VUE Magazine, October 2011

vue SOCIAL MEDIA:

You Know More Than You Think Like a Survey If You Want to Know What Customers Want

Ask the Right Questions

Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40033932

Don’t Forget to Be Human

Dare to Compare Perception in Ad Land is the Only Reality

FACESofCHANGE Engage Youth

the magazine of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association

O CTO B E R 2 0 1 1

MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION

NOW

is the time to enroll new staff members and receive

15 months for the price of 12

In October, new members paying MRIA annual dues and fees will receive three free additional months as membership will be valid until December 31, 2012.

New practitioners with less than two years of work experience in the industry can also join or renew at a reduced price.

Mark your Calendar 2012 Membership Dues and Renewal Process The 2012 Membership dues and fees are now available through the MRIA Portal.

The deadline to renew your MRIA membership, both Individual and Corporate is: January 31, 2012 Please note that until January 31, 2012, Individual members working for a Corporate member of MRIA can benefit from a Group Discount on their Individual membership dues.

Visit www.mria-arim.ca/MEMBERSHIP/CorporateDuesandFees.asp

To join MRIA go to the MRIA Portal at www.mriaportal-arimportail.ca, where you will be able to join the Association or renew your membership online, simply and efficiently.

For more information, contact us at membership@mria-arim.ca

OCTOBER 2011

vue VUE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY THE MARKETING RESEARCH AND INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION TEN TIMES A YEAR

Cover: Annie Pettit In this month’s features: (L to R) Michael Haynes, Mitch Joel, Maura Hanley, Ruth M. Corbin

ADDRESS The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association L’Association de la recherche et de l’intelligence marketing

FEATURES 12

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LIKE A SURVEY Social media are user-friendly when it comes to applying survey research practices. You may be pleasantly surprised at how easily you can adapt your survey research skills to social media on offer today.

by Annie Pettit IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT: ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS! In the B2B world, for optimum returns, it's important to form the right strategies and involve your customers in order to ask the right questions in the first place. B2B professional Michael Haynes provides an excellent guideline for getting off to the best start in this process.

by Michael Haynes DON’T FORGET TO BE HUMAN When using social media, whether for personal use or corporate promotion, it can be too easy to forget what it is to be human. A top social media expert offers good advice about courteous, professional, human conduct regarding online communication.

by Mitch Joel DARE TO COMPARE: PERCEPTION IN AD LAND IS THE ONLY REALITY PART 2 The second in a series about comparative advertising, this article explores the risks to advertisers who choose humour or exaggeration to promote the merits of their products over those of their competitors. Part 2 of 3

by Ruth M. Corbin, CMRP and Samantha Schreiber FACESofCHANGE: ENGAGE YOUTH How does today's youth use social media? The marketing research community should be asking this important question, and this article answers it in detail.

by Maura Hanley

COMMENTARY 6 8 10

Editor’s Vue President’s Letter Message from the Executive Director

INDUSTRY NEWS 27 28 30

Qualitative Research Registry (QRR) People and Companies in the News Research Registration System (RRS)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 31

cmrp-mcp-tracker.com is here!

COLUMNISTS 33 33 33 34

QRD B2B Reporter The Court of Public Opinion RAC

2600 Skymark Avenue, Bldg. 4, Unit 104 Mississauga, Ontario L4W 5B2 Tel: (905) 602-6854 Toll Free: 1-888-602-MRIA (6742) Fax: (905) 602-6855 Email: vue@mria-arim.ca Website: www.mria-arim.ca PRODUCTION: LAYOUT/DESIGN LS Graphics Tel: (905) 743-0402, Toll Free: 1-800-400-8253 Fax: (905) 728-3931 Email: info@lsgraphics.com CONTACTS CHAIR, PUBLICATIONS Stephen Popiel, PhD, CMRP Tel: (416) 271-8454 stephen.popiel@hotspex.ca EDITOR-IN-CHIEF David Hamburg, Hamburg Consulting (514) 748-1827 david.hamburg@sympatico.ca MANAGING EDITOR Anne Marie Gabriel, MRIA amgabriel@mria-arim.ca ASSOCIATE EDITORS Kevin Hare kevin.hare@rci.rogers.com Claire Bazley claire.bazley@maritz.com COPY EDITORS Siegfried Betterman Margaret Burkhardt 2011 ADVERTISING RATES Frequent advertisers receive discounts. Details can be found by going to: www.mria-arim.ca/advertising/vue.asp Please email vue@mria-arim.ca to book your ad.

The deadline for notice of advertising is the first of the previous month.

All advertising material must be at the MRIA office on the 5th of the month.

Original articles and Letters to the Editor are welcome. Materials will be reviewed by the Vue Editorial Team. If accepted for publication, they may be edited for length or clarity and placed in the electronic archives on the MRIA website.

The opinions and conclusions expressed in Vue are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association.

Publishing Date: October, 2011 © 2011.

All rights reserved. Copyright rests with the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association or the author.

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association or the author.

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RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association L’Association de la recherche et de l’intelligence marketing 2600 Skymark Avenue, Bldg 4, Unit 104, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 5B2 Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40033932 ISSN 1488-7320

CO M M E N TARY / COMMENTAIRE

Editor’s Vue David Hamburg

October already? I’ll never understand why Time is always in such a hurry. Of course all the social media gurus have no problem with life frenetica. Yesterday seems like old history in this arena.

In this month’s cover story, “Like a Survey,” by Annie Pettit, the author takes the mystique out of social media research.

When you come down to it, it’s really not all that different from the kind of market research we are used to doing. Part of that is asking the right questions, especially if you want to know what the customers really need.

Which brings us to Michael Haynes’ piece, “Ask the Right Questions,” where he discusses the usefulness of engaging customers in strategic discussions, and the preparation needed to be done in advance in order to nail down the right questions to be asked.

How about in-your-face questions like Coke or Pepsi? Ruth Corbin’s second part on comparative advertising explores the fine line of promoting a product or service on the basis of it as being superior to that of a competitor. And while this tactic may be perfectly legal, frequently desirable, and often effective, there are rules of engagement and pitfalls to be avoided.

Maura Hanley was one of the stars at the MRIA 2011 National Conference with her outstanding presentation about what the marketing research community can learn from the digital media habits of today’s youth. She shares some of those key findings with Vue readers in her article entitled, “FACESofCHANGE: Engage Youth.”

Great stuff, these articles, but it’s even more important to put a perspective on it all, on everything we do, and keep it real. Wrapping up this month’s issue on a high note is Mitch Joel’s “Don’t Forget to Be Human,” a gem of a piece about doing the right thing.

Until next month.

Octobre déjà? Je ne comprendrai jamais pourquoi le temps est toujours si pressé. Évidemment, la vie frenetica ne cause aucun problème aux gurus des médias sociaux. Hier n’est qu’une vieille histoire dans ce domaine.

Dans l’article annoncé en couverture ce mois-ci, « Like a Survey » d’Annie Pettit, l’auteure démystifie la recherche par médias sociaux. Au fond, elle n’est pas si différente de la sorte de recherche marketing à laquelle nous sommes habitués. Il s’agit en bonne partie de poser les bonnes questions, en particulier si vous voulez savoir ce dont le client a vraiment besoin.

Ce qui m’amène à l’article de Michael Haynes, « Ask the Right Questions », où il discute de l’utilité d’entraîner les clients dans des discussions stratégiques et de la préparation qu’il faut faire auparavant pour pouvoir dénicher les bonnes questions à poser.

Que dire des questions agressives de Coke ou Pepsi? La deuxième tranche de l’article de Ruth Corbin sur la publicité comparative explore l’approche ténue de la promotion d’un produit ou d’un service fondée sur l’affirmation qu’il est supérieur à celui d’un concurrent. Bien que cette tactique soit tout à fait légale, fréquemment désirable, et souvent efficace, des règles d’engagement existent, de même que des pièges à éviter.

Maura Hanley a été une des vedettes de la Conférence nationale 2011 de l’ARIM à cause de son excellent exposé sur ce que la collectivité de la recherche marketing peut apprendre des habitudes des jeunes d’aujourd’hui par rapport aux médias numériques. Elle partage avec les lecteurs de Vue certaines de ses conclusions clés dans son article « FACESofCHANGE: Engage Youth ».

Du matériel fantastique, ces articles, mais il est encore plus important de mettre tout ça en perspective, par rapport à ce que nous faisons, et de demeurer réalistes. Pour conclure le numéro de ce mois-ci en beauté, il a y le petit bijou « Don’t Forget to Be Human » que nous offre Mitch Joel sur la façon de faire la bonne chose.

Au mois prochain.

David Hamburg, Market Research Consultant, Hamburg Consulting Editor-in-Chief, Vue / Rédacteur en chef, Vue • Email: david.hamburg@sympatico.ca • (514) 748-1827 •

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Letter from the President Kimberlee Niziol Jonas

I was recently asked, as a buyer of marketing research, how I would describe my job in as few words as possible.

Immediately, I answered: “I internally represent the voice of the customer.” I then added that I provide insights and knowledge for strategic direction and decision-making through solid marketing research practice, analysis and expertise.

As articulated by the American Marketing Association (1987), marketing research is the function that links the customer to the marketer through information – information used to identify and define opportunities and problems; generate, refine and evaluate business actions; monitor performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.

There are many different sources for and ways of collecting customer information to represent the voice of the customer in our ever-changing environment – qualitatively or quantitatively, online or offline, through social media, and by numerous other means. In their own ways, all of them are useful for understanding customers better, developing more effective solutions, delivering more appropriate customer experiences, and finding the best ways to deliver solutions of value.

However, collecting, understanding and interpreting the information in the right context is extremely important. In fact, bringing that contextual significance to the equation is what we, as marketing research professionals and MRIA members, strive for and do so well.

MRIA’s mission is to promote a positive environment that enhances the industry’s ability to conduct business effectively, to the benefit of the public and association members. But the ways in which the association delivers on that mandate cannot be static; MRIA, like its members, has to evolve with the changing environment. The association is constantly challenged to be flexible and nimble, as evidenced by some recent and imminent initiatives: • A new Online Research Committee has been formed, with a mandate to develop and deliver standards, programs and initiatives that advance the practice of Internet-based online research.

• The former Research and Development Committee has been reconstituted into the new Emerging Technologies and Research Innovations Committee. It is responsible for 8

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On m’a demandé récemment comment, en tant qu’acheteuse de recherche marketing, je décrirais mon travail en très peu de mots. J’ai répondu immédiatement : « Je représente dans ma tête la voix du client. » J’ai ensuite ajouté que j’offre des perspectives et des connaissances pour l’orientation stratégique et les prises de décision par la pratique, l’analyse et l’expertise solides en recherche marketing.

