Role of marketing research

The task of marketing research is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid,
and current information. Competitive marketing environment and the ever-increasing costs
attributed to poor decision making require that marketing research provide sound information.
Sound decisions are not based on gut feeling, intuition, or even pure judgment.

Marketing managers make numerous strategic and tactical decisions in the process of identifying
and satisfying customer needs. They make decisions about potential opportunities, target market
selection, market segmentation, planning and implementing marketing programs, marketing
performance, and control. These decisions are complicated by interactions between the controllable
marketing variables of product, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Further complications are
added by uncontrollable environmental factors such as general economic conditions, technology,
public policies and laws, political environment, competition, and social and cultural changes.
Another factor in this mix is the complexity of consumers. Marketing research helps the marketing
manager link the marketing variables with the environment and the consumers. It helps remove
some of the uncertainty by providing relevant information about the marketing variables,
environment, and consumers. In the absence of relevant information, consumers' response to
marketing programs cannot be predicted reliably or accurately. Ongoing marketing research
programs provide information on controllable and non-controllable factors and consumers; this
information enhances the effectiveness of decisions made by marketing managers. [4]

Traditionally, marketing researchers were responsible for providing the relevant information and
marketing decisions were made by the managers. However, the roles are changing and marketing
researchers are becoming more involved in decision making, whereas marketing managers are
becoming more involved with research. The role of marketing research in managerial decision
making is explained further using the framework of the DECIDE model:

D —- Define the marketing problem

E —- Enumerate the controllable and uncontrollable decision factors

C —- Collect relevant information

I —- Identify the best alternative

D —- Develop and implement a marketing plan

E —- Evaluate the decision and the decision process

The DECIDE model conceptualizes managerial decision making as a series of six steps. The
decision process begins by precisely defining the problem or opportunity, along with the objectives
and constraints.[4] Next, the possible decision factors that make up the alternative courses of action
(controllable factors) and uncertainties (uncontrollable factors) are enumerated. Then, relevant
information on the alternatives and possible outcomes is collected. The next step is to select the best
alternative based on chosen criteria or measures of success. Then a detailed plan to implement the
alternative selected is developed and put into effect. Last, the outcome of the decision and the
decision process itself are evaluated.

Marketing research characteristics

First, marketing research is systematic. Thus systematic planning is required at all the stages of the
marketing research process. The procedures followed at each stage are methodologically sound,
well documented, and, as much as possible, planned in advance. Marketing research uses the
scientific method in that data are collected and analyzed to test prior notions or hypotheses.

Marketing research is objective. It attempts to provide accurate information that reflects a true state
of affairs. It should be conducted impartially. While research is always influenced by the
researcher's research philosophy, it should be free from the personal or political biases of the
researcher or the management. Research which is motivated by personal or political gain involves a
breach of professional standards. Such research is deliberately biased so as to result in
predetermined findings. The motto of every researcher should be, "Find it and tell it like it is." The
objective nature of marketing research underscores the importance of ethical considerations, which
are discussed later in the chapter.

Marketing research involves the identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of

information. Each phase of this process is important. We identify or define the marketing research
problem or opportunity and then determine what information is needed to investigate it., and
inferences are drawn. Finally, the findings, implications and recommendations are provided in a
format that allows the information to be used for management decision making and to be acted upon
directly. It should be emphasized that marketing research is conducted to assist management in
decision making and is not: a means or an end in itself. The next section elaborates on this
definition by classifying different types of marketing research.

Comparison with other forms of business research

Other forms of business research include:

Market research is broader in scope and examines all aspects of a business environment. It asks
questions about competitors, market structure, government regulations, economic trends,
technological advances, and numerous other factors that make up the business environment (see
environmental scanning). Sometimes the term refers more particularly to the financial analysis of
companies, industries, or sectors. In this case, financial analysts usually carry out the research and
provide the results to investment advisors and potential investors.
Product research - This looks at what products can be produced with available technology, and what
new product innovations near-future technology can develop (see new product development).
Advertising research - is a specialized form of marketing research conducted to improve the
efficacy of advertising. Copy testing, also known as "pre-testing," is a form of customized research
that predicts in-market performance of an ad before it airs, by analyzing audience levels of
attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down
the ad’s flow of attention and flow of emotion. Pre-testing is also used on ads still in rough
(ripomatic or animatic) form. (Young, pg. 213)

Classification of marketing research

Organizations engage in marketing research for two reasons: (1) to identify and (2) solve marketing
problems. This distinction serves as a basis for classifying marketing research into problem
identification research and problem solving research.

Problem identification research is undertaken to help identify problems which are, perhaps, not
apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future. Examples of problem
identification research include market potential, market share, brand or company image, market
characteristics, sales analysis, short-range forecasting, long range forecasting, and business trends
research. A survey of companies conducting marketing research indicated that 97 percent of those
who responded were conducting market potential, market share, and market characteristics research.
About 90 percent also reported that they were using other types of problem identification research.
Research of this type provides information about the marketing environment and helps diagnose a
problem. For example, a declining market potential indicates that the firm is likely to have a
problem achieving its growth targets. Similarly, a problem exists if the market potential is
increasing but the firm is losing market share. The recognition of economic, social, or cultural
trends, such as changes in consumer behavior, may point to underlying problems or opportunities.
The importance of undertaking problem identification research for the survival and long term
growth of a company is exemplified by the case of PIP printing company

Once a problem or opportunity has been identified, as in the case of PIP, problem solving research
is undertaken to arrive at a solution. The findings of problem solving research are used in making
decisions which will solve specific marketing problems. More than two-thirds of companies
conduct problem solving research.

The Stanford Research Institute, on the other hand, conducts an annual survey of consumers that is
used to classify persons into homogeneous groups for segmentation purposes. The National
Purchase Diary panel (NPD) maintains the largest diary panel in the United States.

Standardized services are research studies conducted for different client firms but in a standard way.
For example, procedures for measuring advertising effectiveness have been standardized so that the
results can be compared across studies and evaluative norms can be established. The Starch
Readership Survey is the most widely used service for evaluating print advertisements; another
well-known service is the Gallup and Robinson Magazine Impact Studies. These services are also
sold on a syndicated basis.

Customized services offer a wide variety of marketing research services customized to suit a client's
specific needs. Each marketing research project is treated uniquely.

Limited-service suppliers specialize in one or a few phases of the marketing research project.
Services offered by such suppliers are classified as field services, coding and data entry, data
analysis, analytical services, and branded products. Field services collect data through mail,
personal, or telephone interviewing, and firms that specialize in interviewing are called field service
organizations. These organizations may range from small proprietary organizations which operate
locally to large multinational organizations with WATS line interviewing facilities. Some
organizations maintain extensive interviewing facilities across the country for interviewing
shoppers in malls.

Coding and data entry services include editing completed questionnaires, developing a coding
scheme, and transcribing the data on to diskettes or magnetic tapes for input into the computer.
NRC Data Systems provides such services.

Analytical services include designing and pretesting questionnaires, determining the best means of
collecting data, designing sampling plans, and other aspects of the research design. Some complex
marketing research projects require knowledge of sophisticated procedures, including specialized
experimental designs, and analytical techniques such as conjoint analysis and multidimensional
scaling. This kind of expertise can be obtained from firms and consultants specializing in analytical
services.
Data analysis services are offered by firms, also known as tab houses, that specialize in computer
analysis of quantitative data such as those obtained in large surveys. Initially most data analysis
firms supplied only tabulations (frequency counts) and cross tabulations (frequency counts that
describe two or more variables simultaneously). With the proliferation of software, many firms now
have the capability to analyze their own data, but, data analysis firms are still in demand.

Branded marketing research products and services are specialized data collection and analysis
procedures developed to address specific types of marketing research problems. These procedures
are patented, given brand names, and marketed like any other branded product.

