Product and Service Update July/August 2004

MapInfo adds retail and food service data

MapInfo Corporation, Troy , N.Y. , is now offering databases from Chain Store Guide, a source of retail and food service data. This data, combined with MapInfo’s location intelligence software, is designed to provide retailers with an accurate geographic representation of a given trade area, enabling them to assess the competitive landscape and make decisions regarding target marketing and site selection.

The data includes listings and contacts for thousands of stores in the U.S. , including convenience stores, chain drug stores, home centers, discount apparel and department stores, category killers, supermarkets and high-volume restaurants. For more information visit www.mapinfo.com .

Two new recruitment methods for online surveys

New York research firm Dynamic Logic has announced the availability of two new non-pop-up recruitment options, called DynamicLink and DynamicLayer, that invite Internet users to participate in research surveys. Both options are designed to offer more fluid user experiences, improve response rates and increase flexibility for online publishers and advertisers.

DynamicLink is a full-page, interstitial-like unit that uses existing assets on a Web page to lead to a survey invitation. DynamicLayer is a DHTML unit that features customizable time delays. Both techniques appear to every nth visitor of a Web page and can be co-branded. For more information visit www.dynamiclogic.com .

New services from WebSurveyor

Herndon, Va.-based WebSurveyor Corporation has introduced a new set of services to offer assistance in all aspects of the survey lifecycle, from creating surveys to data analysis and reporting. The new offerings are broken into three main areas - consulting, review and execution - and can be purchased separately or as a complete turnkey service.

Consulting: WebSurveyor offers consultations on any aspect of the survey process, including survey creation, e-mail list rental, HTML and text e-mail invitation development, and data analysis and report creation and communication.

Review: For those who are seeking guidance on efforts already underway, WebSurveyor Services will review the survey components completed by a customer, including questions, survey instrument design, survey invitations, list sources, data analysis and reporting, and provide recommendations in a written report.

Execution: WebSurveyor will assist with execution of any aspect of the three main survey components - creation, conducting, and communication of survey results. For more information visit www.websurveyor.com .

Datapedia provides statistical projections to 2050

Bernan Press, Lanham , Md. , has released the third edition of Datapedia of the United States . Now subtitled “American History in Numbers,” this is the first update of Datapedia in nearly three years. Datapedia is a desk reference that continues and enhances the Census Bureau’s discontinued Historical Statistics of the United States from Colonial Times. In addition to statistical coverage reaching back to 1790, this edition of Datapedia also provides statistical projections for selected data series through the year 2050, allowing users to gain an idea of where the American economy and society might be at the middle of the twenty-first century.

The third edition of Datapedia also boasts expanded coverage on a range of topics, including: health and health care; food and nutrition; education and learning; law enforcement, courts and prisons; arts, entertainment, recreation and travel; politics and elections; public finance; and national defense. Each chapter covers a different subject - from agriculture to transportation - and provides statistical tables of national-level data. Narrative highlights help users understand the significance of the historical data series and place the numbers in context. These highlights give information on data sources; explain the importance of certain sets of data; provide supplemental and state-level information; and where appropriate, are accompanied by maps and charts. For more information call 800-865-3457 or visit www.bernanpress.com .

Pulse Train updates three

U.K.-based Pulse Train has updated three of its products. Visual QSL, Pulse Train’s questionnaire design package, facilitates survey design for all paper questionnaires and forms, as well as CATI, CAPI, Web and scanning surveys. Version 3.50-68 includes enhancements such as: improvements in the link between Visual QSL and Bellview Fusion available via the Tools application menu; added support for long filenames for the QSL and schema files when running any tools, simplifying the identification of questionnaires once they are loaded into the Bellview system; Bellview Scan enhancements relating to registration marks and multi-column pages; and an updated dialog for the defining of ON, OFF and FLIP commands, allowing easier selection of categories for script writers.

Version 3.10-00 of Pulsar Web, the firm’s Web reporting and analysis package, includes enhancements/new features such as: a new interface and logos; SPSS MR Data Model (2.8) support; a new charting engine (ChartFX); customizable interface with user levels; and direct export to Microsoft Excel.

Bellview CAPI 5.00-17, Pulse Train’s personal interviewing system, includes: a new BVCAPI.INI parameter; additional features in PLG; a supervisor report displaying unread e-mails; ability to use DEL files to automatically delete sample; and disabling of CTRL+ALT+DEL. For more information visit www.pulsetrain.co.uk .

Ziment tool aims to improve accuracy of primary pharma research

New York research firm Ziment has introduced demand calibration, a research technique for pharmaceutical manufacturers that is designed to improve the accuracy of the primary marketing research used to help build sales and manufacturing forecasts. The new technique will allow for the proper input of customer demand into these forecasts, historically a weak point in the process.

Demand calibration is an algorithm that properly adjusts what is called preference share, the extent to which customers say they will prescribe or use a new product, to a better representation of what will be their actual prescription or use of the product. The algorithm was developed by examining Ziment’s primary research study database formed over 20 years, and comparing preference shares from these studies to the actual performance, in market, of the products that were researched. For more information visit www.ziment.com .

