Kinesis updates its Community and Survey platforms
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas, has released a new version of Kinesis Community, a market research online community Web site solution bundled with Kinesis’ panel management application Kinesis Panel. The latest version is intended to enable one-click deployment and full support for the latest generation of touchscreen mobile devices, including the iPad2 and iPhone4, BlackBerry Playbook, Motorola Zoom and other Google Android Honeycomb-based devices.
Separately, Kinesis has partnered with Infotech Global, a Piscataway, N.J., technology services company, to develop a proprietary survey conversion process designed to offer automated survey migration services for companies that wish to transfer existing survey projects from another survey solution to the Kinesis Survey platform. For more information visit www.kinesissurvey.com.
Millward Brown debuts two social media offerings
New York research company Millward Brown and its digital practice Dynamic Logic have launched FanIndex, a solution for measuring the impact of brand pages on social platforms. FanIndex is designed to provide quantitative measurement of Facebook fan page performance along with diagnostics to help optimize page content.
Additionally, Millward Brown and Kantar Media Cymfony, a New York research company, have introduced a suite of online listening solutions merging Kantar Media Cymfony’s analysis of social media and online discussion with Millward Brown’s brand and communications research. The solution suite is designed to run alongside Millward Brown brand tracking programs. It also lets clients engage in real-time monitoring and crisis management to allow brands to quickly listen and respond based on real-time consumer conversation; understand brands more completely by complementing traditional equity and communications research with consumer commentary; and inform survey design to ensure studies are created in the language and terminology consumers use and focused on the most relevant category drivers. For more information visit www.millwardbrown.com.
Vantis Concepts updated to deliver KPIs faster
Ipsos Vantis, a division of New York research company Ipsos North America, has updated its Vantis Concepts solution to reduce the amount of time needed to deliver KPI results to clients. Vantis Concepts is a testing program that aims to uncover mass-appeal ideas as well as hidden winners, breakthroughs and niche plays that are often missed. Each concept is compared to a normative database containing 23,000+ tests across several sectors. Each test includes a market success score; key measure scorecard; customer targeting profile; message and buzz power scores; and a detailed phrase-by-phrase analysis of which messages motivate the consumer to buy. For more information visit www.ipsos-na.com/media.
Colligent debuts MeQ for social media engagement tracking
Bellevue, Wash., research company Colligent has released MeQ (mutual engagement quotient) to measure the level and strength of engagement between two entities. MeQ has been designed to cross-compare the Facebook Likes, Twitter follows and other engagement behaviors of more than 270 million consumers with a database of 36,000 music, TV, radio, movies, sports, magazines and brands. This information is used to create the MeQ score for every entity tracked in the Colligent system, thereby enabling companies to identify the strongest business building opportunities via brand partnerships, sponsorships, media and communication. For more information visit www.colligent.com.
NVS: a metric for judging a company’s success
B2B International, a Manchester, U.K., research company, has developed the Net Value Score (NVS), a metric that aims to provide the market’s view on the perceived value offered by each company supplying a market. It can also provide the perceived value of a company’s different business units, indicating where the company’s value proposition is seen as the strongest and weakest.
The NVS is based on a calculation derived through asking three survey questions regarding how the supplier compares relative to other suppliers in the market on product and service benefits; pricing; and total value. For more information visit www.b2binternational.com.
M3 aims to analyze smartphone and tablet usage
Ipsos MediaCT, a London research company, and Zokem, an Espoo, Finland, mobile analytics company, have released M3 (“M Cube” for mobile measurement and motivation), a passive measurement solution designed to help U.K. clients understand consumer behavior around the use of new technologies. Respondents will first give authorization to download the app, which will then record all of the respondents’ interactions with their mobile device. The system can be switched off at any time.
Ipsos and Zokem will produce trend data from dedicated panels in the U.K., as well as from other countries. These results will be delivered as standard reports to provide the major smartphones and tablets trends for each country. Additionally, M3 can be deployed on any ad hoc sample. For more information visit www.ipsos.com/mediact.
Four updates from comScore
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. has launched Social Essentials, a social media measurement platform designed to quantify social media brand impressions and incorporate them into a measurement of the marketing mix. The first installment of this service provides global reporting and analysis of audiences exposed to brand messages over Facebook, while subsequent releases will incorporate findings for additional social media channels, including Twitter. Social Essentials is optimally designed for brands with at least 500,000 Facebook fans.
Social Essentials includes the following insights and capabilities: the number of fans and friends of fans reached with paid, earned and owned social media brand impressions along with the total number of brand exposures; the ability to compute traditional media planning metrics such as reach, frequency and GRPs for social media brand impressions; the demographic composition of fans and friends exposed to social media brand impressions; the online behavior and brand engagement of these fan and friend segments; competitive intelligence on other brands’ social media audiences, including demographic and behavioral comparisons and audience overlap; and the behavioral impact of exposure to social media messages, marketing and advertising campaigns.