Types of marketing research

Marketing research techniques come in many forms, including:

Ad Tracking – periodic or continuous in-market research to monitor a brand’s performance using
measures such as brand awareness, brand preference, and product usage. (Young, 2005)
Advertising Research – used to predict copy testing or track the efficacy of advertisements for any
medium, measured by the ad’s ability to get attention, communicate the message, build the brand’s
image, and motivate the consumer to purchase the product or service. (Young, 2005)
Brand equity research - how favorably do consumers view the brand?
Brand association research - what do consumers associate with the brand?
Brand attribute research - what are the key traits that describe the brand promise?
Brand name testing - what do consumers feel about the names of the products?
Commercial eye tracking research - examine advertisements, package designs, websites, etc by
analyzing visual behavior of the consumer
Concept testing - to test the acceptance of a concept by target consumers
Coolhunting - to make observations and predictions in changes of new or existing cultural trends in
areas such as fashion, music, films, television, youth culture and lifestyle
Buyer decision processes research - to determine what motivates people to buy and what decision-
making process they use
Copy testing – predicts in-market performance of an ad before it airs by analyzing audience levels
of attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking
down the ad’s flow of attention and flow of emotion. (Young, p 213)
Customer satisfaction research - quantitative or qualitative studies that yields an understanding of a
customer's of satisfaction with a transaction
Demand estimation - to determine the approximate level of demand for the product
Distribution channel audits - to assess distributors’ and retailers’ attitudes toward a product, brand,
or company
Internet strategic intelligence - searching for customer opinions in the Internet: chats, forums, web
pages, blogs... where people express freely about their experiences with products, becoming strong
"opinion formers"
Marketing effectiveness and analytics - Building models and measuring results to determine the
effectiveness of individual marketing activities.
Mystery Consumer or Mystery shopping - An employee or representative of the market research
firm anonymously contacts a salesperson and indicates he or she is shopping for a product. The
shopper then records the entire experience. This method is often used for quality control or for
researching competitors' products.
Positioning research - how does the target market see the brand relative to competitors? - what does
the brand stand for?
Price elasticity testing - to determine how sensitive customers are to price changes
Sales forecasting - to determine the expected level of sales given the level of demand. With respect
to other factors like Advertising expenditure, sales promotion etc.
Segmentation research - to determine the demographic, psychographic, and behavioural
characteristics of potential buyers
Online panel - a group of individual who accepted to respond to marketing research online
Store audit - to measure the sales of a product or product line at a statistically selected store sample
in order to determine market share, or to determine whether a retail store provides adequate service
Test marketing - a small-scale product launch used to determine the likely acceptance of the product
when it is introduced into a wider market
Viral Marketing Research - refers to marketing research designed to estimate the probability that
specific communications will be transmitted throughout an individuals Social Network. Estimates
of Social Networking Potential (SNP) are combined with estimates of selling effectiveness to
estimate ROI on specific combinations of messages and media.

All of these forms of marketing research can be classified as either problem-identification research
or as problem-solving research.

A company collects primary research by gathering original data. Secondary research is conducted
on data published previously and usually by someone else. Secondary research costs far less than
primary research, but seldom comes in a form that exactly meets the needs of the researcher.

A similar distinction exists between exploratory research and conclusive research. Exploratory
research provides insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation. It should draw definitive
conclusions only with extreme caution. Conclusive research draws conclusions: the results of the
study can be generalized to the whole population.

Exploratory research is conducted to explore a problem to get some basic idea about the solution at
the preliminary stages of research. It may serve as the input to conclusive research. Exploratory
research information is collected by focus group interviews, reviewing literature or books,
discussing with experts, etc. This is unstructured and qualitative in nature. If a secondary source of
data is unable to serve the purpose, a convenience sample of small size can be collected. Conclusive
research is conducted to draw some conclusion about the problem. It is essentially, structured and
quantitative research, and the output of this research is the input to management information
systems (MIS).

Exploratory research is also conducted to simplify the findings of the conclusive or descriptive
research, if the findings are very hard to interpret for the marketing managers.

Marketing research methods

Methodologically, marketing research uses the following types of research designs:[5]

Based on questioning:
Qualitative marketing research - generally used for exploratory purposes - small number of
respondents - not generalizable to the whole population - statistical significance and confidence not
calculated - examples include focus groups, in-depth interviews, and projective techniques
Quantitative marketing research - generally used to draw conclusions - tests a specific hypothesis -
uses random sampling techniques so as to infer from the sample to the population - involves a large
number of respondents - examples include surveys and questionnaires. Techniques include choice
modelling, maximum difference preference scaling, and covariance analysis.

Based on observations:
Ethnographic studies -, by nature qualitative, the researcher observes social phenomena in their
natural setting - observations can occur cross-sectionally (observations made at one time) or
longitudinally (observations occur over several time-periods) - examples include product-use
analysis and computer cookie traces. See also Ethnography and Observational techniques.
Experimental techniques -, by nature quantitative, the researcher creates a quasi-artificial
environment to try to control spurious factors, then manipulates at least one of the variables -
examples include purchase laboratories and test markets

Researchers often use more than one research design. They may start with secondary research to get
background information, then conduct a focus group (qualitative research design) to explore the
issues. Finally they might do a full nation-wide survey (quantitative research design) in order to
devise specific recommendations for the client.

Business to business market research

Business to business (B2B) research is inevitably more complicated than consumer research. The
researchers need to know what type of multi-faceted approach will answer the objectives, since
seldom is it possible to find the answers using just one method. Finding the right respondents is
crucial in B2B research since they are often busy, and may not want to participate. Encouraging
them to “open up” is yet another skill required of the B2B researcher. Last, but not least, most
business research leads to strategic decisions and this means that the business researcher must have
expertise in developing strategies that are strongly rooted in the research findings and acceptable to
the client.

There are four key factors that make B2B market research special and different to consumer
markets:[6]
The decision making unit is far more complex in B2B markets than in consumer markets
B2B products and their applications are more complex than consumer products
B2B marketers address a much smaller number of customers who are very much larger in their
consumption of products than is the case in consumer markets
Personal relationships are of critical importance in B2B markets.

Marketing Research in Small Business and Nonprofit Organizations

Marketing research does not only occur in huge corporations with many employees and a large
budget. Marketing information can be derived by observing the environment of their location and
the competitions location. Small scale surveys and focus groups are low cost ways to gather
information from potential and existing customers. Most secondary data (statistics, demographics,
etc.) is available to the public in libraries or on the internet and can be easily accessed by a small
business owner.

Below some steps that could do by SME (Small Medium Entreprise) to analyze the market [7]:

Step 1.Provide secondary and or primary data (if necessary);

Step 2.Analyze Macro & Micro Economic data (e.g. Supply & Demand, GDP,Price change,
Economic growth, Sales by sector/industries,interest rate, number of investment/ divestment, I/O,
CPI, Social anlysis,etc);

Step 3.Implement the marketing mix concept, which is consist of: Place, Price, Product,Promotion,
People, Process, Physical Evidence and also Political & social situation to analyze global market
situation);

Step 4.Analyze market trends, growth, market size, market share, market competition (e.q.SWOT
analysis, B/C Analysis,channel mapping identities of key channels, drivers of customers loyalty and
satisfaction, brand perception, satisfaction levels, current competitor-channel relationship analysis,
etc),etc.;

Step 5.Determine market segment, market target, market forecast and market position;

Step 6.Formulating market strategy & also investigating the possibility of partnership/ collaboration
(e.q.Profiling & SWOT analysis of potential partners, evaluating business partnership.)

Step 7.Combine those analysis with the SME's business plan/ business model analysis (e.q.Business
Description, Business process, Business Strategy ,Revenue model, Business expansion, Return of
Investment, Financial analysis (Company History, Financial assumption, Cost/Benefit Analysis,
Projected profit & Loss, Cashflow, Balance sheet & business Ratio,etc).
Note as important : Overall analysis is should be based on 6W+1H (What, When, Where, Which,
Who, Why and How)question.

International Marketing Research

International Marketing Research follows the same path as domestic research, but there are a few
more problems that may arise. Customers in international markets may have very different customs,
cultures, and expectations from the same company. In this case, secondary information must be
collected from each separate country and then combined, or compared. This is time consuming and
can be confusing. International Marketing Research relies more on primary data rather than
secondary information. Gathering the primary data can be hindered by language, literacy and access
to technology.

Commonly used marketing research terms

Market research techniques resemble those used in political polling and social science research.
Meta-analysis (also called the Schmidt-Hunter technique) refers to a statistical method of
combining data from multiple studies or from several types of studies. Conceptualization means the
process of converting vague mental images into definable concepts. Operationalization is the
process of converting concepts into specific observable behaviors that a researcher can measure.
Precision refers to the exactness of any given measure. Reliability refers to the likelihood that a
given operationalized construct will yield the same results if re-measured. Validity refers to the
extent to which a measure provides data that captures the meaning of the operationalized construct
as defined in the study. It asks, “Are we measuring what we intended to measure?”

