••• ad research
New Metrix and Analytix
ComScore debuts two audience measurement tools
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. has launched Media Metrix Multi-Platform, a solution designed to offer unduplicated accounting of audience size and demographics that reflects the multiplatform digital media environment, which includes Web sites, apps and video content accessed from multiple devices, including desktops, smartphones and tablets.
Additionally, comScore has enhanced its Subscriber Analytix suite for mobile operators. The additional capabilities are intended to allow mobile operators to use their own data in conjunction with comScore’s proprietary digital media categorization and segmentation schemes to power insights for customer care and marketing representatives. Mobile operators can use information on how their customers engage with Web services, content, apps and devices to diagnose customer-care issues while developing marketing strategies.
www.comscore.com
••• qualitative research
Board breakouts
Webcam technology an alternative to traditional qual
The Sound Research, New York, has launched The Sound Vision, an online qualitative research tool designed to let ethnographers engage with and observe participants in multiple ways, from multiple geographic locations, simultaneously via Webcam.
The Sound Vision has been integrated into The Sounding Board, the company’s bulletin board system, allowing researchers to pull respondents from an online bulletin board discussion to take part in a face-to-face session.
Clients can choose from virtual mini focus groups, virtual friendship dyads and triads, virtual in-depth interviews and virtual expert interviews and panels. Whiteboard functionality allows respondents to draw, post images or respond to stimulus together, such as videos, in real time.
Sessions can be dual-moderated to manage respondent activity and are recorded for video-on-demand viewing and can be translated into multiple languages.
www.thesoundresearch.com
••• research panels
Easier rewards
Kinesis adds electronic gift card platform to panel offering
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas, has partnered with iCardMall, a Web-based electronic gift card platform, to integrate iCardMall’s system with Kinesis Panel, the company’s panel management solution. The partnership is designed to enable Kinesis clients to offer iCardMall’s selection of electronic gift cards as part of its research panel’s incentive/rewards program.
Panelists can accumulate rewards points (as specified by the panel owner) that can be converted into gift cards of varying monetary value for redemption with various iCardMall-affiliated merchants. Panelists can redeem points for an electronic gift card with the retailer of their choosing and have the gift card e-mailed automatically. Kinesis Panel also includes customizable e-mail templates to facilitate delivery, as well as real-time reporting about the redemption transactions.
www.kinesissurvey.com
••• mobile research
An augmented app
Research Now updates mobile survey platform to reach broader audience
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has debuted version 3.0 of its Research Now Mobile app, redesigned to feature multilingual capabilities; a survey launch scheduler; a multilevel nested quota management system; and advanced geolocation survey capabilities.
Research Now Mobile 3.0 features 10 languages. Survey apps for iOS and Android are also available in any regional language framework and allow for surveys to be authored in over 50 languages. With an integrated transliterate feature, studies can be programmed in non-English scripts using English keyboards.
Version 3.0 also includes a survey launch scheduler that is available for multiple launch types, including push notification, e-mail, SMS, geo-fencing, venue triggering and geo-targeting. A new multilevel nested quota management module is designed to reach targeted demographics without excessive over-quota responses in studies. Quotas can be set for profile and demographic variables, as well as based on the user response within the survey. Improvements have also been made to the location-based targeting functionality to isolate panels and samples that meet certain criteria.
The most prominent upgrade is the expanded global reach of respondents, allowing researchers to generate a sample pool from across the Research Now Mobile panel, as well as Research Now’s worldwide online consumer and business-to-business panels. Researchers can also import third-party samples for use in Web app surveys and invite respondents from third-party lists to download the app, with a mechanism to bypass the registration process.
Lastly, Research Now Mobile Version 3.0 includes support for hidden questions and background variable types. Data for background variables can be preloaded while launching the study and can be used for branching, piping, masking and quota control.
Research Now Mobile Version 3.0 is available for free on iOS and Android devices, as well as via Web app for all smartphones and tablets.
www.researchnow.com
••• brand research
The big picture
Mosaic analyzes how individual messages impact a brand’s whole
Los Angeles research company PhaseOne has introduced Brand Communications Mosaic, a customizable analytical tool intended to evaluate the contribution each piece of communication makes to the delivery of the brand’s desired message.
