The Most Influential People in Twitter Tagged with #MR (according to Twitalyzer)

Twitalyzer's Benchmark report allows you to generate ranked lists of Twitter users based on their stated location and the tags that have been applied to their profile. By default the report lists the most influential people using Twitter based on their scores collected in the last 30 days.

Click here to access everyday to an updated list and follow this Influential People in Twitter Tagged with #MR

 

(January 31, 2010 - Twitalizer)

  (February 1, 2010 - Twitalizer)

  (February 2, 2010 - Twitalizer)

Online Observational Research - InSites Consulting

• Observational research = Data collection method where research participants are not activly interviewed about the research objective. Instead, we observe their online and offline behaviour.
  
• Social media netnography = Type of observational research that makes use of publicly available user-generated-content in order to answer a research question.
• Multimedia ethnography  = type of observational research where research participants are asked to observe their own environment by taking pictures and video’s . Through a blog and interactive commenting tools , they are able to comment on their observations and interact with the researcher.

Anatomía de una Generación de Avatares

A pesar de que ya pasaron 2 años desde que se realizó y publicó esta investigación cualitativa sobre estudiantes secundarios en Chile (Santiago), vale la pena continuar con su divulgación dada la profundidad con la que explora los valores, tendencias y aproximación a la política de los jóvenes chilenos. 

Anatomía de una Generación de Avatares

View more presentations from Jose Miguel Muga.

Online Exploratory Research: A Backdoor to Consumer Insights?

In ye olde times before the recession (circa 2006), I attended a conference presentation summarizing a fascinating ethnographic research project. For many months, a group contracted by a beer company had been traversing the USA selflessly spending their evenings in bar after bar in a search for the perfect pictures of men drinking beer to be modeled in the client’s future advertisement campaign. The ethnographers apparently bought drinks for everybody in the bars in exchange for the right to videotape the scenes. After spending an immense amount of time and money (and contributing to the increased beer consumption trends nationwide), they finally found the acceptable themes to be copied by the actors in the commercials.

Our life has changed dramatically since that time of accelerated consumer research spending. Today, when a bank’s note of insufficient funds on a bounced check needs a clarification (whether they mean you or them) and when toy car manufacturers’ stocks trade higher than GM, this project would not likely happen at all – there is just no budget for it. It does not mean that corporations completely abandon consumer research. Indeed, declining consumer disposable income intensifies the competition making actionable insights as valuable as ever. Businesses are desperate to find ways to do more with less. As for the project above, now an astute student can obtain comparable insights without leaving her dorm and enduring any out of pocket expenses. Well, the ‘student’ part might be a slight exaggeration. Let’s settle on “an astute researcher” with an access to the Internet and a supply of strong coffee, instead of a large budget.

 

I do not necessarily suggest en masse switching to SurveyMonkey.com questionnaires (the company that claims to be the leading survey tool on the web, ranked by Alexa, with over 80% of the Fortune 100 companies currently using SurveyMonkey). While in many cases their simplicity would suffice, especially given a very lucrative price – free, it does not count time and expertise of people who use this and other Do-it-Yourself (DIY) tools. Yet, when it comes to large-scale projects such as the one described above, a judicious consumer research professional can find comparable insights simply by analyzing the abundant quantity of photos and videos at media sharing sites such as Flickr and YouTube, with no out of pocket expenses whatsoever (unfortunately for the travel industry and bars). No doubt, this approach would raise a superfluity of legitimate but forlorn questions from traditional market researchers challenging the validity of the methodology, representativety of the consumers, error margins, etc.

This brings up two questions: What are the threats to the market research industry? What are the opportunities there? These are very difficult and highly distinct questions. Yet, the answers are deeply interlinked and in many cases are just plainly the same.

Over the years, traditional full service market research (MR) has been steadily marginalized under pressure from different players. Pressure has come from the lower end by the DIY tools and client-led non-systematic experimentation, and from the upper end - by the large management consulting firms. Now there is arguably an even bigger threat on the horizon. In fact, it is already on the screens of more than 250 million internet users, 120 million of whom log on to Facebook at least once a day. Contrary to popular belief, more than two-thirds of Facebook users are not in college and the fastest growing demographic segment is the 35+ year old.

Clients need access to the customers. This is the main reason, which led to the proliferation of panel providers in the last decade. Yet this trend is subject to ‘creative destruction’ by new, hugely powerful and highly democratizing players such as Facebook. When it comes to consumer intelligence, the action is where personal information tends to accumulate (with permission of course). It is hard to beat Facebook in this game. People behave quite differently on Facebook compared to other places. They dare to use their real names to talk about their real feelings, thoughts, tastes, preferences, impressions, expectations and fears openly showcasing their true inner beings. This does not look anything like “the Internet where nobody knows you are a dog” portrayed at many MR events a decade ago. It also does not resemble the Internet of that other giant, Google, which relies on averages knowing very little about visitors except for their browsing history.