Applied research sets out to prove a specific hypothesis of value to the clients paying for the
research. For example, a cigarette company might commission research that attempts to show that
cigarettes are good for one's health. Many researchers have ethical misgivings about doing applied
research.

Sugging (or selling under the guse of l.market research) forms a sales technique in which sales
people pretend to conduct marketing research, but with the real purpose of obtaining buyer
motivation and buyer decision-making information to be used in a subsequent sales call.
Frugging comprises the practice of soliciting funds under the pretense of being a research
organization.

Selecting a research supplier

A firm that cannot conduct an entire marketing research project in-house must select an external
supplier for one or more phases of the project. The firm should compile a list of prospective
suppliers from such sources as trade publications, professional directories, and word of mouth.
When deciding on criteria for selecting an outside supplier, a firm should ask itself why it is seeking
outside marketing research support. For example, a small firm that needs one project investigated
may find it economically efficient to employ an outside source. Or a firm may not have the
technical expertise undertake certain phases of a project or political conflict-of-interest issues may
determine that a project be conducted by an outside supplier. [8]

When developing criteria for selecting an outside supplier, a firm should keep some basics in mind.
What is the reputation of the supplier? Do they complete projects on schedule? Are they known for
maintaining ethical standards? Are they flexible? Are their research projects of high quality?

What kind and how much experience does the supplier have? Has the firm had experience with
projects similar to this one? Do the supplier's personnel have both technical and nontechnical
expertise? In other words, in addition to technical skills, are the personnel assigned to the task
sensitive to the client's needs and do they share the client's research ideology? Can they
communicate well with the client? [8]

The cheapest bid is not always the best one. Competitive bids should be obtained and compared on
the basis of quality as well as price. A good practice is to get a written bid or contract before
beginning the project. Decisions about marketing research suppliers, just like other management
decisions, should be based on sound information. [8]

Careers in marketing research

Some of the positions available in marketing research include vice president of marketing research,
research director, assistant director of research, project manager, field work director,
statistician/data processing specialist, senior analyst, analyst, junior analyst and operational
supervisor. [9]

The most common entry-level position in marketing research for people with bachelor's degrees
(e.g., BBA) is as operational supervisor. These people are responsible for supervising a well-defined
set of operations, including field work, data editing, and coding, and may be involved in
programming and data analysis. Another entry-level position for BBAs is assistant project manager.
An assistant project manager will learn and assist in questionnaire design, review field instructions,
and monitor timing and costs of studies. In the marketing research industry, however, there is a
growing preference for people with master's degrees. Those with MBA or equivalent degrees are
likely to be employed as project managers.[9]

A small number of business schools also offer a more specialized Master of Marketing Research
(MMR) degree. An MMR typically prepares students for a wide range of research methodologies
and focuses on learning both in the classroom and the field.

The typical entry-level position in a business firm would be junior research analyst (for BBAs) or
research analyst (for MBAs or MMRs). The junior analyst and the research analyst learn about the
particular industry and receive training from a senior staff member, usually the marketing research
manager. The junior analyst position includes a training program to prepare individuals for the
responsibilities of a research analyst, including coordinating with the marketing department and
sales force to develop goals for product exposure. The research analyst responsibilities include
checking all data for accuracy, comparing and contrasting new research with established norms, and
analyzing primary and secondary data for the purpose of market forecasting.

As these job titles indicate, people with a variety of backgrounds and skills are needed in marketing
research. Technical specialists such as statisticians obviously need strong backgrounds in statistics
and data analysis. Other positions, such as research director, call for managing the work of others
and require more general skills. To prepare for a career in marketing research, students usually :
take all the marketing courses.
take courses in statistics and quantitative methods.
acquire computer skills.
take courses in psychology and consumer behavior.
acquire effective written and verbal communication skills.
think creatively. [9]

Career ladder in marketing research:

Vice-President of Marketing Research: This is the senior position in marketing research. The VP is
responsible for the entire marketing research operation of the company and serves on the top
management team. Sets the objectives and goals of the marketing, research department.
Research Director: Also a senior position, the director has the overall responsibility for the
development and execution of all the marketing research projects.
Assistant Director of Research: Serves as an administrative assistant to the director and supervises
some of the other marketing research staff members.
(Senior) Project Manager: Has overall responsibility for design, implementation, and management
of research projects.
Statistician/Data Processing Specialist: Serves as an expert on theory and application of statistical
techniques. Responsibilities include experimental design, data processing, and analysis.
Senior Analyst: Participates in the development of projects and directs the operational execution of
the assigned projects. Works closely with the analyst, junior analyst, and other personnel in
developing the research design and data collection. Prepares the final report. The primary
responsibility for meeting time and cost constraints rests with the senior analyst.
Analyst: Handles the details involved in executing the project. Designs and pretests the
questionnaires and conducts a preliminary analysis of the data.
Junior Analyst: Handles routine assignments such as secondary data analysis, editing and coding of
questionnaires, and simple statistical analysis.
Field Work Director: Responsible for the selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of
interviewers and other field workers.
__

Ad tracking
Ad tracking, also known as post-testing or ad effectiveness tracking is in-market research that
monitors a brand’s performance including brand and advertising awareness, product trial and usage,
and attitudes about the brand versus their competition.

Depending on the speed of the purchase cycle in the category, tracking can be done continuously (a
few interviews every week) or it can be “pulsed,” with interviews conducted in widely spaced
waves (ex. every three or six months). Interviews can either be conducted with separate, matched
samples of consumers, or with a single (longitudinal) panel that is intervewed over time.
Since the researcher has information on when the ads launched, the length of each advertising
flight, the dollars spent, and when the interviews were conducted, the results of ad tracking can
provide information on the effects of advertising.Contents [hide]
1 Purpose of Ad Tracking
2 Methodology
3 Measures
4 See also
5 References

Purpose of Ad Tracking

The purpose of ad tracking is generally to provide a measure of the combined effect of the media
weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting, and the quality of the
advertising executions or creative.

Advertisers use the results of ad tracking to estimate the return on investment (ROI) of advertising,
and to refine advertising plans. Sometimes, tracking data are used to provide inputs to Marketing
Mix Models which marketing science statisticians build to estimate the role of advertising, as
compared to pricing, distribution and other marketplace variables on sales of the brand.

Methodology

Today, most ad tracking studies are conducted via the Internet. Some ad tracking studies are
conducted continuously and others are conducted at specific points in time (typically before the
advertising appears in market, and then again after the advertising has been running for some period
of time). The two approaches use different types of analyses, although both start by measuring
advertising awareness. Typically, the respondent is either shown a brief portion of a commercial, or
a few memorable still images from the TV ad. Other media typically are cued using either branded
or de-branded visual of the ad. Then, respondents answer three significant questions.
Do you recognize this ad? (recognition measure)
Please type in the sponsor of this ad. (unaided awareness measure)
Please choose from the following list, the sponsor of this ad. (aided awareness measure)

The continuous tracking design analyzes advertising awareness over time, in relation to ad
spending; separately, this design tracks brand awareness, and then develops indices of effectiveness
based on the strength of the correlations between ad spending and brand awareness.

The most popular alternate approach to the continuous tracking design is the Communicus System
longitudinal design, in which the same people are interviewed at two points in time. Changes in
brand measures (for example, brand purchasing and future purchase intentions) exhibited among
those who have seen the advertising are compared to the changes in brand measures that occurred
among those unaware of advertising. By means of this method, the researchers can isolate those
marketplace changes that were produced by advertising versus those that would have occurred
without advertising.

Measures

Here is a list of some of the data a post-test might provide:

Top of mind brand awareness
Unaided brand awareness
Aided brand awareness
Brand fit
Brand image ratings
Brand trial
Repeat purchase
Frequency of use
Purchase intent
Price perceptions
Unaided advertising awareness
Aided advertising awareness
Unaided advertising message recall
Aided advertising message recall
Aided commercial recall
Ad wear out
Promotion awareness and usage
Market segment characteristics
Media habits
Lifestyle/Psychographics
Demographics

Advertising Research Overview

Advertising research design is determined by specific advertising goals and the stage of ad
development, or campaign. We use a broad range of advertising research techniques including
ad recall surveys, message and theme salience and impact measures, buying motivation and
association with the ad message or positioning theme.
Types of Advertising Research

There are two types of research, customized and syndicated. Customized research is conducted for a
specific client to address that client’s needs. Only that client has access to the results of the research.
Syndicated research is a single research study conducted by a research company with its results
available, for sale, to multiple companies. [15] Pre-market research can be conducted to optimize
advertisements for any medium: radio, television, print (magazine, newspaper or direct mail),
outdoor billboard (highway, bus, or train), or Internet. Different methods would be applied to gather
the necessary data appropriately. Post-testing is conducted after the advertising, either a single ad or
an entire multimedia campaign has been run in-market. The focus is on what the advertising has
done for the brand, for example increasing brand awareness, trial, frequency of purchasing.