Integrated campaigns can consist of TV, radio, print, out-of-home, direct mail, social, Web, point-of-purchase, packaging and loyalty programs. Brand Communications Mosaic is designed to map out consumer impressions across these platforms and gauge the alignment of a communication with the brand’s goals by evaluating the consistency of the communication with the overarching campaign, the contribution the communication makes to the core strategy and the clarity of the message.
The Brand Communications Mosaic is scalable and customizable and was created specifically as a topline, quick-view tool. Findings are color-coded and analysis can be completed within two to three days.
www.phaseone.net
••• ad research
But is it Sticky?
Analyzing an ad campaign’s true exposure to optimize online spend
New York research company EyeTrackShop has launched Sticky, a brand and measurement technology that aims to show users the exact number of ad impressions that are seen (or not seen) per thousand impressions served to reveal the real price tag of ad placements.
Sticky’s technology is designed to track which ads in any online ad campaign are seen and the aggregated time under attention that the brand has accumulated during the campaign period. Sticky is also designed to help users allocate money to the right formats, placements and sites throughout the campaign. Users can access the data in an interactive online dashboard and optimize ad spend based on cost-per-view and impact.
www.sticky.ad
••• predictive intelligence
Granular insight from big data
Integrating predictive insight into marketing campaigns
InsightsOne, a Santa Clara, Calif., research company, has released Marketing Workspace, a new feature of the InsightsOne predictive intelligence platform that includes new models and prebuilt connectors to standard marketing applications. These capabilities aim to help marketers build more effective campaigns, better leverage structured and unstructured data for predictive analytics and integrate predictive insight into their marketing.
Marketing Workspace builds on InsightsOne’s multichannel consumer predictive intelligence platform, which uses big-data technology to anticipate an individual customer’s hidden needs (i.e., who will most likely want to purchase a product or service, which customers are likely to be at risk of churning in the future and which retention offers they will be most receptive to).
www.insightsone.com
••• social media research
TRAC big data
Social media platform takes monitoring a step further
London research company Face has released Pulsar TRAC, a social intelligence platform designed to push social media research beyond keyword tracking by measuring the reach of conversations, mapping brand audiences and tracking content diffusion. Pulsar TRAC also aims to index and analyze the social connections, interests and digital behaviors of the authors.
Engineered for big data, the platform collects social and news content in 140 languages, can process up to 7,500 tweets per second (60 million tweets per day) and perform complex queries on millions of conversations. Pulsar TRAC enables audience mapping to track and analyze the content and behaviors produced by a set audience; content tracking to see who, when, where and how a specific piece of content, identified by a URL, was shared in social media; visibility analysis to provide a reach estimation of each message as a way of weighting the content by considering the format, size of audience and virality of the post; and two types of sentiment analysis for short-form and longer-form content.
www.pulsarplatform.com
••• data analysis
Inching closer to all-inclusive
MarketSight 9.3 integrates more editing, more charts
Cambridge, Mass., research company MarketSight LLC has released version 9.3 of its software-as-a-service solution for data visualization and statistical analysis of research data. With the latest release, MarketSight users can edit data uploaded to the MarketSight platform, such as deleting one or more records or editing specific values within records. The capabilities are designed to help users identify and remove outliers and perform other common data-cleaning tasks, all within the MarketSight platform.
The latest release also features the addition of several new chart types, including doughnut charts, gauge charts and scatter plots. MarketSight has also added chart animation, popups and an interactive legend that can hide or show different values in charts. Charts are now optimized to support a wider range of mobile devices.
MarketSight has also expanded its DataSync feature to include Qualtrics support, enabling Qualtrics users to automatically load data from surveys directly into MarketSight.
www.marketsight.com
••• customer experience
Remarketing – on the fly
Action Center promotes behavioral targeting to site visitors
Webtrends, a Portland, Ore., research company, has debuted Action Center, a platform designed to integrate in-session and historical customer-level data into action systems, including e-mail, display ad networks, SMS messaging, CRM, mobile marketing, search engine marketing, marketing automation and more.
