••• non-conscious research
CoolTool debuts Implicit Priming Test
Uncover subconscious attitudes
San Francisco-based CoolTool now offers the Implicit Priming Test (IPT), an automated test designed to capture and identify unconscious reactions to external stimuli.
IPT was designed as an improved version of the semantic priming task and the implicit association test and is intended to help capture and identify the unconscious reactions to stimuli such as people, brands, logos, color patterns and packaging.
A brand image consists of rational and emotional attributes. The IPT is able to measure which feelings people have towards look-alike things: one candidate in comparison with others; a chocolate bar with sugar and sugarless one; a local bank in comparison with an international one, etc.
Consumers can associate a brand or person with negativity even without being actively aware of it. While participating in surveys people may say they like it (because they think they like it) but in the real world, they wouldn’t buy or use the brand. The reason for such behavior is hidden in the subconscious.
Research has showed that when we unconsciously agree with something, we respond within milliseconds and if something contradicts our perception of things, we need time to think of the answer. The automated IPT is built on this fact. The system compares the speed of response provision with the combination of objects and various characteristics to conclude which attribute (reliable, stylish, desirable, expensive, etc.) is associated more with Object A or Object B.
The IPT lets users find out if consumers’ perception of a brand is different from the company’s positioning of it. It will help a brand create “correct” messages for its audience and differentiate the product from competitors.
The implicit priming test is also suitable when there is a high risk of false information being provided or the intentional concealing of real thoughts and opinions by respondents or when there is an assumption that respondents have biased attitudes to the tested object. IPT is a part of NeuroLab and can be used in the combination with other neuromarketing tools.
••• brand research
AI tool for brand content
Aura from StoryStream
U.K.-based technology firm StoryStream has launched Aura, an artificial intelligence (AI) brain built specifically for brands that uses proprietary AI capabilities to help marketers work with content and build relationships with customers.
Using AI to unify digital asset management, multichannel publishing and content analytics, the StoryStream Content Marketing Platform enables marketers to put relevant visual content in front of customers. The new platform will use Aura’s AI abilities to understand the context and performance of brand-specific content, connecting its creation, how it’s used in marketing and how its ROI is measured.
Aura’s AI capabilities are modelled on the human brain and can be tailored to a brand’s specific needs and business goals. As more and more content gets analyzed, Aura becomes increasingly brand-specific and human-like, gaining the ability to predict what content should be used on specific channels for maximum impact.
••• brand research
Nielsen tool measures brand exposures
The value of that soda sip
Nielsen, New York, has launched Branded Integration Intel, a solution that aims to standardize how product and brand exposures are valued across screens and devices. The solution captures, measures and evaluates brand exposures, allowing networks and marketers to research within an ecosystem that provides qualitative comparisons across devices, integration and content over linear TV, subscription-based video-on-demand and short-form video.
Specifically, it will analyze every exposure to understand quality, including such factors as size, location, duration, brand hits and impact. It will then evaluate and score the resonance of the exposures as a way to value them at both individual and aggregate levels. For instance, Nielsen’s Branded Integration Intel will determine the marketing impact if a cast member of a sitcom sips a popular soft drink with only a partial logo visible on the bottle and appropriately score this impact alongside an integration of an automobile in the background of a scene from a streaming series.
••• shopper insights
Retail environment simulator from Kantar Consulting
Can forecast revenue impact
Kantar Consulting now offers Perfect Category, a technology solution that enables brand owners and retailers to design physical retail environments down to the shelf level in virtual reality and simultaneously forecast the revenue impact of their decisions.
Perfect Category integrates multiple big data sets in an immersive environment, allowing users to test scenarios and designs in real time. It integrates two offerings from Kantar Consulting’s Retail, Sales and Shopper Practice: Retail Virtual Reality, a collaborative design environment used by brands to design and roll out retail designs and updates across their store networks; and RichMix, an assortment optimization tool used by FMCG manufacturers that integrates purchase spend data from retailers and brand owners with measured and observed consumer behavior to create algorithms that utilize machine learning to forecast the economic outcomes of changing the number of products and brands a consumer sees on the shelf.
These technologies are designed to help brand owners and retailers co-design retail environments that optimize the shopper experience while maximizing category value and profitability and individual brands’ market share. Evaluated and approved designs can then be distributed across retail networks with planogram designs and immersive visuals to ensure a consistent brand experience nationally or internationally.
••• Briefly
Waban, Mass., research firm Temkin Group has announced that its CX Institute has successfully completed the beta period with two of its initial online training modules: Customer Experience Foundations and Creating a Customer-Centric Culture.