Pre-testing

Pre-testing, also known as copy testing, is a form of customized research that predicts in-market
performance of an ad, before it airs, by analyzing audience levels of attention, brand linkage,
motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down the ad’s Flow of Attention
and Flow of Emotion.[16] Pre-testing is also used on ads still in rough form – e.g., animatics or
ripomatics. Pre-testing is also used to identify weak spots within an ad to improve performance, to
more effectively edit 60’s to 30’s or 30’s to 15’s, to select images from the spot to use in an
integrated campaign’s print ad, to pull out the key moments for use in ad tracking, and to identify
branding moments.[17]

Campaign pre-testing

A new area of pre-testing driven by the realization that what works on TV does not necessarily
translate in other media. Greater budgets allocated to digital media in particular have driven the
need for campaign pre-testing. The first to market with a product to test integrated campaigns was
OTX in association with Sequent Partners with the introduction of MediaCEP. The latest generation
of this product incorporates one of the leading media planning tools developed by a media modeling
and software company Pointlogic. The addition of a media planning tool to this testing approach
allows advertisers to test the whole campaign, creative and media, and measures the synergies
expected with an integrated campaign [18].

Post-testing

Post-testing/Tracking studies provide either periodic or continuous in-market research monitoring a

brand’s performance, including brand awareness, brand preference, product usage and attitudes.
Some post-testing approaches simply track changes over time, while others use various methods to
quantify the specific changes produced by advertising—either the campaign as a whole or by the
different media utilized.

Overall, advertisers use post-testing to plan future advertising campaigns, so the approaches that
provide the most detailed information on the accomplishments of the campaign are most valued.
The two types of campaign post-testing that have achieved the greatest use among major advertisers
include continuous tracking, in which changes in advertising spending are correlated with changes
in brand awareness, and longitudinal studies, in which the same group of respondents are tracked
over time. With the longitudinal approach, it is possible to go beyond brand awareness, and to
isolate the campaign's impact on specific behavioral and perceptual dimensions, and to isolate
campaign impact by medium
Brand positioning research
-- when carefully designed and integrated with creative branding -- can uncover highly differentiated bran
generate brand impact. We conduct brand equity and positioning studies in B2B, channel, and consumer
Positioning Research Process

Positioning Research Process

Positioning Research Process

Our brand positioning research approach and goals...

 refine highly differentiating advertising themes, appeals and messaging...
 employ the most appropriate market segmentation approach through market segmentation research...
 understand customer needs to discover high-impact brand positioning opportunities through staged quali
 use Creative Branding Research -- driven by positioning research results -- to identify high-potential bran
Positioning Base Research
Prior to conducting primary positioning research, we first take time to gauge your brand landscape. For client co
and competitive brand name architecture. We build hypotheses regarding the strength of comparative brands, th

As a part of the Positioning Base Research, we conduct far reaching interviews with client management, field sa
off Positioning Base Research with qualitative market research where we reach a small sample of client custome
Positioning Qualitative Research
We employ a unique qualitative methods. Our typical starting point is a small sample round of depth interviews.
projective interviewing techniques to uncover buyer perceptions of the brand choices, and their differentiation q
market perceptions. The focus here is to uncover the language about the choice dimensions on which buying de
 We may continue the qualitative exploration with a larger sample using an online qualitative time-extend
work.
Positioning Quantitative Market Survey
Brand Screening Survey:
 Test hypotheses developed from the Positioning Qualitative Research. These pertain to segmentation, str
 Screen positioning concepts using concept statements and appeal ratings to assess qualities of positioning
See our Strategy Newsletter article discussion about finding and owning a market space as the basis of successfu
Positioning Research Methods Discussion
Qualitative Research: Online Depth Interviews...
Ad Copy Testing
Advertising copy testing research guages advertising concepts, advertising themes, and tests
concept strength, comprehension, ad recall, and ad relevance. We select from several ad copy
testing environments: online, depth interviews, mail surveys, or test ad campaigns. Method depends
upon the stage of copy point development.
As a broad based marketing and advertising research company, our advertising copy testing
research design approach for your firm or agency will develop a precise and specific ad copy testing
research process tailored to your decision agenda. We employ advanced advertising testing
research measurement, questionnaire, and data collection approaches to assess ad concept strength,
and execution power using both qualitative and quantitative market research methods.
Staged Advertising Testing
Staged or sequenced advertisng testing acknowledges the importance of the iterative creative and
refinement process involved in ad concept development. We believe our concept testing research
philosophy is what differentiates us from many other market research firms. These principles guide
our concept development and testing study designs:
 Advertising testing is both a research and measurement activity, and a creative concept
development activity. Testing outcomes spawns creativity so we build it in to the process.
 If we work with you from the beginning as a partner in creating a fresh new ad campaign,
we focus on concept development rather than screening testing, which comes later.
 Concept development requires an exploratory market research mode and mindset, starting
first using exploratory qualitative research methods such as depth interviews among target
audience members.
 We address both tangible attribute clusters, and emotional appeals when creating concepts
and advertising themes for testing. We partner with you as a team member.
 We move from qualitative depth interviews, to larger sample time-extended depth
interviews, often employing online depth interviews which allow for repeated respondent
interaction and concept incubation.
 Using a hybrid research design, we blend the qualitative research mode with quantitative
advertising concept test rankings, this to refine concept development and assessment of
appeal.
 Thus, our approach to screening advertising concepts favors smaller sample multiple waves
rather than one large sample wave.
 Finally, we acknowledge that a full understanding of concept appeal must be assessed in a
mode with maximum realism. Here's a case when we believe that online market surveys
have a strong advantage as they allow use of a variety of exhibits for the testing of
advertising concepts, product concepts, brand concepts, and strategic positioning concepts.
We use these data collection technologies for advertising testing research:
 online surveys  focus group research
 executive surveys  qualitative research
 consumer & B2B panels  photo-ethnography
Copy testing is a specialized field of marketing research, it is the study of television commercials
prior to airing them. It is defined as research to determine an ad’s effectiveness based on consumers’
responses to the ad and covers all media including print, TV, radio, Internet etcAlthough also known
as copy testing, pre-testing is considered the more accurate, modern name (Young, p.4) for the
prediction of how effectively an ad will perform, based on the analysis of feedback gathered from
the target audience. Each test will either qualify the ad as strong enough to meet company action
standards for airing or identify opportunities to improve the performance of the ad through editing.
(Young, p.213)
Pre-testing is also used to identify weak spots within an ad campaign, to more effectively edit 60-
second ads to 30-second ads or 30’s to 15’s, to select images from the spot to use in an integrated
campaign’s print ad, to pull out the key moments for use in ad tracking, and to identify branding
moments. [1]

Features of a Good Copy Testing system

In 1982, a consortium of 21 leading advertising agencies including N.W.Ayers, D’Arcy, Grey,

McCann-Erikson, Needham Harper & Steers, Ogilvy & Mather, J.Walter Thompson, Young &
Rubicam etc released a public document where they laid out the PACT (Positioning Advertising
Copy Testing) Principles on what constitutes a good copy testing system. According to PACT, a
good copy testing system is one that meets the following criteria:

1.Provides measurements which are relevant to the objectives of the advertising 2.Requires
agreements about how the results will be used in advance of each specific test. 3.Provides multiple
measurements – because single measurements are generally inadequate to assess the performance of
an advertisement/ 4.Based on a model of human response to communications – the reception of a
stimulus, the comprehension of the stimulus and the response to the stimulus. 5.Allows for
consideration of whether the advertising stimulus should be exposed more than once. 6.Recognizes
that the more finished a piece of copy is, the more soundly it can be evaluated and requires, as a
minimum, that alternative executions be tested in the same degree of finish. 7. Provides controls to
avoid the biasing effects of the exposure context. 8.Takes into account basic considerations of
sample definition. 9.Demonstrates reliability and validity.

