Updated gardening study forthcoming
Organic Gardening, published by Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa., will release its second "Gardening in America" study in early 1995. The magazine promises the most comprehensive look at green thumbs in the United States. The new study will build on the first "Gardening in America," issued in 1992. The questionnaire for the new study will include many of the same questions as the first, allowing researchers to make comparisons and identify trends. While the original survey looked specifically at the country's 61 million gardeners, "Gardening in America '95" will include answers reported by nongardeners and gardeners alike for comparison's sake. The study is designed to offer a detailed psychographic profile of America's gardeners, and will include information on gardeners' plans to go organic, factors influencing power equipment purchases, and home gardening habits. The survey will be conducted by Greenwich, Conn.-based NFO Research. When issued, it will be available in three formats: a descriptive executive summary; a tabulation report consisting of several hundred pages of annotated tables; and a database for PCs.
SPSS seminars scheduled
SPSS's one-day seminar on customer satisfaction measurements is currently touring North America. SPSS is based in Chicago. The seminar is designed to give professionals the information they need to conduct in-house programs on customer satisfaction. Covering techniques and strategies for building programs, the seminar agenda includes a question-and-answer session with SPSS market research professionals wherein sample questionnaires and surveys are analyzed. Participants learn how customer satisfaction measurement fits into a total quality management program; discover which measurement strategies fits their needs; determine which characteristics of the products and services their company offers should be measured; learn how to select a sample, design a questionnaire that asks the right questions, analyze data and present results, and use results to implement change. The seminar will be offered on Nov. 29 at the Delta Hotel Office Tower In Ottawa, Ontario, and on Dec. 7 at the Wyndham Garden in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Quantum offers customer profiling system
The Customer Profile System from Quantum Management Group, Charlotte, N.C., is an integral part of the Performance Marketing packages that the company customizes for its clients. The system tells client companies how many people visited them, where the visitors are from, why they visited and why they chose a particular product or company over others. The Customer Profile System tracks results, measures impact and monitors market fluctuations. The information is provided in concise, understandable terms. Quantum uses state-of-the-art computer mapping programs, integrated with other data, to give management at client companies access to critical information.
Audits & Surveys starts vending machine, pet products projects
Audits & Surveys, New York, has begun an audit of vending machines called VENDtrack and a study of the pet food and other products marketplace called PETS. With a sample of more than 3,000 candy/snack and beverage vending machines, VENDtrack offers nationally projectable information on an ongoing basis. The survey of machines will yield data on distribution and price, as well as breakdowns of product categories and a detailed analysis by brand within product categories. PETS, officially known as Pet Products Evaluating Tracking System, will offer a bimonthly overview of the $12 billion pet food and products market. Thousands of stores - pet shops, veterinarians' offices, farm feed businesses and pet "superstores" - will be visited and thoroughly audited each year. The latest point-of-sale information from those outlets where it is available also will be included. Audits & Surveys will provide clients with nationally projectable information on market shares and trends.
Wright turns Apple's Newton into a data collection tool
San Diego-based Wright Strategies' OmniForm mobile data collection software is designed to be used by survey specialists, market researchers and others looking for sophisticated and accurate field data collection and forms creation capabilities. The system is based on combining the portability of Apple's Newton Personal Digital Assistant with the power of a Macintosh computer or a Windows-equipped PC. The system's form builder, used on the Mac or PC, allows users to create forms as a series of fields, each containing a question or prompt with a specific type of acceptable input. The forms are downloaded onto a Newton. Each field has an associated script, and each answer leads to an appropriate question - users don't have to skip around, and form designers can use the scripts to create forms that cannot be completed incorrectly. Data from a completed survey is transferred by modem or serial cable back to the host PC. The system offers permanent memory storage, an easy-to-use interface, handwriting rec-ognition and advanced communications architecture.
CMR develops nutrition and fitness program
Children's Market Research Inc., New York, has developed a program designed to educate children and teens about nutrition and fitness. The company has available materials that support the program. Kids' Pyramid Power should heighten kids' nutritional savvy by explaining the USDA's food pyramid concept in a way children can understand so they can apply the concepts to their lives. The first phase of the program is the "Kids' Pyramid Power Report" - a 50-page report providing facts, teaching methods and promotions. The report also includes the complete proposal for the Kids' Pyramid Power program. The proposal details the objectives of the program and explains exactly how they will be realized. Other elements are in development and will be introduced in 1995: curriculum guides, activity guides, a promotion involving school cafeterias nationwide, a weekly television series, a video game, music cassettes, the Kids' Pyramid Power home game and home videos. The report is based on 1994 information and research. The $295 price of the report includes enrollment in the Kids' Pyramid Power Network, through which information about kids and nutrition, new products and services, and promotions and premiums will be provided.
International demographic comparison tool debuts
First Cut, an electronic reference sheet, facilitates quick comparison of 196 countries in terms of 16 different demographic variables - GNP per capita, for example. The result of a joint project conducted by Population Reference Bureau, Washington; Sherbank Marketing, Toronto; and W-Two Publications, Ithaca, N.Y., First Cut uses data from Population Reference Bureau's "World
Population Data Sheet" and runs under Windows. First Cut users can browse through the program, ranking countries on different variables. It costs $29.95 and comes on a single diskette with a copy of the "World Population Data Sheet."
Claritas data coming to SAS System
SAS Institute, Cary, N.C., and Claritas Inc., Alexandria, Va., have reached an agreement that will make 100 different Claritas demographic and marketing databases available to users of SAS/GIS software, the new geographic information system component of the SAS System. The SAS system is an integrated suite of software that enables enterprisewide information delivery. The databases will be formatted for SAS users in a way that provides an easy link between Claritas and the SAS System, allowing access to geographies, media usage, PRIZM lifestyle, health care, retail, crime and environmental hazards databases, among others.