In conjunction with this announcement, comScore and Facebook have also released a complimentary white paper demonstrating the various applications of the Social Essentials tool using Facebook Fan audience data for Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Microsoft Bing. To download a copy of the white paper visit www.comscore.com/like.
Separately, comScore has introduced the comScore Smart Lift Attribution Model, a methodology that aims to bring the science of attribution to brand measurement. The model is based on marketing-mix modeling techniques to accurately allocate display ad campaign performance by publisher or publisher type, demographic groups, interest segments, audience segments from third-party data providers, advertising creative, creative placements and client-defined segments. The model is currently being applied to comScore AdEffx Brand Survey Lift studies in the U.S.
Additionally, comScore has released its AdEffx Campaign Essentials campaign audience validation tool in Canada.
Finally, comScore has introduced comScore Digital Analytix in Latin America. Digital Analytix is a Web analytics solution designed to allow digital marketers and analytics professionals to conduct in-depth forensic research on site-level activity. For more information visit www.comscore.com.
EasyInsites enhances EasyPanel product
Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites has added several features to enhance its EasyPanel offering. New functionalities include the EasyIdeas product, which is designed to allow participants to generate new ideas around a particular topic they are provided and vote on their favorites; the ability to initiate and participate in unstructured and uninterrupted discussions among panelists on topics of their choice; and more flexible content features to enable results and other engaging information to be confidentially shared within the site to panel members only. For more information visit www.easyinsites.com.
Forrester debuts MROC; branches into Russia
Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., has released a series of new consumer data products, including a market research online community (MROC) called Community Speaks and the expansion into Russia of Forrester’s industry-leading Consumer Technographics.
Community Speaks is based upon an MROC of 2,000+ participants. CommunitySpeaks provides qualitative consumer insights built from foundational Technographics data on topics such as customer experience and loyalty; consumer technology adoption; and media and Internet behaviors and attitudes.
With expansion into Russia, Forrester’s Consumer Technographics will survey 330,000 consumers in 18 countries this year, providing insights into how technology affects global consumers’ attitudes, behaviors and motivations. Forrester will survey 5,000 Russian consumers. For more information visit www.forrester.com.
Research Now brings mobile panel app to Australia
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has launched its mobile app, Valued OpinionsMobile, in Australia. The app is available for Android and iPhone operating systems and is the first smartphone app with full survey functionality. The app is designed so that Valued Opinions’ panel members can take paid surveys in Australia without an Internet connection (other than for receiving the survey and sending the responses back at the end of the survey). Valued Opinions Mobile is free to download via iTunes for the iPhone version and the Marketplace for the Android app. For more information visit www.researchnow.com.
Nielsen online rating system launches with Facebook as partner
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has released online campaign ratings - a gross ratings point (GRP)-equivalent system for Web advertising - with Facebook as one of its data partners. The system is designed to work using pixel-tracking so that when a particular display or video advertisement is shown in a browser this is reported to Nielsen and to other approved data contributors, including large Web publishers and Facebook. Data partners then report back to Nielsen on the demographic profiles of those who have seen the ads in the form of aggregate-level reports containing reach and frequency information in anonymous age and gender buckets. For more information visit www.nielsen.com.
Briefly
Michael Lowenstein, executive vice president of Market Probe, a Milwaukee, Wis., research company, has written a book, titled The Customer Advocate and The Customer Saboteur, that addresses how to minimize or eliminate customer indifference, alienation and sabotage. The book is available through ASQ Quality Press at http://bit.ly/advorsab.
Miami research company has introduced the Savvy University Faculty of Expert Advisors, a team of researchers dedicated to providing training via Web-based seminars and online classes for executives who need to address the changing demographics of their markets. The advisors are also available for consultation via Geoscape’s Savvy University, a program designed to offer free access to the resources needed to stay updated with the Geoscape Intelligence System. The faculty includes Tony Suarez, Isabel Valdés, Felipe Korzenny, Terry Soto and Greg Gálvez. For more information visit www.geoscape.com/faculty.asp.
Stockholm, Sweden, eye tracking company Tobii Technology, has launched Tobii Insight, a service designed to provide comprehensive and cost-effective eye-tracking research solutions by lowering the entry cost. It also aims to give market research firms a way to offer eye tracking to customers without purchasing eye-tracking equipment or hiring full-time eye-tracking analytics experts. For more information visit www.tobii.com.
New York research company WorldOne has developed Emunity, a system of checks and balances intended to ensure that panelists have been verified through several methods, including proven employment from their place of business; digital fingerprinting through RelevantID; validation via opt-in processes; and detection for fraudulent activity. For more information visit www.worldone.com.
Columbus, Ohio, research company iPinion LLC has released iPinion 2.0 survey application for iPhone and Android devices. For more information visit www.ipinionsurveys.com.