Contents [hide]
1 Four Types of Copy Testing Scores
1.1 Report Card Measures
1.1.1 Obstacles
1.2 Diagnostic Measures
1.2.1 Obstacles
1.3 Non-Verbal Measures
1.3.1 Obstacles
1.3.2 Solutions
1.4 Moment-by-Moment Measures
1.4.1 Obstacles
1.4.2 Solutions
2 The Future: Seven Trends
3 Relevant Terms
4 Copy Testing Companies
5 References

Four Types of Copy Testing Scores

There are four general themes woven into the last century of copy testing. To understand how the
different types of measures relate to one another, see the heuristic advertising model here Ameritest
TV Ad Model.

Report Card Measures

The first theme is the quest for a valid, single-number statistic to capture the overall performance of
the advertising creative. This search has spawned the creation of various report card measures.
These measures are used to filter commercial executions and help management make the go/no go
decision about which ads to air. (Young, p. 7). The predominant copy testing measure of the 1950s
and 1960s, Day-After Recall (DAR) was interpreted to measure an ad’s ability to “break through”
into the mind of the consumer and register a message from the brand in long-term memory.
(Honomichl) Once this measure was adopted by Procter and Gamble, it became a research staple.
(Honomichl)

In the 1970s and 1980s, after DAR was determined to be a poor predictor of sales, the research
industry began to depend on the measure of persuasion as an accurate predictor of sales. This shift
was led, in part, by researcher Horace Schwerin who pointed out, “the obvious truth is that a claim
can be well remembered but completely unimportant to the prospective buyer of the product – the
solution the marketer offers is addressed to the wrong need.” (Honomichl). As with DAR, it was
Procter and Gamble’s acceptance of the persuasion measure (also known as motivation) that made it
an industry standard. Recall scores were still provided in copy testing reports with the
understanding that persuasion was the measure that mattered. (Honomichl)

The 1970s also saw a re-examination of the “breakthrough” measure. As a result, an important
distinction was made between the attention-getting power of the creative execution and how well
“branded” the ad was. Thus, the separate measures of attention and branding were born. (Young,
p.12)

Obstacles

In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, tests were conducted to validate a link between the recall score and actual
sales. For example, Procter and Gamble reviewed 10 year’s worth of split-cable tests (100 total) and
found no significant relationship between recall scores and sales. (Young, pp. 3-30) In addition,
Wharton University’s marketing guru Leonard Lodish conducted an even more extensive review of
test market results and also failed to find a relationship between recall and sales. (Lodish pp. 125-
139) Harold Ross of Mapes & Ross found that persuasion was a better predictor of sales than recall.
(Ross pp.13-16)

Diagnostic Measures

The second theme is the development of diagnostic copy testing, the main purpose of which is
optimization. Understanding why diagnostic measures such as attention, brand linkage, and
motivation are high or low can help advertisers identify creative opportunities to improve
executions. (Young, p.7)

Obstacles

Different approaches have been developed by research companies to determine the report card
measures of attention, brand linkage, and motivation. For example, Unilever analyzed a database of
commercials “triple-tested” using the three leading approaches to the measure of branding
(Ameritest, ASI, and Millward Brown) which shows that each of the three is measuring something
uncorrelated with, and therefore different from, the other two. (Kastenholtz, Kerr & Young).
Non-Verbal Measures

The third theme is the development of non-verbal measures in response to the belief of many
advertising professionals that much of a commercial’s effects – e.g. the emotional impact – may be
difficult for respondents to put into words or scale on verbal rating statements. In fact, many believe
the commercial’s effects may be operating below the level of consciousness. (Young, p.7)
According to researcher Chuck Young, “There is something in the lovely sounds of our favorite
music that we cannot verbalize – and it moves us in ways we cannot express.” (Young, p.22)

Obstacles

In the 1970s, researchers, such as Herbert Krugman sought to measure these non-verbal measures
biologically by tracking brain wave activities as respondents watched commercials. (Krugman)
Others experimented with galvanic skin response, voice pitch analysis, and eye-tracking. (Young,
p.22) These efforts were not popularly adopted, in part, because of the limitations of the technology
as well as the poor cost-effectiveness of what was widely perceived as academic, not actionable
research.

Solutions

In the 1990s, the Picture Sorts were created as a method of deconstructing a viewer’s dynamic
response to the film on multiple levels. A Flow of Attention graph, as one example of a Picture Sort,
measures how the eye pre-consciously filters the visual information in an ad and serves both as a
gatekeeper for human consciousness and as an interactive search engine. More mainstream than the
biological measures, Picture Sorts have been used extensively for on-line ad testing and, because
they are not language-dependent, have been used around the world by major advertisers as diverse
as IBM and Unilever. (Young, p.24) Example of Ameritest Flow of Attention Graph

More recently, research companies have started to use psychological tests, such as the Stroop effect,
to measure the emotional impact of copy. These techniques exploit the notion that viewers do not
know why they react to a product, image, or ad in a certain way (or that they reacted at all) because
such reactions occur outside of awareness, through changes in networks of thoughts, ideas, and
images.

Moment-by-Moment Measures

The fourth theme, which is a variation on the previous two, is the development of moment-by-
moment measures to describe the internal dynamic structure of the viewer’s experience of the
commercial, as a diagnostic counterpoint to the various gestalt measures of commercial
performance or predicted impact. (Young, p.7)

In the early 1980s the shift in analytical perspective from thinking of a commercial as the
fundamental unit of measurement to be rated in its entirety, to thinking of it as a structured flow of
experience, gave rise to experimentation with moment-by-moment systems. The most popular of
these was the dial-a-meter response which required respondents to turn a meter, in degrees, toward
one end of a scale or another to reflect their opinion of what was on screen at that moment. PDF
Obstacles

Unless the dial-a-meter is calibrated by normalizing the data to each individual’s reaction time, the
aggregate sample data will be spread across many measurement intervals. Second, dial-a-meters
contain an uncertainty range around which moment is actually being measured because of
differences in respondent response times. Relatively little has been published to validate dial-a-
meter diagnostics to traditional measures of overall ad performance such as recall and persuasion.
PDF

Solutions

In the 1990s, the Ameritest Picture Sorts shifted the frame of measurement from clock time (the
dial-a-meter approach) to the “subjective time” of experience which is tied to the rate of
information flow in the film, or the ad’s visual complexity. Instead of providing a rating whenever
the alarm rings, respondents rate a Picture Sort image only when the mood, message, or image
changes significantly. The data results are clear, easy to understand, and visually appealing. (Young,
p. 23) Examples of an Ameritest Flow of Emotion Graph can be seen in The Advertising Research
Handbook, (Young, p. 202) and here [2] in Exhibit 2.

In addition, the dial-a-meter’s single-scale limitations are overcome with a set of moment-by-
moment measures in three dimensions: wiktionary: Flow of Attention Flow of Attention which
measures the memorability of each moment, Flow of Emotion which measures the positive or
negative emotional response to each moment, and Flow of Meaning which measures how well the
brand’s strategic values are being communicated in each moment.

The Future: Seven Trends

Chuck Young, author of The Advertising Research Handbook, offers his views on the trends that
will shape the way we do business in the future. (Young pp.27-30)
There will be an emergence of global research standards for global brands. Increasingly, multi-
nationals are focusing on the need to build global brands, and for their brands to speak with one
voice around the world. This calls for global advertising campaigns that will be increasingly visual
in style. Providing both a standard way to measure advertising performance from one region to
another, and the tools to identify how different cultural factors affect advertising response, will
become more important for managing ad spending in the global marketplace.
There will be more advertising measurement, not less. Advertising is becoming more expensive and
the range of executional options becoming so diverse that more control over the process is being
demanded by major clients today. Procurement departments, in particular, under the banner of
accountability, are challenging advertising agencies and research companies to provide more proof
of value to justify ad budgets. This will drive growth in this important sector of advertising
research.
Most copy testing will move to the Internet. In an age of rapid-response marketing, the emphasis is
on speed of decision-making. The Internet is the obvious choice for shortening the time involved in
the research step of the creative development cycle. Many suppliers have already begun migrating
their advertising research to the web (for both television and print testing). Economic pressure will
probably force the majority of testing online in the near future.
The new value proposition will be filtering plus optimization. For the foreseeable future, the cost of
advertising executions will continue to go up. To manage that cost, managers will be increasingly
interested in airing only their strongest ideas so that they don’t spend a large portion of their
advertising budgets on average ideas. Ad managers will be looking for every opportunity to make
executions work harder and research systems will outperform this growing category if they can
validate the power of their diagnostics, providing proof that they actually help make ads more
effective.
Ad research will move beyond semantics – putting a new emphasis on “wholistic” or 360-degree
measurement of integrated advertising campaigns. Both the forces of globalization and the
evolution of rich, multi-sensory media environments will continue to challenge xecution to the print
execution to the Internet ad.
Mathematics models of advertising ROI will begin to incorporate measures of creative quality.

