Update: Who’s also who in online ad copytesting
Editor’s note: Sometimes we fail to notice the obvious simply because it’s sitting right there in front of us. Such is the case with Harris Interactive and Internet copytesting. Long known for its Internet research capabilities, Harris Interactive also conducts extensive Internet copytesting - a fact which was regretfully overlooked in compiling and editing Tim Huberty’s article "Who's who in ad copytesting II - An overview of the major players doing copytesting online" in our March issue. Here then is Huberty’s addendum on the firm’s online copytesting services.
Overview: Harris Interactive Marketing Communications Research (MCR) has been testing ads on the intemet since it developed its Intemet capabilities in the 1990s. During that time it has tested hundreds of finished and pre-finished television ads, as well as ads across all other media including print, interactive, radio, and outdoor.
How it works: Harris Interactive’s technique involves recruiting on the Intemet for a specific target and asking qualified respondents a series of normative questions after exposure to the test ad. For pre-finished ads, there is a normative quantitative portion from which some respondents are recruited to an online focus group. Here, those pre-finished ads are probed in depth. This pre-finished product is known as the Harris Interactive Qual-Quant Pre-Test. In addition, one key measure unique to Harris Interactive MCR is Purchase Intent with the diagnostic of Consumer Connection. This gets at how the consumer relates to the brand across the four dimensions of behavior, consideration, emotion and aspiration.
Special features: Harris Interactive is proud to point out that the Qual-Quant Pre-Test is a unique product which takes place over one week and is available for a competitive price. Furthermore, because all testing is done online, the systems to test any media are held constant on the key measures, so that television, print, Intemet and radio can all be directly compared. In addition, the Harris Interactive multi-million member database of respondents contains specialty panels that are used for testing among hard-to-reach targets such as: the affluent; people with chronic illnesses; physicians; gay, lesbian and bisexual respondents; and more, FYI: Harris Interactive is the Official Research Provider of the U.S: Olympic Committee.
Access pharma sales and research at new site
Pharmaceutical executives can now access pharmaceutical sales and marketing research through www.cuttingedgepharma.com, a new research Web site managed by Cutting Edge Information, a Durham, N.C,, pharmaceutical Intelligence firm. The Web site is designed to meet the needs of pharmaceutical and biotechnology marketers who need access to data on a range of industry-related topics. The data housed at the site is based on marketing experience from executives at Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Amgen, Chiron, Aventis and Novartis. Users can access information on current studies on topics including pre-launch pharmaceutical market research, pharmaceutical sales management, and early-stage market preparation.
Patient Disease Index from CPM
Customer Potential Management Marketing Group (CPM), Middleton, Wis., has released its Patient Disease Index (PDI) to predict the likelihood of individuals who have or have had certain diseases to develop other health problems. This comorbidity segmentation system offers health care providers more information for health and disease management as well as a segmentation method for patient communications.
CPM developed the PDI using millions of health care encounters, co-morbidity factors and disease states. Applied to a patient database, the PDI provides a disease management score for individuals based on their current health status. For example, the PDI may be used to determine how likely an individual is to develop heart disease when historical medical records indicate a diagnosis of diabetes or high blood pressure.
The PDI leverages the same artificial intelligence methodology as CPM’s Consumer Healthcare Utilization Index (CHUI) segmentation system. CHUI is a scoring system for use with non-patient data that predicts the likelihood of each individual to require specific services or products. It is based on mathematical formulas and 20 million health care encounters. CHUI provides scores in the major diagnostic categories (MDC), diagnostic related groups (DRG) and ICD-9 groups. The PDI model is similar but is specifically for patient data. With the advent of PDI, health care organizations now have two specific segmentation systems for distinct data groups - non-patients and patients.
Project management package
CAN-PLAN is a project management package with capabilities such as: Gantt chart with critical path analysis; COST analysis or WORK analysis or both; normal or highlighted task view; cost escalation chart; cash flow balance chart; resource allocation chart; activity level chart; project section progress chart; utilization bar graph; indicator for currently active resources.
CAN-PLAN will produce reports suitable for project status meetings or executive reporting, displaying accumulated running totals for cost estimates and a Gantt chart with a current day/week timeline, for a 53 day, 53-week or 53-month moveable window from any start date. Users can flip-flop from days to weeks to months at any time on any plan.
CAN-PLAN allows categories to be defined for roll-up summarization of cost estimates and Gantt chart durations of each category. This can be used for any analysis (type of work, type of worker, phases of job, cost center, account category, stakeholder participation, etc.). The report can be sorted by task, start date, duration, end date, category or cost. There is a push-button facility for printing on letter-sized, legal-sized or A4-sized paper, and for saving the current file in the archive directory, with the project number, name and date/time stamp.
The program is based on Excel and Visual Basic for Applications, and requires Excel to run. It does not have to be installed or loaded as an "addin"; open it in Excel, click the "DOC" tab, and begin entering project data.
CAN-PLAN highlights all tasks in progress, identifies those that are due for completion within the next seven and 30 days, and shows project progress in both dollars and percentage.
