It's A Small World

It’s a small world here at The Market Research Event. During Tuesday’s lunch, I reconnected with an old friend! As I was introducing myself to folks around the table, I did a double take. A friend I had not seen in over 2 years , Brooke Fagley, Vice President of Client Service at Directions Research, Inc. was sitting across from me! The last time we were together we were trying to make our way through Italian lessons at a mutual friend's house!

Here she is with a couple of other folks at our table, Beth Daush of Directions Research and John Delgado of Eastern Research:

We chatted for a few minutes catching up until the keynote speaker began his presentation. Marc Dresner, Executive Editor of RFL Communications, gave a compelling speech regarding their work to help improve data quality issues across the market research industry. Their publication, Platforms for Data Progress: The Client’s Guide to Rapid Improvement of Online Research, was distributed. His presentation gave a lively account regarding the history of its development.

For those of you who were unable to make it, he mentioned that the publication has been approved and is being distributed by the American Marketing Association. It can be found at www.marketingpower.org.

Cool Research Deliverables

We all want to learn more more about how to communicate research findings succinctly and with a flair so key stakeholders can easily grasp and “buy-in” to the learnings.

So, this workshop, Design-Driven Deliverables: Adding Dimension to Your Research, was not only relevant but also insightful because it gave useful tips and examples of how to expand reporting beyond the Power Point presentation. Speakers, Steve Kulp and Lisa Broome, discussed creating shadowboxes , murals and inspiration stations to pull together “experiential” learnings.

By using a variety of unusual deliverables, the broader audience will have the ability to learn more through all of their senses. Some examples of these are shown below:

It was a great session of questions, answers and idea sharing. One interesting thought brought up by Dean Macko of Hyundai was the possibility of using actual respondents at the end of a segmentation study to better personify the segment learnings. Cool stuff!

Entertainment Redefined

Betsy Frank, Chief Research & Insights Officer of Time Inc. gave an extremely compelling presentation in yesterday’s Media Research track, Multi-Platform Storytelling. As the workshop progressed, my perception of “entertainment” shifted a bit. In their research at Time, Inc., they have discovered that entertainment for most consumers includes “anything I’m not obliged to do.” In fact, 77% agree “I can find entertainment value in almost anything.”

She went further to say that the more stressed you are, the more important entertainment becomes. The benefits? To relax, feel less stress. It’s an escape. Entertainment is the antidote to anxiety.

However, they have discovered that entertainment is not only about escape, it also fulfills three other emotional needs, to: Connect, Create, and Share. She shared rich insights from a study of 30 (non-entertainment) brands. 

They found certain brands resonated on some of the spectrums while at least one brand (Target was the example given) was able to connect on all 4.

What Women Want

“Tahiti is sexier than selling toilet paper.” Graceann Bennett from Ogilvy Chicago grabbed everyone’s attention in one of the early morning sessions yesterday. She, along with Debbie Solomon of MindShare and Beth Uyenco of Microsoft led an incredible workshop: From Dull to Delightful: Digital Paths to Filling the Shopping Cart! In their work for Kimberly-Clark, they knew consumers felt that shopping for toilet paper is the #1 most annoying thing to shop for. They wanted to know, "how do you create and build true brand management with a product that is annoying?"

Well, you guessed it, they conducted a LOT of research! It included 62 media diaries, 12 insight group discussions, ethnographies, idea stations (an online chat room), mindshare omnibus study, digital domain, digital trend analysis, and cultural deep dive. And they did this with women across all life stages. Whew!

They conducted the research with women across life stages…and they learned a lot about women, especially what women want in the “digital” arena.

