VUE APR.2005

vue
Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40033932
April 2005
the magazine of the
Marketing Research
and Intelligence
Association
A Great
Conference
Awaits
Destination Halifax / Nova Scotia Tourism and Culture / W. Hayes
Margaret Brigley
on the upcoming
National MRIA
Conference in
Halifax
Also in this issue
the latest on discourse analysis
a prescription for pharma research
and
maximizing campaign ROI
vue
contents
April 2005
commentary
industry news
4
Editor’s Vue
27 People & Companies in the News
5
President’s Message
9
Letter to the Editor
29 Central Files
39 MRIA Connections
columnists
32 the qual col
by Natalie Gold
33 b2b reporter
by Ruth Lukaweski
34 RU what?
by Bob Collins
36 i.on research
by Stewart Hemerling
37 the RAC report
by John Ball
features
11 a great conference awaits
by Margaret Brigley
14 discourse analysis: interpreting the language of consumers and physicians
by Anton Turner
16 a prescription for pharma research
by Ed Gibson
20 maximizing campaign ROI: are you using a microscope or a telescope?
by Scott Hanson
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association / L’Association de la Recherche et de l’Intelligence Marketing
2175 Sheppard Ave. East, Suite 310 , Toronto, Ontario M2J 1W8
Canadian Publications Mail
Agreement #40033932
commentary
Editor’s Vue
Nikita James Nanos, CMRP
The team leading the organization for the MRIA
National Research Conference in Halifax (June
19-21, 2005), by all accounts, has done an outstanding job. Whether it’s the excellent list of
speakers or the fun social activities, the Halifax
Conference is poised to be a great success.
We lead off our issue with an update from
Margaret Brigley, the Marketing Chair for the
2005 Halifax MRIA Conference. Conference participants will be able to choose from four conference streams: Emerging Issues, Innovative
Approaches, Managing the Business, and Technical. For our Francophone members, the Halifax
Conference will also include a dedicated French
language stream.
Anton Turner in “Discourse Analysis: Interpreting the Language of Physicians”, examines
the importance of language and research as it relates to brand positioning, core messaging and
needs assessment. Anton looks at Discourse
Analysis (DA) in both pharmaceutical and consumer research.
Following Anton, Ed Gibson in “A Prescription for Pharma Research” provides an inside
look at medical market research, be it qualitative,
quantitative or online.
4 vue
Scott Hanson in “Maximizing Campaign ROI”,
looks at Marketing ROI (Return on Investment)
and the importance of the proper evaluation and
measurement of the efficacy, performance, cost and
impact on increasingly complex multichannel
marketing campaigns.
If you want to share your experience, a book or
product review, or your opinions, please do not
hesitate to contact me directly. Vue Magazine is
considering submissions on a full range of topics. Our next deadline for authors and advertisers is April 20th. Please feel free to forward your
ideas and articles to me by email nnanos@
sesresearch.com or telephone (613) 234-4666.
Until next month,
Nikita James Nanos, CMRP
Editor-in-Chief
April 2005
commentary
MRIA President’s Message
An update on activities and issues
affecting the profession
Don Mills, CMRP, MRIA President
I am very pleased with the progress that MRIA has achieved
in such a short period of time.
Our committee structure has continued to function in a
seamless manner since the merger and remains focused on
the delivery of services and value to our members. Our
three councils (the Chapter Council, the Research Agency
Council and the Research User Council) are now all fully
constituted with their own advisory boards and hard at
work to serve their constituents. The new board has been
actively engaged with key policy issues such as the “DoNot-Call” legislation, as well as the future direction for the
Association. To this end, a strategic planning process has
been initiated by the board which will be facilitated by Jim
Pealow, our merger consultant and Brendan Wycks our
new Executive Director. As promised, we will continue to
keep our members informed and involved in this process.
We have made incredible progress in launching the new
Association. Our website (www.mria-arim.ca) is fully
active and provides members with an excellent source of
information regarding MRIA activities and means of communications. Congratulations to Roger Griffin, Chair of
the Communications portfolio and his team for their terrific work in launching our new website. The next phase of
development for the website is the introduction of a French
version. The Communications Committee is also hard at
work profiling MRIA as the voice of the industry and enhancing our reputation as a professional organization
through various public relations and marketing initiatives.
The new look of our publications is a tribute to Nik
Nanos, in his capacity as Chair of the Publications Committee. Not only does VUE raise the presentation and content standards of our monthly magazine, but the Canadian
Journal of Marketing Research does the same.
A good deal of the board’s early efforts have been to ensure that the governance of our Association is as effective
and efficient as possible. This means that much of the operational responsibilities for day-to-day activities will be
April 2005
left with the operating committees and our Executive Director, while the board focuses mainly on policy issues and
strategic direction for MRIA.
One of our members asked for some explanation regarding the choice of the name for our new Association. As
I am sure most will appreciate, finding a consensus on any
proposed new name is challenging at the best of times. In
the case of the choice of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), however, consensus was actually reached quickly. The name of the new organization
had to reflect a broader mandate and be more inclusive of
complementary disciplines, such as those who undertake
data mining and customer relationship management,
among others. The addition of the word “Intelligence” was
incorporated to elevate the status of the work we do, that
is, more insight oriented than fact-oriented research. Finally, while there was considerable debate regarding
whether there was a need for the inclusion of a country reference in the name, in the end the consensus was largely redundant, given that our members were exclusively
Canadian to begin with. We realize that some members
may not agree with the final choice of our new name, but
truthfully, there has been only positive feedback to date
regarding the new name (with the exception of the recent
letter to the editor).
Finally, I would encourage all members to visit the website to have a look at the program for the 2005 National
Marketing Research Conference to be held in Halifax from
June19th to the 21st. This will be the first conference for
MRIA and as the theme “New Horizons” implies, will be an
outstanding opportunity for members to challenge their
thinking and gain new insights about our industry.
As always, feel free to contact MRIA with any constructive comments or feedback.
Don Mills, CMRP, can be reached at
(902) 421-1336 ext. 3237 or [email protected]
vue 5
Commentaire
Message du président de l’ARIM
Je suis très heureux des progrès
réalisés par l’ARIM en si peu de temps.
Don Mills, CMRP, président de l’ARIM
Notre structure de comités a continué de fonctionner sans
heurts depuis la fusion et demeure axée sur les services aux
membres. Nos trois conseils (le Conseil de chapitre, le Conseil
de l’Agence de recherche et le Conseil des utilisateurs de la
recherche) sont maintenant tous pleinement constitués, dotés de
leurs propres conseils consultatifs, et déploient toute leur énergie
à servir leurs membres. Le nouveau Conseil d’administration a
travaillé avec diligence sur les questions de politiques de
première importance comme le projet de loi sur le service de
retrait d’adresse et de numéro de téléphone, ainsi que sur les
orientations futures pour l’Association. À cette fin, le Conseil
d’administration a amorcé un processus de planification
stratégique qui sera dirigé par Jim Pealow, notre conseiller pour
la fusion, et Brendan Wycks, notre nouveau directeur
administratif. Comme promis, nous allons continuer d’informer
nos membres et de les intégrer à ce processus.
Nous avons réalisé des progrès incroyables avec le lancement
de la nouvelle Association. Notre site web (www.mria-arim.ca)
est complètement opérationnel et constitue une excellente
source d’information pour nos membres en ce qui a trait aux
activités et aux moyens de communications de l’ARIM. Je tiens
à féliciter Roger Griffin, président du portefeuille des
Communications, et son équipe pour leur travail extraordinaire
en vue du lancement de notre nouveau site web. La prochaine
phase de développement pour le site web est l’ajout de la version
française. Le Comité des Communications travaille fort pour
faire en sorte que l’ARIM devienne la voix de l’industrie et pour
renforcer notre réputation d’organisation professionnelle dans le
cadre de diverses initiatives de relations publiques et de
marketing.
Grâce à Nik Nanos, le président du Comité des publications,
nos publications ont fait peau neuve. Non seulement a-t-il
rehaussé les normes de présentation et de contenu de VUE, notre
magazine mensuel, mais il a fait de même pour le Canadian
Journal of Marketing Research.
Dans un premier temps, le Conseil d’administration a
surtout veillé à ce que la gestion de notre Association soit aussi
efficace et efficiente que possible. Cela signifie qu’une grande
6 vue
partie des responsabilités fonctionnelles liées aux activités
quotidiennes seront confiées aux comités d’administration et à
notre directeur exécutif, tandis que le Conseil d’administration
se concentrera principalement sur les questions d’ordre politique
et les orientations stratégiques de l’ARIM.
L’un de nos membres a demandé des explications quant au
choix du nom de notre nouvelle association. Comme la plupart
d’entre vous le reconnaîtront, le choix d’un nouveau nom fait
rarement le consensus. Dans le cas du choix du nom Association
de recherche et d’intelligence marketing (ARIM), le consensus a
toutefois été rapide. Le nom de la nouvelle organisation devait
refléter un mandat plus large et inclure des disciplines
complémentaires comme celles portant sur l’exploration des
données et la gestion des relations avec la clientèle. L’ajout du
mot « intelligence » visait à relever le statut de notre travail
davantage axé sur une vision que sur des faits. Finalement, après
s’être demandé s’il y avait lieu de faire référence au pays dans le
nom, on a finalement conclu que ce serait redondant étant
donné que nos membres étaient exclusivement des Canadiens.
