New tool aims to show Acuity4 Social media mining
Voxco, a Montreal research company, has launched Acuity4 Social, a social media monitoring and insights platform designed to allow users to measure what the social Web is saying about their company, products, brands and competitors. The platform aims to tap multiple Web sources and extract the most relevant information based on the chosen topics. Once the information is extracted, Acuity4 Social provides analytics tools and reporting capabilities, including sentiment analysis per category and topic; drill-down from key categories; influencer map/network; objectivity and subjectivity ranking; and identification and ranking of most important topics.
Acuity4 Social is delivered through a software-as-a-service model and is based on natural language processing, machine learning algorithms and semantic analysis. For more information visit www.acuity4.com.
New software sets out to decipher human emotions and facial expressions
Lausanne, Switzerland, research company nViso has released facial imaging software designed to detect and decode facial microexpressions and eye movements. The technology is intended to use these expressions and movements to interpret human emotions, allowing marketers to track and understand the emotional effects triggered by products and brand messages accurately.
NViso uses artificial intelligence and machine learning systems to decipher human emotions. Using a standard Webcam or similar video equipment, nViso tracks over 143 different facial points to identify a range of features and relates them to models developed with facial databases. For more information visit www.nviso.ch.
Lightspeed debuts offering to Engage research participants
Lightspeed Research, Warren, N.J., has debuted Lightspeed Engage, a global market research panel offering designed to provide the flexibility to meet individual client requirements, from custom panels to online communities with peer-to-peer activity and ethnographic analysis. Engage is currently available across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Lightspeed Engage communities, which can be a subset of a larger panel, are facilitated by experts who seed and monitor discussions about trends, values, attitudes and product usage, probing deeper for insight and behaviors as directed by clients. The community feature is intended to help clients understand how brand messages are moving through their consumer base - particularly from brand influencers. For more information visit www.lightspeedresearch.com.
FocusVision enhances InterVu solution
Stamford, Conn., research company FocusVision has released InterVu 2.0, an upgrade to its Webcam-enabled focus group platform with a new project management portal and marking tool. FocusVision’s project management portal is intended to automate respondent Webcam fulfillment and testing as well as provide real-time status into respondent progress. The marking feature is designed to allow users to timestamp key moments in their research. InterVu 2.0 also provides researchers and agencies access to all of FocusVision’s standard capabilities, including clipping, chat, archive, video-synchronized transcripts and audio podcasts. For more information visit www.focusvision.com.
Digital campaign measurement puts panelists on the AdRadar
New York research company Dynamic Logic has released AdRadar, a technology designed to link digital ad exposure to research panels by identifying panelist exposure to digital assets and then providing analysis into how digital marketing activities impact brand equity, consumer behavior and the bottom line.
AdRadar enables links to third-party databases (i.e., consumer packaged goods, retail, travel, lodging, dining, entertainment, services), a client’s own proprietary databases, financial databases, as well as data from existing industry partners. Other features include multiple panel linkages to offer more flexibility in analysis and pricing; quick turnaround for hard-to-recruit demographic groups; continuous measurement of digital ad exposure for brand health tracking; easy implementation for publishers and agencies; the ability to define a control sample based on campaign footprint by identifying consumers who have visited the sites within the campaign but were not exposed to the campaign itself; and campaign profiling that explores whether a campaign hit intended target groups on select sites. AdRadar can also serve as a solution for campaigns that may not lend themselves to standard online intercept methodologies due to site and placement restrictions. For more information visit www.dynamiclogic.com.
Toluna upgrades DIY survey tool with free option
Dallas research company Toluna has launched a new version of its do-it-yourself tool QuickSurveys in an effort to allow users to create surveys for free and distribute them via e-mail or social networks. The new release is free if users find their own respondents by sharing surveys through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook or Web sites. Alternatively users can choose to pay according to the number of completions they want from Toluna’s global panel of four million respondents. Surveys run on Toluna’s panel can include up to 15 questions, while those distributed on other channels can contain more.
QuickSurveys 2.0 also features an improved interface, including the ability to ask open-ended questions and more advanced reporting features. For more information visit www.toluna-group.com.