Scarborough enhances PRIME NExT
New York-based Scarborough Research has launched Study Maker, a new feature within the company’s PRIME NExT data analysis software. Study Maker enables users to double the sample size of any Scarborough database by looking at 24 months of consumer measures. On a national level, this creates a database with 400,000 respondents, and on the local level, between 4,000 and 20,000 respondents, depending on the specific local market.
Study Maker lets Scarborough clients to drill into the consumer, shopping, media, lifestyle, and demographic categories Scarborough measures, and it facilitates developing a more granular analysis of consumer behavior. Scarborough’s double databases provide an analysis of important low-incidence consumer phenomena and emerging and significant consumer and media trends. The Study Maker feature combines data sets from two continuous Scarborough 12-month studies into one 24-month database, enabling clients to develop insights available only through data sources that offer a full 24-month perspective. Study Maker is available on the company’s PRIME NExT data analysis software.
Report gathers reactions to Bush health care reform ideas
Houston-based research firm Med-Mark has released its new study based on the health care plans discussed in the 2003 Presidential State of the Union Address in which President Bush called for Medicare reform and malpractice litigation award limits. It also addresses components of the Medicare plan presented in Bush’s March 4th American Medical Association convention speech. Med-Mark collected reactions from health care executives and providers nationwide. Representatives from health care organizations were interviewed for the study in which they shared their opinions on President Bush’s reform proposals. Specifically, the health care representatives provided recommendations on how to allocate the $400 million that President Bush would use to strengthen Medicare and provide medical malpractice reforms that would limit lawsuit awards.
Free radio guide from Arbitron
New York-basedArbitron has released Radio Today: How America Listens to Radio, 2003 Edition, its annual update on radio listening and formats. For the first time, Scarborough consumer data have been included along with the Arbitron audience data to develop a comprehensive profile of listening across America.
With Scarborough USA+ information on the purchasing plans and leisure activities for each of the 13 Arbitron radio formats, the study provides insight into the evolving relationship between new Radio Today report also uses Maximi$er Plus data from all markets for the first time.
Directions Research launches new product-testing program
Cincinnati-based Directions Research, Inc. is now offering its proprietary new product-testing program titled Navigator. Navigator offers a consolidated database of product testing experiences and learning that can be integrated into a client product-testing program. The historic information culled from Navigator shapes and guides research efforts, acting as a"map" to reach product test conclusions more effectively.
The Navigator program represents a partnership between Directions Research and the University of Georgia’s Masters in Market Research program to determine methods to "bridge" the results of over 3,400 product tests into a coherent, validated body of knowledge. This comparative data allows clients to gain perspective on their current efforts, providing a context and helping determine the most sensitive and efficient testing process to meet research objectives.
Navigator is designed to help address research considerations such as: the effects of branded vs. blind testing; methodologies to break ties; category effects on product ratings; issues of scale and measurement sensitivity; reference points for blind product tests.
Service offers third-party validation of Web site circulation
NetRatings, the New York-based provider of the Nielsen//NetRatings Internet audience measurement and analysis services, has launched SiteCensus, a census-based site measurement service that gives users third-party validation of Web site circulation.
SiteCensus provides a site-centric approach to audience analysis, delivering information for niche and local market research needs. It addresses the business needs of media companies, content publishers and other Intemet companies with measurements of metrics such as number of visitors, page views, time spent and site demographics.
The service: provides research analysis for sites with smaller audience sizes; delivers regional and local market tracking, along with gender, age and clientspecified custom demographics; tracks a site’s entire audience, including traffic from wireless and hand-held devices, Internet appliances, shared home and office computers, university PCs, as well as public terminals including libraries and Internet cafes.
The service’s census-based measurements are provided through a page-tagging system. When encoded in any Web site page, the tag provides a count of every page view and visitor, while also selecting and surveying a representative sample of the audience.
New directory of managed care organizations
The National Directory of Managed Care Organizations, fourth edition, has been published by the Managed Care Information Center, Manasquan, N.J. The directory includes market intelligence information on more than 1,750 managed care organizations, representing 4,482 plan types.
Along with profile listings of health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), utilization review organizations (UROs), point-of-service plans (POS), and several other types of managed care organizations, the directory covers specialty HMOs + PPOs, and includes details on PBMs, URs, TPAs, PSOs, POSs, EPOs, Medicare and Medicaid Plans, and Medicare+Choice plans.
Profiles include company name and address, parent company, telephone number, fax number, key contacts, model type, plan type, service area, enrollment data, benefits covered and products provided, as well as other pertinent information.
Directory profiles also include details on type of coverage offered, profit status, accreditation, year founded, model type (staff, IPA, group, network or mixed), number of hospitals in the plan’s network, primary physicians and specialist physicians.
The directory also identifies plans’ financial and statistical information such as revenue, em’ollment, medical loss ratios and administrative expense ratios. Coverage of such areas as vision, dental benefits, wellness, behavioral health, home health care, chiropractic, physical therapy, podiatry, transplant, long-term care and psychiatry is also included in the profile data.
