI, a Seattle research firm, have launched the Music India Segmentation Study, comprised of 7,500+ consumers aged 13+ based in 23 cities, each of whom were asked a series of ques-tions around their hobbies and interests, along with their favorite artists, brands, retailers and media outlets. The study has identified 28 consumer segments, given names such as Fanatic, Enthusiast, Casual and Indifferent, corresponding to the importance music has in their lives. The study aims to analyze music discovery patterns across the age groups and the effectiveness of music in marketing and advertising.
www.gmi-mr.com
••• new product research
TRC debuts Idea Mill for product development
Process incorporates game mechanics
TRC Market Research, Philadelphia, is offering the Idea Mill tool, designed to help new product developers and market researchers create 20 effective messages while in the early stages of product development. The process begins with asking the respondents to evaluate a few starter ideas and then asks them to contribute their own ideas. Idea Mill aims to incorporate game mechanics to produce a range of product possibilities and ideas while evaluating them at the same time, ending with identifying the 20 best ideas. The tool can also be used to reexamine existing products. The process takes 10 days or less from start to finish.
www.trchome.com
••• quantitative research
SurveyMonkey Audience goes to Australia
First non-U.S. market with access
SurveyMonkey, Palo Alto, Calif., has released SurveyMonkey Audience in Australia, the first market outside the U.S. with access to the software program. The software is designed to enable Australian companies to target respondents according to key demographics and then survey their preferences and opinions. The company has been recruiting Australian consumer respondents during the past two months by donating 50 cents for each completed survey to a partner charity selected by the respondent.
www.surveymonkey.com/audience
••• social media research
New social network is just for parents
Uses iPhone app
Parenthoods, a San Francisco social network firm, has launched its iPhone app, aimed at creating a social media community for parents. The app is designed to allow users to set up Twitter-like profiles and ask questions, talk about parenting issues, arrange local meetings or buy and sell children’s items from other users. Currently the Parenthoods app is only available for the iPhone and targets the San Francisco area but the owners plan to expand regionally.
parenthoods.co
••• mystery shopping
Mystery worshippers provide feedback on church hospitality
Do newcomers feel welcome?
Faith Perceptions, a research company in Cape Girardeau, Mo., is offering a Mystery Guest Program, aimed at providing market research services to churches wanting to evaluate their hospitality for first-time guests. The program recruits community members who attend services over a period of time and complete a detailed survey. The service can also be used with churches considering capital campaigns or expanding services.
••• shopper insights
TouchStore app connects customer to live agent
From in-store to online
TouchCommerce, an Agoura Hills, Calif., Internet firm, is offering TouchStore, a mobile tool designed to connect store shoppers with smartphones to live agents who can provide information on products and promotions. Retailers place QR code signs with explanations of the live chat option and how it relates to a product or promotion. Customers scan the bar code, which then links them to live chat agents on the retailer or brand’s Web site. The agents can be provided by TouchCommerce or the retailer.
www.touchcommerce.com
••• location-based research
Nearable stickers make tracking anything possible
Use embedded sensors
Nearables, from New York technology firm Estimote, are stickers containing embedded sensors designed to communicate wirelessly with smartphones. They are designed to provide retailers information on how and when objects are picked up and examined by customers or alert users when they have accidently left a briefcase, purse or other object having the Nearable sticker behind. The stickers are designed to work with existing Estimote analytics software.
http://estimote.com/
••• mobile research
Hall & Partners adds video selfies to YourWord
Enhancement to mobile app
London researcher Hall & Partners has added video selfies to its YourWord mobile app. The new feature is designed to allow members of the YourWord community to film short video selfies as they share responses to questions and marketing campaigns. Going beyond basic demographics, the YourWord community is made up of members who are profiled on attributes such as travel preferences, technology and electronic use, hobbies and interests, retail shopping habits and food and beverages choices. Members of the community can participate in a range of surveys using desktop or the mobile app and get to engage with results through social media and more.
www.hallandpartners.com
••• health care research
Research Now panel targets mental health issues in North America
Europe launch planned for late 2014
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has debuted its Mental Health Panel, designed to provide researchers with a targeted audience of 350,000 respondents in the U.S. and Canada. The participants have been diagnosed with one or more of the following: depression, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, narcolepsy, sleep disorder or sleep apnea, and anxiety. Furthermore, researchers have access to over 20,000 caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s and over 7,000 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Research Now plans to launch its Mental Health Panel in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom by the end of 2014.
www.researchnow.com
•••Briefly
- Chicago research firm MedQuery has launched QuickQuest, a project management portal for its clients, designed to facilitate communication between its focus group facility clients and the MedQuery project team. QuickQuest aims to allow the monitoring of important project information, such as incidence reports and respondent profiles and is included in all MedQuery projects at no additional cost.
www.medqueryinc.com/index.php/quickquest - Edinburgh, Scotland, research company Jump Research has outfitted a Jump on the Street mobile research van to gather public opinion and customer feedback on the road. The van is equipped with technology to handle quantitative surveys, qualitative in-depth interviews and vox-pop-style video interviews.
www.jumpresearch.co.uk - Maxus, a New York marketing agency, has launched Resolve, a planning tool designed to use a proprietary consumer survey to examine sentiment toward media channels. The tool aims to suggest the best channels for companies to use, based on their brands and categories.