Nielsen sets guidelines for new product launches
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has debuted an approach intended to improve new product success to 75 percent, giving companies a clear determination of whether new products will succeed and how to increase their odds of success. The following are Nielsen’s 12 criteria every new product must meet in order to succeed: 1) distinct proposition, 2) attention-catching, 3) message connection, 4) clear and concise message, 5) need/desire, 6) advantage, 7) credibility, 8) acceptable downsides, 9) findability, 10) acceptable costs, 11) product delivery and 12) product loyalty. For more information visit www.nielsen.com.
Kinesis integrates with Facebook; publishes mobile-focused white paper
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, an Austin, Texas, research company, has integrated its Kinesis Survey platform with Facebook. With the integration, Kinesis Survey users are able to publish surveys to a Facebook page from within the Kinesis Survey application. The survey access link and description will appear on the specified Facebook Wall page and on the News Feed page of fans/friends to promote participation. This feature is well-suited for research panel and community Facebook pages, as well as for companies and individuals that wish to collect feedback from among their registered fan/friend base.
Kinesis’ Facebook integration is compatible with both Web (PC) and mobile browser versions of Facebook, as well as all Facebook mobile apps. When Facebook users access a published survey, Kinesis Survey can collect available user data, such as name and e-mail address for each respondent who elects to share that information.
Additionally, Kinesis has published Defragmenting Mobile Research – How to Successfully Combine the Wide Array of Available Mobile Tools and Create a Highly Effective Mobile Platform, a white paper that addresses current and future mobile research practices, as well as issues related to the evaluation of available device options, emerging mobile technologies and communication methods. For more information visit www.kinesissurvey.com.
Three product launches for comScore
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. has introduced its syndicated mobile measurement service, comScore MobiLens, in Canada. MobiLens is designed to offer insights into mobile consumers’ demographics, behaviors and device attributes and capabilities to provide a comprehensive picture of the mobile market. Canada marks the eighth individual market now reported in MobiLens.
Additionally, ComScore has also launched Unified Digital Measurement, a panel-centric hybrid solution to digital audience measurement intended to blend census and panel approaches. Unified Digital Measurement combines person-level measurement from the two million-person comScore global panel with server-side metrics to account for 100 percent of a Web site’s audience.
Participating companies place tags on their content and ads and these calls are recorded by comScore servers every time content is accessed. ComScore is able to view these calls on its global panel in addition to measuring the direct server calls.
Finally, comScore has released comScore Device Essentials, a solution that aims to provide insight into digital traffic across all devices worldwide, offering detail into device characteristics, connection type and geography. For more information visit www.comscore.com.
Qualvu updates its mobile app with blogging
Denver research company Qualvu has upgraded the Qualvu Mobile App for in-the-moment video consumer insight collection with the goal of giving companies the option to gain deeper, on-the-go insights; enable individualized or group follow-up and probing; create interaction and conversation among survey participants; allow participants to view and react to other participants’ video responses; direct questions to the entire group or just selected members; and use social media dynamics through a mobile blog platform to prolong participant engagement in a study and generate group discussion. All of these features are designed to be accessed through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. For more information visit www.qualvu.com.
Physicians get involved in eye-tracking omnibus
IC International Corp., a Hicksville, N.Y., research company, has launched a biometric eye-tracking omnibus for physicians and consumers, intended to test consumer and physician response on a precognitive basis to advertising, packaging and other stimuli. The omnibus aims to provide a physician’s emotional activation, attention points and gaze plots for an advertisement and identify if the stimuli captured the physician’s interest and the intensity level. The monthly omnibus delivers results within two weeks. An additional consumer omnibus is also available for packaged goods and print advertising. For more information visit www.biometriceyetracking.com.