U.K. research firm Join the Dots has launched two additions to its fifth-generation online community platform. Scout is a tool designed to collect photo, video and Web content. Its key applications are in shopper/purchase journeys, customer experiences, product testing and segmentation/lifestyle research. Project is a tool that allows the company to create pop-up communities within an existing online community. It’s designed for co-creation, agile research, deep dives and expert or niche audience research.
Doyle Research Associates, Chicago, has released the 2018 Guide to Qualitative Methods, an e-book available for free from the firm’s Web site.
Alpharetta, Ga., research sample provider P2Sample has added artificial intelligence algorithms to its insight automation platform to assist in combating fraudulent respondents and bots in online surveys. The technology addresses fraudulent activity by mining the company’s database of digital behavioral biometric data, analyzing data points and millions of completed surveys to eliminate suspicious users using artificial intelligence algorithms that are self-learning and leveraging domain expertise to make the technology work at its fullest capacity.
Separately, P2Sample has launched its white-label and private-label panels for those wanting to create research communities or monetize traffic and audiences.
Nielsen, New York, has added Instagram-owned measurement into its Social Content Ratings platform. Social Content Ratings measures organic and owned social TV activity.
In New York, community platform company CMNTY Corporation has upgraded its CMNTY Platform, which combines social and survey features, allowing customers to choose a DIY or full-service solution. CMNTY Platform 5 includes a discussion board module with a threaded post structure including mark-down text editing, a referral and mentioning system and an overhaul of its login and registration pages.
The Global Research Business Network has launched its newest handbook, Invest in Insights: A Guide to Demonstrating the Value of Insights to Business, in association with the Insights Association in the U.S. and the Market Research Society in the U.K. The handbook is available at roiofinsights.com.
M Science, a New York-based research and analytics firm, has launched M Data Viz, a proprietary platform that allows clients to visualize, interact with and perform customized analysis on the firm’s M Data offerings. The platform will initially host video game data through four primary dashboards consisting of industry-level, full-game download, digital live services and mobile data for more than 200 individual titles and multiple publishers.
U.K.-based research technology firm RealityMine has added RealLife Media Players to its core product offerings, allowing customers to see more granular, detailed video consumption behavior on an individual basis.
Ipsos Marketing, New York, has launched a package-testing solution that leverages behavioral science thinking to better capture System 1 decision-making in a survey. The solution is mobile-capable, device-agnostic and part of the company’s suite of package-testing solutions.
Reston, Va., firm comScore has expanded its Activation solution to incorporate console gaming and over-the-top (OTT) audience segments, including subscription video-on-demand. The 21 new segments, powered by comScore’s Total Home Panel, allow marketers and media companies to more effectively target consumers with tailored messages based on their overall streaming and console gaming intensity, as well as their consumption of leading OTT services.
Digital agency Isobar, New York, has launched its MindSight Direct Partner Program, allowing research companies to add the emotional testing platform MindSight Direct to their toolkit. The program launches with four initial members: L&E Research, thinqonline, Research Engine and Sprout Research.
Chicago-based researcher IRI has released a new report, Flu Fury: IRI Pinpoints How Flu Is Impacting U.S. Markets, and an accompanying infographic examining how specific regional markets are being impacted by the flu and correlates how purchase behaviors vary at the market level.
U.K. research firm Join the Dots has launched social listening services. The company has partnered with social listening software firm Pulsar and has hired Research Director Ellie Osborne to lead the new service.
Philadelphia-based data collection company Focus Pointe Global has released a new version of the Gauge mobile insights app, created by Atlanta-based marketing technology company Gauge Insights and a core element of Focus Pointe Global’s FPG Think Tank Platform. The new version expands survey-taking options and visual stimuli.
Simmons Research, New York, has launched Simmons Insights, a syndicated research portal providing clients with access to consumer insights. Powered by Simmons Smart Search, a consumer intelligence search engine, the new platform allows marketers to mine through consumer behaviors. The company also launched its chatbot app, Ask Simmons, providing clients with access to data nuggets and reach metrics via a conversational UI. The Ask Simmons chatbot will be available for select beta clients as an iOS app and a desktop app.
San Francisco-based online survey and insights solutions company QuestionPro Inc. has launched a survey and insights solution that complies with the General Data Protection Regulation ahead of the May 25 enforcement date.
Don McMullen, founder and chairman of MarketVision Research, Cincinnati, has published a book, Focus Point: Blueprint to Develop a World-Class Company, available on Amazon and in select bookstores.
India-based digital research solutions company Borderless Access has launched TAPP, a product that identifies patterns and trends by looking into consumers’ interactions and emotional state and behavior within their environment with its methodologies and machine-learning algorithms, providing insights for brands. Marketers and researchers can understand consumers’ micro moments to develop communication, manage brand activation, test concepts, evolve products and more.
Reston, Va., firm comScore has grown its television measurement footprint by more than 40 percent to include over 69 million televisions in more than 31 million U.S. homes.