L’American Marketing Association (1987) dit bien quand elle explique que la recherche marketing est la fonction qui lie le client au marché par l’information – une information utilisée pour identifier et définir possibilités et problèmes, pour générer, perfectionner et évaluer les actions en affaires, pour surveiller le rendement et pour aider à mieux comprendre le processus du marketing.

Il y a de nombreuses sources et manières variées de recueillir l’information du client afin de représenter sa voix dans notre milieu en changement constant – qualitativement ou quantitativement, en ligne ou hors ligne, par les médias sociaux, et bien d’autres manières encore. Chacune à sa façon, elles sont toutes utiles pour mieux comprendre les clients, développer des solutions efficaces, offrir des expériences de client plus appropriées, et trouver la meilleure manière de proposer des solutions de valeur.

Cependant, il est essentiel de recueillir, comprendre et interpréter l’information dans le bon contexte. En fait, intégrer ce sens du contexte dans l’équation, c’est ce que nous nous efforçons de faire, en tant que professionnels de la recherche marketing et membres de l’ARIM, et nous le faisons fort bien.

La mission de l’ARIM consiste à promouvoir un environnement positif qui augmente la capacité de l’industrie de mener ses activités d’affaires efficacement, au bénéfice du public et des membres de l’association. Mais les façons dont l’association exécute son mandat ne peuvent être statiques; l’ARIM, comme ses membres, doit évoluer avec le milieu changeant. L’association est constamment mise au défi d’être souple et rapide, comme en font foi certaines initiatives récentes et imminentes : • Un nouveau Comité de la recherche en ligne a été créé avec comme mandat d’élaborer et de présenter des normes, des programmes et des initiatives pour faire progresser la pratique de la recherche en ligne sur le Web. • L’ancien Comité de recherche et de développement a été restructuré pour devenir le Comité des nouvelles technologies et des innovations en recherche. Son rôle est de mener des recherches, d’élaborer des normes et des lignes directrices

CO M M E N TARY / COMMENTAIRE

undertaking research, for developing standards and guidelines on key methodology-based issues that arise from emerging technologies or other forms of innovation that the marketing research industry encounters, and for delivering the relevant intelligence and guidance to members.

• Through a new mini-surveys initiative called the CSRC Forum, the Client-Side Researcher Council is assisting clientside researchers to learn more about the industry’s changing environment and the experiences of other client-side researchers.

A recent survey by the CSRC Forum ascertained that social media monitoring is largely carried out in four departments or divisions within organizations: marketing, media/public relations, marketing research, and communications. As those of us working hands-on as information arbiters know from direct experience, competing interests within the business sector are laying claim to providing customer information in this space. This, I believe, will be a challenge to MRIA’s strategic adaptation in the future: to help our industry and members leverage their expertise to lay a rightful and authoritative claim to the social media research space.

In connection to this challenge to strategic adaptation, in the cycle of activity of a strong and vibrant association such as MRIA, there is no juncture more critical to success than when it renews its strategic plan. And doing that well requires the collective brain power and undivided attention of the association’s leaders. Hence, your MRIA national board and senior staff will be dedicating themselves to that initiative in a strategic plan development workshop on October 24 and 25.

Central to our thinking, as we prepare for that intensive session, is the member input we’ve received through the strategic plan survey fielded this spring, and the member value and benefits survey conducted in the summer of 2010. Thank you to all who responded to those opportunities to provide feedback and input; you’ve certainly given your elected representatives a lot to think about.

At its core, strategic planning is about making choices and deciding where the organization needs to apply resources, both financial and human, to fulfill its mission most effectively and to have the greatest impact in delivering member benefits.

MRIA has in front of it a significant opportunity to evolve; to meet the challenges posed by emerging trends and issues in areas such as social media research; and to advance its position as the authority, advocate, and facilitator of opinion and insight/intelligence exchange for effective decision-making.

Thanks to your help and continuing support, I firmly believe that our association is up to the challenge.

concernant les enjeux méthodologiques clés découlant des technologies émergentes ou autres formes d’innovation dans l’industrie de la recherche marketing, et de livrer aux membres des renseignements et des conseils pertinents.

• Au moyen de la nouvelle initiative de mini-sondages appelée Forum du CCRS, le Conseil canadien de la recherche par sondage aide les praticiens de la recherche côté client à être mieux informés sur le milieu changeant de l’industrie et sur les expériences des autres praticiens de la recherche côté client.

Un récent sondage mené par le Forum du CCRS affirme que la surveillance des médias sociaux est effectuée en grande partie par quatre départements ou divisions dans les organisations : marketing, relations avec médias et public, recherche marketing, et communications. Pour ceux d’entre nous qui travaillons de manière pratique comme arbitres de l’information, notre expérience directe nous révèle que des intérêts concurrentiels dans le monde des affaires prétendent pouvoir fournir l’information sur les clients dans cet espace. Je crois que cela présente un défi à l’adaptation stratégique de l’ARIM à l’avenir : aider notre industrie et nos membres à miser sur leur expertise pour revendiquer légitimement et avec autorité l’espace de la recherche par médias sociaux.

En lien avec ce défi d’adaptation stratégique, dans le cycle des activités d’une association forte et vibrante comme l’est l’ARIM, il n’y a pas de conjoncture plus essentielle au succès que le renouvellement de son plan stratégique. Bien le faire requiert le pouvoir mental et l’attention sans réserve des leaders de l’association. Il s’ensuit que le conseil d’administration national et les employés cadres se consacreront à cette initiative au cours d’un atelier de travail de planification stratégique les 24 et 25 octobre.

Au cœur de notre réflexion, pendant que nous nous préparons à cette session intensive, se trouvent les commentaires des membres que nous avons reçus au moyen du sondage sur le plan stratégique ce printemps, et le sondage auprès des membres sur la valeur et les avantages mené au cours de l’été 2010. Merci à tous ceux et celles qui ont répondu à cette occasion de fournir de la rétroaction et des suggestions; vous avez donné beaucoup de matière à réflexion à vos représentants élus.

Le cœur de la planification stratégique consiste à faire des choix et à décider où l’organisation doit affecter ses ressources, financières et humaines, pour accomplir sa mission le plus efficacement possible et obtenir le plus d’impact dans la prestation des avantages à nos membres.

L’ARIM est à une croisée des chemins où elle a la chance significative d’évoluer, de relever les défis que présentent les tendances et les enjeux émergents tels que ceux de la recherche par médias sociaux, et de faire progresser sa position d’autorité, de défenseur et de facilitateur dans le domaine du partage d’opinions, de perspectives et de renseignements pour les prises de décisions efficaces.

Merci de votre aide et de votre soutien continu. Je crois fermement que notre association est prête à relever le défi.

Kimberlee Niziol Jonas, Market Research Manager / Directrice de la recherche marketing, GlaxoSmithKline Email: kimberlee.a.nizioljonas@gsk.com • (905) 814-3500

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Message from the Executive Director Brendan Wycks

Strategic Plan Renewal: A Critical Turning-Point Opportunity

Le renouvellement du plan stratégique : une jonction critique

As noted by President Kimberlee Niziol Jonas this month, there is no juncture in MRIA’s cycle of activity more critical to success than when we review and renew the association’s strategic plan.

Hence, the MRIA national board and senior staff will be dedicating themselves to that key task in a strategic plan development workshop in late October.

The goal of the 2012–14 strategic plan, MRIA’s third, will not be to plan for everything that the association might do, nor to specify the continuation or discontinuation of current programs.

Rather, its emphasis will be on identifying the primary objectives that will command a dominant share of the association’s resources as we strive to achieve the desired future state articulated in our vision statement and deliver on the commitments declared in our mission statement.

In the process leading up to the development of the new plan, MRIA has been focused on an understanding of the environment in which the association operates; on our strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and challenges facing the industry and the association; and on the expectations of members and other stakeholders. A big thank you, therefore, to all members who responded to our member survey for strategic plan input earlier this year.

MRIA has made a great deal of progress over the past seven years, and we have many major accomplishments to be proud about. But I do believe that MRIA has before it a critical turning-point opportunity to advance its position as the authority, advocate and facilitator for our industry. Making the most of that opportunity will likely require some notable changes in what we concentrate our resources on and in how we execute our plans, if we want to move the association from being good today – even very good, comparatively speaking, in terms of value-for-money delivered to members – to being great in the future. We look forward to reporting on outcomes to you in the months ahead.

Comme le souligne notre présidente Kimberlee Niziol Jonas ce mois-ci, il n’y a pas de conjoncture dans le cycle d’activités de l’ARIM plus cruciale à son succès que celle de l’examen et du renouvellement du plan stratégique. Il s’ensuit que le conseil d’administration national de l’ARIM et ses employés cadres se consacreront à cette tâche clé au cours d’un atelier d’élaboration du plan stratégique à la fin octobre.

Le but du plan stratégique 2012–2014 de l’ARIM, le troisième de l’association, ne sera pas de planifier tout ce que nous pourrions faire, ni de préciser la poursuite ou l’annulation de programmes actuels. Nous nous concentrerons plutôt sur l’identification des principaux objectifs qui domineront l’affectation de nos ressources dans les efforts que nous déploierons pour atteindre l’état futur désiré, tel qu’exposé dans notre énoncé de vision et réalisé par les engagements formulés dans notre énoncé de mission.

Au cours du processus menant à l’élaboration du nouveau plan, l’ARIM s’est concentrée sur le besoin de bien saisir l’environnement dans lequel elle fonctionne, sur nos forces et nos faiblesses, sur les possibilités et les défis se présentant à notre industrie et à notre association, et sur les attentes des membres et des autres intervenants.

Un grand merci donc à tous les membres qui ont répondu à notre sondage plus tôt cet année, qui visait à obtenir leur participation au plan stratégique.

L’ARIM a fait énormément de progrès au cours des sept dernières années et nous pouvons être fiers d’un grand nombre de réalisations majeures. Mais je crois que l’ARIM se trouve à un tournant critique avec la possibilité de renforcer sa position d’autorité, de défenseur et de facilitateur au sein de notre industrie. Pour vraiment profiter de cette possibilité, il faudra sans doute effectuer des changements importants dans l’affectation de nos ressources et dans la façon dont nous exécutons nos plans, si nous voulons faire progresser l’association de bonne aujourd’hui – même très bonne, comparativement, en terme de la valeur que les membres obtiennent pour leur argent – à excellente dans l’avenir. Nous nous ferons un plaisir de vous donner un compte rendu des résultats dans les mois à venir.

