New research services for virtual worlds
Sentient Services is now offering Virtual Awareness and the Second Life Research Center, two services for marketers interested in conducting research in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Virtual Awareness is designed to help brands go to customers themselves to understand if and how virtual worlds will apply to their brand. Virtual Awareness offers insights from a combination of inputs, including psychological and behavioral user information that Sentient is gathering from virtual worlds; perceptions and attitude data on brands and product categories; and respondent data from brand-specific focus groups held in Second Life. These focus groups, as well as the quantitative information within the firm’s databases, are intended to allow clients to draw comparisons and insights that will offer information on virtual worlds brand awareness, brand permission, brand fit and brand-entry strategy.
The Second Life Research Center (soon to be followed by a similar service within the world of Kaneva) includes a garden area for events, two small rooms for focus groups and individual in-depth interviews, and an auditorium where events can be held and streaming media audience testing can be conducted as well. For more information visit www.sentientservices.com.
Online platform centralizes research functions
San Francisco research firm MarketTools Inc. is now offering MarketTools Epicenter, an online platform for market research that integrates and centralizes all research functions for MarketTools’ customers. Through Epicenter, marketers and researchers can interact with all aspects of their research projects, from ordering samples and designing and deploying surveys, to receiving study data, analyzing results, and reviewing and storing reports.
Epicenter is designed to automate, support and streamline the research cycle. Researchers have security-enabled access to the projects they are involved with and are able to use MarketTools’ resources and project management tools to launch, administer, communicate about and complete their work through a Web interface. For more information visit www.markettools.com.
New financial typologies from Simmons
Simmons Research, New York, has launched Financial Personalities - Simmons NCS (National Consumer Study), a mass-media targeting tool for specific types of financial services, including credit cards, deposits, home equity loans, investments, life insurance, mortgages and personal loans. Financial Personality segments and scores consumers to a specific segment through a proprietary process that employs primary market research data and credit and demographic data from Experian. Each Financial Personality segment has distinctive needs, attitudes and behaviors.
Financial Personalities – Simmons NCS uses these same segmentation frameworks and scoring algorithms to provide marketers with media consumption behaviors of target segments within specific categories. Those looking to place advertisements to acquire checking account customers who will maintain significant deposit balances at banks, for example, can use Financial Personalities – Simmons NCS to pinpoint magazines, newspaper sections, television shows and other channels that index high among the Deposit Financial Personalities who are the best prospects.
Each client has access to the Simmons NCS multimedia database, which can be crosstabbed by each selected Financial Personality. Additionally, segment profiles are provided that reveal insights about each Financial Personality, i.e., criteria for selecting financial services providers, product preferences within the category, expected level of product utilization. For more information visit www.smrb.com.
SSI takes quality-control procedures global
Survey Sampling International, Fairfield, Conn., has expanded its Respondent Experience (REX) function to a dedicated worldwide group. REX, a unit of the company’s global panel solutions group, is charged with overseeing online projects, from design to execution, to assure a positive respondent experience and the best possible survey data.
SSI REX’s quality-control checklist addresses project specifications such as invitations, rewards, thank-you links, project setup, project progress, project close, drop rate, incidence, time and completes. REX checks are conducted on two levels according to customer need. Quality checks at level one include: appropriate links; acceptable screener length; proper rewards; correct spelling and grammar; and personal information guidelines. The level two REX check delves deeper into design subtleties such as structure, flow and questionnaire wording, as seen from the respondent experience point of view. For more information, visit www.surveysampling.com.
Software analyzes facial expressions
Netherlands-based research software firm Noldus Information Technology has released FaceReader, an automated software system designed to detect and analyze human facial expressions. Face Reader can recognize specific properties in facial images and interpret them according to the six fundamental human emotions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted) and a “neutral state.” It can also automatically classify faces based on gender, age, ethnicity and facial hair. Using computer vision algorithms, FaceReader performs the classification without the need for markers, calibration or training.
Data acquired with FaceReader can be imported into The Observer XT, Noldus’ software tool for the collection, analysis and presentation of observational data. Once the data is imported into The Observer, it can then be synchronized with event logs, keystrokes, mouse clicks, digital video files, captured computer screens, eye-tracking data and physiological signals such as heart rate. Facial expression data can be exported to analytical and database programs such as Microsoft Access, Excel and SPSS. For more information visit www.noldus.nl.
ComScore product reports where online ads are viewed
ComScore, Inc., Reston, Va., is now offering comScore Ad Metrix Publisher, a new service designed to provide insight into the online advertising landscape by reporting where display ads are actually viewed across the Internet and the characteristics of the people who are exposed to them. Ad Metrix Publisher captures all types of display advertising, including static and rich media/interactive ads, for the U.S. market. ComScore Ad Metrix Publisher reports on: ad impressions and reach for sites with display advertising; who is reached with these impressions via reach/frequency and GRP reporting for individual sites; and how impression and share trends change over time. For more information visit www.comscore.com.