http://maxusglobal.com/ - New York Internet firm Sailthru has added advanced analytics to its software, which is designed to create interest profiles of customers by tracking their behavior on Web sites, e-mail, mobile and social media. The addi-tions are aimed at allowing marketers to target prospective customers, build personalized Facebook ad campaigns and engage customers via Facebook Custom Audiences.
www.sailthru.com - Research Now, Plano, Texas, has launched a Germany-based panel for women’s health issues. Expansion to the U.S., Canada and the U.K. is planned.
www.researchnow.com - Twitter is testing a new service designed to allow advertisers to specify their campaign objectives, measure if their goals are met and pay only for the results they have selected. Users can opt to measure Web site visits, purchases, followers or app installations and the Twitter Ads system will supply the needed counts.
https://ads.twitter.com - Software AG, Darmstadt, Germany, has launched the Customer Experience Management Solution Accelerator for Retail, aimed at enabling retailers to combine information on customer preferences and previous transactions with current information as to location, weather and social media. Retailers can then forward relevant offers or instant promotions to targeted individuals.
www.softwareag.com - Reston, Va., research company comScore has launched the beta version of Mobile Metrix in Finland. The service is designed to report mobile browser and app audiences on smartphones and tablets, helping media buyers better evaluate advertising opportunities on mobile devices.
www.comscore.com - Borderless Access, a Bangalore, India, research company, has launched new panels in Nigeria and Colombia. It also launched a panel in New Zealand, reflecting its new policy of adding panels to provide access to niche segments within developed countries.
www.borderlessaccess.com - Germany-based GfK Group has launched the Crossmedia Visualizer, a tool which measures use across me-dia and devices. The tool is designed to help clients understand how individuals use their smartphones, tablets and desktop PCs, providing information on smartphone users and how to target groups based on demographics, media behavior and buying patterns.
www.gfk.com - Karchner Marketing Research, Philadelphia, has opened the KMR Research Studio focus group facility.
www.kmrinsights.com - London researcher the Kantar Group and 20|20 Research, Nashville, Tenn., have expanded their working relationship to bring the 20|20 Research QualBoard and QualMeeting software tools to all of Kantar’s operating companies, along with its training and support services.
www.2020research.com/ - Citing the need for marketers with analytics skills, Dayton, Ohio, technology firm Teradata has begun offering online educational resources in data analytics through its Teradata University Network. Videos, articles, whitepapers, infographics and assignments are available.
www.teradata.com - Opera Mediaworks, a San Mateo, Calif., software company, has opened an Innovation Lab, aimed at determining how future consumers will use their mobile devices. Its immediate goals are developing new products to reach future audiences, including methods to target ads according to individuals’ moods or physiological states.
www.operamediaworks.com - TokenAds, a Tel Aviv, Israel, marketing firm, has launched Woobi, a service delivering ads to gamers. The Woobi software is designed to identify individual users’ preferences during gameplay and then deliver ad content at an appropriate time to avoid interrupting the gameplay. The software also aims to select the ads best suited to the individual’s profile and demographics.
www.woobi.com - Brighton, U.K., Internet company Brandwatch has launched Twitter Hindsight, which is designed to provide access to a full history of public tweets as well as current Twitter data.
www.brandwatch.com/hindsight - Wellington, New Zealand, software company Contact Software has designed the harvestyourdata.com site to handle the data captured by both the ISURVEY and droidSURVEY apps. The move to one site is aimed at improving the user experience by providing industry verticals and more information on product uses and features.
www.harvestyourdata.com - New York researcher Ipsos Loyalty has launched Ipsos Loyalty Global Benchmarks, a syndicated study which utilizes data collected since 2004 from Ipsos Loyalty panels. The study is designed to track more than 50 measures of customer engagement for sectors including mobile networks, retail banking, automotive, supermarkets, insurance and energy.
www.ipsos-na.com - Quantcast, a San Francisco Internet firm, has expanded its Quantcast Measure software with Audience Interests, a feature designed to give mobile app developers information as to their audience’s Web history, including Web sites visited and any purchases.
www.quantcast.com - Google is offering a new service, Website Call Conversions, designed to track phone calls made after a user opens a Web site from a Google AdWords ad. The service utilizes code placed on the Web site by the advertiser to determine if a call was made through a phone link in the ad. The tracking report also indicates which keyword and ad generated the call but doesn’t include actual sales or transactions from the Web site calls.
- Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. announced the Russia launch of MMX Multi-Platform, designed to provide digital audience measurement and media planning.
www.comscore.com - Added Value, a London marketing company, has launched Activator, a tracking product designed to integrate data streams of current behavior, marketing forecasts and growth strategies.
http://added-value.com - Facebook has added a tracking feature to its Web site to enable advertisers to track subscribers who interact with ads on mobile apps and Web sites. Advertisers can view the devices on which customers see ads and the devices on which their conversions take place. A recent study by Facebook showed that more than 40 percent of U.S. online adults begin an activity on one device and complete it on another.
- Roy Morgan Research, Melbourne, Australia, has devised the audience dollar value (ADV) measurement tool, which merges readership numbers of newspapers, magazines, TV shows, radio stations and Web sites with the dollar amount those readers spend online. Advertising clients can compare the ADV within or across media types for specific consumer product categories.
www.roymorgan.com