Web site handles incentive payments
Denver-based Incheck, LLC has launched a new Web site, www.incheckonline.com, which interacts directly with online research surveys to expedite incentive payments. Incheck is a volume check-writing company now giving market research companies billing options including credit card, bank transfers or direct client billing. Through the researcher’s Web site, Incheck provides survey respondents a direct link to Incheck’s site which will offer payment via check or ACH bank transfer and online payment tracking. For more information call 303-296-9593.
Inquisite 7.0 now shipping
Austin, Texas-based Inquisite Inc. has unveiled Inquisite 7.0, a survey system featuring an enhanced graphical builder to simplify the creation of electronic forms and help users streamline the process of data collection and analysis. New Web services integration capabilities provide “set-and-forget” automation which allows feedback data to complement other enterprise systems. Inquisite is available both as a hosted ASP solution and as a product directly installed in a customer’s environment. For more information visit www.inquisite.com.
They’ve died but their appeal hasn’t
Marketing Evaluations, Inc./The Q Scores Company, a Long Island, N.Y., research firm, is now offering findings from the 2005 Dead Q study, a survey used to evaluate the public’s interest in dead performers who have made large contributions in acting, comedy, music, sports, etc. Dead Q has been conducted every two years since 1997. Among those highly-recognized personalities with the strongest appeal from the 2003 Dead Q study are Fred Rogers, Walter Payton, Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. All Q Score studies are national surveys and are conducted via mail questionnaires. This year’s Dead Q study includes 169 personalities. For more information visit www.qscores.com.
Full set of AutoVIBES reports ready
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., and Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research, Irvine, Calif., have released The AutoVIBES Demographic Reports, a set of 12 studies providing insight into consumer groups’ vehicle shopping attitudes, opinions and behaviors based on generation, ethnicity and lifestyle. The information in each report is drawn from interviews with more than 25,000 in-market vehicle shoppers who are within 12 months of purchasing or leasing a new vehicle and provides data and analysis regarding a variety of purchase consideration factors.
The complete set of AutoVIBES Demographic Reports consists of 12 separate reports under three series categories: Generation, Lifestyle and Ethnicity. The Generation series contains reports for Generation Y, Generation X, Baby Boomers and Pre-Boomers. The Lifestyle series contains reports for Singles without Children, Married with Children, Married without Children, Affluent Buyers and a Gender report detailing the differences between male and female shoppers. The Ethnicity series is divided into African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American reports. For more information contact Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research at 949-268-3074 or Harris Interactive at 877-919-4765.
Simmons launches TV BehaviorGraphics site
Simmons, Deerfield Beach, Fla., has debuted a revamped Simmons Television (TV) BehaviorGraphics site, www.tvbehaviorgraphics.com, a behavioral targeting system that identifies customers of products and services based on their television viewing behavior.
With versions available for adults, teenagers and children, TV BehaviorGraphics is based on consumer preferences for broadcast, cable and syndicated television programming. Introduced in 2002, it was developed through an integration process that merges the Nielsen National Television Index and National Hispanic Television Index with the unified Simmons National Consumer Survey. Adults from both datasets are then pooled together based on common television viewing patterns. The result is a single system of behavioral segments that reflect the media and marketplace preferences of both general-market and Hispanic consumers. For more information visit www.tvbehaviorgraphics.com.
Two new products from ESRI
ESRI, Redlands, Calif., is now shipping BusinessMAP 4, the latest version of its database mapping solution. BusinessMAP turns information from databases, contact managers and spreadsheets into color-filled maps for making better business presentations and decisions.
BusinessMAP 4 enhancements include: ring study analysis - analyze and reveal the demographics of an area surrounding a location; drive-time analysis - create up to three drive zones around a location that are defined by the time it takes to drive to or from a given location; and print preview - visualize how maps will print including various legend options and various sizes from wall charts to day-planner sizes.
BusinessMAP 4 includes existing features such as color-coded analysis, territory creation, searching by geography, and plotting database points from a variety of sources: ACT!, dBASE, Excel, GoldMine, and Microsoft Outlook. The included geographic, demographic and business data has also been updated to include: states, counties, zip codes, Census tracts, and other geographic boundaries; Tele Atlas Dynamap/Transportation street maps for more than 35,000 U.S. towns; and consumer expenditure data at state and county levels from ESRI Business Information Solutions. For more information visit www.esri.com/businessmap.
ESRI is also offering ArcGIS 9.1, a full release of ArcGIS Desktop (ArcReader, ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo), ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS and ArcSDE. In addition, it is the main vehicle for the release of Network Analyst on the ArcGIS platform. Features of ArcGIS 9.1 include: improved quality, stability and performance; improved geoprocessing; productivity enhancements; and a “save as” tool to ease migration. For more information visit www.esri.com/whatsnew.
E-book series focuses on research
Knowledge inForm, Inc., Quincy, Mass., is now offering a series of electronic books to help companies conduct effective market research. The four books are a part of the Market Research Know!Books series and feature modular content geared toward the experience and needs of the business professional: fundamental, intermediate, and advanced market research techniques, and project management tools used to conduct market research projects.
The four books in the market research series are: Know! Market Research for Small Businesses and Start-Ups; Know! Market Research – The Fundamentals; Know! Market Research – Intermediate; and Know! Market Research – Advanced. The series features The Market Intelligence Circle, a framework that helps professionals understand key market forces. Purchasers also receive a half-hour of consulting by e-mail on their Know!Book topic, which is valid for use within 30 days of purchase. For more information visit www.knowledgeinform.com.