Certains membres ne seront peut-être pas d’accord sur le choix
final de notre nouveau nom mais, sincèrement, nous n’avons
jusqu’ici reçu que des commentaires positifs (exception faite de
la récente lettre à la rédaction).
En dernier lieu, j’invite tous les membres à visiter le site web
et à jeter un oeil sur le programme de la Conférence nationale
sur la recherche en marketing 2005 qui se tiendra à Halifax du
19 au 21 juin. Ce sera la première conférence de l’ARIM et,
comme le thème « De nouveaux horizons » l’indique, il s’agira là
d’une excellente occasion pour les membres d’échanger des idées
et d’obtenir de voir notre industrie sous un nouveau jour.
Comme toujours, n’hésitez pas à communiquer avec l’ARIM
pour lui faire part de vos commentaires constructifs et de vos
réactions.
Don Mills, CMRP
Président-directeur général
Corporate Research Associates Inc.
Téléphone : (902) 421-1336 (poste 3237)
April 2005
vue
IS THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF
THE MARKETING RESEARCH AND
INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION
April 2005
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ARE
YO U
ON
COURSE?
Nikita James Nanos, CMRP
SES Research
Tel: (613) 234-4666
[email protected]
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Dominic Atkinson
(416) 312-7074
[email protected]
Daniel Barros
Daniel Barros Marketing Research
(514) 738-0665
[email protected]
Annie Pettit
ICOM Information &
Communication
(416) 297-7887 ext. 2466
[email protected]
Articles and Letters to the Editor are
welcome. Materials will be reviewed by the
Vue Editorial Team. Once 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.
All rights reserved. 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.
MRIA SCHOOL OF
MARKETING
RESEARCH
CANADA’S LEADING PROVIDER
OF MARKETING RESEARCH
EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS
MRIA seminars are intended to be practical with techniques that can immediately be applied to your work. Highly respected industry experts, MRIA
instructors are not only knowledgeable but also approachable and articulate.
Classes are intentionally small.
Some topics we are offering this month include:
Fundamentals of Marketing Research
Internet Research
Qualitative Research
Semiotics
Social Values Research
Intrigued? Details on these courses can be found in this month's insert.
For a listing of all our courses and information on the CMRP designation, see the website:
Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
L’Association de la Recherche et de l’Intelligence Marketin
8 vue
www.mria-arim.ca/education
April 2005
commentary
Letter to the Editor advertise now
Dear Editor:
I feel compelled to echo the sentiments
of Keith Neuman in his letter to the editor in the February issue, and Natalie
Gold in her column in the same issue. I
too am disappointed in the name chosen
for our merged organization, particularly
the lack of the designation “Canadian.”
While I understand the word “intelligence” is in vogue right now, I wonder
how long it will continue to be current.
I also wonder why the words weren’t
reversed for an easily pronounced
acronym, e.g., MIRA. I know the transi-
April 2005
tion committee worked very hard, and I
am trusting there is some justification for
the way it was done, which would be
nice to know.
Or, could we go back to “the drawing
board”? Is it too late to become, for
example, the Canadian Marketing Intelligence and Research Association
(CAMIRA)? Or think of the promotion
possibilities for the Marketing Intelligence
and Research Association of Canada
(MIRAC)!
in Vue,
Canada’s leading marketing
research magazine
visit
www.mria-arim.ca/advertising/vue.asp
call
Grace Woo at (416) 493-4080
or 1-888-815-7677
Yours truly,
Dorothy Aaron, CMRP
vue 9
vue magazine
a great conference awaits!
We’re just a few months away from the 2005 MRIA National Conference in Halifax,
Nova Scotia. If you haven’t yet decided whether to attend, have a look at what this
year’s conference has to offer!
b y M a r g a r e t B r i g l e y,
THE PATH TO PROGRAM
SELECTION…
Program selection is now complete and the
2005 conference is sure to offer an abundance of relevant topics for any researcher.
This year, the organizing committee chose a
somewhat different path for final program selection. Rather than issuing a formal request
for papers, as was done in the past, requests
for speakers where made. An overwhelming
response of high caliber speakers was received, with the number of applications outnumbering available program slots by more
than a three-to-one ratio!
To ensure quality program sessions, each
proposed speaker was then short-listed and
three speaker references were requested.
Only after carefully checking each potential
speaker’s references were topics confirmed
and slotted in one of four English streams,
including: Emerging Issues, Innovative
Approaches, Managing the Business and
Technical. Having four distinct parallel
program streams will hopefully ensure that
the conference has something for every research professional, regardless of their interests. Topics were selected to ensure a
complete range of offerings within each
stream. In addition, for the first time in recent conference history, this year’s event will
provide a French stream that includes topic
representation from each of the four streams
mentioned above.
To see how you can get the most for your
conference attendance, check out the four
program streams and their speakers… see
table on the following page.
April 2005
CMRP
In addition to the parallel streams, the
conference will include five dynamic
keynote speakers, including:
• Michael Adams, President, Environics Fire and Ice! – The Widening Gap Between
Canadians and Americans.
• Sir Graham Day, Show Me the Money –
Demystifying Research for Clients.
• Chantal Hebert, National Affairs Writer,
Toronto Star – Asymmetrical Federalism –
The New Political Reality.
• Wayne McCullough, Senior Manager
Corporate Research, DaimlerChrysler Voice of the Customer – How DaimlerChrysler Transformed its Product Line.
• Eric Salama, Chairman & CEO, Kantar
Group – Managing the Challenge of Talent
– Recruitment and Retention Strategies.
And don’t forget this year’s conference
will offer a taste of east coast hospitality that
you won’t want to miss – a sail on the
Bluenose II, lobster dinner, a kitchen party
like no other, and an animated brewery tour
to name a few! Plan to join us for thought
provoking, educational sessions and exciting social events at the 2005 National Marketing Research Conference. For ongoing
information and details, visit the MRIA website at www.mria-arim.ca and follow the
conference link. For accommodation information or bookings call the MRIA Conference Line at 1 (866) 456-5874.
Margaret Brigley, CMRP is the Marketing
Chair for the 2005 MRIA Conference and Vice
President, Corporate Research Associates Inc.
Argyle Street - Credit: Destination Halifax/HRM Tourism/ P. Franklin
Brewery Market - Photo
Credit:Destination Halifax/HRM
Tourism/J. d'Entremont
see Program Streams and Speakers, next page
vue 1 1
vue magazine
Halifax MRIA Conference
Program Streams and Speakers
Emerging Issues
Innovative Approaches
Managing the Business
Ruth Corbin, Ph.D., CEO,
CorbinPartners Inc. - Trial By
Survey: Using Research in
Canada’s Courtrooms
Joseph Chen, Research
Executive, Millward Brown - The
New Breed of Man:
Metrosexual or Action Hero?
Raymond Cyr, Founder VOXCO
and Benjamin Commerie, Project
Director, CROP - Improving
Response Rates by Offering
Survey Choice to Respondents
Brenda Graham, Partner,
Camelford Graham - Testing
New Product Concepts
Raymond Cyr, Founder VOXCO
and Benjamin Commerie, Project
Director, CROP - Improving
Response Rates by Offering
Survey Choice to Respondents
Tony Coulson, VP Public
Affairs, Decima Research Inc. Online Reliability - Fact or
Fiction
Will Guild, Ph.D. - Stanford
University - Deliberative Polling An Alternative to Traditional
Qualitative Research
Michelle Carinci, President,
Atlantic Lottery Corporation Changing Trends in Gaming
Research
Rob Hetherington, Managing
Director and Carol Wilson,
Statistician, Corporate Research
Associates - Tipping the
Scales - Weighing in on
Word versus Numeric
Measurements
Brian Lee Crowley, Ph,D.,
President, Atlantic Institute for
Market Studies- Performance
Metrics in the Education
Sector
Brian Lee Crowley, PhD.,
President, Atlantic Institute for
Market Studies -Performance
Metrics in the Education
Sector
Tony Lea, PhD, Senior VP,
Environics Analytics - Social
Values and Geodemographics
Stephen Levy, President, IpsosReid - Eastern Canada Loyalty, Database Marketing,
and What Researchers
Should be Doing Next
Keith Price, Senior VP,
Greenfield Online - Online
Research: Surveying from
the New High Ground
Chantal Hebert, National
Columnist, Toronto Star Credibility of Public Opinion
Polling
Peter Johnson, Ph.D., Director,
Strategic Information Unit, Direct
Marketing Association Lessons from the Do Not Call
Legislation Debate in the U.S.
