ActiveGroup adds ActiveSearch to its research videostreaming
Nexidia, an Atlanta provider of rich-media search and speech analytics solutions, has partnered with ActiveGroup, a Norcross, Ga. , provider of videostreaming for marketing research. Using Nexidia Developer Edition, ActiveGroup has expanded its suite of tools and services to include rich-media search capabilities. Dubbed ActiveSearch, the new functionality allows ActiveGroup to immediately index and make video content searchable for its clients.
Using ActiveSearch, authorized users will be able to search for a word, phrase or word combination in the audio track of a specific focus group or interview. Or for larger projects, clients can search across all focus groups or interviews that have been conducted in the same project. When the results are returned, researchers can play the video or create video clips of the content. For more information visit www.activegroup.net .
Internet-enhanced TURF from Virtual Surveys
U.K.-based Virtual Surveys has launched VirtualTURF to help clients maximize the potential of their product range. An enhancement of the classic total unduplicated reach and frequency (TURF) technique, VirtualTURF can help those managing a range of products to know: how many people their range will reach; which range of products will reach the largest number of customers; and which range will sell the most units. VirtualTURF uses an iterative approach to find the best array of products to launch, based on the research. The Excel-based simulator allows the user to: optimize on definite buys, or definite plus possible buys; optimize on total number of people reached, or reach by frequency; assign frequency to be based on category usage or specific predicted product usage; allow items to be forced (for example if a soup manufacturer knew it wanted four specific flavors and wanted to know the best two to add to these); allow items to be excluded from a particular analysis, to look at different strategies; run the analysis by different sub-groups at the same time. The data for VirtualTURF is collected via online interviews, utilizing the Internet to show stimuli, to rotate concepts and products and to filter responses (e.g., only potential buyers of a product are asked to rate intended frequency of usage). For more information visit www.virtualsurveys.com .
Updated version of WebSurveyor
Herndon, Va.-based research software firm WebSurveyor Corporation has released WebSurveyor 5.7, an update of its online survey product. New features include: an application programming interface which allows organizations to integrate WebSurveyor with major enterprise data systems; new list manager components, which include the capacity to search and filter mail lists for better targeting of survey invitations; new reporting features, which include a new default report with cover page; a new rich-text editor, which eliminates the need for HTML knowledge when compiling and formatting questions or performing the report analysis; multi-user account management capacity for private-hosted clients; and a new library management feature, which lets privately-hosted customers upload their own question and response libraries, as well as report and display templates. For more information visit www.websurveyor.com .
New online European B2B panels from Research Now
London online research firm Research Now is offering European business-to-business sub-panels sourced from screening of its 800,000-member online panels. Research Now has profiled more than 20,000 business professionals in the U.K. , 16,000 in Germany , 14,000 in France , 14,000 in Spain and 10,000 in Italy. Researchers can profile these people in terms of their management level within their company (profiled on 10 different levels), their job function (e.g., finance, HR, IT, manufacturing, marketing, operations, purchasing, sales, etc.) and the size of the company they work for. This allows quota sampling for many specialist business-to-business research projects.
In addition, Research Now has also examined levels of decision-making ability within specific business sectors. As a result, Research Now can target IT decision makers, business mobile phone handset and contract decision makers, buyers of office furniture, photocopiers, fax machines and printers and those responsible for deciding which couriers and parcel services to use. For more information visit www.researchnow.co.uk .
Pulse Train offers data processing tool
U.K.-based Pulse Train has launched Data Central, a PC-based tool for data processing professionals. The tool aims to improve the reliability and repeatability of DP operations by incorporating a self-documenting workflow process. Data Central is designed to fill the gap between data collection and data analysis, centralizing all of the activities that typically take place after data has been collected but before it has been reported. These include data and metadata definition and manipulation, cleaning and recoding, reformatting, weighting and exporting.
Data Central is a new product built on the latest Microsoft .NET platform. It has an open architecture and is fully scriptable, using the VB .Net language alongside pre-defined objects and methods. This allows users to add their own functions and procedures to cope with any special or unique features of the tasks they need to perform. For more information visit www.pulsetrain.com/solutions/application/data_central.htm .
PRIZM product profiles restaurant visitors
San Diego marketing information firm Claritas has released PRIZM NE Restaurant Audit Profiles, a new information product that combines Claritas’ segmentation system with its industry-specific survey to better identify which PRIZM segments have a high propensity to eat at certain restaurant categories and frequent specific brands.