The National Directory of Managed Care Organizations, fourth edition, is available in four formats: a 714-page print volume; a CD-ROM edition in PDF format; a database on CD-ROM, and an online version accessible via MCIC’s Web site, www.themcic.com.
The CD-ROM edition in PDF provides high-speed searching, while the database on CD-ROM is delivered in a format that imports into most database and spreadsheet programs.
The online database incorporates searching capability with an option todownload search results for importing into other database or spreadsheet programs.
New interface between PRO-T-S and ARCS
Marketing Systems Group, Fort Washington, Pa., and DBM Associates, Whitehouse, N.J., have developed an interface between the PRO-T-S researchPredictive Dialer and DBM’s ARCS IVR system. The interface will allow a live interviewer to screen for the correct person or gain cooperation and then transfer the interview and data collected into the DBMARCS 1VR system to go through the remainder of the questionnaire in an automated environment. The data that has been collected in the live operator script, that could impact the skip patterns in the IVR portion, is sent along with the respondent to either a locally attached ARCS IVR system or one located remotely.
Database profiles retail picture in 100 metropolitan areas
The National Research Bureau (NRB), a Chicago shopping center intelligence firm, is offering Retail Real Estate America (RREA), a new supply-anddemand data resource that profiles the largest 100 metropolitan areas from information supplied by the NRB Shopping Center Database, the Trade Dimensions Retail Database and Claritas Inc. NRB is a division of San Diegobased information firm Claritas.
RREA, which is available in e-book format, features market overviews and in-market Web links for the top U.S. markets. The Trade Dimensions retail data are presented by selected retail category within a market for each retailer with five or more locations in the market. These retaiiers would be located in all types of locations, including both shopping center and non-shopping center locations. The Trade Dimensions Retail Database contains profile data for all supermarkets, mass merchandisers, liquor stores, drug stores, wholesale clubs, cigarette stores, convenience stores and category killers - a total of 321,323 outlets.
The Claritas demographic data package includes current and forecasted population estimates, household and income growth, race/ethnicity profiles and retail sales and employment statistics by county within MSA.
Web site information links are also provided for each market, extending the scope of the product to local information sources such as economic development commissions, local government market information sources and maj or business publications available in the market.
New online kids panel
The KidsCom Club Youth Panel, from Milwaukee-based marketing firm Circle 1 Network, is an online research panel of boys and girls ages 8-14 from across the U.S. Kids join the club for games, chat and creative activities that are available on the KidsCom Web site (www.kidscom.com), not just to take surveys. These non-survey activities are intended to keep members active and involved with the panel without over-using them for surveys. The panel has over 38,000 members. Clients can get feedback from panel members through custom surveys or the monthly omnibus survey. The Youth Panel can be used to evaluate products, packaging or advertising concepts, learn youth preferences and opinions, discover the latest trends and gather Intemet, wireless and gaming usage information. The KidsCom Club Youth Panel is compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy ProtectionAct (COPPA). Parents have provided their consent for KidsCom Club Youth Panel members to participate in research.
Briefly...
Three research companies - The TCI Group, Minneapolis; The Miller Research Group, Mt. Prospect, Ill.; and DataProbe International, irving, Texas - have established a strategic partnership to form Information 2 Intelligence. The firm will provide Web-based business and research services from offices in the U.S., U.K., India and Australia.
The RIVA Training Institute is now offering its Master Moderator Certificate program. The Master Moderator Certificate will be awarded to those who complete a series of courses, workshops and private study and then demonstrate skills and knowledge to an objective examination panel through both written and practicum examinations.
Informatouch, a Phoenix-based company specializing in touch technology applications, has introduced DIGIVEY. DIG1VEY (digital survey) is a multilingual, multimedia-capable software tool that uses touch technology to conduct marketing research where respondents answer questions in either text or images in their preferred language and on their own pace.
Pittsburgh-based Direct Feedback, Inc. is now offering focus group clients high-speed wireless Internet access.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Itracks has doubled its call center to accommodate increased demand for its online computer-assisted telephone interviewing service.
Millward Brown has launched its new children’s research Web site at www.millwardbrown.corrdkidspeak to coincide with the release of the new book BRANDchild by brands expert Martin Lindstrom, which looks at global kids and their relationship with adult brands and is based On results from research conducted by Millward Brown among tweens (ages 9-14).
Chicago-based ACNielsen U.S. has released version 7.0 of its Spaceman merchandising software solution. The new version extends Spaceman’s reach to new retail channels, while giving users new merchandising design and sales analysis capabilities.
The American Society for Quality has published Customer Satisfaction Toolkit for ISO 9001:2000 by Sheila Kessler, which explores the basic tools currently being used in customer satisfaction systems and shows how they can be applied in meeting ISO 9001:2000 requirements for a customer satisfaction system.
American Sports Data, Hartsdale, N.Y., has released its Comprehensive Study of American Attitudes Toward Physical Fitness and Health Clubs, the third in a series of tracking studies initiated by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. The 410-page report contains sections on psychological stress (and its antidote); dieting and weight loss; the "fat and fit" philosophy; fitness technology; new dimensions in fitness measurement; public opinion on the subsidization of healthy lifestyles, and more.