Currently, researchers working with marketing-mix models to determine advertising ROI do not
usually include measures of creative quality. As a result, current mix models are biased toward
media weight or spend. In the future, sophisticated modelers will start to include a “quality”
variable in these models, particularly as new forms of tracking research begin to provide relative
performance rankings of competitive ads.

Brand Equity Research

Brand equity research measures the impact of your branding strategy. We use both standard and
custom tailored branding research measurements.Brand equity research studies support your
branding strategy programs. Here's how we view the brand equity goals and marketing research
implications:

Here are examples of differing goals companies may have for brand equity research:
1. Track the components of brand equity as compared to benchmark and
competitive brands.
2. Explore decision options available relating to branding by assessing the depth of
brand equity strength of the current corporate or product brands. A brand
name or product line naming change, for example, may provide an opportunity.
3. Assess brand equity power in terms of product or business line extensions using
an existing brand or a brand naming variation of the existing brand.
Brand Equity Research Methods
Brand equity market research methodology is straight-forward and our portfolio of marketing
research tools and methods provide the needed range of measurements. As for any study, a brand
equity study research methodology is driven by management and research objectives. While most
brand equity research studies are viewed as quantitative market research tasks, we may recommend
qualitative research if the goals include an exploratory research assessment or evaluation of brand
naming alternatives.
Full brand equity research studies often begin with Brand Base research, followed by Brand
Qualitative research and targeted quantitative Brand Equity Screening Survey studies. If the
objectives are primarily for brand equity tracking, then we may proceed directly with a quantitative
research design and execution.
We build our brand equity research methodology from the following core components.
  Brand Base Research
Here we gauge the brand equity landscape evaluating existing available research. Our
review includes existing brand architecture of both client and competitive brands. We
conduct far reaching interviews with client management, field sales, product development
and customer service staff. We talk to sales people in the channel about their own
preferences and their perception of customers. We cap Brand Base Research with an initial
round of qualitative depth interviews among a small sample of client product customers and
those loyal to competitor brands.
 Brand Qualitative Research
We employ a unique qualitative methods in brand equity research studies involving the
exploration of branding options. Our typical starting point is a small sample round of depth
interviews. In the beginning stages of brand equity development, this method can be far
more useful than focus groups which may come later. Here, we use a non-directive design
and style, combined with projective interviewing techniques to uncover buyer motivations
and brand perceptions. We do not bombard respondents with a laundry list of questions, but
rather, let them talk freely in a wide ranging manner about their brand experience with client
brands and competitive brands. We may continue the qualitative exploration with a larger
sample using an online qualitative time-extended method which combines both qualitative
and quantitative assessments. If certain conditions exist, we may add focus group
discussions to the qualitative market research work.
 Brand Quantitative Research
Here we precisely measure with custom and tracking studies the components of brand
equity:
• Brand Awareness
• Brand Image Associations
• Differentiating Strength (Perceived Difference) between competing
brands
• Brand loyalty and switching likelihood
• Confidence
• Brand name latitude -- the extendibility of the brand in current and
proposed product categories.
There are many ways to measure a brand. Some measurements approaches are at the firm level,
some at the product level, and still others are at the consumer level.

Firm Level: Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a calculation is
made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset. For example, if you were to
take the value of the firm, as derived by its market capitalization - and then subtract tangible assets
and "measurable" intangible assets- the residual would be the brand equity.[7] One high profile firm
level approach is by the consulting firm Interbrand. To do its calculation, Interbrand estimates brand
value on the basis of projected profits discounted to a present value. The discount rate is a
subjective rate determined by Interbrand and Wall Street equity specialists and reflects the risk
profile, market leadership, stability and global reach of the brand[8].

Product Level: The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare the price of a
no-name or private label product to an "equivalent" branded product. The difference in price,
assuming all things equal, is due to the brand[9]. More recently a revenue premium approach has
been advocated [4].

Consumer Level: This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to find out what
associations with the brand that the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure the awareness
(recall and recognition) and brand image (the overall associations that the brand has). Free
association tests and projective techniques are commonly used to uncover the tangible and
intangible attributes, attitudes, and intentions about a brand[5]. Brands with high levels of
awareness and strong, favorable and unique associations are high equity brands[5].

All of these calculations are, at best, approximations. A more complete understanding of the brand
can occur if multiple measures are used.

Positive Equity Only?

An interesting question is raised- can brands have negative brand equity? From one perspective,
brand equity cannot be negative. Positive brand equity is created by effective marketing including
via advertising, PR and promotion. A second perspective is that negative equity can exist. Looking
at a political "brand" example, the "Democrat" brand may be negative to a Republican, and vice
versa.

The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will use a family
branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family branding
allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core brand. Aspects of brand equity includes:
brand loyalty, awareness, association, and perception of quality .

Examples

In the early 2000s in North America, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic decision to brand
all new or redesigned cars with names starting with "F". This aligned with the previous tradition of
naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford Explorer with the letter "E". The Toronto Star quoted
an analyst who warned that changing the name of the well known Windstar to the Freestar would
cause confusion and discard brand equity built up, while a marketing manager believed that a name
change would highlight the new redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the most
significant cars in American auto history would be abandoned in favor of three entirely new names,
all starting with "F", the Five Hundred, Freestar and Fusion. By 2007, the Freestar was discontinued
without a replacement. The Five Hundred name was thrown out and Taurus was brought back for
the next generation of that car in a surprise move by Alan Mulally. "Five Hundred" was recognized
by less than half of most people, but an overwhelming majority was familiar with the "Ford
Taurus".

Branding Research
Branding research has one goal: deliver branding research information that helps you better
understand your brand position, and then, to enhance that brand position in the marketplace. In a
word, your branding decisions drive branding research. As a well established branding research
agency, we deliver customized brand studies that provide direction, insight,and uncover
opportunities to strengthen competitive position. We view brand development as a mix of creativity
and marketing information to uncover brand positioning opportunities in market spaces often
cluttered with brand noise.
Here's the flow for a brand development engagement showing the integration of creative and
branding research.

>We manage the creative process recognizing the vastly different mindsets -- creative and analytical
-- required for brand positioning success. Branding research studies often begin with Brand Base
research, followed by Brand Qualitative research and targeted quantitative Brand Screening Survey
studies.
 Brand Base Research
Here we gauge the landscape evaluating existing available branding research, client and
 competitive advertising, and brand name architecture. We seek to uncover existing
comparative brand equity marketing information and knowledge. As a part of this brand
equity discovery process, we conduct far reaching interviews with client management, field
sales, product development and customer service staff. We talk to sales people in the
channel about their own brand preferences and their perception of customers. We cap off
Brand Base Research with an initial round of qualitative depth interviews or focus groups.
This qualitative research has a branding and brand name equity focus. We typically include a
small sample of client product customers and those loyal to competitor brands.
 Brand Qualitative Research
We employ a unique qualitative methods. Our typical starting point is a small sample round
of depth interviews. In the beginning stages of brand development, this method can be far
more useful than focus groups which may come later. Here, we use a non-directive design
and style, combined with projective interviewing techniques to uncover buyer motivations
and brand perceptions. We do not bombard respondents with a laundry list of questions, but
rather, let them talk freely in a wide ranging manner about their brand experience with client
brands and competitive brands. We may continue the qualitative exploration with a larger
sample using an online qualitative time-extended method which combines both qualitative
and quantitative assessments. If certain conditions exist, we may add focus group
discussions to the qualitative market research work.
 Brand Screening Survey
After Brand Generation Round 2, we typically implement a Brand Screening Survey:
 Test hypotheses developed from the Branding Qualitative Research. These pertain to
segmentation, strength of brand and category perceptions, buyer attitudes and beliefs,
and product behavior patterns.
 Screen positioning concepts using concept statements and appeal ratings
 Screen brand name and communications themes
 Evaluate linguistic considerations