The profiles answer questions such as: Who are my best customers? Which areas contain the highest concentration of my customers? What other types of restaurants do my customers frequently visit? And, what are my customer’s attitudes towards eating out?
Among its features, the profiles offer a range of information on consumer behavior, such as: locations frequented in the past 30 days by type and name; how many times visited in the past 30 days; drive-thru/carry-out/dine-in frequency; number of dining out instances in the past week; stored value gift card use and interest. Further, the product has approximately 50 attitudinal profiles that address consumer preferences and attitudes when dining out. Topics include: dieting and nutrition; pricing; impact of children on restaurant choice; organically grown food; smoke-free restaurants.
PRIZM NE categorizes the population into 66 segments and ranks them on a socioeconomic level, with each segment described by a name that captures the makeup of that segment population, such as Blue Blood Estates, Young Digerati and Bohemian Mix. PRIZM NE combines household-level coding and geographic-level coding to provide the same segment schema at both levels.
The Restaurant Audit, which is administered by Integras, Claritas’ analytical services division, is based on more than 30,000 respondents and provides a range of information regarding behavior and attitudes toward eating away from home. Both the raw data from the Restaurant Audit and the PRIZM NE profiles are available for licensing. For more information visit www.claritas.com .
New GIS products from ESRI
Redlands, Calif.-based ESRI is now offering a new version of the GIS Portal Toolkit. Version 2.0.1 includes improved handling and validation of metadata; more detailed documentation; support for harvesting and publishing to and from ArcIMS 9.1 metadata repositories; and support for additional database management systems, servers and operating systems. The GIS Portal Toolkit is a technology and services solution for implementing local, regional, national and global spatial data infrastructure portals. GIS portals organize content and services such as directories, search tools, community information, support resources, data and applications. They provide capabilities to query metadata records for relevant data and services and link directly to the online sites that host content services. The content can be visualized as maps and used in geographic queries and analyses. GIS Portal Toolkit 2.0.1 offers: support for Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and Sun Solaris 8; database management system support for SQL Server 2000/2003, Oracle9i and DB2 8.2; the ability to download metadata documents in XML files to local drives; improved handling and validation of Metadata Content Type in published metadata documents; and support for harvesting and publishing to and from ArcIMS 9.1 metadata repositories.
ESRI has also produced new versions of its software for mobile GIS and field-mapping applications, ArcPad 7 and ArcPad Application Builder 7. These releases expand the capabilities of mobile GIS applications with features that are designed to improve the productivity of working with spatial data in the field. ArcPad provides field-based personnel with the ability to capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze and display geographic information. This enables users to perform validated field data collection including the use of data input from GPS receivers, rangefinders and digital cameras. ArcPad 7 features enhancements in the areas of performance, ease of use, productivity, enterprise GIS integration and customization.
Release 9.1 of ArcGIS Business Analyst desktop analysis software includes 2005/2010 demographic data. In addition, it features: complete integration with the ArcGIS 9 framework; routing and drive-time tools based on ArcGIS Network Analyst; enhanced reporting capabilities with a batch framework and a custom report wizard; updated datasets, such as 2005/2010 demographic data and forecasts, and segmentation data from Community Tapestry down to the census tract level; infoUSA business data and street data from the flagship Dynamap/Transportation data product from Tele Atlas North America, Inc.; new techniques to create, manage and compare trade areas; new Huff Sales Forecasting Models; automated report booklet creation wizard. For more information visit www.esri.com .
Briefly
House Market Research, Rockville, Md., has redecorated its Baltimore and Rockville conference centers and added wireless Internet, DVD recording, translation equipment and new computers with printers in all of its conference suites. For more information visit www.housemarketresearch.com .
The TestAmerica division of Cunningham Research Group, Inc., Ormond Beach, Fla., has opened a new restaurant, bar and kitchen facility at Desert Passage at the Aladdin, Las Vegas, for consumer research and sensory testing. For more information visit www.cunninghamresearch.com .
Chicago-based researcher Synovate reports that Hispanic membership on its research panels has expanded to over 150,000 Hispanic individuals nationwide. For more information visit www.synovate.com .
Greenfield Online Inc., Wilton , Conn. , and its European subsidiary, Ciao, have established native-language market research panels in three Asian markets: Japan , South Korea and China . The Japanese and South Korean panelist recruitment sites were established in December 2005. The Chinese panel site was established and launched for panelists’ registration in late January. For more information visit www.greenfield.com .