Brendan Wycks, BA, MBA, CAE, Executive Director / Directeur général, Marketing Research and Intelligence Association / L’Association de la recherche et de l’intelligence marketing Email: bwycks@mria-arim.ca • (905) 602-6854 ext./poste 8724

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Like a Survey Annie Pettit shows how social media research is not to be feared, but rather, has so much in common with survey research practices, that you already know how to make the leap to using social media for research purposes.

Annie Pettit

A strange, frightening beast prowls loudly about. You can’t quite see it, you’re not sure if you want to touch it, but it’s intriguing. Something about it seems oddly familiar but you can’t quite place your finger on it. The beast, or social media research as we’ve now learned to call it, shouldn’t be scary and strange. In fact, it’s just like a survey, the surveys you already know and love, and here is why.

Data Collection

The first step of data collection in the survey world is finding people from whom to gather opinions. Survey panels are among the most popular resources, with every panel working on its own secret sauce to attract a wide range of panelists from a wide range of sources. They may use various techniques such as Internet advertising, banners, website partners, and other methodologies to ensure they have accessed as many types of people as possible. This 12

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ensures that their panels have as little bias or skew as possible.

In the social media research space, data collection is viewed in a very similar way. Attempts are made to find people’s opinions (e.g., status updates, tweets, messages, comments, replies) from as wide a range of sources as possible. While most clients are interested in opinions collected from Twitter and Facebook, the Internet space of social media opinions is much larger. Care is taken to seek out opinions from blogs (e.g., Blogger, Wordpress), video sites (e.g., YouTube, MetaCafe), news sites (e.g., CNN, Fox News), and many other places across the Internet that permit people to share their opinions online. By accessing as many different types of websites as possible, data collectors can ensure there is as little bias or skew as possible.

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Data Quality

In the survey and focus group world, we’ve spent decades identifying and fighting myriad data quality issues. We’ve identified the issue of straightlining, and designed checks to identify people who straightline in inappropriate places.

We’ve identified the issue of people rushing through surveys, and designed data quality checks to weed out speeders. We’ve created red herring tests, age and gender matching tests, verbatim tests, and incidence rate checks.

We’ve almost gotten to the point where we’ve created checks to check the checks.

Once again, social media data is like a survey, in that data quality issues abound. The issues may be slightly different, but researchers are continuously working to identify them and create precise quality checks to deal with them. For instance, certain categories of data, such as financial and pharmaceutical data, are known to be heavy with spam. Anyone who writes or reads an unmoderated blog or forum knows all about social media comments like, “You have most wonderful blog about Adidas shoes buy Viagra.” These comments fill up the blog page in hopes that readers will come to a realization they do want to buy Viagra. Of course, comments like these, though they mention the desired brand name, aren’t actually about the

groups of people. Either way, the sampling process allows us to ensure that the people participating in our research are relevant for our work and have the knowledge and opinions required.

Identifying people who are relevant for a research objective can be a difficult process, but in the social media space, we have data on our side. The mere process of mentioning a brand name in social media means that it is somehow relevant to the person. They like it, they hate it, they buy it, they avoid it, they’ve heard of it, they’ve been told to check it out, they’ve heard about it on TV, they’re wondering what it is. There is a reason that the brand name was mentioned, and that makes their opinion important to understand. Social media data benefits from the unique perspective, because instead of survey researchers trying to identify the target audience, the social media audience identifies itself to the data collector.

Weighting

As hard as researchers try, it’s almost always impossible to collect a set of data that perfectly matches a sampling matrix. Weighting allows us to ensure that, even when opinions are not collected in proportions that reflect our desired population, the end results will. For example, if an

New methodologies can seem overwhelming at first.

But, once they are framed around familiar words and methodologies, what was once new and scary is familiar and easy to understand. brand, and social media systems strive to identify and remove them.

There are also data quality concerns around astroturfing, a problem whereby people are paid to deliberately make positive comments about a brand on as many websites as possible. The hope is that people reading those websites will think that a large group of happy consumers love the brand.

Fortunately, these types of comments can also be caught via carefully tuned automated systems. For sure, more data quality issues will arise but, like surveys, we’ll continue to hunt and eradicate them.

Sampling

Survey sampling is an extremely important process that develops out of the research objective. Whether we use a survey panel or in-house client lists, researchers have a specific sampling goal to achieve. Perhaps we need to speak with a demographically diverse sample of people, or perhaps we need to speak with a sample of pre-qualified, targeted

attempt to collect a census representative sample of research participants resulted in a sample that was 75% female and 25% male, our weighting processes allow us to interpret the data as if it was 50% female and 50% male.

Like surveys, social media research depends on weighting processes, though the variables used are different. Instead of weighting opinions based on the demographic profile of the research participant, opinions are weighted based on the source of the opinion. Weighting becomes extremely important when you consider that different websites attract very different users and produce very different amounts of data. For instance, Twitter attracts early adopters, encourages flaring tempers, and produces a lot of data. On the other hand, Blogger attracts people who think out their ideas carefully in well-thought-out blog postings and produce less data.

Thus, even when Twitter data accounts for 50% of a data set, researchers can consider weighting those responses down to account for the fact that only about 13% of

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Internet users actually use Twitter. Failing to consider whether weighting is an appropriate tool for a specific job may render results that are not generalizeable to the intended Internet population.

Scaling

Thinking about words as numbers may feel like a foreign concept but it is actually an everyday process for every market researcher. When a survey is set up, we make many decisions about how we want people to answer the questions. We decide whether to use three point, five point, seven point, or ten point scales. We decide what labels to put on those scales, whether they are likelihood to recommend, likelihood to purchase, satisfaction, or agreement. Once we have made our decisions, we then let research participants select numbers on our scale that best reflect their interpretation of the scale. For instance, a research participant may feel that he or she is “Very Likely” to “Intend to purchase Brand A.” In the social media data space, the same theories apply.

The researcher selects the most appropriate scale whether it is three points (positive, neutral, negative), five points (strongly positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, strongly negative), or something else. Because sentiment can be scored on a continuous scale, researchers can decide exactly which scale is most appropriate for their work.

The major difference, however, is that as opposed to the data contributors deciding which number best suits their opinion, the researcher decides which number best suits the opinion. For example, the researcher may decide that “totally gonna buy Brand A” best suits a coding of “Strongly positive.” On the other hand, the researcher may decide that “don’t buy that crap” falls into “Somewhat negative.” The addition of a swear word may render “don’t buy that f****** crap” a “Strongly negative.” Like a survey, scaling is inherent in the social media research process.

Variables

We hope that every survey is designed with specific research objectives in mind. Whether those objectives result in a usage and attitude study, a segmentation study, or a tracker, the objectives require specific questions to be asked. To meet these needs, researchers design questions about purchasing behaviours, recommendation behaviours, trial, and usage behaviours. We frame those such that they will work well with the scales that we have designed. Thus, a typical purchase question may be written as, “How likely are you to purchase Brand A?” Variables are also an important component of social media data. Once again, however, the variables are determined by the data contributors who choose what

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topics are important enough for them to talk about. Once this data is collected, researchers can create variables to match the topics of conversation. For example, verbatims that use words or phrases like “gonna buy,” “want to purchase,” and “gonna lay down some cash” would be classified into the purchasing variable. Verbatims that use phrases like “you gotta buy that” or “I’d totally recommend that” would be classified into the recommendation variable.

And, when combined with sentiment information, social media variables plus sentiment scores are a direct match to questions on a survey.

Ethical Standards

The ethics of using social media data for research purposes is still under massive debate but there are a number of issues to consider as you develop your own opinions. As with survey research, the overriding principle is respect for the research participant. We do our best in survey research to avoid abusing our respondents, though we sometimes fail when we request their participation in 60-minute surveys with massive grids. And, we avoid interacting with, interfering with, or talking to people when we conduct observational research in shopping malls and stores.

Similarly, with social media data, we must ensure that we always treat data contributors with respect. We must remember that they have not volunteered to give us data, they have not given us permission to directly quote their comments, and they have not invited us into their Twitter stream. We are outside observers and must act respectfully while we do our work.

Conclusions

New methodologies can seem overwhelming at first. But, once they are framed around familiar words and methodologies, what was once new and scary is familiar and easy to understand. Data collection, data quality, sampling, weighting, scaling, and variables are processes we already know and understand, and they apply perfectly to social media data as well. Like a survey, social media research is just a good ol’ friend.

Annie Pettit, PhD, is VP Research Standards at Research Now and Chief Research Officer of Conversition Strategies, a social media research company. She is an online market researcher who specializes in social media market research, survey research, and data quality. Annie is a member of the CASRO, MRA, and ESOMAR social media research committees. She tweets at @LoveStats and maintains the Conversition and the LoveStats marketing research blogs where she occasionally showcases her attempts at being a better baker and gardener.

Mark your Calendars

MRIA 2012 National Conference Goes to Newfoundland Mark your calendars and visit www.mria-arim.ca for more information

How, whom, what to ask and what to do?

Experienced B2B consultant Michael Haynes provides a comprehensive guideline to define, gather, analyze and implement the right questions to meet customer needs and improve ROI.

Michael Haynes

If You Want to Know What Customers Want:

Ask the Right Questions!

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To better compete in today’s highly competitive markets, companies worldwide are focusing more on providing their customers with relevant and tailored products and services.

In order to do so, companies are seeking feedback from customers about their requirements. There is no doubt that understanding customer needs is critical to a company’s ability to create products and services that customers will value and therefore purchase. This is particularly important within Business-to-Business (B2B) markets where a company’s sales revenues can often be heavily dependent on a very small percentage of its customer base.

However, in order to understand customer needs, supplier firms cannot simply ask customers directly “what do you want?” Doing so is highly problematic for two reasons. First, customers will say they want everything and give you their full “wish list” of the products, services and support offerings they desire, all of which at the lowest possible price. For most companies, it is simply neither feasible nor profitable to do so.

conducted through a variety of methods including, but not limited to, in-depth interviews, customer visits or workshops.

In a B2B context, such discussions can sometimes be easy to execute given the close relationships that may exist between suppliers and their customers. The technique used is not as important as the information gathered.

If executed correctly, these discussions enable supplier firms to understand the value customers receive from the products and services provided. In this situation, value refers to the monetary worth of the technical, economic, service and social benefits a company receives in exchange for the price it pays for a product or service offering.

Whom To Ask

To help ensure your company attains a deep understanding of customer needs, strategic discussions should be conducted with both the customers who are the largest revenue generators as well as other “strategic” customers who are integral to a supplier firm meeting its critical business objectives.