Charles Leech, Exec. VP ABM
Research Ltd. - Semiotics and
Qualitative Research
Laurent Marcoux, Director
General, PWGSC, Public Opinion
Research and Advertising
Coordination - Public Opinion
Research in the Government
of Canada
Benjamin Rietti, CEO, E-Tabs
Ltd. - Using Technology to
Improve Research Reporting
Laurent Marcoux, Director
General, PWGSC, Public Opinion
Research and Advertising
Coordination - Public Opinion
Research in the Government
of Canada
Chantal Hebert, National
Columnist, Toronto Star Credibility of Public Opinion
Polling
Stephen Popiel, Ph.D., VP,
Synovate Motoresearch - The
Use of Neuroscience in
Market Research
Michele McKenzie, President,
Canadian Tourism Commission Changing Trends in Tourism
Research
Michael Rodenburgh, Senior
VP, Client Services, Vision
Critical - Leveraging Research
Using Proprietary Customer
Panels
David Stark, Public Affairs
Director,TNS Canadian Facts Privacy Laws - One Year
Later
David Stark, Public Affairs
Director,TNS Canadian Facts Privacy Laws - One Year
Later
Joe Stagaman, Senior VP
Product Development, AC
Nielsen BASES Global Innovation and New
Product Development
Norman Mould, CEO, Synovate
- Going Global: Beyond the
New Horizon
Victor Tremblay, President.,
Statplus - Multi-Dimensional
Weighting
Victor Tremblay, President.,
Statplus - Multi-Dimensional
Weighting
1 2 vue
Technical
French
April 2005
discourse analysis:
interpreting the language of
consumers and physicians
b y A n t o n Tu r n e r
not to say that discourse analysis would
be used to replace the thinking and
insight of experienced qualitative researchers, but rather it aims to build on
robust qualitative research and provide a
finer and highly detailed examination of
the language of consumers. In effect, DA
equips the researcher with a methodological microscope. Sometimes the answer can be as easy as looking more
closely at the language of the consumer,
but language in both the pharmaceutical
and highly researched consumer worlds
typically requires dedicated examination
before insightful patterns of language are
recognized.
THE
SCIENCE OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
(DA) is the very close study of language
– to take what people say, and uncover
the meaning, motive or intent behind
their language. DA looks for meaningful
patterns in the language that would otherwise not be readily apparent. Some researchers have a tremendous instinct for
these patterns, but even they can’t match
the comprehensive and systematic examination of language that DA provides to
areas such as brand positioning, core
messaging and needs assessment. This is
1 4 vue
DA IN PHARMACEUTICAL
RESEARCH
The application of DA to both pharmaceutical and consumer research is
rapidly developing. The careful, rigorous
study of the discourses of physicians,
nurses and patients is providing a genuinely new take on some much considered research questions. For example, if
physicians consistently express positive
language about a new medication, does it
follow that they will then use that medication? DA can show if the positive language correlates with actual intent
language, that is, if physicians are positive about a medication will they then
prescribe it. On several occasions we
have specifically examined whether positive language correlates with intent language, there has yet to be a firm
connection. In other words, physicians
expressing positive remarks about a med-
ication does not necessarily mean anything about how they intend to prescribe
that medication. In fact, our most striking example is in the area of a psychopharmacological medication, where very
consistent and positive language scores
were associated with almost no specific
intent to use the medication across a
sample of 40 physician interviews.
While it is no surprise that the discourse of patients is less technical, more
emotional, illogical, and understandably
self-centered, they can also provide significant rational, mature, hopeful, balanced
and even inspirational discourse. Particularly important is the fact that patients
tend to provide more fertile insights into
conditions and their treatments than
physicians. Patients however, do not fill
out the prescriptions, but they do clearly
influence physicians. For example, patients influence the language of PCPs (Primary Care Physicians, or GPs), and, in
fact, these two groups have a highly
shared language. The common pattern
between PCPs and patients is for the language of the PCP to migrate to what the
patient will understand and potentially
act on. As patients are the people PCPs
speak to most often about medical issues,
and are the people physicians are trying
to influence (and patients are often trying
to influence physicians), it is not surprising that the language of PCPs evolves toward the patient’s discourse. A shared
language means shared understandings
and goals, and has many implications for
how physicians and patients are communicated to.
April 2005
vue magazine
Specialists have a language that is distinct from PCPs and patients, and, unsurprisingly, different specialties have
relatively different discourses. In addition to the technical terms they use when
dealing with their medical specialization,
specialists’ discourses also vary in how
and why they support their arguments,
and to what level and the type of emotional or rational words are employed.
An obvious example involves psychiatrists, who have a discourse that is notably distinct from other specialties, and
course analyst the chance to employ
more elaborate techniques (which, it
should be noted, may or may not provide anything useful). For example, a
common but intensive DA procedure is
to assess a consumer brand’s Brand Lexicon, that is, establish all the words that
are associated with a specific brand. The
client will then know exactly what adjectives, nouns, verbs (always interesting),
adverbs, etc, are associated with their
brands. Of itself this is useful but it is
just the first step. The Lexicon should
DA can show –
if the positive language
correlates with actual
intent language, that is, if
physicians are positive
about a medication will
they then prescribe it.
amongst many other interesting characteristics is full of fascinating ways of
avoiding questions. Alternatively, surgeons will have a much higher rate of rational references, although with DA this
often serves to highlight rather than obscure their few emotional comments.
One implication here is that the relatively limited emotional comments tend
to take on a greater meaning, which is
very useful if the expressed emotions are
in fact the only relevant emotions in a
given treatment area.
DA IN CONSUMER
RESEARCH
Compared to the tight, chess-like nature of the study of physician language,
the discourse analysis of consumer language feels like entering an emporium of
linguistic delights. Although the same
basic procedures will most likely be applied to consumer language, the natural
richness of the language provides the dis-
April 2005
then be fully interpreted to: create brand
models; identify need, occasion and
mood states; establish communication
priorities or problems; and, always interesting, discover the psychological insight
such fine-grained study inevitably provides.
An example of an unexpected psychological finding from a Brand Lexicon
comes from a commonly used drink product. Consumers had given the client’s
brand an extraordinary number of possessive self-references. This means the consumer continually described the brand as
my X, or the X is mine, or I use X, all of
which signals a close, highly personal use
of brand X. The main competitor brand
had a quarter of such self-references but
had twice as many social-situation references (e.g., with my friends we use competitor X, X is for show). The competitor
brand had greater social value, but the
client brand had a much higher personal
value. It may seem obvious put this way,
but these relationships were not clear before the DA. Accordingly, the client gained
a firm insight into their main strength and
the main strength of the competitor.
One very useful build on the Brand
Lexicon is to then complete a Competitor
Lexicon (the complete language of the
main competitor brand), and to compare
and contrast the two languages for the
client’s and the competitor-brand. Who
owns what words? Which brand is most
associated with which emotional or rational words? What is the spontaneous rate
of mention of the competitor’s brand
when talking about the client’s brand? A
good example of the use of this work was
with an office supply company. When we
looked at the language around the client’s
and the competitor’s brands we found,
amongst other unusual patterns, that
consumers regularly used the client’s and
the competitor’s brand names interchangeably without realizing it. So, an illustrative consumer sentence would read,
“I go to X because at Y they are always
friendly, yeah that’s why I go to X”. This
was a little disconcerting for the client to
hear but highlighted an important issue
of brand confusion. As a consequence the
DA was redirected to find what language
most distinguished the two brands, and
as a result the client had much clearer direction on how to communicate their differentiating advantages.
One of the most enjoyable DA procedures is called Psychoscan and is used on
topics on which one knows consumers are
unlikely to provide straight answers. Normally, with good moderation, consumers
are reasonably up front, and sometimes
alarmingly frank. But with issues such as
body odour, or eating chocolate cookies,
or why they bought a sports car, they, like
the rest of us, tend to introduce a degree
of impression management into their language. Psychoscan looks at how consumers choose to convey why they bought
these products. Oddly, one of the real
giveaway signs of impression management
is when consumers ‘overtalk’ in response
to a question. For example, a question
continued on page 21
vue 1 5
If we could create the ideal client, it would be someone who had sales in the
billions, whose products were used by virtually everyone, and who was
unreservedly committed to market research.
by Ed Gibson,
CMRP
a prescription for pharma
research
THE CLIENT ’S PRODUCTS WOULD BE
prone to obsolescence so that a continuous flow of new products would have
to be introduced. The client would also
be in an industry that is fiercely competitive so that ongoing market research
was necessary just to stay in business.
And yet, when presented with such a
client, some market research practitioners take the position that, yes, the market is there, but it is out of our area of
expertise, too difficult, and too expensive to field. The client I refer to is, of
course, the archetypal pharmaceutical
company which markets its products
through physicians and healthcare practitioners to the entire population. The
purpose of this article is to dispel some
of the mystique surrounding pharma/
medical market research and to provide
practical guidance to those who aspire to
contribute their skills to this niche area.
Medical, like other specialist areas of
market research, calls for knowledge of
the subject, credibility with both clients
and respondents, and an appreciation of
the specific techniques that are (and are
not) effective in the area. All these attributes are realistically achievable by the
experienced market research practitioner.
The subject is, of course, technical
and a good foundation of technical
1 6 vue
knowledge is required in order to understand the research topic and to be credible with clients and respondents alike.
The main skill set required, however, is
still that of a market research professional and the necessary medical knowledge can be acquired through an
excellent accreditation course offered by
Canada’s Council for Continuing Pharmaceutical Education (CCPE). All major pharmaceutical companies require
that their Canadian drug reps have this
designation. The course is offered by
correspondence and can be completed
within six to twelve months.