Detect duration and number of visits to stores, banks, etc.
The Dwell Meter, from U.K.-based Biodata Ltd., detects how long customers spend in one place and how often that place was visited. With the Dwell Meter, retail outlets can, for example, test the effectiveness of new displays, compare one display with another, evaluate new store layouts or monitor waiting times at counters and checkouts.
The Dwell Meter is part of Biodata’s Video Turnstile people-counting system. Using an overhead camera it detects a person entering and leaving a zone. Windows software supplied with the system reads and reports information from the Dwell Meter, in real time if necessary.
Data can be analyzed with almost any software, including Microsoft Excel. Biodata offers VisualTrends Lite free of charge, or can supply the full-blown version, Visual Trends, which enables clients to view results over the Internet. All these options produce histograms showing how many people stayed for how long.
Managers can choose up to three time intervals over which to record visits. Available in RS232, RS485, Ethernet and Wi-Fi versions, the Dwell Meter can connect directly to a PC or modem. It includes all the cabling, the overhead video camera and the Windows software. For more information visit www.videoturnstile.com/dwell.html.
SPSS updates Dimensions
SPSS Inc., Chicago, has released Dimensions 3.0, an update of its suite for survey design, data collection, data management, analysis and publishing of survey results. The new version includes a new survey scripting language that lets users continue their current work practices while providing new opportunities to create surveys that improve the overall respondent experience. Dimensions 3.0 is based on a single, integrated set of underlying technologies that support a range of survey research, from multilingual, multimodal research to smaller, one-of-a-kind projects. The new Dimensions Scripting enhances the functionality of mrInterview and, through the new mrStudio Interview Option, provides power users with a Unified Scripting Environment that can be used at every stage of the survey process. With the new Dimensions Scripting language, researchers and administrators gain flexibility in survey design and additional control of back-end processes, such as Microsoft Office integration and automation of survey related data and respondent processing. For more information visit www.spss.com. (Editor’s note: Also see Tim Macer’s review on p. 26 of this issue.)
Service tracks brand appearances on TV shows
TNS Media Intelligence, New York, has introduced a new Branded Entertainment service to monitor and report brand appearances on network and cable TV programming. Available on TNSMI’s Stradegy multimedia platform, branded entertainment and traditional TV advertising data can be viewed in one place, allowing side-by-side comparison of brand appearances against 18 other types of media.
The service monitors a range of formats including reality, sitcom, drama and information programming in prime-time network and cable, as well as other dayparts. The service’s methodology provides a range of descriptive details on the type and prominence of each brand appearance recorded, including visual and verbal dimensions, character interaction, time duration, brand visibility and exclusivity, and level of plot integration. Audio and video clips are also available. For more information visit www.tns-mi.com.
Arbitron strengthens small-market radio estimates
Arbitron Inc., New York, has developed a program designed to increase the stability of its radio audience estimates in 110 small markets that are part of the “condensed market” radio measurement service. The program will be implemented in two phases. Beginning with the release of the fall 2005 radio survey results, Arbitron will include the in-tab diaries from the fall 2005 and spring 2005 survey when tabulating the audience estimates in 110 of the “condensed” markets. Each report thereafter will be a “two-book average” of the most current and the previous survey, delivering two times the current sample size for audience demographics and dayparts.
Beginning in January 2007, Arbitron will begin surveying these condensed markets continuously, converting them from two quarterly reports (spring/fall) to four quarterly reports (winter/spring/summer/fall). Arbitron will take the sample currently allotted for spring/fall surveys and distribute it equally across the four quarterly surveys.
Beginning with the release of spring 2007 reports, ratings reports will be issued quarterly. By the release of the summer 2007 survey, each market report will be tabulated based on the in-tab diaries from the four most current quarterly surveys. This is the quarterly rolling sample approach used in the RADAR radio network service. For more information visit www.arbitron.com.
Briefly
Seattle-based Global Market Insite has announced that its monthly Omnibus 20 survey of global consumer opinion is now available weekly. Representative samples of 1,000 respondents are collected from 20 countries each Monday. Results are available as soon as 24 hours afterwards. The GMI Omnibus 20 survey utilizes the core technology of GMI’s Net-MR 5.0 software solution. For more information visit www.gmi-mr.com.
Chicago Web-based survey application provider SurveyWriter is now offering online sample for its survey clients through a partner agreement with Survey Sampling International. For more information visit www.surveywriter.com.
Sydney, Australia-based Pulse Group, a market research business process outsourcing company, has launched its VOIP CATI Center in partnership with Basis Bay, offering research companies a multilingual CATI service operating out of its Kuala Lumpur operations hub. For more information visit www.basisbay.com.
Cincinnati research firm AcuPOLL and advertising consultancy BrandMine are now offering Insight Manager, a process that helps companies uncover consumer insights and maintain their impact throughout product development, marketing strategy and advertising, and package development. For more information visit www.acupoll.com.
Decipher, Inc., a Fresno, Calif., research firm, has added a progress indicator system to its proprietary market research technology platform. The new progress indicator gives users an indication of their progress within a survey based on the time spent completing questions measured against the remaining number and complexity of questions, unlike traditional progress indicators that are static or fixed. For more information visit www.decipherinc.com.
Survey Software Services, Braintree, Mass., announced that its Key Survey online survey software Web site (www.keysurvey.com) has been certified to display the TRUSTe European Union Privacy Seal. TRUSTe, a privacy certification and seal program, awards its seal to companies that complete the its certification process and agree to comply with ongoing TRUSTe oversight and consumer dispute resolution procedures.