During the workshop, they gave us a little quiz to test our female I.Q. Let’s see how you do…

• How many words does the average woman speak per day vs. men? (answer: 7000 vs. 2000)

• How many women have smart phones? (answer: 10 million and this number doubled in the past year)

• How many women are gamers? (answer: 59% of women are gamers and 70% of women played a PC game in the last month)

Through their research with these women, they found 3 distinct “digital segments: Digital Outliers (9%), Mainstream Users (75%) and Digital Divas (16%). And while they cited many life stage differences across the segments, they also noted several commonalities. Primarily, women like real content by real people. Women are not only trusting friends for advice on products, they are also using “advice from strangers” as a source for help. YouTube has become a primary source for getting “product advice” because of the high touch content it provides. This YouTube video was cited as a touching example of a father explaining to his daughter how to cut a mango.

Good example of online content women want.

It was interesting to note that when you’re selling products that are “annoying” such as toilet paper, you don’t necessarily have to be top of mind, you just have to make it easy for her and it is becoming critical to do that online. One consumer quote they gave says it best, “I actually have a subscription for my paper products and detergent on Amazon.com.”

Tomorrow's Agenda at The Market Research Event

I have a full agenda tomorrow with an early start at 8:15 a.m. for the first workshop. Still trying to decide on some of the workshop choices.

I will certainly be at Kelley Styring’s welcome keynote at 5:15 p.m. where she will talk about her ethnographic journey learning about the “Archaeology of the American Handbag,” And I wouldn’t miss the cocktail reception at 6:00 so please find and introduce yourself—I’ll be curious about your day here at The Market Research Event!

Shoot me a note at april@aprilbellconsulting.com if you want to give me a tip on what I should cover while here at the conference.

The Market Research Event Day 1 Holistic Research Strategies

I was able to pop into another very cool workshop this afternoon.

And while the room was chilly, the speakers were more than warm when I entered their workshop. One of the most interesting elements of the workshop was their in-depth explanation of quantifying free association. Check out a small bite of the workshop here:

For more information and a detailed map of their qual-quant mixed research strategy approach, you can visit them at their booth in the Exhibit Hall.

April Bell
 

Day One Begins with Innovation Tips

I hurried over to the Disneyland hotel shortly after my arrival into Anaheim today. I knew I would be a bit late to the afternoon workshops but I really wanted to check them out.

As I entered, I could feel the energy in the room. The afternoon speaker, Holly O’Neill, was “Talking Business” about innovation and ideation techniques. She was discussing with participants on how to get the right people in the room. She suggested that it’s more important to get a creative administrative assistant in an ideation session than the ‘less than creative’ vice president.” One participant followed up to ask, “How do you know who is creative?” (which I found to be a great question) She quickly answered that if “you can give a quick test to get a read on creativity, it really helps. For example, as a pre-work exercise, have everyone list 10 things you can do with a brown paper bag? From that, you can gather a quick assessment on creativity level.

Some of her other tips included:

1) Bring in an expert. For example, if the category is regarding a new food concept, bring in a nutritionist or hire a professional ideator.

2) Have attendees do a homework assignment. For example, send everyone to the health food store and have them bring something unique and interesting into the session. Then, create an innovation table with everyone’s finds. This stimulates new thought from the onset of the session.

3) Make the room fun with toys, food and drinks as well as music.

4) Create a room set-up that includes using comfy seating, and extra space for exercises.

This 3-hour workshop managed to keep everyone on their toes with many ideation techniques, and we were all put on the spot with a starter activity called “Merry Names-Go-Round.”

April Bell

Please feel free to email me at april@aprilbellconsulting.com if you’re here at The Market Research Event and know of something important I should cover on Tuesday’s blog.

Focused Group Dynamics

One of the best things about my job as a moderator is getting to create an atmosphere where a group of strangers feel comfortable enough to talk about a focused topic for a couple of hours.