Action Center integrates Webtrends Streams directly into e-mail service and cross-channel marketing solutions providers ExactTarget, Responsys and Silverpop. Webtrends Streams is designed to track and respond to customer events and behavior without a time delay. For example, if a customer abandons a cart, marketers can trigger a personalized message or special offer via SMS, e-mail or social channel to reengage them.
www.webtrends.com
••• packaging research
Under pressure
Using behavioral economics to improve at-shelf research
BrainJuicer Group PLC, a London research company, has launched System 1 Pack Test, a packaging testing methodology designed to mimic the real-time shopping experience by asking people to make a selection from the shelf in time-pressured conditions. When under time pressure, people resort to System 1 judgment and provide a response that has been shown to better reflect real-world choices.
System 1 thinking is a term used by author, psychologist and Nobel Laureate for Economics Daniel Kahneman to describe the way that we make the vast majority of our decisions: quickly, intuitively and emotionally.
www.brainjuicer.com
••• eye tracking
Real-time design, on a dime
Tobii offers live, affordable eye tracking for Web designers and developers
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Tobii Technology has released Tobii UX Live, an eye-tracking solution developed for the Web design community. UX Live is intended to provide designers who have not had any prior eye-tracking experience with a simple, cost-effective way to get direct feedback on their work by combining hardware, software, education and support to give designers and developers a way to integrate real-time eye-tracking insights into their work.
UX Live aims to offer a critical view of the user experience that will illuminate design solutions, such as helping understand why users did not see a specific button or link and why they had problems solving the task; improve designs by evaluating in exactly what the user is seeing to identify how to make sites more user-friendly, improve conversion rates and achieve greater sales results; and validate creative.
The solution includes the Tobii X2 Eye Tracker, Tobii Studio Live Edition and training and support. It is available for $699 per month.
www.tobii.com
••• ad research
Watching as they watch
Researchers partner to offer facial coding for copy testing
Research companies InsightExpress, Stamford, Conn., and Affectiva, Waltham, Mass., have partnered to integrate Affectiva’s Affdex automated facial analysis technology with CreativeImpact, InsightExpress’ copy testing solution.
Affdex is a neuromarketing tool designed to read emotional states from facial expressions using a Webcam. CreativeImpact features a methodology that blindly exposes respondents to ads embedded within actual TV show content. While watching the ads, Affdex captures viewers’ facial expressions via Webcam to simulate a real TV-watching environment and test in a true blinded exposure. This approach aims to evaluate ads without cognitive bias.
www.insightexpress.com
••• brand research
Layers of human motivation
Ipsos debuts new solutions for driving brand growth
New York research company Ipsos MarketQuest has created a new suite of Censydiam business solutions intended to uncover, prioritize and size category and cross-category opportunities for growth. Censydiam is designed to deconstruct motivations to purchase across four layers: functional characteristics, social identity, emotional benefits and personality.
Censydiam uses an individual, people-centered approach to identify which human motivations a brand should tap into to grow its share and links changes in brand perceptions to business outcomes. Censydiam is designed to predict which aspects a brand should leverage to improve its market share and determine the cost-of-entry factors a brand requires to play in the market; the drivers to grow the brand; and the drivers that can be built into new growth platforms for brand innovation.
www.ipsosmarketing.com
••• customer experience
Digging into dining
Solution brings Maritz’s CEM expertise to restaurants
Maritz Research, St. Louis, has launched Capella Restaurant, a customer experience management system designed to help restaurant operators address problems with customer service. Capella Restaurant aims to analyze the sentiment of customers’ comments, flag critical issues and provide benchmarks against key competitors and can support restaurants ranging from fast-food to sit-down.
Capella Restaurant features mobile-optimized surveys; hot alerts to quickly respond and address customer complaints; the ability to set goals and benchmark against competitors; and an action-planning tool for frontline managers.