There is no doubt that understanding customer needs is critical to a company’s ability to create products and services that customers will value and therefore purchase.

The second problem with directly asking “what do you want?” is that such a question often results in customers expressing their needs in an ambiguous manner. They will often say they require things such as “flexible products” or suppliers that are “easy to do business with.” Such statements do not provide the level of detail required that enables companies to fully understand what would be required to meet these needs.

Therefore, in order to obtain customer requirements that are clear, concise and actionable, a structured approach must be taken regarding: • How to ask • Whom to ask • What to ask and • What to do with the information gathered.

Each of these is discussed below.

How to Ask

The best means to obtain a deep understanding of customer needs is through structured dialogue with your customer, that I refer to as strategic customer discussions. These can be

There should also be cross-functional participation from your customer’s organization. Participants should be selected from a variety of functional departments such as sales, marketing, products, operations and service. It is important to have multiple participants, since no single department will have a complete view as to how value is created for their organization.

Participants in these strategic discussions from both the supplier and the customer should be a mix of senior-level officials who have decision-making power as well as midlevel personnel who will be involved in implementing solutions, and who should be aware of user-related impacts.

This is very important in a B2B context where there are often several, if not hundreds, of users and a very small number of decision-makers.

For the supplier conducting the discussion, it is critical that sales be involved in the process for several reasons.

First, they often already have the relationship with the customer. Hence, they are best suited to get the customer engaged in discussion. Furthermore, their intimate knowledge of the customer will assist in framing the questions as well as anticipating responses. They should be vue October 2011

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involved in both capturing what the customer says, as well as following up with the customer to verify what has been captured, as well as advise them about what will and will not be done.

• Constraints: factors and/or circumstances that prevent jobs from being completed or outcomes achieved • Value: the monetary worth derived or sought after from elements of a suppliers’ offerings, such as product, service, account management, training and support.

What to Ask

To maximize the usefulness of these strategic discussions, a great deal of preparation needs to be done in advance regarding the focus, which will determine the questions to be asked. Therefore, the first step in preparing for the discussions is to define the objectives. They should be based around specific issues and address the customer’s strategic priorities, such as: • Attracting customers • Selling more to existing customers • Maintaining customers.

Once the discussion objectives have been established, a discussion guide containing the questions to be asked should be prepared. The questions to be asked should be developed with cross-functional input from departments such as sales, marketing, product development and

Gathering customer requirements in such a manner has a number of benefits: • Ensures that latent or unarticulated needs are captured, since customers are generally better at stating what it is they are trying to achieve • Ensures insights gathered are relevant among all customers, e.g., car manufacturers will have the same requirements • Helps supplier organizations move from a transactionbased relationship to a deeper relationship due to their increased understanding of customers’ needs and perceptions of value.

Some examples of the types of questions supplier firms can ask their customers in order to gather these requirements include:

To maximize the usefulness of these strategic discussions, a great deal of preparation needs to be done in advance regarding the focus, which will determine the questions to be asked. operations. This will help ensure feedback solicited can be understood and used by relevant functional areas to address customer requirements.

In addition, the questions asked should engage the customer, prompting them to provide a more in-depth explanation of their requirements. These questions should serve solely as a starting point in the discussion with the customer. As the discussion proceeds, new ideas, concerns and issues must be explored as they are raised. Hence, these discussions will need to be led by trained, seasoned personnel within the supplier company, who have a strong understanding of the customer’s business so they can probe issues accordingly.

• What are the critical issues facing decision-makers as they evaluate our product or service?

• What do you expect from us in a deeper, competitivelydifferentiating relationship?

• What are the areas you value about our company and where would you like to see us invest/focus more in the future?

• What value attributes really set us apart from the competition?

• What makes one company’s offering better or worse than another, and why?

• What characteristics describe the ideal product or service offering?

Types of Information to Gather

To generate the most useful and meaningful insights possible, companies should gather information pertaining to the following: • Jobs: tasks or activities customers are seeking to get done • Outcomes: end results that are being sought after 18

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What’s Next: Using the Information

After the customer requirements have been captured, the information must be used within the organization to determine which areas of value the organization will address.

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The learnings acquired through these discussions can be used to: • Tailor current product and service offerings • Develop new or improved offerings • Acquire new customers • Develop compelling messages that articulate how the company’s offerings deliver value to its customers.

Successfully delivering value to customers and maximizing a company’s bottom line is achieved through a series of steps comprised of: • Gather: Centrally store insights obtained from the discussion for use by key stakeholders and business units • Aggregate: “Roll up” data from all discussions to a meaningful level, such as by sales region or customer segment • Analyze: Identify key customer requirements and value drivers • Decide: Determine an agreed set of criteria to evaluate customer needs • Prioritize: Determine the order of needs to be addressed based on agreed criteria • Scope: Develop specific initiatives to deliver sought-after value • Execute: Assign specific initiatives to specific business units • Manage: Monitor and report on initiatives being undertaken • Communicate: Advise customers as to which needs will be addressed, as well as those that will not, and progress on initiatives being undertaken.

The ability of an organization to successfully take action and profitably deliver the sought-after value will require the following: • Senior management buy-in and championing: This is critical as the organization must be committed, and working towards delivering what customers value • Cross-functional participation: To assess and prioritize needs, and scope out and deliver initiatives • Capturing fair share of the value created: By understanding how value is created for customers, supplier firms can proactively determine how they will capture their fair share of the value created (e.g., by increasing their share of wallet, increasing pricing, acquiring more customers) • Ongoing dialogue with customers: To enable supplier firms to understand changing customer requirements, manage expectations, and advise them of what will and will not be done, as well as progress on initiatives.

The Financial Impact of Strategic Customer Engagement

Studies conducted by Gallup have found that organizations that have engaged customers outperform their competitors by 26% in terms of gross margin and 85% in sales growth.

Furthermore, engaged customers have also been found to spend more, as well as be more loyal, due to the customer offerings not easily replicated by the competition. (Source: Gallup Consulting, Customer Engagement: What’s Your Engagement Ratio, 2009.)

Companies in numerous industries such as information technology, manufacturing, telecommunications and professional services, use strategic customer discussions as a primary component of their customer engagement strategies. Companies conducting regular strategic customer discussions include Apple, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, DuPont and Milliken. Owens Corning, a U.S. Fortune 500 company that manufactures building and composite materials reported a 600% ROI within the first year following conducting over 120 strategic customer discussions. (Source: Winning with Customers: A Playbook for B2B, by D.Keith Pigues and Jerry Alderman 2010.)

Conclusion

Supplier firms that not only have a detailed understanding of what customers value, but that can also effectively leverage those insights internally to respond to those requirements, will reap the benefits of improved performance, as well as increased loyalty and strong relationships with their customers.

Michael Haynes is the director of 2Excell, an international B2B consulting firm. He has over fourteen years’ experience with customer insights, research and strategy. Originally from Toronto, Michael has lived for ten years in Australia, and for over four years, Michael was the head of Customer Research, Wholesale Division, of Telstra Corp., Australia’s largest telecommunications company. Michael has an MBA in Marketing and International Business from Dalhousie University. He’s a member of the Executive Scholar Program at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, the Business Marketing Association, Canadian Australian Chamber of Commerce, and the Association of Independent Information Professionals. michael@2excell.com vue October 2011

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In a technology-driven corporate world, it’s too easy to forget what it is – and isn’t – to be human. Mitch Joel explains the finer points of professional conduct as a human being using social media.

Mitch Joel

Don’t Forget To Be Human 20

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F E AT U R E

Technology makes it easy to…

• Say “no.”

• Ignore somebody.

• Speak your mind without looking someone in the eyes.

• Be “off the cuff.”

• Quit.

• Brag.

• Be greedy.

• Spam people.

• Be rude.

• Blow someone off.

• Close yourself off from the opinions of others.

knowing about who I am, my work experience and what I’m all about and capable of, can do so with a very simple online search. That’s me. When pressed for what I would do if I needed to learn more about someone else (with full disclosure that I don’t touch HR at www.twistimage.com/en), I had the same response. For my money, there’s no better resume than a Blog, a Twitter feed or a Facebook page. That’s me. That’s how I think. Anybody can fill an 8½”x11” white page with accolades about their accomplishments. It takes a very different person to constantly and consistently build credibility through these online channels.

Be human

Being human doesn’t mean that you have to divulge every little personal bit of information about yourself. It’s not about exposing your personal life to the world. It also doesn’t mean that you have to reveal everything about your professional life and what you’re going through. How much

Brands are not people, but brands can act in a human way by leveraging the power of the individuals that work for them.

Don’t let technology make us less human

We’ve had a tough week. From countries falling and people starving to weather warnings to seeing people we admire call it a day. In the end, we only have each other (and I’m not just talking about your family, friends and close ones).

All of us are in this together. I’ve often raged against the machine that tries to splinter what goes on in here from what happens in our protein forms (you can read more about that right here: www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/ the-real-world/). While I may not be great at thanking everyone who retweets something I’ve put out on Twitter, or responding to something that was posted on www.facebook.com/MitchJoel, I do my best to acknowledge my appreciation for all of the interactions and connections that happen in these digital channels.

Along with that …

I do my best to conduct myself professionally in the online channels – much in the same way I do in the offline channels. What does this mean? Someone recently asked me if I would be willing to review their resume. While I’m always happy to help a friend out, I let them know that I have not looked at a resume in a very long time and I currently don’t have one. When pressed for what I would do if I needed a resume, I replied that anyone interested in

you reveal has nothing to do with acting in a human … and a humane way. People often confuse this and they shouldn’t. The brands that attract us most are the brands that speak to us – as individuals. Brands are not people, but brands can act in a human way by leveraging the power of the individuals that work for them. We’ve seen this magic happen. Sadly, we’ve also seen this fail when brands think that corporatespeak and marketing mumbo-jumbo are the ways to connect. If you do anything over this coming weekend, ask yourself this: How can I act more "human" and real in these online channels? Bonus question: How can the brands I represent be more human too?

True success in Digital Marketing is about being human. It’s not everything, but it’s a great place to start.

Mitch Joel is president of Twist Image, an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast, is a business and marketing bestseller. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog vue October 2011

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Dare to

Compare: Perception in Ad Land is the Only Reality PART 2 Comparative advertising – promotion of an advertiser's product or service as being superior to that of a competitor – is perfectly legal, frequently desirable, and often effective. But there are rules of the game and landmines to be avoided.