The differences between Google and Facebook are evolving now into a battle over the future of the Internet itself. On one side of the mêlée are precise and highly sophisticated algorithms swamping and squeezing every bit of information in the world to create a technically perfect yet a dispassionate diagram of the virtual world. The opposite thinking, embraced by Facebook, is a humanized Web where we rely on our trusted network of friends to find information and judge its merits as humans naturally have done for millennia. Now, the process is instantaneous and larger than ever, often involving people separated by thousands of miles.

 

Continue reading @ Wharton School Publishing

 

_____________________________
This publication is based on the author’s articles in Research World (the monthly magazine of ESOMAR), his conference presentations and lectures expanded and updated to reflect the recent development in the industry and the feedback from the readers. 

TOP 10 iQ 2.0 blog posts (January 2010)

1) Ethnography app debuts on iTunes store - http://bit.ly/95QSDE

2) How online brand communities work - http://bit.ly/8P7uLZ

3) Market Research PREDICTIONS for 2010 in EIGHT Words -http://bit.ly/a0mFJz

4) Social Media en Latinoamérica: ¿Dónde está tu marca? - http://bit.ly/dbalJZ

5) Master en Dirección de Marketing Digital y Comunicación Empresarial Web 2.0 - http://bit.ly/dzuhA0

6) How can Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) move into a role of a Market Research Online Community consultant? - http://bit.ly/dxz3KZ

7) Millennials: Mapping Their “Culture Code” - http://bit.ly/dpauKO

8) NETNOGRAFIA: A LA PESCA DE DATOS EN LAS REDES SOCIALES - http://bit.ly/afk3QX

9) Market Research: Ten Trends for 2010 - http://bit.ly/8YoTfr

10) ¿Coca Cola fracasa con redes sociales propias? - http://bit.ly/b3pGVa

A Process Model for Analyzing and Visualizing Social Media Data

Social media use is exploding and services like Facebook and Twitter have enabled new forms of human collaboration. Researchers from the University of Maryland, Human Computer Interaction Lab and Microsoft (Derek L. Hansen, Dana Rotman, Elizabeth Bonsignore, Nataša Milić-Frayling, Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues, Marc Smith, Ben Shneiderman, Tony Capone) take a look at how Social Network Analysis tools can help practitioners make better sense of social media data.

 

Click here to have access to this academic paper

 

 

Researching youngsters online - Netnography?

Researching youngsters online, Kateřina Gillárová, Idealisti

View more presentations from Marta Klimowicz.

Netnographie Design Camp (auf Deutsch)

Neufassung des Themas "Netnographie - Ethnographische Methoden im Internet" auf dem DesignCamp Cologne 23./24. Januar 2010 (by Janowitz Klaus)

Netnographie Design Camp

View more presentations from Janowitz Klaus.

Archetypes of Community Participation

These "archetypes" can help you spot potential customer Champions, as well as the trolls who may be lurking in your community. Which archetypes are hanging out in your community, and what's the best way to approach each type?

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? Archetypes of Community Participation and How to Engage with Them (Keynote)

View more presentations from getsatisfaction.

The Conversation Manager: New Book on Online Market Research & Social Media Marketing

Over the past years, the internet has evolved from a static to a social platform. This evolution has an impact on the way consumers communicate and take purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, most advertisers have failed to evolve along.

Traditional advertising no longer works. Advertisers need to change their day-to-day working methods. The gap between the contemporary consumer and the traditional advertiser is growing on a daily basis.

This era is not the end of the advertising market, though it is the end of the advertiser!

This book offers a solution to this challenge: a change trajectory from advertiser to Conversation Manager. The Conversation Manager has a fresh perspective on how brands operate successfully in cooperation with today's consumer. Conversing with consumers is the key. Listening to and conversing with consumers is a necessary talent to retrain as a Conversation Manager. Using clear examples and clear concepts, the book describes how an advertiser can retrain to become a Conversation Manager.

The book also goes beyond theory alone. It also offers practical tools to start your change process within 48 hours. You will find concrete tips to move your business strategy into the direction of conversation management. You will find numerous practical online tools to help you in your new role: the Conversation Manager.