Itracks adds bulletin board, mobile survey capabilities
Saskatoon-based research firm Itracks has released a new version of its Bulletin Board Focus Group. The new version allows researchers to more easily manage multimedia files, more quickly identify new posts, and conduct global research with the new language menu. Additionally, it integrates with the firm’s recently-launched concept testing tool, iMarkIt. Itracks has also partnered with zu.com communications, an interactive agency that specializes in innovative mobile and Web development, to launch its new Mobile Survey tool, which creates surveys that are accessible from virtually all mobile devices. For more information visit www.itracks.com.
SPSS 16.0 out now
SPSS Inc. is now shipping SPSS 16.0, the latest version of its statistical software suite of products. New capabilities in SPSS 16.0 integrate this product with SPSS’ Predictive Enterprise Services (PES) analytics platform to direct and automate decisions.
SPSS 16.0 targets the needs of organizations that value predictive modeling capabilities as corporate assets. With PES - an enterprise-level predictive platform addressing requirements supporting the widespread use and implementation of predictive analytics - businesses utilize statistics to tap into customers’ attitudinal and behavioral data.
The SPSS 16.0 release features a new user interface written completely in Java. Other major enhancements include expanded analytical capabilities, enhanced data management, improved programmability and greater performance and scalability in enterprise applications. This release features the immediate availability of all SPSS 16.0 product modules across the major computing platforms: Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. For more information visit www.spss.com.
Non-profit org focuses on mature market
A group of executives in the field of mature marketing have formed the International Mature Marketing Network (IMMN), a non-profit consortium of marketers, researchers, agencies, brand managers and educators who seek to champion, support and advance marketing that is relevant and respectful to the 40+ age group.
Founding members of IMMN created the association as a forum for like-minded marketers to grow professionally by sharing ideas, insights and best practices, keeping up with hot topics about mature consumers, accessing the latest research and gaining a more global understanding of the opportunities presented by the mature market.
Companies already represented in IMMN include U.S. companies Age Lessons, Creating Results, the GenerationWoodstock subsidiary of Reilly Group, GolinHarris, Immersion Active, McDill Associates and thirdgear, along with London-based Millennium and Evergreen Marketing Communications in Australia and New Zealand. For more information visit www.immn.org.
New eStarch readership service
GfK Starch Communications, New York, has debuted its eStarch Ad Readership service, which measures a print ad’s impact on motivating consumer purchase behavior. Combining Starch’s in-person print ad readership surveys with new online responses from participants who’ve read the test publication, eStarch determines the extent to which each advertisement is remembered, reader involvement with the ad, and if the ad directly influenced the consumer to purchase the product or service. Leveraging the quickness of online surveying, the new database is designed to speed the production of reports.
Starch has also introduced new metrics to help companies determine how their ads shape consumers’ opinions towards their particular brand and also the extent to which the advertisement drives readers to recommend the product or service. The metrics include: reader actions taken; brand disposition; advertising effect on brand disposition; advertising influence on purchases/purchase interest; word-of-mouth opportunity; and noting and read most/engagement. For more information visit www.gfkamerica.com/starch.
Briefly
Project Apollo, the joint initiative of New York-based firms Arbitron Inc. and The Nielsen Company, announced that audience estimates to the radio commercials broadcast on the network and syndicated programs provided by Dial Global, Jones Media America, Premiere Radio Networks and Westwood One are now being included in the media data that will be available to the seven advertisers participating in the Project Apollo Steering Committee.
The Nielsen Company, New York, has launched two new Internet and mobile measurement services, Nielsen Online and Nielsen Mobile. Nielsen Online is comprised of the company’s Nielsen//NetRatings and BuzzMetrics services, which provide measurement and analysis of online audiences and media. Nielsen Mobile combines recently acquired Telephia, a provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, with existing Nielsen initiatives in the mobile market. For more information visit www.nielsen.com.
U.K. research firm Research Now has added a U.S. panel to its Valued Opinions family of research-only online panels. Currently at 400,000 members, the panel has been profiled on a range of data points, including job roles and titles, telecommunications and technology information, use of financial services, health care, consumer goods and more. For more information visit www.valuedopinions.com.
London-based Synovate Healthcare has launched a new syndicated service, the Key Relationships Trackers (KRTs). The KRTs will provide clients with a holistic view of pharmaceutical companies’ relationships with their key stakeholders. Measures will include stakeholders’ perceptions of companies’ image, products and services, along with the impact of these perceptions on stakeholder behavior. Each tracker will focus on a specific disease area and stakeholder type. For more information visit www.synovate.com.
Market Research ProjectAdvisories are now being offered by Market Research Project Management Inc., Jacksonville, Fla. The first two are “The Customer Satisfaction Survey: Managing the Quest” and “The Wizards of Oz: Initiating and Managing Employee Research.” The reports provide independent counsel to help users prepare for special types of market research, offering project management advice and recommendations to provoke thought, educate non-researchers, enhance project planning and management and avoid common hazards. For more information visit www.marketresearchprojectmanage-ment.com.