 Creative Development -- Brand Generation

We interact with your creative team in the development of concepts and ideas aided by
findings of the Creative Branding Research components. We may act as a team participant
or contract with you for full management of the creative development process.
 Refining Options - Making Decision
The narrowed choices are refined and selection made. This process may interact with an
additional wave of screening research.
 Go-To-Market Plan
If our assignment includes assisting with the Market Plan, we act as facilitators and
managers in the execution stage in the introductory phase. If the plan includes a live market
test, a new advertising campaign, or repositioning, we may design branding, advertising,
sales, and product success metrics and methods as a part of your marketing information
system.
Mixing creativity and market research
Just great chefs, or potters at the wheel both evaluate and create at the same time, a successful brand
development and branding research process requires the same blended intuitive and analytical
mindset. Success comes with creative branding ideas and astute market understanding. Often,
branding research can present a dilemma for marketing decision-makers and a tug-of-war among
the pros they rely upon. Creative and advertising people -- whether inside or agencies -- who
conceive exciting concepts may voice that brand ideas come from creative insight and genius, not
research. Research and analytical types might espouse a "customer-driven" approach to branding
and brand opportunity discovery. Our view is to design a process that draws on both: creative
power, and marketing information. Further, we view branding research as useful primarily to feed,
rather than judge, the process. This is especially true with brand concept creation and brand naming
assignments.
Our tact is a process we call "creative branding research." Powerful positioning and the branding to
execute the positioning strategy, first, requires understanding the marketplace. The Strategy
Newsletter talks about the notion of finding and owning a market space as the basis of successful
brand positioning. The issue is "How do we find and own a market space and build or rebuild a
brand?"
Branding Research Method Discussion
Qualitative Research: more detail...Time-Extended Online Depth Interviews...
Once hypotheses about brand positioning and market opportunities are articulated from our initial
limited round in our Brand Base Research, and initial depth interviews, we may expand the
qualitative exploration to a broader set of Time-Extended Online Depth Interviews. This unique
method engages each participating respondent over a period of one week or more thinking about
and reporting their perceptions in a running dialog. We have successfully used this innovative tool
and process with many high profile clients. While primarily qualitative, our online implementation
has some important quantitative features for segmentation and attitude measurement.
The Value of the Qualitative Step...
We believe sound qualitative research is a vital component in decision-oriented marketing research.
It is especially useful in developing hypotheses about consumer motivations. These help us
understand from the consumer's perspective and in the consumer's own language. Qualitative
research, which is characterized by free-ranging, open-ended interviews among a limited number of
respondents, is primarily an exploratory motivational technique. We use it here to identify important
marketing variables and to suggest the relationships among those variables, to focus the creative
process and lay the design groundwork for the later quantitative screening research stage.
The main point here is the value of getting in-depth insight into the buyer belief and attitude
structure, and use this insight for business strategy development. For example, when scanning for
strategic opportunities they can uncover important consumer and business buyer attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors that may precede an emerging trend. Non-directive techniques and projective
research techniques are especially useful in defining buyer motivations .
What about focus groups?
Customer discussion groups -- another term for "marketing research focus groups" -- can be useful
in the early stages of strategy decision-making. For Creative Branding Research, we tend to prefer
in-person or online time-extended depth interviews, our preferred methods of getting inside the
buyer's mind which may offer equally rich, or better, marketing information at an overall lower
cost.
We will recommend focus groups when the following conditions are important...
 idea generation among prospects and customers
 observing group interaction
 little is known about the product or brand category
 observing emotions as brand, products, or ads are revealed
While group discussions are very popular among qualitative techniques, there are many important
"do's and don'ts". It is critical that the researcher knows how, when and where they can be used, and
where they should be avoided. The January 2001 issue of the StrategyNewsletter updates the
basics and some new issues brought on by the advent of online focus groups, and other tech
offshoots.
Content analysis to understand the brand language
Aside from market research focus group discussions and depth interviews, we might use other
methods to understand customer brand perceptions and screen your branding options. Content
analysis is a process of examining customer diary entries, articles by observers of behavior,
advertising, and other language used by advertisers, customers and suppliers in the product
category.
Ethnography to 'watch' what people do
Our branding exploration research may involve special observational qualitative methods such as
ethnographic studies. Photo ethnography, uses various methods, such as self-directed-video to
watch what people do in and around the brand category. We watch as customers and prospects
engage in store shopping, using products in their home, and their interactions with other people
when the product category or brand is involved. A pet food company may employ a video
ethnography study and ask pet owners to video tape their pet.
Case Examples
 Case History: Building Materials Company: Wood Products Brand Naming & Positioning
 Case History: Technology Innovation Consumer New Product Branding & Positioning

Branding research has one goal: deliver branding research information that helps you better
understand your brand position, and then, to enhance that brand position in the marketplace.
In a word, your branding decisions drive branding research. As a well established branding
research agency, we deliver customized brand studies that provide direction, insight,and
uncover opportunities to strengthen competitive position. We view brand development as a
mix of creativity and marketing information to uncover brand positioning opportunities in
market spaces often cluttered with brand noise.
Here's the flow for a brand development engagement showing the integration of creative and
branding research.

>We manage the creative process recognizing the vastly different mindsets -- creative and analytical
-- required for brand positioning success. Branding research studies often begin with Brand Base
research, followed by Brand Qualitative research and targeted quantitative Brand Screening Survey
studies.
 Brand Base Research
Here we gauge the landscape evaluating existing available branding research, client and
competitive advertising, and brand name architecture. We seek to uncover existing
comparative brand equity marketing information and knowledge. As a part of this brand
equity discovery process, we conduct far reaching interviews with client management, field
sales, product development and customer service staff. We talk to sales people in the
channel about their own brand preferences and their perception of customers. We cap off
Brand Base Research with an initial round of qualitative depth interviews or focus groups.
This qualitative research has a branding and brand name equity focus. We typically include a
small sample of client product customers and those loyal to competitor brands.
 Brand Qualitative Research
We employ a unique qualitative methods. Our typical starting point is a small sample round
of depth interviews. In the beginning stages of brand development, this method can be far
more useful than focus groups which may come later. Here, we use a non-directive design
and style, combined with projective interviewing techniques to uncover buyer motivations
and brand perceptions. We do not bombard respondents with a laundry list of questions, but
rather, let them talk freely in a wide ranging manner about their brand experience with client
brands and competitive brands. We may continue the qualitative exploration with a larger
sample using an online qualitative time-extended method which combines both qualitative
 and quantitative assessments. If certain conditions exist, we may add focus group
discussions to the qualitative market research work.
 Brand Screening Survey
After Brand Generation Round 2, we typically implement a Brand Screening Survey:
 Test hypotheses developed from the Branding Qualitative Research. These pertain to
segmentation, strength of brand and category perceptions, buyer attitudes and beliefs,
and product behavior patterns.
 Screen positioning concepts using concept statements and appeal ratings
 Screen brand name and communications themes
 Evaluate linguistic considerations