Download a preview of The Conversation Manager

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About the author

Steven Van Belleghem is Managing Partner of innovative research agency InSites Consulting. His passion is helping clients in taking strategic marketing decisions. Steven is specialized in branding, advertising and word-of-mouth strategies. Together with his team, he’s helping companies get a grip on the current consumers through branding, advertising and conversations.

Before Steven joined InSites Consulting, he was a researcher at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. Today, Steven is still a speaker at the school in a large number of executive teaching programs (e.g. brand management, marketing planning, young management program, …). Steven is also a frequent speaker on marketing conferences and business schools.

Encouraging co-creation between research and respondents

 

Getting consumers to co-create products and advertising campaigns is gaining traction – but what about co-creation in a research setting? Can respondents play a bigger role in the design and development of research tools, techniques and projects themselves?

InSites Consulting blogged today about a new quality control initiative they’ve put in place that aims to make sure translations in multi-country surveys are up to scratch.

The company is recruiting small groups of panel members in certain countries to check that questionnaires are properly translated, that questions are formulated correctly and that the range of possible answers are appropriate for the market in question.

It’s nothing that a professional translations company couldn’t do, but it seems a neat way of expanding on the respondent experience to make them feel like a more integral part of the research process.

InSites calls these translation-checkers ‘The Watsons’, named after the sidekick of the fictional Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes – neatly summed up in a Wikipedia entry as the perfect foil for Holmes: “The ordinary man against the brilliant, emotionally-detached analytical machine”.

Sam Berteloot, InSites’ panel research director, explained in a conversation earlier today how the company also calls on the ordinary men and women of its panels to give feedback on new survey devices before they are introduced.

“The co-creation of surveys and tools with ‘real participants’ is crucial, as clients and research agencies might be biased due to their involvement,” says the company.

Note the use of the word ‘participants’ – which ties in with some comments I spied elsewhere this morning. Matt Foley of online community developer PluggedIN blogged about his wish to do away with the term ‘respondent’ and the slightly negative connotations it carries.

A valid point, perhaps – but I’d say to worry less about what you call your survey takers, and think more about how to make them real participants in the research process.

 

Via Research Live By Brian Tarran & Robert Bain

Content Analytics and the Future of Market Research

How content analytics can be brought into research. The presentation was given as a webinar for the IE Business school where John Griffiths is a visiting professor. It features examples of the use of Purefold transmedia as a research methodology and the use of demographic replicator research bots. Part of the Cloud of Knowing project.

Cloud of Knowing

View more presentations from johngriffiths7.

Estudios de Mercado Online para conocer mejor a los internautas - PermissionResearch

PermissionResearch dirige un panel de investigación sobre la Internet que respalda a las compañías de investigación de mercado más importantes.  

Nuestro objetivo es ayudar a las empresas a conocer las tendencias y patrones en el uso de la Internet. Del mismo modo como la industria televisiva utiliza ciertos servicios para determinar qué programas son los más vistos (e influir sobre los programas y anuncios que se emiten), la comunidad de internautas depende de servicios como PermissionResearch para conocer los gustos de los usuarios de Internet, con objeto de tomar decisiones de negocios informadas. Debido a esta dependencia, los panelistas de PermissionResearch influyen realmente sobre la información y los servicios que están disponibles en la Internet, y sobre el formato de dicha información y esos servicios.

Para participar en esta comunidad de investigación, le solicitamos que instale el software en su computadora. Esta instalación de software contiene dos componentes. El primer componente consiste en un protector de pantalla u otra oferta de software elegida por el miembro de PermissionResearch. El segundo componente consiste en software de investigación, el cual monitorea la actividad de Internet de los miembros de la comunidad, permitiéndole a PermissionResearch desarrollar una noción de cómo ellos y los miembros de su hogar usan la Internet.

Los resultados de las encuestas y la información sobre el uso de Internet se utilizan, junto con la información de millones de otros paneles de investigación, para generar informes de investigación sobre las tendencias de uso en Internet y las actividades de comercio electrónico. Estos resultados se citan con regularidad en los principales medios de comunicación, como MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fox News, etc. Haga clic aquí para ver ejemplos de algunos de los informes de PermissionResearch basados en la información obtenida de sus socios.

En ningún caso nuestros informes contendrán información personal suya o que permita identificarle. Nuestros informes son análisis sobre tendencias comerciales que ayudan a muchas empresas a decidir (i) cómo modificar sus servicios y ofertas en línea, (ii) cómo utilizar con más eficacia la información en línea para conocer el comportamiento de los consumidores, tanto en la Internet como fuera de la Internet; y (iii) cómo detectar tendencias económicas generales y el rendimiento comercial de las empresas. Sencillamente, su apoyo nos ayuda a mejorar la Internet para todo el mundo. Es anónimo, seguro, y fácil.

