Two new advertainment research products
Vancouver-based Advertain On-Line Inc. has launched two new research products: the SMART Suite and the Hot Indicator Technique (HIT) - for developers of advertainments. The SMART Suite consists of three different tests designed to help developers evaluate the effectiveness of their advertainments. The three tests include brand/message recall, an interacrivity evaluation, and a micro-usage and attitude study. Collectively, they constitute Advertain’s Standardized Measurable Advertainment Research Techniques (SMART). The Hot Indicator Technique is based on more than 200,000 evaluations of advertainmerits and helps developers pinpoint factors that influence an advertainment’s commercial success.
Three new books from New Strategist
Ithaca, N.Y.-based New Strategist has published three new books. Using census bureau data, Demographics of the U.S.: Trends and Projections, by Cheryl Russell, examines demographic trends from 1950 to the end of the 20th century and projects some into the future. Five major trends are cited- the increasing diversity of America, the aging of the population, the high-tech revolution, the rise of individualism, and the rising U.S. standard of living. The book is divided into 10 chapters, including attitudes and behavior, education, labor force, and spending.
Also using government data, American Generations: Who They Are, How They Live, What They Think, by Susan Mitchell, compares various generations and age groups to help researchers understand the changing dynamics of today’s Americans. The book defines each generation, its current and projected size, racial and ethnic makeup, income, spending patterns, education, and occupations.
Alison Wellner’s Best of Health: Demographics of Health Care Customers uses government statistics to look at topics such as the rise of health care spending, the diversity of health care consumers, the changing relationship between medical providers and patients, the Internet’s growing importance to health care, and changing attitudes toward health-related issues.
MarketResearch.com upgraded
MarketResearch.com, an online aggregator of market research informarion, has unveiled version 2.0 of its Web service. The MarketResearch.com site includes enhanced features and functionality for finding and purchasing publications from the firm’s database of market intelligence. It includes new features intended to help users determine the relevancy of a publication prior to purchase. Users can search publicarions using the Alta Vista search engine. After retrieving results, users can view the context in which theirsearch terms appear via the new Search Term & Text (STAT) feature. The site’s "browse" functionality has been improved via the incorporation of an industry taxonomy, which allows users to access 21 vertical home pages, eachof which features research covering these industry categories.
’lntenders’ now available from InsightExpress
Greenwich, Conn.-based online research firm InsightExpress has announced the availability of eight new target audiences for U.S. manufacturers and service providers. Dubbed "Intenders," these groups are composed of individuals who have expressed the intention to purchase one of four highticket products/services (computers, high-speed Internet access, new or used cars/tracks, a home) or make one of life’s major transitions (change jobs or careers, get married, have a child, retire).
Service helps health care providers examine e-solutions
Irving, Texas-based HEALTHvision has introduced e-Health Readiness Assessment and Action Plan services. These services are designed to help health care organizations use the Internet to improve market share and deploy successful e-health solutions to address specific business and clinical issues. As part of the new services, an on-site assessment and planning session provides health care organization leaders with the opportunity to speak with experts about their business and clinical issues invarious parts of the organization. Focus group, interview and survey results are aggregated to provide the leadership team with an overall picture of their organzatlon s e-health readiness, as well as a step-by-step action plan to address specific issues with appropriate usage of the Internet.
Study looks at demand for retail financial services
Chicago-based Bank Administration Institute (BAI) is undertaking a study, "Competing on Supply, Winning on Demand: Recapturing Share of Consumer Financial Services," in conjunction with The Cambridge Group. It focuses on the factors that are reshaping consumer demand for retail financial services and the steps that banks can take to increase relevance and differentiation in the minds of their target customers. The study defines a new strategy for banks going forward and provides insights and action steps to help management make appropriate resource allocation decisions.
Online platform melds qual & quant
BuzzBack, a new online platform for qualitative research, has been introduced. Through BuzzBack, consumer insights are pushed to the desktop in real time, allowing businesses to integrate consumer input into marketing issues and new product innovation. Using Quali-Quant methodology, BuzzBack’s approach seeks to add depth to quantitative numbers. Clients log in real-time to a passwordprotected area from their desktops to watch results unfold. Verbatims are connected to both quantitative data and qualitative insights. BuzzBack uses a combination of sequential and selective recruiting to insure participants are engaged and offer insightful commentary. Screened participants respond on their own time. Built-in prompts direct them to elaborate on topics, and respondents can choose from a variety of emotion icons to punctuate their comments. Respondents are paid cash for each completed session.
QuickTake announces enhancements
QuickTake, a division of Wilton, Conn.-based Greenfield Online, has made enhancements to its real-time, self-directed survey tool. QuickTake’s custom clients now can survey customers, consumers, employees and business partners whether they are tethered to a PC and/or the Internet or untethered, via PDAs (personal digital assistants), two-way pagers and the telephone, through interactive voice recognition technology developed by NetByTel. The site, designed by Primix Solutions Inc., also features new functional enhancements that provide customers with a more flexible set of tools for information gathering. Other QuickTake enhancements include: custom services, customer advisory boards, expanded Internet reach, direct link surveys, and site intercept surveys.
Cyber Dialogue debuts segmentation service
New York-based research firm Cyber Dialogue has introduced Value Metrics, a new service designed to help businesses identify and target their most profitable customers online. Value Metrics is a customer segmentation service that employs mathematical models to identify customer attributes and segments that best predict profitable behavior. This service can be deployed, as software, across online customer databases to enable marketers to determine the value of customers attracted to their sites, identify the ones that contribute most toward profitability, and implement marketing campaigns to attract and retain them.
Service investigates prescribing practices
InfoScriber Corporation and New York research firm Ziment, Inc., have formed a co-marketing ageement on an Internet-based information service that investigates physician prescribing practices. Under the terms of the agreement, Ziment will combine the research capabilities of its online physicians’ panel, WebSurveyMD.com, with InfoScriber’s point-of-prescribing database. Beginning in spring 2001, psychiatry will be the first of several therapeutic specialties that companies can access, with plans in development for cardiology, infectious disease and oncology.
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Genesis Group, Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., customer service consulting firm, has introduced two new programs: Total Office Management, an integrated hardware and software system geared toward mystery shopping; and Signature Executive Service, a group of client services, including questionnaire design and data processing.
Interserve Corporation, a Tokyo-based e-commerce fLrm, is now offering
Web-based survey research in Japan. The service, IS-Map, offers Web-based survey tools and Web-based delivery of results. Respondents can be sampled from registrants on the firm’s B2C shopping site. Surveys are designed, supervised, analyzed and reported by in-house researchstaff.
Washington, D.C.-based Jstreetdata.com Inc., a Web-based medical market research firm, has registered 5,000 physicians to participate on an as-needed basis in online medical market research. The number includes more than 900 cardiology specialists and close to 600 oncology specialists. After a market researcher posts a survey, appropriate medical specialists automatically are invited to participate via e-mail and then survey responses are gathered and calculated in real-time.
Construction Market Research, a firm specializing in the competitive analysis of construction aggregates market, has released the 1999 edition of its Construction Aggregates Databook. The 333-page reference source includes a CD-ROM which consolidates 30 years of U.S. government and proprietary data pertinent to the construction aggregates industry.
Chicago-based SPSS MR software is now shipping Verbastat 6.1, a coding tool that helps researchers code open-ended responses. New features in Verbastat 6.1 include: multilingual capabilities; easier coding of multimedia data; unlimited characters in verbatim responses; new editing tools; increased options for importing and exporting data; and more flexible reporting tools.