Ruth M. Corbin, CMRP and Samantha Schreiber “Let the wiener wars begin,” announced Judge Morton Denlow as the manufacturers of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, and Ball Park franks dragged each other’s buns into court this summer over each other’s advertising.1 Ball Park calls itself “America’s Best,” Oscar Mayer says its 100% beef franks are the winners of national taste tests. The 2011 trial is just the latest instalment of comparative advertising wars, so passionately fought by makers of competing products.

This article is the second in a series about comparative advertising, offering guidelines to advertisers who choose the strategy of promoting the merits of their products over those of their competitors. Guidelines arise from regulations agreed to by industry players through Advertising Standards Canada, from laws covering fair and honest business practice (covered in last month’s Vue), and from test cases and interpretations borne out in court decisions. This article in the series deals with the “General Impression” test.

Whatever the actual facts or disclaimers appearing in an ad, judges, regulators and tribunals called upon to resolve a dispute will defer to the general impression – what people understand and take away from the ad. Ads can carry implications, nuance or innuendo, all of which have the potential to create a negative halo over a competitor’s product.

In examining the General Impression test, it is suitable to begin with the assumption that a comparative 22

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advertisement contains nothing which is factually false.

Indeed, false advertising is a clear offense on its own, and can be separated from this discussion. But the opposite of false is not enough. Even if literally true, an advertisement has the potential to deceive consumers by way of unstated implication, unnoticed disclaimers, vagueness, puffery or humour, all matters of human perception. In that respect – the determination of what consumers perceive – some form of consumer research will always be a partner to advertising law. Even if no actual instance of deception is put before a court or regulator, evidence of the likelihood of deception established through market research may be sufficient to succeed in shutting down an offending campaign.

“Unstated implication,” the first of five potential sources of deception named above, can refer to the very identity of the competitor being targeted by a comparative ad.

Canada’s most well-known example of “identification by implication” concerned a dispute between makers of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda (Church & Dwight), and Sifto Baking Soda (Sifto Canada Inc.).2 Church & Dwight Ltd. sought an injunction against Sifto Canada regarding Sifto’s baking soda advertisements. Sifto’s box described its new baking soda product as “100% pure and natural,” and claimed that its production plant in the Colorado mountains produced “the purest possible baking soda … [with] no chemical additives, making it the only naturally

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occurring baking soda on the market.”3 Sifto’s box never mentioned the brand “Arm and Hammer.” However, noting that Arm and Hammer had 80% share of the market, the judge observed: “Where a party virtually controls the marketplace, it cannot be said that the absence of the name of the target competitor is [a sufficient defense].” When there is so dominant a market leader, the identity of an unnamed competitor, in an ad that uses comparative or superlative words, may be inferred as a matter of general impression.

Vagueness or ambiguity can leave consumers vulnerable to a false impression. The advertiser may be held responsible for failing to avoid such “implication by ambiguity.” An advertisement for a new Gillette razor, Fusion ProGlide, made the following statement in print: “New Gillette Fusion ProGlide turns shaving into gliding with thinner blades for less tug and pull and an effortless glide.” (Footnote: “leading blades vs. Fusion”).4 Energizer Personal Care challenged the advertisement before the American industry regulator, National Advertising Division (“NAD”), claiming that consumers might think “leading blades” referred to its own product, as it had held the leading market share for some part of the time during which the ad was running. But Gillette protested that the phrase “leading blades” meant not the competitor’s blades, but the four “first” blades in a series of six blades in a ProGlide cartridge. It was the same meaning of the phrase “leading blades” that appeared in its registered patent, said Gillette. The NAD sided with Gillette’s competitor in concluding that consumers could not be counted on to interpret the phrase in the technical sense of a patent description. Other parts of the ad campaign referred to Gillette’s basic Fusion product as the “leading product.”

This only served to add to the confusion, said the NAD, because “product” could refer to just the razor cartridges or the entire razor systems, and Gillette was not consistently first in both market share categories. These and other ambiguities in the language of the ad campaign left open the possibility of misinterpretation, and the regulator recommended an end to it.

Disclaimers in an ad pose another topic for general impression. Disclaimers are explanatory statements in advertisements which clarify or contextualize some central claim. Disclaimers must be of a size or positioning that makes them likely to be noticed. Where an ad may mislead without the clarifying information in the disclaimer, the disclaimer must be perceptible. “The greater the likelihood [of a misled consumer],” said one court, “the more prominent must be the disclaimer.”5 Disclaimers featured into a high-profile American case concerning baby formula advertising,6 in which the NAD professed to be “incredulous” at the persistence of the

advertiser’s disclaimer offenses. Health benefit claims for Mead Johnson’s Enfalac infant formula drew the ire of competitor Abbott Nutrition, who brought a challenge to the NAD. The advertisement claimed that “Enfamil LIPIL is the only infant formula shown in independent clinical studies to improve baby’s brain and eye development.” A footnote stated: “vs. same routine formula without DHA and ARA. Studied to 18 months.” The footnote was found to be insufficient, because the benefits themselves were actually only temporary, lasting till about 4 years of age.

The footnoted disclosure that the babies had been studied to 18 months was deemed to be misleading. Abbott also complained about side-by-side graphs in the advertisement – one showing IQ data from a study of infants who had consumed Enfamil and the other for infants who had consumed Abbott’s competing Similac formula. The graphs incorporated a disclosure in small print: “These studies are not directly comparable. There have been no head-to-head comparisons of IQ scores of infants fed any of the Enfamil formulas with infants fed any of the Similac formulas.”

NAD found it inappropriate to display side-by-side graphs arising from differently conducted studies. The NAD was of the further view that the footnote was unlikely to prevent a misimpression by consumers that use of Enfamil, compared to Similac, would help to grow smarter babies.7 Puffery is another tactical appeal to consumers. Puffery means an exaggerated statement, which would be perceived to be based on opinion rather than fact. Puffery has proven tolerable, as long as it does not create an unexpected and misleading general impression. Once an ad claim is presented as fact, it needs to be proven. A campaign aired

by Papa John’s Pizza featured images of “fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes” and pizza dough made with filtered water and yeast, which were accompanied by statements that its competitors made tomato sauce from tomato paste, and pizza dough from unfiltered water or even frozen dough.

The ad ended with the slogan, “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” Taken alone, the American court acknowledged that the slogan would be mere non-actionable puffery. However, because of the contextual elements in the ad, a general impression was created that Papa John’s sold better pizzas than its competitors – better in a meaningful way – as a matter of objective fact. In the end, however, the court was unable to find that the misleading impression left by the ad would negatively affect competitors’ sales. A consumer tracking study put into evidence was not persuasive, because it did not account for whether people’s opinions of Papa John’s pizza arose from the advertisements or from preexisting beliefs.8 Finally, the use of humour can entertain, but is always risky in the context of a comparative ad. An advertisement created by Duracell showed a unicorn representing Duracell vue October 2011

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outlasting the Energizer Bunny; at the end of the ad, the bunny appeared to keel over and die. Sound amusing?

Duracell was criticized for subjecting the Energizer trademark to “visual humiliation.”9 Another notorious misleading advertising decision centered on an advertisement which featured an image of Robin Hood’s new frozen top crust for pies. Sitting on top of a pie, it was latticed and perfect and presented as “our idea of a top crust.” Next to it was Maple Leaf ’s sloppierlooking pie crust, which was actually a bottom crust thrown on top of a pie, and was labeled “their idea of a top crust”.10

Maple Leaf complained to the court that if you followed directions properly about rolling out a bottom crust to make a top crust, you would not end up with a disfigured pie as the ad depicted. The defendant claimed it was all meant in good humour. The court found that the ad would do Maple Leaf irreparable harm, and ordered it removed from the media. Inevitably, there will be some people who do not get the humour in an ad – you just have to hope the judge is not one of them.

In summary to the General Impression test, advertisers should keep in mind that facts and images are filtered through the complex and sometimes mysterious machinery of human perception. Humans frequently use what they see and hear to make inferences, which in turn facilitate judgment and contribute to evolutionary survival. Negative halo effects are part of the inferences that humans frequently make, rational or not. A negative halo effect occurs when the awareness of a single negative quality creates a more general negative impression. Recall Scandinavian Airline President Jan Carlzon’s famous example when, describing his airline’s commitment to better customer service, he explained “Coffee stains on the flip 24

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tray suggest to the customer that we do not service our engines properly." Impressions created through a negative halo cast upon a product by a competitor’s ad provide a reason for regulators and courts to disallow comparative ads to continue. Social science tools exist in abundance to help reduce the risk of a devastating wasted expense.

Here is an advertisers’ checklist before launching what seems to be the perfect, brilliant, comparative ad: • Are the claims in the ad true, according to facts, surveys, or scientific support on hand?

• Based on the ad’s language, images, nuances, and implications, what are all the take-away messages that material percentages of people might infer? Are any of them misinterpretations that can’t be supported?

• Would the information in the ad be false or misleading without the disclaimers? If so, can the disclaimers be worked into the main content of the ad, rather than left as smaller-print footnotes?

• Is there an explicit or implied reference to another product, another market player? Is the reference vague enough to risk misinterpretation?

• Is there any puffery or bragging that is likely to be taken as factual information? If so, would evidence support it?

• Does humour in the ad poke fun at a competitor? Will the competitor also be chuckling – or fuming?

General impressions are part of the magic that excellent advertising can create. But in the context of comparative advertising, general impressions are a double-edged sword.

Advertisers can exploit them to advantage or suffer their consequences.

Endnotes 1 Commencement of trial announced in The Toronto Star, p. 1, August 15, 2011 2 Church & Dwight Ltd/Ltée. v. Sifto Canada Inc., (1994), 20 O.R. (3d) 483, 58 C.P.R. (3d) 316 (Ont. Gen. Div.), additional reasons at (1994), 17 B.L.R. (2d) 92 (Ont. Gen. Div.).

3 ibid, at p. 319 [C.P.R.].

4 The Gillette Company (Fusion ProGlide Razors), Report #5299, NAD/CARU Reports (March 2011).

5 National Hockey League v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd., 1992 CarswellBC 15, D.L.R. (4th) 349 (B.C. S.C.).

6 Case #4288 (April 2008) Mead Johnson Nutritionals/Enfamil LIPIL, and Case #4822CIII (Feb. 2009), Mead Johnson Nutritionals/ Enfamil LIPIL Compliance Proceeding from NAD Case Report #4822, found at http://jimedwardsnrx.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/nad-enfamildecision.pdfAdvertising 7 Highlights of the case are reviewed in Bulletin #646 of the Advertising Compliance Service, “Noteworthy Developments in NAD and CARU False Advertising Cases,” Jeffrey Edelstein, at http://www.lawpublish.com/s4.html 8 Pizza Hut, Inc. v. Papa John’s International, Inc., 227 F.3d 489 (2000, 5th Cir.).