NETNOGRAFIA: A LA PESCA DE DATOS EN LAS REDES SOCIALES

El ámbito de los estudios de mercado es otro de los que está dando sus primeros pasos en las redes sociales online, donde los expertos ven un gran potencial. Los anunciantes sí están empleando ya sus hallazgos para acercarse más a sus clientes en las comunidades online.

Foros, blogs, comunidades… en la web 2.0, los usuarios toman la palabra a menudo y en abundancia. Toda esta información es muy valiosa para cualquier anunciante, pero no es fácil de extraer con los métodos tradicionales de la investigación de mercados. Sin embargo, algunos de los gigantes del sector están empezando a reaccionar para llenar el hueco de la investigación en medios sociales, es decir, el desarrollo de estudios de mercado en comunidades, blogs y foros.

A pesar de su novedad, tampoco se esperan maravillas de esta nueva modalidad de investigación, aunque sí se espera que complemente al menos los métodos tradicionales de investigación, pues permite obtener conocimientos amplios y profundos sobre los públicos objetivo.

Sin embargo, el camino hacia los estudios de mercado 2.0 está lleno de obstáculos. Según Dirk Steffen, director de New Interactive Centre de TNS Infratest, uno de los institutos que empieza a experimentar con la investigación en redes sociales, "el principal inconveniente está en la escasa posibilidad de obtener una muestra representativa". Otros problemas son la necesidad de desarrollar un modelo y el análisis semántico, que aun son inconsistentes. A todo esto se suma que en medios sociales solo se pueden investigar determinadas manifestaciones, por lo que no es posible establecer una agenda en este tipo de investigación de mercados.

Cómo investigar en redes sociales

Las opciones de investigación en redes sociales se organizan en tres categorías principales: Netnografía participante, netnografía no participante y métodos automatizados. La netnografía consistiría en la aplicación de los métodos de observación de la etnografía a la red, algo que algunos sociólogos consideran irrealizable.

En la primera modalidad, la netnografía participante, el investigador se presenta como tal entre los usuarios de redes sociales y les hace saber que va a observar sus actividades online. El investigador Robert Kozinets aplicó por primera vez el método a finales de los años 90, inaugurando así la disciplina de la investigación en medios sociales. La ventaja de este método cualitativo es la riqueza en detalles de los datos que se obtienen. Ipsos, por ejemplo, lo emplea para desarrollar guiones de discusión para el uso en grupos de discusión.

La red también gana importancia para las evaluaciones etnográficas, es decir, para responder a la pregunta sobre cómo viven los grupos objetivo. La tendencia a publicar cada vez más elementos de la vida privada, ya sea en forma de texto, imagen o vídeo, es una fuente inestimable de información. La investigación clásica no podría conseguir esta información de forma tan barata, sencilla y amplia. Lo mismo ocurre con los desarrollos de productos e innovaciones; en la red no solo participan personas críticas, también hay expertos y personas interesadas que proporcionan numerosas ideas con posibilidades comerciales.

Los anunciantes hace tiempo que comprendieron dichas posibilidades y se han lanzado a la caza de ideas creando sus propias plataformas de redes sociales online para crear comunidades con sus públicos objetivo. Un ejemplo de esto es la plataforma de crowdsourcing desarrollada por la cadena de establecimientos Tchibo, en la que son los consumidores los que proponen nuevos productos o innovaciones que consideran útiles. Tchibo se encarga de producir y comercializar las ideas de sus clientes.

El fuerte de los social media es la posibilidad de escucha y de interacción. La escucha, combinada con el análisis semántico permite identificar claves, por ejemplo, qué provoca descontento o escandaliza a los clientes. Además, los análisis pueden establecerse como métodos de seguimiento, lo que permite saber qué piensan los clientes propios y los clientes de la competencia. Esto permite efectuar comparaciones y la rápida adaptación de las estrategias de marketing.

También existen procedimientos cuantitativos para los estudios de mercado en internet. Existen métodos semánticos que comunican los datos mostrando de forma gráfica las relaciones entre conceptos. Las expresiones se cuantifican en función de su frecuencia de aparición y del valor que se les da. El cliente recibe informes diarios a través de la red, lo que le permite saber si se está hablando mucho o poco, bien o mal, sobre su producto.

Aunque este método no constituye tanto un instrumento para los estudios de mercado como una especie de sistema de alarma, que permite a la empresa reaccionar a tiempo, y más deprisa que empleando los métodos clásicos, cuando se producen ciertas señales.