Most medical market research projects mirror those of “regular” market
research, and the study design is essentially the same. Medical projects can in-
volve evaluating marketing campaigns
and advertising materials, testing price
sensitivity, testing reactions to potential
new products, developing product
introduction strategies, and message
testing – in other words, all the usual
suspects. What is different is the process
of collecting data, which, for the most
part, comes from physicians. Studies are
still fielded as “quantitative” (using preformatted questionnaires) or as “qualitative” (in-depth interviews or focus
groups). However, medical qualitative
has quite different characteristics from
consumer qualitative studies, and medical quantitative is not really quantitative
at all (want the opinions of infectious
disease specialists about your new SARS
vaccine? Good luck, there are 216 in the
April 2005
vue magazine
whole of Canada!). Appropriate data
collection is the key to effective medical
market research and a brief review of the
various methods (loosely classified as
quant and qual) would be instructive.
QUALITATIVE STUDIES
Qualitative methodology can take
the form of one-on-one interviews or
focus groups. However, generally speaking, focus groups are not appropriate for
physicians. Participants in consumer focus groups are normally brought together because of who they are “as
people” – i.e. with influences from their
past, with individual emotional underpinnings, and with different views of
their place in the world. Physicians are
individuals, too, but they are brought
together because of their scientific and
medical knowledge; they share a common background and are constrained in
their practice (and opinions) of medicine by scientific fact, legal constraints
and government regulation. They are
cautious with their opinions and focus
groups can be a restricting (rather than
liberating) experience. No doctor will
want to appear to be less knowledgeable
than his or her peers in the group. Others will state their opinion, but will not
be influenced by an alternate opinion
from another physician (“I do it this
way, he does it that way – fine, but I will
stay with my existing practice”). Consumers will say “that’s a good idea, I
hadn’t thought of that” and the discussion will evolve in a creative way.
This having been said, physician focus groups can be useful where the topic
is of a general, rather than a medically
scientific nature. Examples of “general”
topics are hospital administration and
practices, community health, and the
medical benefits of foods and supplements. In these cases, doctors can allow
themselves to be controversial and express individual opinions.
One-on-one interviews are generally
the most productive method of physician market research. Physicians enjoy
1 8 vue
conversing with a qualified medical
moderator; they take the opportunity to
relax and appreciate a “change of pace”.
As they do with drug reps, the doctor
will relate to the moderator as a colleague and appreciate the learning opportunity that research sessions often
provide.
QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
Intellectually, physicians tend not to
like pure quantitative interviews,
whether over the telephone or in person. There are no absolutes in medicine
and doctors are reluctant to give answers
for “typical” patients (which they will
maintain do not exist). They react negatively to quantitative interviewers who
parrot a text without an appreciation of
its context, and who can mispronounce
technical terms or drug names. Quantitative interviewers also have difficulty in
transcribing open ends, particularly
when technical terminology is used.
Quant studies also have a significant
potential for being misinterpreted because physicians tend to “think through”
questions rather than giving an initial
emotional response, as would most consumers. I have found that physicians will
frequently give a rating of 7 or 8 to a
question where the preference scale is 1
– 10, regardless of whether they have a
positive or negative perception. Physicians will temper a negative reaction
with the knowledge that there are some
beneficial factors to a stated premise,
and those with a positive reaction will
have in mind that there are always drawbacks in any given scenario!
In-person (vs. telephone) quantitative interviews tend to produce better
quality information because an inconsistent response can be more readily
questioned. However, in-person interviews are more expensive to conduct, as
travel is involved and scheduling is difficult. Physicians will rarely be late for an
in-facility interview, but are not as respectful of appointment times where
the interview is in their office.
WEB STUDIES
In contrast to telephone interviews,
online surveys have proven to be a very
effective way of sampling physician
opinions as they avoid the pitfalls and
drawbacks of other quantitative methods. Specifically:
• the physician chooses the time to do
the study, performs it willingly and
without interruption;
• physicians read (and comprehend) the
questions themselves; they answer in
their own words and can qualify their
responses. Verbatim is literally verbatim,
with exact phrases and technical terms
recorded without error; and,
• the study is typically completed at
home so the doctor does not feel the
conflict of conducting paid market research while patients are waiting.
Answers from web surveys are generally more comprehensive and meaningful, and the sample population is richer.
Many physicians – especially specialists
– will not entertain other forms of market research, but will readily complete
web surveys when invited to do so by a
trusted company.
To summarize, individual qualitative
interviewing of physicians is an optimum research method for this category,
and because the population is essentially
homogeneous with regional differences,
studies can be completed without quantitative backup. However, this can be a
costly option and there are a limited
number of qualified moderators in the
field. Fortunately, web surveys have
proven to be particularly appropriate for
this market and prove to be a viable alternative to the qualitative option. Even
though medical market research presents challenges, there is no reason for
any experienced market research company to avoid this dynamic and rewarding field of practice.
Ed Gibson, CMRP, is the President of
Consumer Research Centre Ltd. He can
be reached at [email protected] or (604) 922-3502.
April 2005
vue magazine
Learn more about how the well-proven principles of the scientific method are being reenergized and
applied to measure and diagnose the incremental effects of multi-channel marketing campaigns to
garner better insights and increase future yields.
by Scott Hanson
maximizing campaign ROI:
are you using a microscope
or a telescope?
Some suggest that historical methods
and traditional tools are no longer meeting marketer’s needs, particularly given
the dynamics of today’s marketplace.
With the proliferation of communications channels, and the ever changing
way in which customers consume media, is it no wonder that pretesting
scores are no longer aligning with in
market performance.
WHY ARE WE IN THIS
SITUATION?
Do our tools and methods need an overhaul? Are emotional drivers, as some
would argue, superseding rational left
brain decision making? Or is it all a function of changing market dynamics?
At Longwoods we have amassed a
body of research and experience over the
past 14 years that suggests that it’s not so
much that things are changing, but that
as researchers, we have not changed much
at all. After all these years, we still lack an
acceptable and credible bottom-line measurement approach in the industry. Yet,
professional evidence and experience suggests that if we look through a single lens
or data set and provide a perspective that
takes into account all the factors that define the “Brand Experience” (right down
to bottom-line impacts and campaign
ROI, including image, product or service
delivery, and communication effects),
2 0 vue
then the power to diagnose and cure what
ails most marketing efforts comes alive.
The primary challenge is: how can an
organization be sure it is spending the
right amount of money on the right kind
of advertising and marketing so that it
can successfully impact and influence attitudes, behaviour and, ultimately, sales?
Well to be sure, some marketers, especially those from data-rich firms focused
solely on direct-marketing, are able, in a
stimulus-response fashion, to determine
how responsive consumers are to an individual coupon or price reduction. But
things are not that simple anymore. More
than ever, the marketing discipline is art
informed by science: most organizations
still spend vast amounts of money trying
to create awareness, shift attitudes, or influence behaviour and adoption of new
products and services without knowing
precisely the relationship between costs
and effects.
Many marketing executives, both public and private, occasionally feel that they
have little choice but to throw money at
the wall and hope that at least some of it
will stick. That kind of thinking, however, is rapidly disappearing. These days,
business leaders, chief marketing officers,
and the people who work with them are
under increased pressure to make marketing more a quantifiable science and less
an ephemeral ‘black art’. Numbers-driven
corporate leaders demand to know how
efficiently their marketing dollars are being spent. In response, a measurement
approach known as Marketing ROI is
emerging to help marketing and communications professionals address these
pressing issues. With so much riding on
the proper evaluation and measurement
of the efficacy, performance, cost, and
impact of increasingly complex and integrated marketing activities, many of us
are striving to develop different tools and
April 2005
vue magazine
approaches that, indeed, have been met
with both skepticism and enthusiasm by
some of the world’s leading marketing organizations. In fact, recent approaches,
based on the scientific method, have been
heralded for their uniqueness, relevance
and unparalleled ability to not only quantify bottom-line sales impacts of multichannel marketing programs, but also to
provide the diagnostic insight that looks
at the interrelationships between, media,
message, channel, and all other important
elements, thus fueling increased campaign efficiency and yield.
There is a strong body of evidence suggesting that simply applying the wellproven principles of the scientific method,
coupled with proper research design, to
measure and diagnose the incremental effects of multi-dimensional campaigns, is a
tried and true process that will achieve results that have generally eluded the majority of marketers to date. In addition, we
offer up that this new direction for achieving marketing accountability that looks
not through the lens of the research function, but through the eyes of the business
and the larger corporate system, will
change the way we, researchers, look at
performance measurement.
It is safe to say that the effective evaluation of marketing’s impact on sales is as
much an integration of research tools and
methods as it is an outcome of marketing strategies. In fact, measurement apApril 2005
proaches can, and probably should, start
from the perspective of marketing strategy
(i.e., the clients’ needs, challenges, and
goals), rather than from the perspective
of research technique, as it so often does.
As the rapid emergence and proliferation
of marketing channels increase the ability
to reach people in multiple ways, we must
not lose sight of the fact that success in
evaluation, measurement, and marketing
optimization is built from adherence to
best practices in the fundamentals – research design, quality data and collection,
and deep, rich diagnostic and predictive
analysis – that answer marketers’ most important questions and issues.