9 Eveready Canada v. Duracell Canada Inc., (1995), 44 C.P.C. (3d) 104, 64 C.P.R. (3d) 348, CanLII 7328 at para. 24 (Ont. Ct. J.).

10 Maple Leaf Foods Inc. v. Robin Hood Multifoods Inc., [1994] O.J. No. 2165, 58 C.P.R. (3d) 54 (Ont. Gen. Div.).

Dr. Ruth M. Corbin is managing partner, CorbinPartners Inc., adjunct professor of intellectual property law at Osgoode Hall, and a corporate director. Samantha Schreiber is a student-at-law doing summer research and investigations at CorbinPartners Inc.

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FACESofCHANGE:

Engage

Youth At the MRIA 2011 National Conference, Maura Hanley’s presentation won rave reviews. She now shares with Vue those findings about what the marketing research community can learn from the digital media habits of today’s youth.

Maura Hanley We have done ourselves a disservice separating medium and message; channel planning and creative development; and quantitative and qualitative research. After all, audience size or composition doesn’t tell us how engaged people are in content, or what they will notice or remember. Syndicated media and product usage studies don’t reveal what motivates us to buy.

Insights gained into the hearts and minds of people by talking to them must no longer apply only to what we say to consumers, but when and where we say it.

The FACESofCHANGE study is designed to bring qualitative and quantitative research together to support marketing channel investment decision-making. Channel investments are typically made based on quantitative data only.

A key input, particularly for brand campaigns, is projected audience by medium from sources such as comScore, NADbank, PMB, and BBM. When available, performance data such as cost per sale, drives how much to spend and where. But advertisers are increasingly looking for opportunities to engage consumers. They may not be expecting an immediate response from every ad placed, but they want more than just reach or delivery of an ad exposure. Adding qualitative insights to the data mix can lead to better decision-making as we arrive at a deeper understanding of how people are using media. Let’s review some of the results from our first study, which focused on youth.

Using members from the Studentawards.com community, FACESofCHANGE: Youth, surveyed 1,225 young adults 18to-24 and subsequently conducted 23 in-person interviews with the cohort. The study covered the respondents’ digital

media habits, social and community activities, and attitudes towards privacy and advertising. The research revealed important differences in answers people provide to surveys, compared to the responses they give when speaking in an interview setting: differences that have significant implications for marketers.

Community and Social Media

Youth spend their time divided between a variety of virtualand real-world social groups. For example, membership in religious groups (30%) is almost the same as membership in online special interest or hobby groups (29%). The same percentage of students (30%) belong to an online multiplayer gaming community as belong to a school club. There’s no doubting the ubiquity of Facebook among youth; it’s synonymous with social networking. We found the same number of people belonging to Facebook specifically as belonged to any social network: almost 80%.

The quantitative data makes a strong argument for investing in online communities to reach this target, but oneon-one interviews revealed varying levels of engagement in these groups. We gauged engagement by first mention and level of excitement. When asked about groups and communities, the first thing our subjects wanted to talk about were their volunteer activities. 76% of 18- and 19-yearolds, and 58% of students over the age of 20 volunteer. They spoke with passion about volunteering regardless of whether it was for a cause they believed in, an activity they enjoyed or for career advancement. Active involvement in online vue October 2011

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communities was cited only by those with a special interest, like the 20-year-old female who was passionate about raw food and chatted with people from around the world, and the 21-year-old male car enthusiast who liked to post pictures of his modified ride.

Facebook is seen as a tool for keeping in touch with friends and family. Frequency of visiting and updating varied widely, though. Importantly, this age group is engaged with their friends via Facebook, not necessarily with Facebook content itself. Probing about brands and advertising on Facebook revealed that all users interviewed noticed ads, particularly those targeted to their interests. But only a few expressed interest in brand pages and then only when deals were made available.

Putting the qualitative and quantitative findings together provides the answer to the question of what message we should put where. The numbers imply that online communities are great places to reach this target, but qualitative findings tell us that they are more receptive to targeted offers than to brand relationships in these environments. Is this group influenced by online and social media marketing? Certainly. They consult online reviews, product sites, family and friends, and even advertising before making purchases. Given that many only work part-time or at entry level jobs, price is a key driver. So, marketers have many opportunities to intercept the path to purchase with an offer.

But if the objective is engagement in order to create preference, change attitudes or develop a relationship, marketers must look beyond the numbers before making an investment to become part of this target’s social life. Consider their passions and look for opportunities to support their aspirations. Depending on the objectives, the best place to connect brands with youth may be out in the world, not inside their phone or computer.

TV and Video Viewing

A similar story emerged when we looked at TV viewing. The numbers tell a clear and compelling story. One-on-one discussion reveals important challenges and opportunities.

70% of Canadians 18-to-24 are watching TV programs via their computer. A closer look at their viewing habits uncovered the following division of time:

Average Hours per Week TV on a TV: 6.3 TV on a computer: 3.1 YouTube or other videos: 3.0 Clearly online video advertising represents as important a channel for reaching this target as traditional TV advertising.

However, fragmentation is a significant challenge. One-onone interviews revealed a huge variety of what types of shows are being watched and what constitutes watching TV on a computer. Some people are streaming and some are downloading. Some have favourite sources (legitimate and illegitimate) while others search randomly each time they 26

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want to find a show. Most use their computer or game console to watch online content on their larger-screen TVs. Importantly, there is also a lot of time spent watching movies online, which has not been included in the figures above as it does not usually represent an advertising opportunity for marketers.

Online targeting provides opportunities to overcome fragmentation. Facebook appears to have habituated them to seeing ads tailored to their interests, so marketers would do well to employ demographic, behavioural and/or contextual targeting to reach this group via online video advertising.

Of course, total time spent watching TV shows and videos is relatively low for this group, both in comparison with older demographics and in comparison with the time this group spends on other activities, both offline and online.

Importantly, much of the time spent watching TV is also spent doing something else at the same time. It is difficult to reach this group and to validate that they have seen your ad, never mind actually engaging them.

Our discussions included questions about where ads are noticed and what is recalled. Here again, the study made clear the difference between the reach by medium that quantitative data can tell us, as compared to engagement by medium (and therefore, by extension, the potential advertising effectiveness) that qualitative research reveals. Out-of-home advertising was mentioned by all and was the first mention for most. This included in-washroom ads; various TTC placements; posters and digital signage outside and in stores. Not surprisingly, the two common denominators that emerged for noticing ads, regardless of where they appeared, were that they were impossible to avoid and/or they were relevant in terms of an already established interest. Both of these qualifications require the marketer to evaluate an advertising placement opportunity using more than just quantitative data.

The synthesis of two research methodologies allowed us to challenge assumptions about where best to reach youth, and dig deeper to uncover opportunities to truly engage this group. All of the interviews were video-recorded, so we could bring findings to life and tell compelling stories about what our insights mean for marketers. We incorporated our findings and videos in a Prezi, which you can view here: http://prezi.com/ydgttrdm0kg6/youth-research-projectfacesofchange/

Maura Hanley is president of BigReach Learning, a marketing communications consultancy. Maura launched FACESofCHANGE: YOUTH at this year’s MRIA national Conference in Kelowna. This study was done in partnership with Studentawards.com/Uthink Online (www.unthinkonline.com).

You can reach Maura at maurahanley@bigreachlearning.com and find out more at www.facesofchange.tv

I N D U ST RY N E W S

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REGISTRY (QRR) In accordance with federal privacy laws, MRIA’s Qualitative Research Registry (QRR), or Registre de la recherche qualitative (RRQ) in French, was created to provide an ongoing, user-friendly vehicle for tracking those who do not want to be contacted or should not be contacted for qualitative research studies.

QRR is a comprehensive do not call list of those who have recently participated in qualitative research studies, those who have asked not to be contacted further, and those felt by recruiters and moderators to be best served by not being contacted. These respondents are marked as “do not call” in accordance with established MRIA Standards.

All field and full-service companies are encouraged to submit a list of their qualitative respondents for entry into the QRR system each month, including those who do not wish to be contacted.

Participating firms will receive monthly updates of respondents to be screened from qualitative recruitment samples. QRR works effectively to increase the quality and integrity of the qualitative research process, by serving as a control to ensure respondents are not contacted more frequently than is necessary.

However, the ability of the system to function effectively is directly related to the co-operation received from firms who provide recruitment services. If you are a full service research firm or field supplier that is currently participating in the Qualitative Research Registry program – thank you very much and keep up the good work!

If you are not currently participating, please get involved! If you are interested in submitting to QRR, please visit the MRIA website at www.mria-arim.ca/QRD/QualResearchRegistry.asp for further explanation and guidance on how to submit qualitative research participants’ names, along with the required electronic forms.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REGISTRY SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: QRRQ@mria-arim.ca Submission templates and payment forms can be found at www.mria-arim.ca/QRD/QualResearchRegistryForms.asp

THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES HAVE SUBMITTED NAMES TO QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REGISTRY FOR JULY 2011 ATLANTIC Opinion Search R.I.S. Christie

ONTARIO Barbara C. Campbell Recruiting Consumer Vision Dawn Smith Field Management Services Inc. I & S Recruiting Nexus Research Opinion Search Quality Response R.I.S. Christie Research House Inc. Research Professionals Tann Research/Head Count Valyra Research

QUEBEC CRC Research MBA Reserche Opinion Search R.I.S. Christie Research House Inc.

WEST CRC Research Opinion Search R.I.S. Christie Research House Inc. SmartPoint Research Inc. Synovate Trend Research

Rules of Conduct and Good Practice for Members of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (2007), Section C Rules Specific to the Conduct of Qualitative Research: 20. Recruiters should provide accurate data to the Qualitative Research Registry, where such exists, on a consistent basis and check all respondents against the Registry.

21. Moderators buying recruiting services should give primary consideration to recruiting agencies which submit to the Qualitative Research Registry, where such a service exists, on a regular and ongoing basis.

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PEOPLE AND COMPANIES

• To read more news online, or to submit your “People and Companies in the News”, simply fill out our online form at www.mria-arim.ca/PEOPLE/People.asp.

• The Vue editorial team reserves the right to select and edit your submission for appearance in Vue.

IN THE NEWS

• MRIA is neither responsible for the accuracy of this information nor liable for any false information.

