Rent a virtual focus group room
Protocon, Inc., New York, has opened the Virtual Research Room (VRROOM) service. Market researchers can now rent virtual focus group rooms like they would traditional focus goup rooms. The service is available for any moderator, research company, or corporate marketing or advertising department to conduct on-line studies. The service uses the iSession communication technology from Seattle-based Sessio.com. Clients can view the proceedings on-line, and can secretly ask moderators to direct probing questions during a session.
Software puts brand testing history into one package
RSC, The Quality Measurement Company, Evansville, Ind., has introduced a new software system which puts all the elements of one brand’s market research advertising testing history into one software package. The new software system, outlook Gain, will include the company’s ARS persuasion scores (which evaluate a brand’s advertising strategy or finished TV commercial), the diagnostic elements which comprise the commercials (i.e. brand differentiation, the use of humor, etc.) and digitized videos of each commercial.
According to RSC, the outlook Gain is designed to allow an advertiser to watch different commercials, compare ads which had high and low ARS persuasion scores and to easily identify specific factors associated with a brand’s successful and non-successful ads. With the new software, for example, a brand manager of a popular brand might watch several hundred TV commercials of that particular brand in a few hours as opposed to spending several days examining individual commemials. This historical research measurement data allows effective selling propositions for one brand to be revised and tested for relevance to related brands in the advertiser’s product line-up. RSC’s database is estimated to contain more than 50,000 TV advertising strateNes and commercials.
New service from Cahners In-Stat Group
Cahners In-Stat Group has launched its Call Center Service, expanding the company’s Voice and Data Communications Group, which includes market analysis of the voice messaging, interactive voice response and computer-telephony integation markets. The service will provide market research and analysis covering many facets of the call center industry, including: automatic call distributor (ACD) and other hardware markets; customer contact and customer service software solutions; Internetenabled call centers; network-based and distributed call centers; emerNng technology developments; and international industry issues and opportunities. Headquartered in Newton, Mass., Cahners In-Stat Group is a high-technology market research fixm and part of Cahners Business Information, a publisher of specialized business publications.
Ketchum updates PR research guide
The 1999 edition of "A Guide to Public Relations Research," a 90-page research reference manual for PR professionals, is now available from Ketchum, a New York public relations firm. The publication has been expanded to include sections on PR measurement and evaluation and selected PR research computer software packages, in addition to an expanded listing of worldwide secondary data sources and bibliographic references, including Web addresses. The guide, prepared and updated by Walter Lindenmarm, senior vice president and director of Ketchum’s research and measurement department, contains eight major sections, including a checklist of things PR practitioners ought to consider whenever they do research and a comparison of six different types of research approaches that are often used in public relations. It also contains a glossary of terms commonly used in PR research and a bibliogaphy. The manual is available for $25 per copy. Checks or money orders should be made payable to "Ketchum Research and Measurement" and sent to Walter Lindenmann, Ketchum Research and Measurement Dept., 292 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y., 10017.
New projector from InFocus
InFocus, aWtlsonville, Ore., maker of data/video projection systems, has introduced the In Focus LPTM1200, a 1200-lumen, native XGA (1024 x 768) projector for the conference room. The InFocus LP1200 delivers features such as picture-in-picture display, digital zoom, electronic keystone correction, and built-in PC card slots and four inputs (two computer, two video).
Dual source display provides instanton, picture-in-picture capabilities. This feature Nves presenters the option to view a second spreadsheet on top of the first, add a video clip to play alongside displayed data or switch between two simultaneous presentations at once. With the touch of a button, drawings, schematics or spreadsheets can be shared. The LP1200 offers electronic zoom and electronic focus, allowing the versatility to present from anywhere in the room. Featuring a color palette of 16.7 million colors, the native XGA-resolution, 20-pound LP1200 handles high-resolution business gaphics, while 250:1 contrast and polysilicon LCDs ensure saturated colors and crisp detail in gaphics, spreadsheets, video and data.
Reports profile French Internet use
Motivaction International, a Viroflay, France-based research firm, is now offering reports on the use of the Internet in France. One report, "Evolution of the Internet in France 1997/1998," provides a general picture of the Internet in France and in the other French-speaking countries (Canada, Belgium, Switzerland), looking at topics such as Web popularity, household multimedia equipment, and profiles of Web surfers.
Web site offers e-commerce articles
The Electronic Commerce Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/research) is offering free access to articles on online selling and store development. Dr. Ralph Wilson is the virtual librarian to the Research Room’s 1,500 articles on how-to build successful on-line stores, accept credit cards on-line, learn from industry case studies on Internet sales and more. The stacks at Wilson’s Electronic Commerce Research Room organize the discipline of on-line selling into 43 categories. A short list of categories includes store design and internal marketing, cost-cutting measures, demographics and shopping behavior, fulfillment issues, transaction systems, and shopping software technologies. Although a number of articles are available to read for free, full access to the Electronic Commerce Research Room is included with a subscription to Wilson’s e-mail newslett’er Web Commerce Today.