Empirical approaches that involve the
use of experimental design and analysis,
control procedures, and single source
panels or data sets – direct measures of
what people see, hear, feel, do and why
they do it (rational and emotional factors) – can support the holistic framework the client needs to be successful.
When gathering this information is not
feasible, we must recognize the value of
combining and using transactional, historical, convenience, or incidental data as
a basis for quantitative estimates of the effect of marketing efforts. A caveat is that
the output of such analysis yields synthetic models of reality that are missing
the emotional facet of customer behaviours: disparate databases are combined
or correlated in some way, the tools and
techniques used are extremely sophisticated, and the results sometimes difficult
to understand or apply, as they do not
provide the advantage of detailed diagnostics at the level that marketers can
readily use them to improve and optimize
their creative efforts and planning. Modeling is better used as a decision-support
tool, and less valuable for the marketer’s
day-to-day need and desire to measure,
track, and optimize the impact of their
marketing efforts.
In the end, marketing, communications, and advertising have both emotional
and rational elements that must be understood in order to help marketers adjust,
change, revise, or improve efforts and results. Applying a holistic process that aligns
the insights and measures gathered from
advertising pretesting, postcampaign diag-
nostic and evaluation surveys (and links to
sales) will deliver an understanding of the
success or failure of marketing performance, as well as ways to improve and ultimately optimize future efforts. This, in
turn, informs ongoing impact evaluation
and accelerates the ability to build knowledge on specific situations, creative offerings, media combinations, and on how
customer segments respond differentially
to the brand, via regular tracking and accountability metrics. Ultimately, a continuous customer and marketing learning cycle
can be put in place, fed by the distribution
and application of the appropriate measurement techniques and methods.
History has shown that business data
silos exist and are hard to reconcile and integrate, even when it is technically feasible
to do so. Change is difficult. In addition,
researchers and agencies have much vested
in current approaches being used. So getting a new system off the ground is quite
hard when blocked by habit, tradition,
and an unwillingness to change. That
said, recent trends in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) movement
and emerging Business Process Management (BPM) space are again moving organizations and management discussions
onto the playing fields of integration,
alignment, and accountability. The quest
for corporate and business efficiency and
effectiveness is not going to go away, particularly as chief executives, managers,
investors, and changing consumer expectations are pushing us ahead. At some
point, marketing and advertising will be
swept forward, kicking and screaming,
into the future. In many ways, we are already experiencing it. Wise counsel would
advise that we consider taking the reins
towards a new direction in marketing accountability that emerges from our own
expertise; our experience and understanding of how to bring more science to the
art of marketing; and a willingness to look
through the eyes of the business to its
needs, problems, challenges, and issues,
rather than through our own opaque, and
potentially limiting, lenses.
Scott Hanson is the President & CEO of
Longwoods International. He can be
reached at (416) 861-9880.
vue 2 1
vue magazine
discourse Analysis – interpreting the language of consumers and physicians
like, ‘So, how much of your children’s
trick or treat candy did you eat last week’?
can generate a response that covers a wide
range of subjects. While there are limits
as to what one can draw out of such language, it always serves as a clear indicator
of whether one is getting a straight answer.
ALWAYS USE A RANGE OF
DA PROCEDURES
Whether searching for meaningful
patterns in the often dry, understandably
pragmatic, words of physicians, or in the
relatively rich but intensively researched
responses of consumers, the discourse analyst needs to look to both sides of the
qualitative-quantitative spectrum to apply the most insightful methodology.
Like many of the most effective research
methods, DA can use both quantitative
procedures (e.g., frequencies, random
probability sampling) and rigorous qualitative approaches (e.g., negative case
analysis, linguistic fingerprinting). For example, we have developed the Emotional
Index (EI), which specifically assesses the
emotional content of the consumers’ or
physicians’ language in a given treatment
or product area. Correspondingly, there is
the Rational Index (RI), which although
typically not quite as interesting as the EI,
provides important context for understanding the EI, and can at times be much
more revealing.
In pharmaceutical research, the variation in EI scores across treatment areas is
remarkable, and only sometimes follows
the intuitive understanding of what one
would think physicians would express the
most emotions about. Areas such as depression produce a startling difference between the EI score of psychiatrists and
PCPs. In a recent pharmaceutical study,
the EI score was very low, even though the
condition was serious, highly disruptive to
a patient’s life, and was something to
which the physicians could strongly relate
to. Such scores do not necessarily constitute a conclusion in themselves, but rather
allow the researcher to approach highly re-
April 2005
searched markets with new insights. In
the above example, the low EI could be explained by the fact that PCPs, quite reasonably, did not want to have to deal with
the psychiatric issue under study.
In consumer research, it is usually
taken for granted that consumers will
state various brand names reasonably frequently and that while there is sometimes
an overt pattern to how a brand is expressed, it is not typically examined by researchers as a matter of course. We would
argue that there is almost always something interesting in the close study of
how the consumers express a brand or a
product. For instance, does the consumer
say ‘a credit card brand’, ‘the credit card
brand’, ‘my credit card brand’, or ‘the
bank’s credit card brand’. Each of these
variations tells you something about the
relationship between the consumer and
the credit card’s and/or the financial supplier’s brand.
As important as assessing word frequencies, ratios and indices (which, it has
to be noted, are a lot more complex to establish accurately than they may sound),
is how important words are used in context. The craft of Linguistic Fingerprinting (or collocation) is based on assessing
the nature of the company an important
word keeps. For example, physicians may
consistently say they think a medication
is ‘safe’. It is well known that ‘safe’ is a
very important word in the language and
psychology of physicians. And some have
argued it is actually the most important
word with which a medication needs to
be associated. What one typically discovers when each and every use of ‘safe’ is
looked at in context, is that there are always unexpected issues. For example,
‘safe’ is never used in a fully consistent
manner, often has particular and variable
adjectives attached to it, or specific qualifiers that follow it. Inconsistencies, variable adjectives and qualifiers all present
opportunities to characterize ‘safe’ in
more or less positive ways. One famous
linguistic fingerprinting example was
continued from page 13
with a major domestic power company (a
provider of gas, electricity, etc). This company’s most common brand attribute was
that it was ‘boring’. A seemingly negative
finding, but on closer study boring was
almost always closely associated with
being safe, which was a highly valuable
attribute for a supplier whose main commodity was gas for domestic consumption.
It is, of course, very challenging for a
researcher to record the relevant data and
make an insightful judgment on such
data patterns during the research. When
properly employed, systematic discourse
analysis will always provide a finer, closer
cross-examination of data. However,
when exposed to DA, researchers rapidly
develop an even greater sensitivity to their
own language and the language of their
respondents. It is often argued that the
best approach, in consumer or pharmaceutical research, and, it could be said in
most qualitative research, is to employ DA
as the powerful net that follows qualitative research to ensure that all language
is scrutinized and that all hypotheses are
tested. A simple build on this approach
would be to argue that DA could be used
during qualitative research to the same effect, depending on the needs of the client,
and the nature of the research problem.
For core messaging, DA works well during the qualitative research, as the communication story for the product is built.
For very fast and specific concept tests,
DA is a rigorous cross-examination to be
used at the end of the research. For large
strategic investigations, DA can be used
throughout the research. As with any
method, we want to use it in a way that
gives the data every chance to speak to
us. And that is DA’s greatest virtue, for
whatever else it may provide, it makes
you listen harder to the respondent.
Anton Turner is the Director of In-Sync’s
Applied Research Group. He can be
reached at [email protected].
vue 2 3
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The 3rd Annual Excellence in Research Awards
To be presented June 20, 2005 at the MRIA New Horizons Conference’s Nova Scotia Good Time Banquet
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Synovate is pleased to announce that Adrian
Murphy has joined the Toronto office as Syndicated Services Manager. Prior to Synovate,
Adrian was with NPD Canada where he managed the INTELECT division’s retailer relations,
working within the company’s Consumer Panel,
servicing a portfolio of major packaged goods
manufacturers. He will be responsible for the
management of a number of syndicated services, including the Household Equipment
Study. Adrian can be reached at (416) 9646262, or [email protected].
With the continuing success of its Research
Reporter market research library and management system, Insight Marketing Systems
(IMS) of Melbourne, Australia, has announced
the opening of its new office in London, UK,
improving services throughout Europe/North
America. Heading up the London office as European Director is Jonathan Rabson, who
joins IMS from E-Tabs where he managed the
division that formerly distributed Research
Reporter on behalf of IMS. Jonathan can be
reached at 139-534-5699, or
[email protected].
Itracks now offers researchers custom software development. The expertise of our soft-
April 2005
ware development team, who created the
patented Online Focus Groups, Bulletin
Boards and Online Survey engines that fuel
our data collection services, are now available
to the market research industry. Researchers
will be able to commission customized software solutions to meet their unique research
challenges and business needs. We can be
reached at (306) 665-5026, or
[email protected].
Decima Research is pleased to announce the
addition to its travel and leisure practice of two
highly experienced market researchers, Glena
Chao and Martin Winges. Both have several
years experience designing and analyzing a
wide array of tourism related studies. They will
work under the guidance of Vice President
Richard Leigh-Bennett, a noted expert in the
field of travel and leisure marketing. Richard
can be reached at (613) 230-2013, or
[email protected].