La investigación social y de mercados en las plataformas de redes sociales online tiene que superar aun muchos obstáculos para convertirse en un método de investigación válido y reconocido. Pero muchos especialistas apuestan por la futura integración de los métodos que se desarrollen en este ámbito con otras metodologías clásicas; la investigación en social media podría convertirse en una parte de la investigación total.

via Marketing Directo (http://www.marketingdirecto.com) 

Young Lives: youth culture online and offline in Brazil

The Young Lives project is one of a number of trends analysis studies undertaken by TWRAmericas.

The project involved a range of traditional and innovative methodologies, from peer group interviews and vox-pops to ethnographic work in communities in the periferia of Sao Paulo and Skype interviews across Brazil. Key themes included identities and values, new technologies and online lives, mobile technologies, marketing and brand relationships. We have included here a small selection of clips.

To see more of the material and findings from the study please feel free to get in touch... tim@twramericas.com

How can Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) move into a role of a Market Research Online Community consultant?

by Jim Longo via LinkedIn 

I am finding some sponsors of Market Research Online Communities just do not understand how to engage community members nor understand the group dynamics of an online community. 

 

Companies will build a community on their own; expect immediate engagement then realize that people don’t spontaneously talk about their product without proper facilitation and moderation.

Communities are qualitative in nature. It takes time and effort to bring them to their full potential. I feel many Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) can move into a role as a community consultant or moderator. 

 

Those who have been conducting online bulletin board groups understand the nuances of communicating via text over face to face. 

 

QRC’s who know how to get people to go beyond a Q&A session and can create a cross talk among respondents via text will be most successful in this role and may be the first of our profession to make the shift to becoming community consultants.

What other engagement or reporting skills do you see QRC’s can bring to a Market Research Online Community? 

 

Join the discussion here.

Qualitative data analysis software developer QSR International has won the 2009 Market Research Society

Written by QSR International

Qualitative data analysis software developer QSR International has won the 2009 Market Research Society / Association for Survey Computing Award for Technology Effectiveness.

The company’s NVivo 8 software was awarded the top gong as part of Research Awards 09, the United Kingdom's premier awards program for the market research industry.

QSR International CEO John Owen said NVivo 8 had proved to be break-through software for both the market research industry and the company in 2009, contributing to no less than four award wins for QSR this year.

NVivo 8 is qualitative data analysis software that allows researchers and decision makers to import and analyze video, audio, images and text side-by-side in ways that aren’t possible manually.

Chairman of Judges for the MRS / ASC Technology Effectiveness Award, AJ Johnson spoke highly of NVivo 8, saying these were exciting times for research technology.

“Communication is changing with the evolution of the social web and we are starting to see some excellent examples of how research technologists are embracing these opportunities. 2010 promises to be the year when we focus truly on listening to our research participants, and provide them with the tools that allow us to gain insight. Technology will not only be vital in capturing what people do and why they are doing it, but also in managing and analysing the vast array of data we collect,” Mr Johnson said.

“QSR's NVivo 8 enables multimedia and web-based content to be more easily analysed through linking and annotating individual sections of images, audio and video. The data, along with other project sources, is then available for analysis and reporting using the sophisticated analysis, visualisation, collaboration and charting features. The software offered great promise in the automation of project management of qualitative research projects. Its multimedia handling has been adopted widely and enthusiastically by its user community.”

Mr Owen said NVivo 8 was developed in close consultation with more than 100 international researchers and decision makers. The software’s powerful analysis tools help people to interrogate their data - testing out theories, identifying trends and cross-examining information.

“This is an important win for us,” said Mr Owen.

“The MRS / ASC Award for Technology Effectiveness has been acknowledging innovative industry leaders and their contribution to research since 2003. We designed NVivo specifically for qualitative research and today it’s used by every major university in Europe, North America and Australasia, as well as by government and commercial organizations, including the UK Policy Studies Institute, global law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, and Loughborough University spin-off company Progressive Sports Technologies.

“It’s wonderful to have our contribution recognized at such a respected industry event.”

NVivo 8’s key features allow users to:

• Import, organize and analyze thousands of audio files, videos, digital photos, Word, PDF, rich text and plain text documents.

• Work with material in any language and choose to work with a software interface in one of six languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese and Japanese.

• Work with transcripts or work without them, analyzing material straight from audio and video files. Users can even create transcripts or text files within the software as they go.

• Query data to uncover patterns and themes with a powerful state-of-the-art search engine.

• Create and export professional models and charts, including three dimensional bar graphs and pie charts.