Perseus application supports multiple workgroups

Braintree, Mass.-based software firm Perseus Development Corporation has released Perseus SurveySolutions Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM), a Web-based application that allows enterprise managers to centrally manage and control the survey practices of their organization. It supports multiple workgroups and allows individuals within workgroups to share and review questionnaires and survey results. Importantly, it allows Web-based reporting from a secure, centralized environment. SurveySolutions/EFM also provides respondent panel and invitation management so users can recruit and manage panels through the use of various demographic registration surveys. Surveys can also be created and deployed in multiple languages. The system is fully compatible with Microsoft Office and requires no desktop software. For more information visit www.perseus.com .

Time Series Research Package from GeoLytics

GeoLytics is now offering its Time Series Research Package, which includes all of GeoLytics’ CensusCD products along with its normalized datasets. The upgraded Research Package includes: the complete Research Package on three DVDs; updated and improved census tract, block group, and block boundaries; and an upgraded version of the Map Viewer.

The DVDs are as follows: Disk 1 (Historic Data): CensusCD 1970 Long Form, 1980 Long Form, 1990 Long Form, and 1990 Short Form Blocks. Disk 2 (2000 Short Form & Redistricting): CensusCD 2000 Short Form, 2000 Short Form Blocks, 2000 Redistricting, and 2000 Redistricting Blocks. Disk 3 (Normalized Data): CensusCD 2000 Long Form, Census CD 1990 Long Form in 2000 Boundaries, and the Neighborhood Change Database.

The new DVD upgrade includes revised census tract, block group and block boundaries. The improved boundaries decrease the splintering of files exported into ArcView and MapInfo. There is also an updated version of the map viewer for examining enhanced tract and block group boundaries. For more information visit www.us-census-data.com .

ORC debuts model to measure sports ROI

Opinion Research Corporation, Princeton , N.J. , has launched a new sports marketing research tool: the Return on Sports Investment (ROSI) measurement model. ROSI, which gives insight into the value derived from sponsorships and other sports marketing investments, rounds out the offerings of the company’s full-service ORC Sports Research Desk.

Through an integrated approach of diagnostics and analysis, the ROSI model is designed to go beyond measures like brand awareness and media impressions to provide quantifiable data on measures like active customers, share of wallet and sales. The result is information that sports marketers can use to determine which programs impact equity and sales, to communicate effectively with the right audience and to maximize effectiveness and profitability overall. For more information visit www.opinionresearch.com .

Confirmit gets an update

Oslo-based FIRM has released version 8.5 of its Confirmit online survey and reporting software. Confirmit v8.5 includes a new survey engine built on Microsoft .NET technology and a new version of its reporting platform, Reportal. With Reportal, users can define a master report and provide end users with their own personalized report on the Web or in PowerPoint and Excel formats. New functionality also includes definition of weight models, significance testing and banner (crossbreak) definition for comprehensive crosstabulations. For more information visit www.confirmit.com .

Program lets firms brand survey software

Boston-based research software firm Key Survey has launched its Private Label Partner Program, which is designed to allow any research or consulting firm to brand Key Survey technology as its own while Key Survey manages and hosts the application on its server. In addition to using the application to deploy surveys, private label partners can also sell their own online survey subscriptions under their own brand.  For more information contact Cal Brown at 781-849-8118 or visit www.keysurvey.com .

Firms team to create new online research tool

Three firms, eBrain Market Research, Estco Medical, and Liquid Marketing and Insight, have created imprint, a new online research and communications tool. Imprint combines traditional research methodologies with an interactive interface to replicate real-world focus groups and in-depth interviews online. The differentiator of the imprint tool is its interface. The online imprint research facility is fully graphical. Participants are represented by animated, human-looking characters (which they choose themselves), and have the ability to express things such as laughter, surprise or confusion. Moderators can engage participants with questions, as well as use the technology to demonstrate a variety of exhibit types. Clients can watch the group as it unfolds and have ongoing and immediate access to the moderator as well as other clients. For more information visit www.imprintresearch.com .

New facilities

Research firm the Martec Group has opened a new location at

Briefly…

AllPoints Research Inc., Winston-Salem , N.C. , has formed a new Hispanic data collection division. It will offer bilingual questionnaire design, Web-based surveys and telephone interviewing. For more information visit www.allpointsresearch.com .

Dallas-based Mobile Memoir is now offering a Web extension enabling the company’s Mobile Memoir software, which supports surveys taken over a variety of wireless devices, to connect to conventional PCs. Researchers may utilize any or a combination of devices for data collection. For further information visit www.mobilememoir.com .

Richard K. Miller & Associates, Norcross , Ga. , is now offering the 2004 Entertainment, Media and Advertising Market Research Handbook. Now in its sixth edition, the book has been expanded to 62 chapters and offers an assessment of the media and advertising markets, including television, radio, newspapers, video games, sports marketing, licensing and sponsorships. For more information visit www.marketresearchhandbooks.com .

The NPD Group, Port Washington , N.Y. , has launched the NPD Consumer Electronics Price Watch, a monthly pricing monitor that provides a top-line look into the average selling price of technology products being sold in the U.S. The pricing monitor is based on a market basket of the most frequently purchased electronic products, including televisions, PCs, cameras and media players. For more information visit www.npd.com .