SPA Future Thinking debuts trio of tools
U.K. research company SPA Future Thinking has unveiled a trio of tools designed to help brands and broadcasters analyze and measure the impact of sponsorship, product placement and multimedia campaigns. The new Communications Suite consists of Place Max, which measures viewers’ depth of feeling toward a brand following paid-for placement activity as well as topline reactions; Campaign Optimizer, which uses regression analysis to model the relationship between recall of different elements of a multimedia sponsorship campaign (TV, online, mobile, etc.) and the effect of each in terms of raising brand awareness, improving brand image and driving the call to action; and the TV Sponsorship Index, which uses data from SPA Future Thinking’s 450-study norms database to identify where sponsorship is performing well or badly, which key measures awareness is driving and whether the arrangement is performing to maximum effect. For more information visit www.spafuturethinking.com.
Research Rockstar takes training on the road
Research Rockstar, Westborough, Mass., has announced 10 on-site training programs for market researchers, all available for delivery at client and conference facility sites. Class content can be customized for delivery to either those pursuing market research careers or those who use market research as part of other professions (i.e., product managers, marketing managers, sales professionals, etc.). For teams with diverse backgrounds and needs, the instructor can provide tailored handouts.
All classes include interactive exercises and customized workbooks. A full class list is available at http://bit.ly/mm9ACn. Fees start at $1,500, plus instructor travel costs. For more information visit www.researchrockstar.com or contact sales@researchrockstar.com.
Harris Interactive debuts Research Lifestreaming
Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive has released Research Lifestreaming, a tool designed to link disparate streams of data together to connect what people have on their minds, and the conversations they may be having, with the actions that they take. Research Lifestreaming includes hundreds of profiling attributes such as age, children in household, media habits and BMI (body mass index).
The tool is also intended to categorize consumers into segments based on social media conversations, habits and attributes and allow researchers to probe and engage with the social media-savvy panelist, creating a two-way interaction. For more information visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Briefly
Erdos & Morgan, a Syosset, N.Y., research company, has released its 2010-2011 Purchase Influence in American Business study, which details purchasing power at headquarters locations of senior executives. The 2010-2011 edition is the first to include Web sites in the media measured. For more information visit www.erdosmorgan.com.
Cincinnati research company Ipsos Understanding UnLtd. has debuted QualTV, a reporting solution designed to resemble a documentary-style reality show. QualTV reports are professionally-filmed, seven-to-10-minute videos featuring custom imagery, audio and visual effects and are scripted, hosted, edited and produced by Ipsos’ internal research team. For more information visit www.ipsos-na.com.
Maritz Research, St. Louis, has redesigned its Web site (www.maritzresearch.com) to focus on customer experience measurement, brand differentiation, product development and customer retention.
Synovate Healthcare, a London research company, has launched Hyperlipidaemia Monitor, its syndicated therapy monitor focusing on the drug treatment of patients with hyperlipidaemia, in Asia-Pacific. For more information visit www.synovate.com/healthcare.
Cambridge, Mass., research company MarketSight LLC has released MarketSight 8.1, the latest version of its survey analysis software. Version 8.1 offers support for Firefox (3.6.14 and higher) for both PC and Mac users and Safari (5.0 and higher) for Mac users only. For more information visit www.marketsight.com.
Port Washington, N.Y., research company Paradigm Sample has developed an app designed to enable the company’s IdeaShifters panelists to participate in exercises via the iPhone. Using the iPhone’s location-based services technology, Paradigm Sample sends panelists tailored surveys based on location and as they are actively making purchase decisions. An icon appears on the iPhone to indicate a questionnaire when panelists go to a specific retail location. For more information visit www.paradigmsample.com.
Fort Washington, Pa., research company Centris has launched Video Tracking Study, a program designed to track the demand for video services, including the emerging demand for over-the-top (OTT) video services, and provide quantitative data to content distributors and service providers. The study will consist of five parts: market readiness; market evolution; the OTT segment profile; the demographic segment profile; and provider scorecard. For more information visit www.centris.com.
Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites and The Children’s Mutual, a Gloucestershire, U.K., financial services company, has launched The Parent’s Panel, an online custom research panel intended to include 5,000 parents. The panel will also be available to researchers via the Cint Panel Exchange. For more information visit www.easyinsites.com.