It’s fascinating to be in the driver’s seat, gently nudging each person to give a point of view or express their opinion. And it’s just as interesting to watch the complexity of group dynamics in action. What a joy it is when the group interacts and expresses differing opinions in a constructive way, providing true insight. I believe this doesn't happen automatically. Rather, it comes with a bit of finesse. While there are times when it’s necessary to go to more dramatic means to ensure cooperation and avoid group think, the following steps will help you get there most of the time:

1. Set the Stage—I believe people in most focus groups generally want to give you what you want—insight from their perspective. I also believe that people need “coaching” many times on how best to do that. So, it is your responsibility as the moderator to properly set the stage. Tell respondents that you expect everyone to participate, that you expect them to have at least some differing opinions. Explicitly stating your expectations in the beginning will help you when you have to shut down the loudmouths and call on the wallflowers later in the discussion!

2. Be in Charge—you, as the moderator are responsible for the discussion thread. If you don’t manage it, someone else will. Do not be afraid to shift a respondent from an off-the-topic monologue. Time is not your friend in a group…you only have a set amount of it to extract insights. Therefore, keep yourself and your respondents focused on the objectives of the discussion. Again, be in charge of what you want to hear!

3. Use Non-Verbal Feedback First—this is especially important when gaining reactions to communication pieces or concept ideas. Get a quick read non-verbally by having participants write their opinions first. I also believe that structuring the verbal feedback process is helpful. Ask for positive comments first, then neutrals, then negatives. Structuring the feedback this way helps you stay on a path of constructive feedback rather than everyone jumping on a negative bandwagon.

4. Control the Loudmouth and Nurture the Wallflower—it is important to your clients to hear from everyone (if they all have something meaningful about the topic to say, that is☺) So, again, it is your job as the moderator to ensure that the “loudmouth” doesn’t overtake the conversation. You can do this by simply stating, “Thanks, I really want to hear from XXX.” When trying to get the “wallflower” to speak, it helps to make strong eye contact with them and when all else fails, call on them. “I haven’t heard your thoughts yet, XXX. Please tell me what you’re thinking.” Specifically stating the respondents name who is not participating will usually at least get them focused in again.

April

A Good Problem to Have

Here we are at The Market Research Event, and what an event it will be. I've been posting a few times over the past few weeks as a way to prepare myself to come out and participate as document some of the presentations and speakers here. As I’ve looked at the schedule, I have had a difficult time choosing which workshops I want to attend. I am already torn on Tuesday’s 1:30 p.m. session. Should I attend Research for the Global Marketplace, which will give me insight into the “do’s” and “don’ts” of conducting global ethnographic research OR should I go to the Uber Snackers workshop, where Frito-Lay will tell about their new snacking community, which allows them to understand this rapidly-growing consumer space? Choices, choices, choices….

And so for the next few days, I will not only be attending workshops but also scouting around for the coolest conference happenings. So, if you’re attending, don’t be surprised if I stop you, introduce myself, and ask for your opinion. Together, with the IIR staff, I will focus on bringing the Market Research Event to life online. If you are not able to attend, you can check it out here because you never know who or what you might see on the online coverage we will provide you while at the conference.

So, no matter what choices I make on what to attend, I know it will be great! (Not a bad problem to have.) Signing off tonight from Texas…..

April Bell

p.s. If you’re attending the Market Research Event in Anaheim and want to make sure I'm able to cover something important, please email me at april@aprilbellconsulting.com or connect to me via LinkedIn(I’ll receive on my iPhone) and I’ll do my best to get to your location….

Interesting Learnings about "the experience generation"

I had the pleasure of meeting both Tamara Sachs, CEO and Robert Miner, President of SachsInsights at The Market Research Event in October.  Their compelling qualitative research work is supplemented with high quality "video storytelling", and it's fascinating!   Here is a small clip of the workshop Robert Miner gave on "MilleniAdults--the experience generation."

Mr. Miner mentioned several key points that define this segment:

1. Belief in a Kaleidoscope of Options
2. Definition of Success Varies Across the Segment (financially secure, life experiences, making a difference)
3. Entry Level Debt
4. Online Social Networking

For more video footage of the ethnographic study conducted by SachsInsights, you can visit their website.

Good stuff!!