PFI Research Inc. welcomes a few new members to our growing team. Ron Strelau is our
new HR Manager. Ron will operate out of our
Vancouver office, and can be reached at 1-866697-0445, ext 225, or [email protected].
Arnold Pena has been promoted to Facility
Manager for the Calgary Office, and can be
reached at 1-866-274-0449, ext 400, or
Arnold@PFI-Research. com. Giorgia Ciarrocchi was recently promoted to Sr. Project Director (heading up PFI’s National Qualitative
Division), and can be reached at 1-866-2740449, ext 421, or [email protected].
Miriam Balroop is pleased to announce the
opening of her company - NEXUS Research.
Miriam brings 15 years of recruiting experience in
the qualitative field. Her portfolio includes, directorship at both Research House and Dawn Smith
Field Management Service. NEXUS Research is
committed to providing quality recruiting to all its
clients. Miriam can be reached at (416) 2850623, or [email protected].
Karey Stiefer has joined Chicago Focus as
Managing Director. Chicago Focus is the
Chicago branch of The Focus Network and is
located on 7 East Huron Street in downtown
Chicago. The Focus Network is a multi-national
network of focus group facilities with locations in
Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, London (U.K.), Mexico
City, New York, San Jose and Toronto. Karey can
be reached at (312) 951-1616, or
[email protected].
vue 2 9
industry news
QUALITATIVE
CENTRAL
In accordance with federal privacy
laws, Qualitative Central was created
to handle those who do not or should
not be contacted when recruiting for
qualitative studies.
This list is a comprehensive “do not call” list
including those who participated in qualitative
research, 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 PMRS-QRD
established guidelines.
All field and full-service companies are
encouraged to submit a list of their qualitative
respondents for entry into the system, including
those who do not wish to be contacted.
Participating firms receive monthly updates of
respondents to be screened from qualitative
recruitment samples. Qualitative Central works
effectively to increase the quality and integrity of
the qualitative research process.
However, the ability of the system to function
effectively is directly related to the cooperation
exhibited by firms who provide recruitment
services. If you are a full service research firm or
field supplier who is currently participating in the
Qualitative Central program – thank you very
much and keep up the good work!
If you are not currently participating, please
consider getting involved. If you are interested in
submitting to Qualitative Central, please e-mail:
[email protected] or fax (416)
491-1670 the following information:
Rules of Conduct and Good Practice,
Section C Qualitative Research,
Qualitative Central:
20. Where Qualitative Central exist, recruiters
should provide accurate data to these on a
consistent basis and check all respondents
against Qualitative Central.
21. Moderators buying recruiting services
should give primary consideration to recruiting
agencies which submit to Qualitative Central on
a regular and ongoing basis, where such a
service exists.
Qualitative Central serves as a control to
ensure respondents are not contacted more
frequently than is necessary.
• your company name,
• full mailing address,
• e-mail address,
• phone number, along with a request for
“Qualitative Central Submission Information”.
vue
The following companies have submitted names to the Qualitative Central
for the month of January 2005
CENTRAL
EAST
BARBARA CAMPBELL RECRUITING LTD.
CONSUMER VISION LTD.
DAWN SMITH FIELD MANAGEMENT SERVICES
OPEN MINDS RECRUITING INC.
OPINION SEARCH INC.
QUALITY RESPONSE INC.
RESEARCH HOUSE INC.
RIS CHRISTIE
TANN RESEARCH SERVICES INC.
VALYRA RESEARCH SERVICES
RESEARCH HOUSE INC.
MAYER BOURBONNAIS
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH CENTRE (CRC)
April 2005
WEST
CONSUMER RESEARCH CENTRE
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH CENTRE (CRC)
CRITERION RESEARCH CORP.
SYNOVATE
TREND RESEARCH
vue 3 1
columnists
for qualitative providers,
the
qual
col
Natalie Gold
GREAT NEWS FOR QRD
Well, it has just happened, but three
breaking news stories bode very well for
QRD.
First, Jennifer Camelford of Camelford,
Graham has agreed to be QRD chairwoman for the 2005-2006 season. This
is great for QRD on so many levels, but
mainly because within the new MRIA,
there’s lots to do on behalf of qualitative,
and like all others on the QRD board, we
can hardly believe our good fortune to
have someone so competent and devoted
to qualitative working for all our benefit.
And so, not only shall I use this moment to happily welcome and congratulate Jennifer, but also to say thanks to Gini
Smith for stepping in and doing a remarkable job chairing QRD and keeping
the board alive and ticking until now.
Second, it has recently been decided
that QRD Day 2005 will be held in September, in conjunction with the Canadian chapter of QRCA! This will be a first
for us, and it promises to be very exciting.
Third, from speaking with Brenda
Graham, QRD’s representative on the
MRIA executive, it looks as if qualitative
issues are not going to be ignored or put
on the back burner, as in days of yore.
We are fortunate that former PMRS
President John Tabone is himself in3 2 vue
users and anyone
interested in qualitative
research
volved in the committee to look at a
qualitative designation, similar to
CMRP but for qualitative practitioners.
While my own hope is that it becomes a
specialist designation, I am delighted
that something will be done; and knowing that great folks are putting their
heads together, I feel quite optimistic.
In addition, I have heard from
Brenda Graham that Qualitative Central may be included as a requirement
for prospective MRIA memberships,
both corporate and agency, as well as
QRD membership. The good news here
is that this is being looked at.
HOW TO COPE IN CRAZY
TIMES
As moderators, we all go through
those feasts or famines regarding workloads. Not true just for moderators, actually. Moderator busyness translates
into busyness for facilities and recruiters,
as well as clients. So, how do others cope,
or manage? What strategies do you use
when 24 hours a day doesn’t seem like
enough?
I find it helps to have patient and tolerant friends, who are kind enough to
listen to my insane schedule and commitments. Somehow, saying it out loud
helps me feel like I’ve got it handled, as
does writing lists. I also rely on my VCR,
so I can tape favourite shows and watch
them when I need to veg out – when it
becomes apparent that I need a break
from the computer. The other day, while
cutting and pasting text, I kept cutting,
and while looking for where to paste, I
realized I’d forgotten what I’d cut. This
happened often enough that I finally realized it was time to tune out from the
report and tune in to something else.
Oprah to the rescue!
Of course, for a change of pace, there
are always phone calls to return, errands
to run, or some type of physical exercise
(although that has gone by the wayside
lately). Sometimes, in the midst of a
complex report, I suddenly notice how
certain areas of the home need tidying
up, and I get the urge to do a thorough
house-cleaning. But of course, the urge
passes, as I realize my deadline is fast
approaching.
What do you do?
Until next month!
Comments, feedback, input, contributions, queries, requests: (416) 654-6453
or [email protected]. Natalie Gold,
independent moderator, currently offers
customized moderator training courses
and workshops.
April 2005
columnists
b2b
Ruth Lukaweski,
CMRP
a mini monthly newsletter
for business-to-business
market researchers
reporter
“BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
MARKET RESEARCH”
by Ruth McNeil
The newest book on B2B research to be
released in mid-2005
It has been about 15 years since anyone
has even attempted to write a formal book
on business market research – “The Industrial Market Research Handbook” (by Paul
Hague), published in 1988, was updated in
the early 1990s.
Ruth McNeil runs her own market research consultancy, Response Consulting
Inc, in London, England. She is also on the
board of the Business Industrial Group Conference Committee. She was commissioned
to write the handbook as part of an ongoing
book series called “Market Research in Practice” published by Kogan Page Limited.
It may not be possible to obtain even an
advance copy of Ms. McNeil’s book prior
to August, 2005, but she is very willing to
chat about it.
FROM “INDUSTRIAL” TO “B2B”
Ruth McNeil has identified a range of
B2B trends which had an impact on the con-
tent of her book:
• Widening horizons – the scope of business marketing has moved from the industrial, chemical and agricultural spheres to
include business services, pharmaceuticals,
IT and several other areas – which she takes
into consideration.
• B2B/B2C merging – she also claims that
consumer and business marketing are becoming more similar than dissimilar.
• Wireless communications and the Internet – this trend is expected to have a much
greater impact on business than consumer
April 2005
marketing (especially in the short term).
• International scope – the author collaborated with researchers in other countries (such
as the U.S. and Australia) and attempts to
present a global perspective. But she found it
very difficult to obtain overall statistics about
the B2B research industry in any market.
“INDUSTRIAL” VERSUS “B2B”
– HOW FAR HAS B2B
RESEARCH REALLY COME?
The most obvious difference between the
1988 and the 2005 handbooks appears to
be scope of coverage. The earlier book was
comprised of 29 chapters divided into five
different units. The 2005 handbook has 12
chapters.
Both handbooks follow a pretty traditional approach by discussing the basic elements of desk research, B2B qualitative and
quantitative research. The 2005 book is a bit
more topical and includes chapters devoted
to: trends in B2B research; what it is like
being a B2B client and researcher; training,
organizations, and, ethics in B2B research.