• Query the analysis completed by individuals or teams and run comparisons to show the percentage of analysis that is the same or different across users.

• Merge separate projects and still identify which work was completed by which person, as well as view the notes and analysis completed by each team member.

• Share files and findings, including audio, video or sections of documents with clients or colleagues who don’t have NVivo, using HTML web pages.

¿Coca Cola fracasa con redes sociales propias?

Se podrá decir mucho sobre el supuesto fracaso de Coca-Cola usando redes sociales propias (como es posible leer en el texto abajo tomado de "Bajo la Linea", pero sin duda hacen un excelente trabajo en las comunidades online abiertas como se evidencia en la presentación de  Michael Donnelly (iStrategy)

Coke's 'fans first' approach in social communities

View more presentations from iStrategy.

El mayor fabricante de bebidas cola del mundo, ha tomado la decisión de dejar de construir redes sociales propias para concentrar todos sus esfuerzos e inversión económica en generar presencia en las mayores redes sociales en actividad, tales como Facebook, YouTube o MySpace entre otras, es decir, donde está realmente la gente.

La estrategia tiene que ver con el fracaso de sus millonarias campañas basadas en sitios propios donde intentan atraer usuarios, proyecto que hizo agua a causa de la excesiva confianza de sus ejecutivos en Coke, el producto estrella. Esto deja en claro además, que nadie está exceptuado de fracasar en las dinámica actual que propone internet a través de los cada vez más fuertes Social Media.

Tan mala ha sido la planificación de marketing y la experiencia de Coca-Cola en internet que llegó a tener siete nombres de dominio diferentes para diversas campañas. La semana pasada anunció que dejaría estos proyectos para ir hacia donde están los consumidores (y la pasan bien).

Además de jugar un papel cada vez más importante en la publicidad, las redes sociales también está demostrando ser una plataforma común para la distribución de noticias. Tan relevante está siendo este punto que el año pasado la BBC nombró a su primer editor en medios de comunicación social, seguido por la empresa Sky, que hizo lo mismo con su portal Journalism.co.uk y el NYT.

Según Wikipedia, se estima que la publicidad masiva por medios tradicionales genera que cualquier persona en América vea al menos 3 publicidades de cualquier producto de Coca-Cola al día.

A pesar de esta penetración compulsiva en nuestra vida diaria, el gigante de las bebidas edulcoradas no hace buen pie en las más populares redes sociales, donde el consumidor tiene el poder de decidir que le gusta y que no, dejando hecho trizas cualquier intento de las corporaciones por fidelizar a sus clientes.

¿Realmente puede Coca-Cola generar presencia y mantener una imagen dentro de la informalidad y vértigo de las redes sociales, sin una cuota de valor agregado que le genere un beneficio al usuario o será otra batalla perdida?

Link: Coca-Cola abandona las redes sociales propias (Bajolalínea)

SKOPOS launches Kwal™ Unit fusing traditional qualitative offerings and innovative digital/mobile tools

SKOPOS continue to remain at the forefront of new research innovations and, to this end, have just launched the Kwal™ Unit with its fusion of traditional methods and innovative online methods.

Traditional qualitative approaches offered include focus groups, depths, ethnography, video interviewing, vox pops, m-pops and more. These techniques help us to delve deeper and augment the final reporting stage to bring the research to life.

To help augment our traditional methods, SKOPOS also employs some exciting new digital tools, such as…

SKOPOS Sketchpad™ is an innovative online concept testing tool that makes the respondent’s experience more lively and in turn provides rich visual feedback to the client. Web pages, ads, direct mail pieces, packaging concepts, and logos can be marked up by respondents using visual images and text.

Once all respondents have completed the SKOPOS Sketchpad™ exercise, the resulting map showing “hot” and “cold” areas where respondents have made comments is known as the SKOPOS Heatseeker™ tool. Such a deliverable allows clients to see (very quickly) which areas of the ad, web page, etc. are the most eye-catching or the most liked / disliked.

Also included in the ever expanding SKOPOS Toolkit™ are UGI (user generated insight) methods, including SKOPOS Netnography, SKOPOS Webalyzer and other social media techniques.

SKOPOS Netnography™ explores social networking sites, their origins and the social environment and analyses the relationship between them. SKOPOS Netnography shows how consumers are communicating about brands and products, what language they are using in these communications and what, if any, subliminal messages are beneath the overt communications.

SKOPOS Webalyzer™ offers clients a holistic approach/tool to evaluate a website encompassing the 3 crucial elements: audience (a), content (c), and market (m). It uses a two-stage process mixing desk research with a quantitative study. The desk research stage consists of Key Word searches in Google to glean a complete list of similar websites. From this list, key competitors are assessed.

