Maritz, Invoke offer mobile research platform

St. Louis research firm Maritz and research technology firm Invoke Solutions, Waltham, Mass., have partnered to launch Invoke Ping, a new mobile research platform. Born out of Invoke’s live research environment, Invoke Ping will allow companies to connect with their customers at the point of experience - e.g., while they are in their stores - and collect customer intelligence on a continual basis, which will aid in the capture, analysis and dissemination of information based on real-time customer feedback. Invoke Ping allows data collected via cellphones to be reported and analyzed in real time. Portal-based access and an interactive dashboard will provide clients with an integrated research environment and single-source customer intelligence data. Maritz will be the exclusive launch partner of Invoke Ping in the U.S. For more information visit www.invokesolutions.com.

EZSurvey 2007 from Raosoft

Seattle software firm Raosoft has released EZSurvey 2007 for the Internet. This newest version enhances form creation, has more publishing automation, more export support for ODBC databases and new online reporting to give more flexibility for reports. The new release is designed to improve the speed and scalability of data collection for both EZSurvey database and ODBC database connectivity. The EZSurvey Personal Server (EPS) allows for checking the design of forms and for data gathering on notebooks and other mobiles. The EPS allows owners to collect data off-site, without dependence on an internal corporate server, and deployment enhancements are available for mobile and Short Messaging Service modules. Support for e-mail deployment has been improved. For more information visit www.raosoft.com.

New service measures in-store media

New York-based VNU and the In-Store Marketing Institute, Chicago, have partnered to launch a global measurement service designed to help marketing professionals better understand how to reach and influence consumers while they are in the store and making their final purchasing decisions. The new service will build on a development effort called P.R.I.S.M. (Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric) conducted in early 2006 by a consortium of retailers and manufacturers led by the In-Store Marketing Institute. The P.R.I.S.M. Project created a new approach to in-store research that gives the retail industry a common language to measure in-store consumer reach. Members of the consortium include 3M, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Miller Brewing, Procter & Gamble and The Walt Disney Company, with support from retailers, including Albertsons, Kroger, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
The new service, which will be developed through a new unit of VNU known as Nielsen In-Store, will measure consumer exposure to an array of in-store marketing vehicles, including television and radio, shelf talkers, digital signage and other point-of-purchase displays. Collectively, these in-store marketing approaches stand as the sixth-largest advertising vehicle in the U.S., at $18.6 billion in spending in 2005. The lead-market phase of the new service will be launched in the U.S. early in 2007 and is designed to fine tune the new metric before it is made widely available to the industry later in the year. The service will be extended globally in the future. For more information visit www.instoremarketer.org or www.vnu.com.

Site lists top diversity-owned firms

DiversityBusiness.com, Southport, Conn., a multicultural business Web site, announced the Div500, the seventh annual listing of the nation’s top 500 diversity-owned businesses. The companies listed on the Div500 range in revenue size from $20 million to over $2 billion. At the top of 2006’s Div500 are Software House International Inc., Somerset, N.J.; World Wide Technology Inc., St. Louis; Ensemble Workforce Solutions, Los Angeles; and Omega World Travel, Fairfax, Va. These four businesses are Asian-American-, Hispanic-, Asian-American- and woman-owned, respectively. For more information visit www.diversitybusiness.com.

Greenfield Online debuts mobile survey panel; online sampling service

Greenfield Online Inc., Wilton, Conn., has launched Text2Express, a mobile survey respondent panel whose members participate in surveys via their mobile phones. For more information visit www.text2express.com.
Separately, Greenfield Online Inc. unveiled its Real-Time Sampling capability, which solicits potential survey takers who are on the Web sites of the company’s global survey network. Potential respondents are presented with an offer to participate in a survey. Through this network, the company has been able to reach potential survey takers online who are willing to take a survey but who may not want to join a marketing research panel. Once the individual clicks through, they are assigned to participate in a particular survey by Greenfield Online’s proprietary Survey Router. This internally-developed technology screens survey recruits in real-time and assigns them into surveys for which they qualify based on demographic data. For more information visit www.greenfieldonline.com.