Voxco lance Acuity4 Survey, une nouvelle plateforme logicielle de sondage web Voxco a annoncé aujourd’hui le lancement d’Acuity4 Survey, une nouvelle plateforme logicielle de sondages en ligne, conçue pour les entreprises et les firmes d’études de marché. Résultat de plus de 20 ans d’expertise en développement de logiciels pour sondages et études de marché, Acuity4 Survey combine un moteur de création de sondage très puissant à une nouvelle approche en matière d’interface utilisateur. Ceci se traduit par une convivialité élevée et une grande facilité d’utilisation pour les concepteurs de sondages et les répondants. Acuity4 Survey offre plusieurs outils très productifs tels qu’un moteur de logique pour les questionnaires, un éditeur et un traducteur de questionnaires, des fonctions pour l’envoi et la gestion d’invitations par courriel, une application permettant de générer rapidement des rapports, et plus encore. To read the news in English, www.voxco.com/en/news/index.php

14.6 million this year to 83.4 million by 2014. www.Emarketer.com 2011 blog. Don't just know what they do and where they go, know who and why. Online video viewer emotional insights will radically transform the way you buy, communicate and interact with online consumers. To learn more www.freshintelligence.com

In Memoriam – Jamie Deacey (James Stephen) Suddenly on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at the Ottawa General Hospital, at the age of 61. Devoted husband and best friend of Heather. Predeceased by his parents Mike, Margaret and his sister Cathy. Heather expresses tremendous gratitude to Dr. Tracy Sullivan as well as the doctors and nurses in the ICU at the Ottawa General Hospital for their exceptional care and also Dr. Danny Enepekides and Elsa Benjamin at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. As the founder and President of Association House, with his work at the National Indian Chiefs Brotherhood, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, as Director of the Canadian Petroleum Association and as a senior advisor to numerous Cabinet Ministers, Premiers and Prime Ministers, Jamie left an indelible mark and contributed greatly to making his community and his country a better place.

Global MR Industry Returns to Growth The market research industry has returned to growth following two “very challenging years,” according to ESOMAR’s Global Market Research 2011 report. Global turnover rose to US $31.2 billion in 2010, representing a total year-on-year growth of 5.2%, or 2.8% allowing for inflation. The previous two studies had seen the market decline for the first time since the industry body began measuring the sector in 1988. This year’s, which is the 23rd undertaken by ESOMAR in cooperation with KPMG advisory, covers global and regional highlights and five-year trend data, including turnover and growth data on 78 countries. More information can be found at: www.esomar.org/publications Find the Right Needle in a Digital Haystack of Data By 2014, 193 million internet users will view online videos according to www.Grabstats.com 2011. It's time to ensure accurate metrics are in place, so media planners and buyers can predict their return. The demand for full-length videos is being propelled by consumer adoption of Web-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players.

U.S. shipments of Web-enabled consumer gadgets will grow from

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Synovate Announces Winners of 2011 Best Banking Awards Leading global market research firm Synovate announced the winners of its 2011 Best Banking Awards in Canada. The annual award program recognizes Canadian financial institutions with the top ranked customer service for personal banking experience based on various key performance indicators. Established in 1987, the Synovate Customer Service Index (CSI) quarterly survey generates the winners of the annual Best Banking Awards. This year’s Awards were based on the combined results of quarterly CSI surveys ending August 2011 and conducted among a regionally and demographically representative sample of Canadians. A total of 40,353 household responses were received for the 2011 CSI program year, providing extremely robust feedback from customers and allowing for highly detailed analysis of the results nationally and regionally. www.synovate.com SSI Webinar to Reveal Results of New Global Study on the HiTech Consumer SSI has recently completed a 10-country study of new consumer attitudes, trends and behaviors – and how they are being transformed by new technologies. We will share the results for the first time at our upcoming educational Webinar – Mapping the HiTech Consumer Landscape – on October 19, 2011 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET. The free program will take an in-depth look at how today's technologies are re-shaping how consumers share and seek information, make purchase and healthcare decisions, evaluate and recommend brands, and participate in market research. It also will provide insights into the most effective technologies – and relevant applications – for market researchers.

For more info and to register go to https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=2yq3tu7w4mdz

REMINDER: 30th Annual SAPOR Conference - Registration & Officer Nominations Online registration for the 30th annual Southern Association for Public Opinion Research (SAPOR) Conference, October 5-7, 2011 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown in Raleigh, North Carolina is now available. SAPOR is pleased to offer an online payment option again this year, as well as continuing to accept cash or cheque payments at the conference. This year’s conference theme will be “Public Opinion and Survey Research in Changing Political, Societal, and Economic Times” and the keynote speaker will be Dr. Michael Link from the Nielsen Company. The program will also feature an invited presentation by Dr. Peter Marsden from Harvard University. www.southernassociationforpublicopinionresearch.org

I N D U ST RY N E W S

Ipsos to Issue Shares to Part-Fund Synovate Buy Ipsos is planning to issue around EUR 200m worth of new shares, to part-fund its acquisition of Synovate. The EUR 596m (£525m) deal, agreed in July and set to create the world’s third largest market research company will be funded by a combination of cash, new debt financing, and this rights offering to Ipsos shareholders. Nearly 11 million new shares will be issued at the price of EUR 18.25 per share, in the ratio of eight new shares for every 25 of the firm’s existing shares. www.ipsos.com 2012 Online Research Conference: Call for Papers March 1-2, 2012 Las Vegas The CASRO Online Research Conference has become the reference point for new thinking in the field of online research methodology. For the 2012 edition, the conference committee seeks to strengthen this tradition by encouraging two types of contributions: novel additions to the knowledge base at the core of online quantitative research methodologies (evolving the present), and concrete case studies showcasing disruptive new ideas and techniques (inventing the future). www.casro.org Confirmit Acquires Techneos: Extends Mobile Capabilities of Leading End-to-End Customer Feedback and Research Platform Confirmit, the leading global software provider for Customer Feedback, Employee Feedback and Market Research, announced its acquisition of Techneos Systems Inc. (Techneos), a technology company specializing in mobile feedback, survey and market research solutions. The acquisition adds a comprehensive, featurerich mobile component to Confirmit's award-winning multichannel Horizons technology platform and positions the company for expansion in the fast-growing mobile engagement channel. www.confirmit.com Pickles Says No More Pointless Demographics In the UK, Community Secretary Eric Pickles removed the requirement for councils to gather sensitive demographics when conducting surveys about council services. The statutory guidelines www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/1977816 mean that routine council data collection will no longer need to include enquiries about personal information such as race, religion and sexual orientation. www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment Samantha Schreiber has completed her summer internship with CorbinPartners Inc., including research for an authoritative white paper on comparative advertising, two co-authored articles for Vue, and collection of sources on the use of statistical evidence in class action suits. Samantha is returning to law school for her final year in an intensive program in “Intellectual Property” and has been offered a fall internship with The Globe and Mail.

Congratulations Samantha! www.corbinpartners.com

Toronto Focus Rises Again...

We are proud to re-launch the Toronto Focus space as our new focus group facility. CRC Research is now open in TORONTO! www.crcresearch.com Vancouver | Montreal | Toronto Empirical Study: Social Media Governance 2011 Despite growing investments in and increased use of social media, many companies, non-profit organizations, governmental institutions and associations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are far from utilizing the full potential of these communication channels. This is revealed by the major empirical study “Social Media Governance 2011”, a joint research project organized by the University of Leipzig, pressesprecher magazine, and Fink & Fuchs Public Relations in Germany. The study was conducted for the second time this year, following a pilot study in 2010. View the press release at www.ffpress.net/Kunde/FF/PM/12592337/ Global Market Research Gets "Reality Check" As itracks Launches Unique Research Solutions Portfolio World-leading provider of online qualitative research, itracks, has expanded its online qualitative offering to include broader research services. These new services are focused on a unique advertising and logo design feedback tool and in-depth social media capabilities that offer clients new levels of research intelligence. www.proactive-pr.com Synovate and ResponseTek Form Agreement to Deliver Real-Time Integrated Customer Experience Insights Top four global custom market research firm Synovate today announced a formal agreement with customer experience management (CEM) technology solutions company ResponseTek to provide clients with deep customer insights via a quick-todeploy online platform that effectively collects, analyzes, and reports customer data from a wide range of sources. www.synovate.com Confirmit’s German Subsidiary Opens Its Doors for Business Confirmit, the leading global software provider for Customer Feedback, Employee Feedback and Market Research, has opened its first subsidiary in Germany. Located in Cologne, the new Confirmit office will be a center of excellence for new and existing clients, solidifying Confirmit’s dominance and leadership in the feedback management and market research markets. The German office will be part of an already successful EMEA team which includes Confirmit’s headquarters in Oslo, Norway as well as offices in England and Russia. Dan Starkey, Business Development Director for Confirmit will head up the office in Cologne. Dan has been with Confirmit since 2007 in the feedback management and market research markets and has been working closely with Confirmit’s German customers while based in the London office. www.confirmit.com/de

People and Companies in the News sponsored by:

Your Sampling and Data Specialists • • • •

35 years of fast and accurate service Targeted sampling, modelling, profiling Analytics, data appending and enhancement Advanced media analytics

SMRinfo@smres.com • 905.474.5271 • www.smres.com

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RRS

RESEARCH REGISTRATION SYSTEM Since 1994, the RRS has allowed respondents to verify the legitimacy of a research project; helped legislators and regulators differentiate between legitimate survey researchers and unscrupulous telemarketers, phishers and scammers; and protected the industry from unnecessary and unwanted regulation.

RRS

MRIA’s Research Registration System (RRS) has long been a cornerstone self-regulatory mechanism for the marketing, survey and public opinion research and market intelligence industry in Canada.

THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES HAVE REGISTERED RESEARCH PROJECTS WITH THE RESEARCH REGISTRATION SYSTEM DURING JULY 2011:

Combined with other self-regulatory initiatives such as our Code of Conduct and Good Practice and our Charter of Respondent Rights, the RRS has paid huge dividends in protecting the industry’s positive reputation and good name with Canadians.

GOLD SEAL CORPORATE RESEARCH AGENCIES Acrobat Research Ltd. Advanis Inc BBM Analytics BBM Canada Blue Ocean Contact Centers Campaign Research Consumer Vision Ltd. Corsential ULC Harris/Decima Inc. Head Research Inc. Ipsos Reid Corporation Market Probe Canada MarketQuest-Omnifacts Research MBA Recherche MD Analytics Inc. NRG Research Group Opinion Search Inc. Phase 5 Consulting Group Inc. PRA Inc. Research House Inc. Research Now Synovate Ltd. Tann Research Services Inc. The Logit Group Inc. TNS Canadian Facts Trend Research Inc.