20|20 Technology, a division of 20|20 Research Inc., Nashville, Tenn., has launched QualBoard Plus, a bundled set of tools, services and project support designed to help researchers complete a bulletin-board focus group project. For more information visit www.2020research.com.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Norm has launched a panel of Swedish parents and an accompanying omnibus. The panel, TalkToParents.se, consists of over 2,300 Swedish parents who have children ages six and under. New parents of small children are added monthly. The panel’s monthly omnibus goes out monthly and targets 500 Swedish parents who have at least one child age six or younger. For more information visit www.norm.se/family.
Marketing Research Services Inc., Cincinnati, has launched SocialView, a tool designed to help measure brand buzz and sentiment; factors influencing brand image; and how a company compares to competitors to uncover what’s most important to their customers. SocialView can be used as a stand-alone project to gauge brand image and perceptions; as a listening instrument to identify opportunities for line extensions; for exploratory purposes prior to quantitative research; or in conjunction with brand image or customer satisfaction initiatives. For more information visit www.mrsi.com/socialmediaresearch.
Productive Access Inc. (PAI), a Yorba Linda, Calif., research company, has announced the general availability of mTAB, a survey analysis software application in several industry verticals including the automotive industry. A subset of Autodata Solutions’ vehicle database, an Ontario, Canada, automotive information company, will be available to customers of PAI’s mTAB survey databases that contain VIN or vehicle identification numbers. For more information visit www.paiwhq.com.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group and GfK nurago have launched a global research project called Connected Life.dx. The study is intended to investigate the relationship between mobile and fixed Internet browsing and to deliver a complete Web browsing and apps utilization picture. Over 400 consumer participants from Europe, the Americas and Asia will be recruited to have their online behavior across a range of devices continuously monitored over a three-month period. For more information visit www.gfk.com.
The Research and Engagement Division of Chime Communications PLC, London, has released the Trust Accelerator, a trust model designed to deliver insight to allow clients to improve their trust ratings by measuring, categorizing, explaining and identifying how trust can be improved. For more information visit www.cie.uk.com.
London research company Ethnos has rolled out a new panel with over 20,000 members, intended to be segmented by ethnic groups (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, Black African, Chinese, Eastern European and Mixed); by faith communities (Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Other); and by a full range of demographic, attitudinal and behavioral metrics. For more information visit www.ethnos.co.uk.
Dublin, Ireland, research company Experian has launched Experian Hitwise in China. Experian Hitwise is its Internet measurement service designed to help domestic and international marketers improve their online marketing, content development, affiliate strategies and search tactics for the Chinese market. Experian Hitwise will report on over one million Web sites over 130 industries across major search engines in China. For more information visit www.experian.cn.
Montreal research company Mirametrix has launched its S2 Eye Tracker, a more portable, lightweight version of its previous eye-tracking product. S2 is designed to be set up in under two minutes and to calibrate in under 15 seconds. The S2 Eye Tracker comes with software for analyzing gaze data in real time and an API for integrating with other applications. For more information visit www.mirametrix.com.
Charlotte, N.C., research company Media Economics has launched coverage of online advertising activity in Mexico with its MexicoWebMonitor service. The service is initially intended to track advertising activity in approximately 40 of the main Web sites in Mexico. For more information visit www.media-economics.com.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corporation has released a new version of OnDemand Essentials, its video-on-demand audience measurement service. The first series of new reports are available and includes cross-platform reporting, geo-demographic segments and an enhanced user interface. Additional reports and features will continue to be introduced throughout the remainder of the year. Additionally, Rentrak has added a kids category to its on-demand platform. For more information visit www.rentrak.com.
Research companies Experian Marketing Services and Kantar Media have partnered to integrate aggregated demographic data with anonymous audience viewing behavior data. The integration is intended to deliver well-defined data for insight into the composition of audiences based upon household attributes. The integrated data will be offered as a core feature available through Kantar Media’s DIRECTView service. For more information visit www.kantarmedia.com.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, research company YouGov Siraj has launched a research-only online panel in Pakistan. For more information visit www.yougovsiraj.com.
New York research company OnePoint Surveys has rebranded as OnePoint Global. The firm is online at www.onepointglobal.com.
The Research and Engagement Division of Chime Communications PLC, London, has rebranded as CIE - Chime’s Insight and Engagement Division. The division is online at www.cie.uk.com.