ESRI updates Web mapping app

ESRI, Redlands, Calif., is now offering ArcIMS 9.2, which features new ways to create Web mapping applications, enhanced performance and improved security. ArcIMS 9.2 comes with the new ArcIMS Web Manager, a browser-based application that provides a step-by-step workflow for creating Web applications. With the ArcIMS Web Manager, users can configure services as well as functionality.
ArcIMS 9.2 also comes with a Web application developer framework (ADF). The Web ADF can be used to create customized Web applications from scratch or edit the output from the ArcIMS Web Manager. It supports both the .NET and the Java platform.
The Web ADF and Web Manager both support the integration of multiple GIS services (e.g., ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, WMS, ArcWeb Services) in one Web application using the new multiservice architecture of ArcIMS.
ArcIMS 9.2 is fully backward-compatible, meaning that all applications created with ArcIMS 9.1 will work in ArcIMS 9.2 without alteration. For more information visit www.esri.com.

Update of Key Survey aims to aid enterprise users

Survey Software Services, Boston, has updated its Key Survey product, improving its functionality for enterprise users in particular. New API calls allow users to send an e-mail reminder to the respondents whose e-mail addresses are in the survey incompletes list and to retrieve a unique survey URL if a valid respondent is specified.
The XML Export feature allows users to export survey response data into XML and XSD formats. XML Export will help users retrieve the information from survey data and view it either as a file on their computer or directly from a browser window. Access Levels Management lets users specifically configure access to individual accounts by granting permissions such as read, edit, delete, launch and publish. This feature is used to control access rights for Key Survey’s private label, workgroup and enterprise accounts. For more information visit www.keysurvey.com.

Briefly

Clear Seas Research, Troy, Mich., has launched online panels in four of the industries it serves: plumbing, adhesives, coatings and finishings, safety and flooring. For more information visit www.clearseasresearch.com.

GfK HealthCare Asia is now offering Image Radar as the first service from its recently established syndicated services division. Launched initially in Malaysia, Image Radar enables companies to benchmark themselves against the competition via a range of attributes relating to sales representatives and corporate image. The new service will be progressively launched in other Asian markets. For more information visit www.gfkms.com.

Computers for Marketing Corporation, San Francisco, has unveiled a revised company Web site. The new cfmc.com includes a 40 percent increase in product and service information. The new design is leaner than its predecessor, making for quick download times and faster page rendering. The combination of the new lightweight design and mobile cascading style sheets mean that visitors using smaller screens (a cell phone or PDA) can have easy access to the same information as those on full computer systems. Finally, the site design allows the user to increase or decrease the displayed font size, a preference stated in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

San Francisco-based Telephia and Reston, Va.-based comScore Networks have launched a joint service that compares and combines Internet usage data from the two firms. MobileWeb Metrix is designed to provide media companies, advertisers and agencies with a comparison of audiences who view Internet content using PCs and mobile phones. For more information visit www.comscore.com.

Sydney-based Pulse Group has added an interactive forum feature for the members of its Planet Pulse online research panel. The feature allows for members of its 20 country online communities to interact with each other, share experiences, ideas and insights. For more information visit www.pulse-group.com.

New York research firm Guideline Inc. is now offering its Product Realization Service, which is designed to aid companies in taking products from concept to launch. The service provides assistance from concepting to aspects of product design and manufacturing such as design for performance, materials selection, manufacturing process design and supplier qualification. For more information visit www.intota.com/product-realization.asp.

Harris Interactive Service Bureau, Rochester, N.Y., and Oak Brook, Ill., marketing firm DM2-DecisionMaker have partnered to offer Expert DecisionMaker Panels, industry-specific business-to-business panels built specifically for online market research. Companies that rely on custom market research and seek input from respondents in the business-to-business arena can now access workers in industries such as manufacturing, information technology, construction and small-business. For more information visit www.hisbonline.com.

2006 HealthFocus International Trend Reports are now available from HealthFocus International, St. Petersburg, Fla. The HealthFocus Trend Survey, which looks at consumer attitudes towards nutrition, health and wellness, has been conducted in 30 countries outside of the U.S. since 2000. 2006 reports for the following countries are now available: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the U.K. For more information contact Doug Healy at 847-297-7515 or at dhealy@healthfocus.com.

Arbitron Inc., New York, has added four new radio markets for the Spring 2007 survey: Aspen, Colo.; Grand Island-Kearney, Neb.; Hot Springs, Ark,; and Twin Falls (Sun Valley), Idaho. For more information visit www.arbitron.com.