Other chapters included in Ruth McNeil’s 2005 handbook include: The B2B industry; what is B2B market research;
sampling for B2B research; what works and
does not work in B2B research; costing –
guidelines on the cost of projects; overviews
of the business respondent, sectors and research applications; and, regional differences and comparisons.
While it is not as current, Paul Hague’s
1988 handbook is still extremely thorough
and many of the basic approaches have not
changed as much as one would think and it
is still a “gem”.
Ruth McNeil’s 2005 handbook can
be obtained from Renouf Publishing at
(613) 745-2665.
Paul Hague’s 1988 handbook has been
out of print for a long while but can be obtained with a good search of second hand
bookstores.
MRIA B2B COMMITTEE
LEARNING SERIES 2005
The B2B Learning Series – is a “free” seminar series open to all MRIA members, featuring topics of interest. All sessions to be held
on Tuesdays as follows:
April 12, 2005 – Getting The Most Out
Of B2B Field. Nancy Gulland (B2B quantitative field specialist) and Dawn Smith (B2B
qualitative field specialist). B2B research is
very dependent on good quality fieldwork
and a strong relationship between the market research executive and the field director.
Nancy and Dawn will share their latest experiences in B2B field recruiting and execution: how to deal with limited samples; the
role of the interviewer and how it is changing; getting past the “gatekeepers” ... and
other significant trends.
May 10, 2005 – B2B Online and Internet Research – The Changing Landscape:
Response rates are declining; navigating
through organizations is becoming more
and more difficult; and gaining cooperation
with appropriate respondents is also tougher
than ever. More and more B2B research is
migrating to the web and online research.
This talk will address a number of “hot”
topics in this area such as recruit-to-web experiences and using Internet panels. Roland
Klassen, President, Acrobat Research.
The B2B Reporter is prepared by Ruth
Lukaweski, CMRP, of RML Research Inc.
She can be reached at (416) 782-9377
or [email protected].
vue 3 3
columnists
RU
Bob Collins,
CMRP
an update from the
Research Users’ Council
what?
Why We Buy…
The late Viktor Frankl, in his amazing
book Man’s Search for Meaning, says “What
is the meaning of life?” is the wrong question: each life has its own distinct meaning,
so we should be asking “What is the meaning of MY life?”.
During my first year employed as a marketing researcher (that year IBM introduced
the personal computer, MTV launched, the
Islanders were in the midst of a four-year
Stanley Cup streak and Christopher Cross’
‘Sailing’ won three Grammys – an uneven
year at best) I went to a PMRS conference
featuring a well-attended session on ‘what
can client researchers do to get work valued
at senior levels?’.
I don’t recall much about that session
other than the presenters were holding up
the U.K. account planning model as the
vision, and I think the notion of making
presentations using bar charts instead of
numbers was the way to get there.
Last fall I participated in a well-attended
web conference on ‘what can client researchers do to get work valued at senior
levels?’.
So, it seems this question has been on
research users’ minds for a while. But
thinking back to Viktor Frankl, the real
question we research users should be asking
is ‘what can I do to get MY work valued at
senior levels?’.
The featured presenters at the web conference had introduced a formal process for
internal clients to document research requests and state how the results would be
used. After the research was completed,
those internal clients documented the impact the research actually had on decisionmaking or actions taken.
Of course, it’s part of our job to encourage internal clients to think about “Why
do I want to know this?”, “What am I go-
3 4 vue
ing to do with the answers?” and “What
will I do differently if the answers come
back black? white? inconclusive?” Internal
briefs, formal processes or whatever, can all
be good tools.
But at the same time it occurred that the
presenters had missed something: their
process was strictly task-based. They had
not been addressing the question “How
can I make sure MY work is valued?”
The answer might be found in two and
a half questions. Question #1: you’re
hiring a research agency for a project. Supplier A is professional, experienced, technically-competent and ethical. Supplier B has
those attributes but is also keenly interested
in your industry, adds value beyond reporting the research and acts like she’s part of
your team, not an outsider. Who do you
hire? Thought so.
Question #2: how do you act in your
own organization? Do you define yourself
as a market researcher who happens to
work for your employer or as a member of
your organization who happens to contribute using research? Question 2.5: if you
define yourself as a researcher first and team
member second, what right do you have to
expect senior management to value you –
or your work?
I know the rebuttal: “Bob, I need to
maintain my objectivity within the organization. If I become a cheerleader I – and
my work – lose credibility and any value we
once had”. True – I would never suggest
you put on blinders. They’re bad for ethics.
And yes, it is hard work to show you’re on
the team without appearing to lose your
objectivity.
Here’s WHY you need to show you’re on
the team if you want to be valued: your organization has, in addition to research,
other things to worry about. Here’s HOW
you show you’re on the team: it’s mostly a
matter of showing interest in those other
things.
If you want to act like an outsider that’s
your career decision. But if you want your
work to catch the attention of senior management, try this:
First, be helpful. A new product concept
bombs in pretesting? Your job is to tell the
organization there’s a problem. But go beyond that – take the initiative and build anticipation of failure into the research
design. Tell what the research says about
solving the problem it has identified – how
to make the concept better.
Second, recognize that research is only
one input to decisions. Sure, senior management sometimes “doesn’t listen” to research. I guarantee that sometimes they
“don’t listen” to their legal advice, either.
Ask questions until you understand how
YOUR senior management makes decisions. If the new product was launched in a
package that came second in purchase intent, it could be simply that this year’s budget won’t stretch to accommodate higher
costs associated with the preferred version.
Finally, to be a key part of the team,
show that you care about senior management’s issues. Go ahead – ask the VP Finance whether there are any new
government regulations coming that will
impact her area (hint: there are always new
government regulations coming!). You
might be surprised. Next time she may ask
you what came out of those focus groups
she heard about.
Bob Collins, CMRP, Chair of the Research Users’ Council, is Director, Customer Insights Group and Acting Senior
Director, Marketing at the LCBO. He
can be reached at [email protected].
April 2005
VUE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY THE MARKETING
RESEARCH AND INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION
TWELVE TIMES A YEAR
NEED A CAREER
CHANGE?
vue
April 2005
VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLICATIONS
Nikita James Nanos, CMRP
SES Research
Tel: (613) 234-4666
[email protected]
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VISIT
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vue
VUE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY THE MARKETING RESEARCH
AND INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION TWELVE TIMES A YEAR
(MONTHLY) UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ASSOCIATION’S
PUBLICATION DIRECTOR.
attention authors
April 20th, 2005 is the deadline for our June 2005 issue
May 20th, 2005 is the deadline for our July 2005 issue
Please call Grace Woo at (416) 493-4080 or 1-888-815-7677 to
book your ad.
The deadline for notice of advertising is the 20th of the month. All advertising material must be at the MRIA office on the 25th of the month.
ADDRESS
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
L’Association de la Recherche et de l’Intelligence Marketing
2175 Sheppard Ave. East, Suite 310
Toronto, Ontario M2J 1W8
Tel: (416) 493-4080
Toll Free: 1-888-815-7677
Fax: (416) 491-1670
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.mria-arim.ca
PRODUCTION: LAYOUT/DESIGN
Don’t miss your chance to share your experience
and views on very important issues.
Nikita Nanos, Editor-in-Chief
(613) 234-4666
[email protected]
LS Graphics
Tel: (905) 666-2057
Toll Free: 1-800-400-8253
Fax: (905) 666-2122
e-mail: [email protected]
ISSN 1488-7320
Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
L’Association de la Recherche et de l’Intelligence Marketin
columnists
i.on
Employee Research:
From “One-Off” to
“Research Program”
Stewart
Hemerling
research
For most modern organizations, the
ubiquity of Internet access and email addresses among employees make conducting effective and cost-effective employee
research over the Internet a real possibility. Many or even most organizations,
however, are short on having a systematic
research plan in place to hear from their
employees in a meaningful way. Organizations that are making this a priority, on
the other hand, are actively thinking
about the value of doing regularly occurring surveys among their employees on
a whole range of topics that can help
contribute to the firm’s value chain.
When setting up such a program of research, some well advised do’s and don’ts
can help guide the way.
SOME DO’s
Work with an outside agency. The reason is a simple one. Even the slightest suspicion that one’s individual responses will
“get back” to the wrong person at the
firm can imperil participation and undermine the credibility of what could well be
well-intentioned and even good research.
An outside research agency, in providing
the confidentiality seal of approval in
word and deed, helps to drive up quality
and quantity of response. So, setting
things up this way will help you make
sure that you get balance and clarity.
Create and manage a customized incentive program. Good practice is more
and more about incentivizing participation with extrinsic rewards. An incentive
program consists of giving away awards
or gifts to a random selection of those
participating in a given survey or surveys
3 6 vue
over time. One can also explore other
kinds of employee perks (e.g., preferred
parking spot, extra holiday, etc.) that have
no direct cost to the organization. There
are, of course, meaningful limits to be
placed on such an incentive program,
whose primary goal is to motivate behaviour consistent with doing good research.
Whatever incentives are provisioned for
the program, they should be seen as
equally attractive to all employee segments. Moreover, one should also seek to
maintain that the incentives are not extreme in terms of value, and that the
“wealth” is spread as widely as practicable.