Roy Morgan Research, Melbourne, Australia, has introduced a single-source survey in India, designed to capture the decision-making process in a detailed manner and across a long time period with multiple face-to-face visits. The quarterly study will tabulate information on demographics, purchase behavior, attitudes and lifestyle, retail activity, products, brands and other variables. The sample size will be at least 265,000 people. For more information visit www.roymorgan.com.
Research companies Synovate, Chicago, and VideoMining, State College, Pa., have partnered to combine in-store analytics with attitudinal research for the landmark supermarket industry study, the Center Store MegaStudy. The Center Store MegaStudy will use VideoMining’s in-store measurement and analytics technology in stores in 15 U.S. markets to analyze over 10 million grocery trips over a period of a few months. For more information visit www.synovate.com.
Dallas research company Toluna has released its QuickSurveys DIY survey tool in 15 new markets, bringing its total reach to 21 countries. Toluna has also launched an improved Ask the Nation census rep algorithm, intended to balance results to census data in many new markets. For more information visit www.tolunaquick.com.
Convio Inc., an Austin, Texas, customer engagement firm, has released its Integrated Multi-channel Marketing study. Conducted by Edge Research, Arlington, Va., the study aims to explore the success factors for organizations already on their integrated multichannel journey; peer comparisons; and where to focus to improve success. The study focused on five core areas: integrated marketing metrics; integrated marketing best practices; activity levels in new media; organizational strategy; and integrated marketing priorities. For more information visit www.convio.com.
New York research company OnePoint Surveys has rebranded as OnePoint Global. The firm is online at www.onepointglobal.com.
The Research and Engagement Division of Chime Communications PLC, London, has rebranded as CIE - Chime’s Insight and Engagement Division. The division is online at www.cie.uk.com.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has updated its Web site (www.visioncritical.com), including a new corporate video and logo.
The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), New York, has completed a Web site usability study via GfK SirValUse and GfK’s nurago technology from GfK Custom Research North America, New York, to improve the user experience for ARF Web site visitors. For more information visit www.thearf.org.
20|20 Technology, a division of 20|20 Research Inc., Nashville, Tenn., has released its second e-book, The Essential Guide to Mobile Qualitative Research. The book is available as a free download from www.2020research.com.
Adapt Inc., a Minnetonka, Minn., research processing company, has begun offering print, mail and return mail processing in Canada. For more information visit www.adaptdata.com.
New York research company Ipsos Observer has launched Social Observer, a customizable research solution that can be used independently or integrated with traditional market research. As a research tool, Social Observer allows users to conduct a variety of research functions including pre-survey investigation and questionnaire development; concept development, discovery and ideation; supplement research; tracking data to measure consumer trends, topics as well as sentiment; ad planning; and post-survey analysis. For more information visit www.ipsos-na.com/research/observer.
Research Panel Asia Inc. (RPA), Tokyo, has launched a smartphone application in China for both Android and iOS. The app is designed to enable RPA’s panelists to access new survey information; participate in quick polls; receive the latest news; and check the balance of rewards via smartphone. For more information visit www.researchpanelasia.com.
Lightspeed Research, Warren, N.J., has launched online panels in Poland and Greece. For more information visit www.lightspeedresearch.com.
Polaris Marketing Research Inc., Atlanta, has released SurveyTrac for Associations, a tool designed to provide associations affordable marketing research with their members. Additionally, Polaris has re-launched its blog, The Marketing Dialog (www.polarismr.com/tmd). For more information visit www.polarismr.com.
ORC International, a Princeton, N.J., research company, has launched engage for joiners, a survey product intended to allow organizations to evaluate the engagement, productivity and costs of new joiners. Using the joiners module, organizations can identify opportunities and potential challenges facing new joiners and weaknesses that may lead to employees leaving their position prematurely. For more information visit www.orcengage.com.
Research Rockstar, Westborough, Mass., has released SurveyGrader, a free online survey grading tool created to help novice designers. SurveyGrader is designed to offer free, instant feedback on survey design through a series of 11 questions. For more information visit www.researchrockstar.com.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), New York, has opened the IAB Ad Lab, where advertisers can address the industry’s needs and opportunities. The IAB Ad Lab features a modular space that can accommodate presentation-style gatherings for as few as five and as many as 74 participants. For more information visit www.iab.net.
Research companies TNS, Horsham, Pa., and Alenty, Paris, have partnered across Europe to offer TNS Digital AdEffect, a solution designed to measure the effectiveness of online display advertising by reporting back on what elements of the ad consumers are exposed to and for how long. The solution is available in France, Germany, Spain and the U.K. For more information visit www.tnsglobal.com.
Ethnographer Siamack Salari has released an EthOS (ethnographic observation system) mobile app. The app is available in 15 languages on iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices. For more information visit www.ethosapp.com.
The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., research company, has debuted its consumer tracking service for the consumer electronics industry. For more information visit www.npd.com.