When customers leave brief or vague feedback about their dining experience, Capella’s SmartProbe technology follows up with an appropriate question and encourages the customer to share more details. Its dashboard compiles the analyzed feedback and shows trends over time.
www.maritzresearch.com
••• Briefly
New York research company Millward Brown’s digital unit Dynamic Logic has released AdIndex for Mobile, a tagging technology for identifying advertising exposure within the entire mobile ecosystem. The solution focuses on mobile insights previously unquantifiable, such as the branding efficacy of message frequency.
www.dynamiclogic.com
Civicom Marketing Research Services, Greenwich, Conn., has launched CiviSelect, a global respondent recruiting service. CiviSelect can recruit from social networking sites and provides discussion-guide analysis and a report that shows the eligibility of each potential respondent.
www.civi.com
ShopBust, a Singapore online shopper feedback platform, has debuted a new reporting dashboard for Mobile Mystery Shopping, its online mystery shopping program.
www.shopbust.com
Red Dot Square, an Oshkosh, Wis., research company, has partnered with Lisle, Ill., database provider Gladson to create a library of 3-D models for consumer packaged goods (CPG) products. The content library aims to allow the CPG industry to use virtual reality technology to plan merchandising and shopper marketing programs and to conduct market research.
www.reddotsquare.com
Jupiter, Fla., research company 3Q Global has launched The Buzz Online Focus Groups, a moderator-led discussion tool that uses an interactive whiteboard technology to display images and video and allow users to rate these by polling and various drawing tools.
www.3q-global.com
MD Mindset, a Whitehouse Station, N.J., research firm, and PSKW, a biopharma loyalty relationship marketing company, have partnered to use PSKW’s copay assistance program data records and MD Mindset’s network of health care professionals to understand why a physician engages in a copay assistance program for a specific patient.
www.mdmindset.com
Schlesinger Interactive, a division of Iselin, N.J., research company Schlesinger Associates, has launched its online communities services to provide recruitment, project management and technology platform services for domestic and international communities.
www.schlesingerassociates.com
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has expanded its online advertising measurement solution to Australia, Canada, Germany and Italy. Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings is designed to measure the audience of online advertising, providing reach, frequency and gross rating point metrics, as well as demographics.
www.nielsen.com
ThinkNow Research, Burbank, Calif., has released the findings from U.S. Hispanic Cultural Values in 2013, a study that examines how U.S. Hispanics rank commonly-held cultural values, such as family unity and equality of the sexes.
www.thinknowresearch.com/hispanic-cultural-values-study-2013
Port Washington, N.Y., research company The NPD Group has launched SupplyTrack, a monthly sales tracking service for the food service industry.
www.npd.com
Chicago research company SymphonyIRI Group Inc. has rebranded as IRI and is online at www.iriworldwide.com.
Additionally, IRI and Cupertino, Calif., data management company BlueKai have collaborated to develop a direct-to-consumer digital platform that combines BlueKai’s data platform with IRI’s segmentation and predictive modeling solution.
New York research company GfK has announced plans to increase the size of its KnowledgePanel by one-third in 2013. KnowledgePanel is an online panel based on a representative sample of the U.S. population.
www.gfk.com
Ipsos Healthcare, a New York research company, has launched a tumor-specific oncology monitor focusing on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Canada. The Canadian NSCLC Monitor is the first in a series of syndicated, cancer-specific monitors to be launched in Canada.
www.ipsos.com
Voxco, a Montreal research company, has renamed Acuity4 Social, its social media analytics solution, Semeon Analytics.
www.semeon.com
Santa Monica, Calif., research company Dub has rebranded and launched a new Web site at www.dubishere.com.
ICM Research, London, has launched Rapid Response, a polling offering designed to deliver same-day results on consumer opinion regarding breaking national news stories.
www.icmresearch.com
IW-Research and Diedrich Marketing Group, Burnsville, Minn., have rebranded as Diedrich RPM. The company is online at www.diedrichrpm.com.
The CASRO Institute for Research Quality, Port Jefferson, N.Y., has awarded certification to ORC International, a Princeton, N.J., research company, for compliance to the ISO 20252 standard for market, opinion and social research. Processes outlined in ISO 20252 are designed to produce transparent, consistent, well-documented and error-free methods of conducting and managing research projects. The scope of certification covers ORC International’s services for Princeton, N.J.; Boston; Chicago; Maumee, Ohio; Minneapolis; New York; Reno, Nev.; and Seattle.
www.casro.org