All Gold Seal and Basic Corporate Research Agency members of the Association are obligated to register all of their research projects with the RRS, and Client-Side Corporate members are encouraged to require their agency suppliers to do so.

MRIA’s Research Agency Council provides strategic, policy-level oversight of the Research Registration System, and receives aggregate data-only on the System’s performance.

Questions about the Research Registration System should be addressed to Sylvie Corbeil-Peloquin, Manager, Member Services, at 1-888-602-6742 or 905-602-6854, ext. 8726 or scorbeil@mria-arim.ca or, in her absence, Executive Director Brendan Wycks at ext. 8724 or bwycks@mria-arim.ca.

BASIC CORPORATE RESEARCH AGENCIES Arcus Group Explorer Group Network Research Field Services Inc Parallax Research Inc. Quality Response Inc. Strategic Moves Winning Research INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH AGENCIES SOM Inc.

Rules of Conduct and Good Practice For Members of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (2007):

Section A (5) Members must uphold the MRIA Charter of Respondent Rights.

Charter of Respondent Rights, Article 2 You can verify that the research you have been invited to participate in is legitimate in one of two ways. You can either obtain a registration number and the MRIA's toll-free telephone number for any research registered in the MRIA's Research Registration System or you can obtain the contact information of the research director who is conducting the study.

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mria-arim.ca/RRS

P RO F E SS I O NAL D E VE LO P M E N T

CMRP-MCP-Tracker.com is here!

MRIA Institute for Professional Development

Fania Borok

Can You Outscore the Dean?

Time, as it always does, marches forever forward. The days are getting shorter, the daily temperatures are not as high, and the crisp, refreshing scent of autumn is in the air. What does all this mean? Well, for one thing, Halloween is not far off, but more importantly, we are rapidly approaching the half-way mark for the present two-year cycle of the Maintenance of Certification Program (MCP).

Just a reminder to those CMRPs who may have missed it: The program was launched in January 2011 and requires all CMRPs to maintain their certification by accumulating 50 MCP points every two years, the first two-year cycle being 2011–2012.

To help everyone get a head start, every CMRP was automatically transferred 25 MCP points from activities conducted in 2010, so most of you would have started the 2011–2012 cycle with 25 MCP points in the bank! This is reflected in our new, user-focused, web-based CMRP-MCP tracker application.

The app, which will be up and running around the same time children run to your door dressed as ghouls and zombies, can be accessed by visiting www.cmrp-mcp-tracker.com. It will display all the points you have accumulated through MRIA portal–registered activities, and it will allow you to enter and track any other professional development activities in which you choose to engage. As I am writing this in August, the application is in the final stages of beta testing.

Our esteemed dean of the Institute for Professional Development, Jeannette Bellerose, has been diligently testing the MCP tracker alongside us. She recently advised us that she currently has 158 points! That is enough for three cycles but, unfortunately, she is allowed to transfer only 25 MCP points to the following year or the following two-year cycle. Jeannette asked me to extend a challenge to all of you: Go and check your points on the new tracker later this month at www.cmrp-mcptracker.com and post your total by December 1, on LinkedIn, under the MRIA Group, MCP discussion. Anyone who beats her score and has posted it on LinkedIn will be entered into a draw to win a brand new iPod!

Announcing the MCP Tracker 1

2

3

Actively tracking your actions since January 1, 2011.

Are you?

1 25 Points have been granted to all existing CMRPs as of Dec 31, 2010 3

2 View your total for the present 2-year cycle Earn MCP Points through a variety of free, innovative ways

Online for you in October 2011 www.cmrp-mcp-tracker.com

Retired CMRPs and Fellows are not required to accumulate points

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CANADA’S LEADING PROVIDER OF MARKETING RESEARCH EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS

LAST CHANCE! LAST CALL!!

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This is your FINAL chance to register for these courses before the cutoff! Don’t delay, act today!!

Cutoff: October 12, 2011 Location: Calgary October 20, 2011 Location: Toronto

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301-Competitive Intelligence, Competitor Benchmarking and Mystery Shopping Course Date: November 22, 2011

October 28, 2011 Location: Edmonton

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Measuring Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty and Retention Course Date: November 25, 2011

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301-Competitive Intelligence, Competitor Benchmarking and Mystery Shopping Course Date: November 30, 2011

November 4, 2011 Location: Toronto

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Conjoint Analysis: Design, Analysis and Reporting that Leads to Better Marketing Strategy Course Date: December 2, 2011

Only offered once this year!

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Only offered once this year!

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302-Market Intelligence Course Date: December 6, 2011

For more details or to register, visit our website at MRIA Institute for

Professional Development

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www.mria-arim.ca/EDUCATION/CoursesByLocation.asp

CO L U M N IST S

plan and execute social-based campaigns. Facts and figures: the two most popular tools are LinkedIn (72%) and Beyond the Digital Barometer Facebook (71%); key obstacles to adoption are identified as Mike Flanagan lack of resources (70%), lack of metrics (57%), and lack of Ipsos Camelford Graham knowledge (44%).

Social Media for B2B Marketing (white paper, You don’t need a meteorologist to know which way the wind downloadable from B2Bento). This three-part document blows. But what if you want to know about tomorrow’s outlines the required steps in the planning of a B2B social weather? The best way to predict tomorrow is to understand media strategy; social media case studies and best practices; the patterns and the underlying drivers of weather patterns, and the monitoring of social media programs. It also includes using this deeper understanding to predict what’s to come.

Social media have made consumers increasingly accessible to an excellent summary of the key reasons for adopting B2B social media (as opposed to B2C media options). marketers and advertisers. Facebook pages and Twitter feeds 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report (white paper, give ready access to current and potential brand users, many of downloadable from Social Media Examiner). This is an whom will eagerly provide feedback, advice and, yes, excellent paper based on a survey of 3,300 marketers, and it sometimes even insights. And with ever increasing deadlines covers the use of and attitudes toward social media among and time crunches, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you should just look out the metaphorical window to see if you both B2C and B2B marketers (as a whole and separately).

The report also provides an analysis of the top ten social need sunscreen or an umbrella. These quick approaches will help guide your decisions in the short term, but will they truly media issues and concerns, captured directly from marketers.

The Right Mix: A B2B Marketing Allocation Guide for 2011 help your brand grow and thrive over the long term? (e-book from HRmarketer.com). This is a 50-page Finding the next big idea or uncovering an untapped consumer need requires a deeper understanding of consumers e-book detailing 21 B2B marketing options available, including broadcast and social media. Social media are than can be gleaned by posing a question via social media. examined in the context of all options; Twitter, LinkedIn and Social media typically examine the fleeting fancies of the Facebook are then examined separately. This is a real how-to socially connected masses, and risk hitting only the most superficial level, missing those important deeper, longer-lasting guide to B2B marketing. insights.

From Stats to Strats (white paper from Bonsai Interactive Qualitative research still remains the most powerful tool to Marketing). This compact little paper is an interesting read help uncover rich insights and understand your consumers at a and is divided into two parts: the first details interesting facts, subconscious level. And when you know the patterns and figures and trivia for each of five social media (Facebook, underlying drivers of your consumers, you can create better Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogging); the second solutions, products and innovations to meet the needs of those outlines a possible strategy for each platform. consumers tomorrow.

B2B Tech Marketing and Social Media: Which Social Media Channels Reach Tech Buyers? (report by Schwartz Communications).

This is a compact paper summarizing how the tech B2B REPORTER sector uses social media. Each of five social media options Food for Thought: B2B Social Media (blogging, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) is Ruth Lukaweski analysed in terms of key applications.

QRD

RML Research

There is a more than generous amount of coverage on B2B social media but most of it, typically, provides only bits and pieces of information. In this article, I review several thorough papers and e-books dealing with B2B social media practices; most are freely available.

Emerging Trends in B-to-B Social Media Marketing: Insights from the Field (US$149, from B2B research reports). This recent report (April 2011) is based on a survey of over 550 B2B marketers and focuses on helping B2B marketers budget,

THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION Getting Smarter Earlier Ruth M. Corbin, CMRP CorbinPartners

It is pretty clear by now that the 21st century economy is being driven by intellectual property: RIM’s treasure chest of patents led Fortune magazine, in 2009, to name it the fastest-growing company in the world. Copyright reform has been on Canada’s vue October 2011

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initiatives on behalf of its member agencies – initiatives that we will be discussing in future columns.

The first of these initiatives is with regard to MRIA’s annual financial activity survey. Over the summer, a special task force of RAC board members was set up to review the In 2012, the Osgoode Hall Professional Development survey and make recommendations on how it could be Program (headquartered at Yonge and Dundas in Toronto) is improved. The following is a condensed summary of key launching a new certificate program on intellectual property discussion points and action items regarding the survey. management and protection at York University – for non• The key goal of the survey refresh process is to establish lawyer executives, professionals and directors. It is positioned credibility and trust among participating members. as “advising corporate Canada on leadership essentials for • An online survey does not look to be the best methodology optimizing your intellectual property.” The program is an for the participants, given what is required. exciting initiative for continuous learning aficionados. Of • We may need to consider giving organizations more time to course, if more executives and professionals are educated in complete the survey. this new-age field of governance, then fewer problems will get • The job positions and categories need to be reviewed and to the stage of litigation, less evidence will be required from revitalized. market scientists, and this column may fade away. And that, • Some areas of the main survey are in need of review. as Martha Stewart says (being well-versed herself in the costs The second major initiative is the Research Registration of litigation), is a good thing.

System (RRS). As stated on the MRIA website, the RRS was More about this certificate program for intellectual initiated to provide an easy and accessible way for members property management and protection will be announced through the university in October. Feel free to write to me at of the public to verify a research call, inform themselves about the industry, or register a complaint. MRIA has taken rcorbin@corbinpartners.com if you want to know more. over the RRS, brought the 1-800 number in-house, and trained staff to take on the tasks that external suppliers had RAC previously performed. Feedback from agencies so far shows Beyond the RAC that they are very pleased the calls are now being answered by Adam Froman MRIA directly. MRIA’s national board recently approved a Delvinia capital expenditure for the development of the RRS as an The board of the Research Agency Council (RAC) has been very productive. While the RAC mission statement has been online application, which should be up and running before a top priority, in order to ensure that the interests of Research the end of the year.

Over the next issues of Vue, we will be sharing the status of Agency members are well represented at the board strategic these exciting initiatives in more detail. planning exercise, the RAC board has taken on two major national agenda for at least the last six years. Trade-mark ambitions have taken flight into cyberspace, with some domain names selling for prices in excess of a million dollars. Look into our own backyard – MRIA companies are pure intellectual property plays.

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vue October 2011