In summary, Paula Juson, (Head of Kwal™), says “As digital pioneers within the research industry and always at the forefront of new technologies and methods, SKOPOS is continually striving to push the boundaries of our toolkit to maximise client satisfaction through insight and action driven deliverables. The qualitative team here at SKOPOS are very excited about our ability to meet our clients’ needs in the most appropriate fashion and as such, believe we continue to offer excellent service on all projects.”

O Consumidor 2.0 e as Redes Sociais (2 videos - Portugueis)

Millennials: Mapping Their “Culture Code”

Are The Transformers a Key to Gen Y's Culture Code?

Written by Carol Phillips in Blog, Boomers vs. Millennials, Gen Y, Millennial Marketing

One of the challenges and fascinations of understanding Millennials is mapping the connection between who they are – their identities and values — and pop culture.

As with earlier generations, Millennials both reflect and shape pop culture.  Tweens and teens are in the process of discovering their identities, trying on and discarding different personnas. They find inspiration within pop culture, and in the process contribute to it.

For example, it is fruitless to debate whether the current trend of portraying successful teen mothers in movies (Juno), TV (Secret life of the American Teenager) and now magazines (current cover of Teen Vogue) is a reflection or a driver of the trend. It is both. The advent of technology enabled social networks has sped up the transmission and sharing of culture, but it is nothing new.

Millennials are both products of their culture as well as influencers. The complexities of this dynamic are critical for brands, which are themselves part of pop culture, to understand.

Tim Stock, Managing Director, of Scenario DNA has been studying the intersection of youth and culture for many years and teaches courses in analyzing trends at the Parsons School of Design in New York. I first learned of Tim from a slideshare presentation he posted titled “Culture Networks” that discusses how social networks (of all kinds, not just social media) influence and shape trends.

According to Stock, “the nature of the network imprints how we form our identity.” In Stocks view, ‘culture trumps demographics’ as a definer of generations and segments within generations. He points out the importance of “childhood and rites of passage” in creating “generational code” and suggests the roots of each generation can be traced to their shared experiences of movies, books, cartoons, etc. 

Culture defines the ‘code’ or set of shared meanings and values that was shaped during the maturation process. This code is important for marketers to understand because the image of products is shaped by this imprinting and set of shared values. Networks are the mechanism by which the meaning of products and brands evolves. This evolution of meanings is the source of trends. To understand trends, you have to crack the code and study the networks. (Serious implications for research here, but that is the subject of another post).

Stock provides several concrete examples of cultural imprints for each generation. Another slideshare presentation, The Transformer Generation, shows how culture can be used to understand the “Gen Y Narrative”.  The Gen Y code includes such factors as fame, privacy, surveillance, ambiguity, and consumption as part of identity. Gen Y’s many iconic models include Sex and the City super-shoppers, Metrosexuals, American Idol stars, and EBay. The overriding theme is one of ‘empowerment’ and ‘self-expression’. This generational code is quite different from the Boomer code which stressed ‘individuality’ with icons that included the Easy Rider, the ‘road culture’ of the car, the fear and disillusionment of the Vietnam war and the struggle for civil rights.

In a follow up conversation with Tim Stock last week, I learned ScenarioDNA has conducted extensive research on culture networks all over the world. The research confirms connecting ‘instantly to like-minded friends and social networks is a priority in the lives of young people everywhere’. Connections help move them closer toward ‘finding’ their identity.’  The research identified four global archetypes (What Unites Global Youth, 2006, WARC). The are:

• The In Crowd
• Networked Intelligentsia
• Thrill Renegade
• Pop Mavericks

Individuals may exhibit qualities of each archetype at once and shift over time as they try on different identities or personnas. The archetypes also play off one another.  My read of the research is that marketers have a tendency to focus on the “In Crowd”, which value achievement, tradition and status to a greater degree than the other three.  Innovation is more likely to come from “Pop Mavericks”, which are described in terms of passion, individuality and instant gratification. Networked Intelligentsia are often the ‘hubs of social networks’, highly influential, while “Thrill Renegades” are more about anarchy and revolution. The paper describes brands successfull with each type. Marketers would do well to at least consider the roles of all four archetypes when targeting products and programs.

If you have time, I highly recommend viewing the two slide share presentations referenced above – very thought provoking.

Ad-ology Insights January 2010

The January 2010 video briefing for strategic advertising and marketing from Ad-ology Research. This month's edition features: B2B Marketing Outook, the 2010 Small Business Marketing Forecast, Specialty Hospital marketing insights and Media Influence on Auto Care purchases.