Incorporate an inclusive cross section
of the organization as stakeholders in
the research. Want to nurture buy-in for
the program? Involve key people from
across the organization in developing
survey content to aid in their own business area. This helps increase credibility
and relevance, and breaks down the hard
distinction between the “givers of feedback” and the “information users”.
SOME DON’Ts
Do not go to field with an onerous
“survey to end all surveys”. It is well advised to limit survey length. The plan is
to go to respondents more frequently but
demand less time with each approach.
People will be more apt to participate
over and over if they know that they are
really only needing to give five or ten
minutes.
Do not keep content static. From the
point of view of the employee respondent, it helps to keep the content varied.
Customize the survey with exactly the
kinds of varied questions that best draw
out the responses you seek. Make sure to
give respondents the opportunity also to
provide open-ended feedback. One of
the biggest frustrations that respondents
tend to mention is that they don’t get to
put things in their own words. The Internet is a fabulous vehicle for incorporating interesting visual content. This
not only applies to the layout and look of
the survey itself, it means that one
should not forget, for example, to include visuals when you are asking respondents about things that are more
recognizable by sight than text. No excuses for missing this opportunity.
Do not forget to remind employees of
the value of their feedback. The easy
thing to remember (and forget!) is to
communicate across the organization the
names of those participants who received
incentives from having participated. The
more difficult thing and even more important thing not to forget, is to link
feedback obtained to decisions actually
taken in the organization (i.e., “You told
us to do X, so we did it” kind of thing).
A web-based employee research program
is an idea that is as powerful as it is simple.
Mining the organization’s most valued resource more effectively will lend more credibility to many a mission statement and
give decision-makers more than enough
raw materials to make better decisions.
Stuart Hemerling, of Prophis Research
and Consulting, Inc. can be reached at
[email protected]
or (604) 721-0480.
April 2005
columnists
the
John Ball,
CMRP
RAC
“Privacy Please”
report
“Privacy please!” This admonition usually
precipitates one of my children attending to
their morning ablutions and is summarily followed by a slamming bathroom door, effectively shutting out communication and
prying eyes until, with permission, the door is
opened once again returning us to our usual
daily routine.
It is with this early ingrained human need
for privacy in mind that I recall fondly the
sometimes Herculean efforts made recently
by many to develop and distribute PIPEDA
sanctioned electronic documentation to
make personal privacy a regular part of our
everyday professional life. However, like all
good agreements, they are only as good as the
paper they are written on or electronic web
space they occupy, if they do not translate
into common practices in our trade.
Respondents are our industry’s lifeblood.
They represent our clients’ customers,
prospective users for their products and services, channel partners, business decision
makers, and the Canadian public at large.
Government leaders, consumer advocates,
users of research are all paying attention. Inquiring minds want to know what we, as researchers, are doing about this. We must
constantly remind them all of the efforts we
are taking to put privacy into practice. In this
case, common sense applies and we must be
aware of potential breaches of the privacy
contract we have with our respondents.
For instance, with the benefit of new technology, clients may now participate and view
online focus groups and interactive chat sessions, review transcripts, or watch embedded
video from focus groups in presentations.
When clients participate in this way, audit
telephone interviews or observe focus groups,
are they properly aware of the importance of
protecting individual respondent privacy?
What do observers who walk out of the viewing room do with the information they have
April 2005
Research Agency
Council Report
just heard once they get back to the office?
On how many occasions have we been asked
by clients, unfortunate enough to miss focus
groups, to forward along focus groups tapes?
Are names or other personal identifiers being
removed from transcripts, sample files with
appended survey data, and respondent profiles before being shown to clients? These are
the questions we must all be asking ourselves
to bring respondent privacy into focus for our
business.
An excellent resource for privacy practices
is the result of the aforementioned efforts.
The Privacy Handbook was developed last
year by CAMRO to assist marketing research
practitioners in integrating privacy into the
work they do. (Please contact MRIA offices for
more information). Here are just a few of my
own observations of how, one year following
the advent of PIPEDA, I have seen privacy
making its way into the work we do. I share
these as a far less than complete inventory of
what are likely a myriad of examples and
know that I am just scratching the surface.
These are presented here to help keep privacy
issues alive, spur conversation and, perhaps,
debate. I would encourage all agencies to participate in this discussion. Email me or other
RAC members to present other examples or
points of view on this topic. Share your ideas
on privacy practices with your clients, your
employees, partner firms, and colleagues to
keep privacy top of mind for us all.
1. Use the word “survey” instead of “marketing” to describe the “research” we do in the
verbiage introducing our efforts to respondents over the telephone. This helps to provide an immediate distinction when we
introduce ourselves to potential focus group
participants, telephone, and web survey respondents.
2. Register your surveys and encourage respondents go online or call our survey registration line to confirm the legitimacy of our
surveys. All MRIA member firms are expected
to register their surveys.
3. Require users to sign a release form to
receive tapes, DVDs or any reporting and presentation formats, including embedded visual
identification of respondents, stipulating that
protection of respondent privacy and use of
these materials for research purposes only is
a condition of their having access to these
materials.
4. Ensure that client supplied sample has
been vetted to include only those customers
who have provided opt in provision for research purposes and have an agency agreement with any users asking you to contact
their customers directly.
5. Inform observers of focus groups and
any internal client groups, who are privy to
respondent identification, of the need to be
diligent in respecting the privacy of respondents at any time during and following the
completion of research.
6. Post your privacy agreement and send
respondents to your website or provide them
with an email address to your privacy officer,
should they have any questions or concerns.
7. Inform respondents of their right to privacy as participants in your research projects.
Privacy must be integral and top of mind
in all facets of our day-to-day interaction with
our respondents. It is undisputed that promoting privacy practices in the face of the
looming threat of “do not call” legislation will
assist in making us stand apart from those
representing the direct marketing industry. It
is important that we check our privacy pulse
and make sure that the door remains open.
John Ball, CMRP, Chair of the Research
Agency Council and Managing Director
of Maritz Research. He can be reached at
(416) 922-1140.
vue 3 7
Ever thought of joining the
Vue Magazine Team or being a
Magazine Editor?
Call Today!
Nikita Nanos, Vice President Publications
(613) 234-4666
[email protected]
Connections
Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
L’Association de la Recherche et de l’Intelligence Marketing
2175 Sheppard Ave. East, Suite 310
Toronto, Ontario M2J 1W8
Tel: (416) 493-4080
Toll Free: 1-888-815-7677
Fax: (416) 491-1670
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.mria-arim.ca
MRIA Administration
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Brendan Wycks
[email protected]
CONSULTANT
Carolyne Vigon
[email protected]
ADMINISTRATOR
Grace Woo
[email protected]
EDUCATION COORDINATOR
Lori Kinch
[email protected]
MEMBERSHIP CO-ORDINATOR
Cathie Breton
[email protected]
RECEPTION AND GENERAL
INQUIRIES
Rose Posteraro
OUR LEADERSHIP: The MRIA brings together the leading experts and thinkers
in the industry, representing all sectors and constituencies of the association’s
membership.
Officers:
PRESIDENT: Don Mills, CMRP, Corporate Research Associates
VICE PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT ELECT: Nikita Nanos, CMRP, SES Research
SECRETARY-TREASURER: Tim Wingrove, CMRP, Commins, Wingrove
MRIA Portfolio Vice Presidents:
INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS: Alain Choinière, CMRP, Cogem Research
COMMUNICATIONS: Roger Griffin, Griffin & Associates Consultants
EDUCATION: Tracy Bowman, Prairie Research Associates
CONFERENCE: Don Mills, CMRP, Corporate Research Associates
PUBLICATIONS: Nikita Nanos, CMRP, SES Research
MEMBERSHIP: Elle Sykes, BC Institute of Technology
STANDARDS: Barry Watson, CMRP, Environics Research Group
Directors:
AGENCY COUNCIL: John Ball, CMRP, Maritz Research
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE: Cam Baskey, Maritz Research
USERS COUNCIL: Bob Collins, CMRP, LCBO
USERS COUNCIL: Brad Francis, CMRP, TD Canada Trust
QR DIVISION: Brenda Graham, CMRP, Camelford Graham Research Group
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE: Gillian Humphreys, CMRP, TNS Canadian Facts
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE: Dan Kirkland, CMRP, Decima Research
AGENCY COUNCIL: Steve Levy, CMRP, IPSOS-Reid Canada
AGENCY COUNCIL: John Snow, CMRP, Lang Research
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE: John Tabone, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE: Joanne Tofani, CMRP, Joanne Tofani Consulting
AGENCY COUNCIL: Barry Watson, CMRP, Environics Research Group
USERS COUNCIL: Hastings Withers, CMRP, PMB Print Measurement Bureau
Chapter Presidents:
ATLANTIC: Catherine Kelly, CMRP, Catherine Kelly Marketing Research
QUEBEC: Michel Saulnier, CMRP, Bell Canada
OTTAWA: Ric Hobbs, POLLARA
TORONTO: Cam Baskey, Maritz Research
PRAIRIE: David McVetty, CMRP, Parks Canada
ALBERTA: Joanne O'Connell, CMRP, O'Connell Enterprises
BC: Kim Short, Ipsos-ASI, Ltd.