Consumer Insight Benchmarking 2009 - Boston Consulting Group Report

The Boston Consulting Group released an excellent report on the state of client-side (in house) market research departments. You can read it all here.

Highlights:

1. Only 35% of executives describe their in-house MR function as “best in class.” (see page 4)

2. Although corporations should strive to move their MR departments from “order takers” to a “source of competitive advantage”, “almost 90% of the companies…follow a more traditional approach to market research” (Translation: 90% are stuck in “order taker” mode.) (see page 4)

3. “On average, only 20 to 35 percent of a company’s market-research budget is devoted to strategic studies.” (see page 5)

4. There is a CLEAR need for what I have described as “Insight Management” – getting the most out of past research and mining it for synthesized insights. From the report: “Money is spent on research reports that languish on dusty shelves because the data rarely yield actionable plans. Many companies accumulate such a quantity of research and data that quality is inevitably elusive, each study providing a limited, tactical perspective on the consumer, with little integration of synthesis.” (see page 6)

5. Answering the “So What?” Question. While 73% of MR staff said they consistently answer the question “so what?” about the data they provide, only 34% of the business staff thought they closed the loop and answered this question. (see page 14)

6. Tactical, Not Strategic. Unfortunately, 59% of market researchers agree with the statement “we spend the majority of consumer insight time and effort on decisions with near-term impact.” This means that MR departments are completing numerous small studies and not given the time to explore the bigger picture. This also creates a low status cul-de-sac for MR departments as it is difficult to have solid strategic input when tactical, short term studies are the focus. (see #3 above)

7. The Rise of Polymaths. Interestingly, the report suggests that a desired “strategic foresight organization” (the final, 4th phase of an MR department’s evolution) will employ a more diverse range of researchers from statistics, anthropology, sociology, marketing etc.

In its entirety the BCG report paints a fairly stark picture of the current situation. It is true that market research needs to evolve, but corporate cultures will need to support this evolution as well.

Idea Brewers: Comunidad Online de Insights sobre Cerveza

InSites Consulting -empresa especializada en investigación de mercados online a través de comunidades virtuales- tiene abiertas las puertas para ser parte de Idea Brewers. Aquí el texto de invitación a participar:

"Permítanos que le presentemos una nueva y estimulante comunidad de investigación que se interesa por la... CERVEZA. ¡Así es! Esta no es otra red social más, sino que se trata de una comunidad que se centra en la cerveza y la creación de ideas innovadoras.

Nuestra comunidad forma parte de un proyecto de investigación global para uno de los productores de cerveza más importantes del mundo. No sólo conocerá a otros amantes de la cerveza en todo el planeta, sino que también se convertirá en parte de un nuevo e importantísimo concepto de investigación. Sus ideas servirán como fuente de inspiración para crear nuevas marcas de cerveza, campañas publicitarias, acontecimientos y demás... En otras palabras, ¡es una oportunidad única para dejar una huella decisiva en el futuro del sector cervecero!"

Clic aquí para entrar a la comunidad

How Conceptual Metaphors are Stunting Web Innovation

In his classic study of media theory, Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan wrote, “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

Consider these terms: page, scroll, file, folder, trash can, bookmark, inbox, email, desktop, library, archive and index. They are all part of the document metaphor, a superset of the “desktop” metaphor. Some elements, such as scroll, desktop and library pre-date the printing press, but all are based on some sort of “marks on paper-like material” reference.

It is important to understand that the document metaphor is more than a UI metaphor. It is in fact a fundamental way of understanding one domain in terms of another. For better or worse, we continue to understand the web in relation to how we understand documents. Unlike figurative metaphors, such as “he was a lion in battle,” which are simple rhetorical statements, conceptual metaphors (a notion introduced in the classic “Metaphors We Live By ” by Lakoff and Johnson) like document-ness are pre-linguistic, and quietly ubiquitous. They infiltrate how we think about things on a much more basic level.

Did it ever occur to you that the phrase “the stock market is up” is actually a particular spatial metaphor for what is really just a number? As a result, we think of the stock market as a geography, which has non-trivial ramifications for how we make decisions about it.

This is often a good thing — conceptual metaphors can be helpful. In dealing with novel phenomena, we often have no choice but to understand the new in terms of the old, the complex in terms of the primal, the abstract in terms of the tangible (companies often pitch themselves according to this logic, i.e. “we’re like FriendFeed for dating”). Accordingly we often conceive of new features, new business lines, and new market opportunities in the same way.

 

Continue reading (highly recommended @ http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/conceptual-metaphors/