 Creative Development -- Brand Generation

We interact with your creative team in the development of concepts and ideas aided by
findings of the Creative Branding Research components. We may act as a team participant
or contract with you for full management of the creative development process.
 Refining Options - Making Decision
The narrowed choices are refined and selection made. This process may interact with an
additional wave of screening research.
 Go-To-Market Plan
If our assignment includes assisting with the Market Plan, we act as facilitators and
managers in the execution stage in the introductory phase. If the plan includes a live market
test, a new advertising campaign, or repositioning, we may design branding, advertising,
sales, and product success metrics and methods as a part of your marketing information
system.
Mixing creativity and market research
Just great chefs, or potters at the wheel both evaluate and create at the same time, a successful brand
development and branding research process requires the same blended intuitive and analytical
mindset. Success comes with creative branding ideas and astute market understanding. Often,
branding research can present a dilemma for marketing decision-makers and a tug-of-war among
the pros they rely upon. Creative and advertising people -- whether inside or agencies -- who
conceive exciting concepts may voice that brand ideas come from creative insight and genius, not
research. Research and analytical types might espouse a "customer-driven" approach to branding
and brand opportunity discovery. Our view is to design a process that draws on both: creative
power, and marketing information. Further, we view branding research as useful primarily to feed,
rather than judge, the process. This is especially true with brand concept creation and brand naming
assignments.
Our tact is a process we call "creative branding research." Powerful positioning and the branding to
execute the positioning strategy, first, requires understanding the marketplace. The Strategy
Newsletter talks about the notion of finding and owning a market space as the basis of successful
brand positioning. The issue is "How do we find and own a market space and build or rebuild a
brand?"
Branding Research Method Discussion
Qualitative Research: more detail...Time-Extended Online Depth Interviews...
Once hypotheses about brand positioning and market opportunities are articulated from our initial
limited round in our Brand Base Research, and initial depth interviews, we may expand the
qualitative exploration to a broader set of Time-Extended Online Depth Interviews. This unique
method engages each participating respondent over a period of one week or more thinking about
and reporting their perceptions in a running dialog. We have successfully used this innovative tool
and process with many high profile clients. While primarily qualitative, our online implementation
has some important quantitative features for segmentation and attitude measurement.
The Value of the Qualitative Step...
We believe sound qualitative research is a vital component in decision-oriented marketing research.
It is especially useful in developing hypotheses about consumer motivations. These help us
understand from the consumer's perspective and in the consumer's own language. Qualitative
research, which is characterized by free-ranging, open-ended interviews among a limited number of
respondents, is primarily an exploratory motivational technique. We use it here to identify important
marketing variables and to suggest the relationships among those variables, to focus the creative
process and lay the design groundwork for the later quantitative screening research stage.
The main point here is the value of getting in-depth insight into the buyer belief and attitude
structure, and use this insight for business strategy development. For example, when scanning for
strategic opportunities they can uncover important consumer and business buyer attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors that may precede an emerging trend. Non-directive techniques and projective
research techniques are especially useful in defining buyer motivations .
What about focus groups?
Customer discussion groups -- another term for "marketing research focus groups" -- can be useful
in the early stages of strategy decision-making. For Creative Branding Research, we tend to prefer
in-person or online time-extended depth interviews, our preferred methods of getting inside the
buyer's mind which may offer equally rich, or better, marketing information at an overall lower
cost.
We will recommend focus groups when the following conditions are important...
 idea generation among prospects and customers
 observing group interaction
 little is known about the product or brand category
 observing emotions as brand, products, or ads are revealed
While group discussions are very popular among qualitative techniques, there are many important
"do's and don'ts". It is critical that the researcher knows how, when and where they can be used, and
where they should be avoided. The January 2001 issue of the StrategyNewsletter updates the
basics and some new issues brought on by the advent of online focus groups, and other tech
offshoots.
Content analysis to understand the brand language
Aside from market research focus group discussions and depth interviews, we might use other
methods to understand customer brand perceptions and screen your branding options. Content
analysis is a process of examining customer diary entries, articles by observers of behavior,
advertising, and other language used by advertisers, customers and suppliers in the product
category.
Ethnography to 'watch' what people do
Our branding exploration research may involve special observational qualitative methods such as
ethnographic studies. Photo ethnography, uses various methods, such as self-directed-video to
watch what people do in and around the brand category. We watch as customers and prospects
engage in store shopping, using products in their home, and their interactions with other people
when the product category or brand is involved. A pet food company may employ a video
ethnography study and ask pet owners to video tape their pet.
Case Examples
 Case History: Building Materials Company: Wood Products Brand Naming & Positioning
 Case History: Technology Innovation Consumer New Product Branding & Positioning

Market segmenation research

Market segmentation research maintains focus and delivers needed marketing information in today's
moving economy where new markets and new product categories emerge and traditional market
segments fade away. Our market segmentation research is a way to keep 'your eye on the ball.'
With an on target market research design concept, staged design, and astute market research
questionnaire design, market segmentation research provides a window to your marketing
opportunities and a path to effective marketing strategy. Often we start the market segmentation
process with qualitative research to define ways customers view the product category, and the
differences in those views. perceive competing product categories, and brands within those
categories.
Comprehensive market segmentation research examines a broad range of demographic and
psychographic determinants. Implied in the notion of segmentation research is identifying the 'ideal
brand' for each identified segment.
Methods we use include in our portfolio of market segmentation research methods:
• Qualitative Market Research ...
Here we use a priori judgement regarding segment configuration and product brand
positioning. We conduct preliminary focus groups or other qualitative methods -- such as
depth interviews -- among market segments for which we have hypotheses as to their
importance. We listen to their language. In focus groups, we probe how they talk about the
product or service category. Using projective techniques, we uncover insight as to how
various consumer and business audiences see and feel about the product category and
competitive brands.
Our qualitative market segmentation research effort centers around refining hypotheses,
discovery and refining our learning about customers whether consumers or business
audiences. Our goal is to develop preliminary segmentation dimensions not draw
conclusions about either their importance or size. That is done in our quantitative
segmentation research effort.
• Quantitative Market Segmentation Research ...

Market Segmentatin Goals

 Estimate the market segment dimension salience or impact.
Marlet segmentation dimensions may be demographic, behavioral, attitudinal, or a
combination of these which may form psychographic segments.
 Estimate the market segment dimension salience or impact.
Factors here may include buying frequency, strenth of product category importance,
perceived value of product use system, and consumer or business customer attitudes.
 Concept Test with real or proposed brands and product positioning and price-
perfomance offers. Concept testing of brand and product brands, each with a unique
brand image and positioning, further attunes our quest for market segment definition.
The response to various brand and product positioning and price-performance offers,
and their differentiated customer appeal, further refines our brand segmentation
approach and conclusions.
Quantitative Market Segmentation Methods:
 Stage 1: Developmental Market Segmentation Research Survey
A developmental survey -- typically phone, or online survey -- that takes hypotheses
from our qualitative market segmentation exploration, constructing the survey
questionnaire to bracked the initial dimensions, measure their importance, and the
positition of cometitive brands and cross-category brands along the dimensions.
Product and brand concepts are used to refine the power of each market segmentation
dimension to discriminate. Basic statistical analysis may be employed in this
developmental stage.
 Stage 2: Statistical Quantitative Market Segmentation Study
Based on Stage 1 results dimensions are further refined and pared to a small relevant
set. We implement a larger sample survey to allow perfomance of statistical
measurement tools. These may include conjoint analysis, multiple regression,
perceptual mapping, correspondence analysis and other multivariate techniques. Our
approach to this stage is practical while maintaining statistical rigor.
The results of this multi-stage approach yields data for specific market segmentation
recommendations, and preliminary branding positioning recommendations.
Concept testing
Concept testing is the process of using quantitative methods and qualitative methods to evaluate
consumer response to a product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market. It can also
be used to generate communication designed to alter consumer attitudes toward existing products.
These methods involve the evaluation by consumers of product concepts having certain rational
benefits, such as "a detergent that removes stains but is gentle on fabrics," or non-rational benefits,
such as "a shampoo that lets you be yourself." Such methods are commonly referred to as concept
testing and have been performed using field surveys, personal interviews and focus groups, in
combination with various quantitative methods, to generate and evaluate product concepts.

The concept generation portions of concept testing have been predominantly qualitative.
Advertising professionals have generally created concepts and communications of these concepts
for evaluation by consumers, on the basis of consumer surveys and other market research, or on the
basis of their own experience as to which concepts they believe represent product ideas that are
worthwhile in the consumer market.

The quantitative portions of concept testing procedures have generally been placed in three
categories:
(1) concept evaluations, where concepts representing product ideas are presented to consumers in
verbal or visual form and then quantitatively evaluated by consumers by indicating degrees of
purchase intent, likelihood of trial, etc.,
(2) positioning, which is concept evaluation wherein concepts positioned in the same functional
product class are evaluated together, and
(3) product/concept tests, where consumers first evaluate a concept, then the corresponding
product, and the results are compared.Contents
(4)
Shortcomings of traditional concept testing

The traditional system of concept testing has been inadequate as a means to identify and quantify
the criteria upon which consumer preference of one concept over another was based. These methods
were insufficient to ascertain the relative importance of the factors responsible for or governing why
consumers, markets and market segments reacted differently to concepts presented to them in the
concept tests. Without such information, market researchers and advertisers, with their expertise,
could generalize, on the basis of a concept test, as to how consumers might react to the actual
products or to variations of the tested concepts. Communication of the concept, as embodied in a
new product, has generally been left to the creativity of the advertising agency. No systematic
quantitative method was known, however, which could accurately identify the criteria on which the
consumer choices were based and the contribution or importance of each criterion to the purchase
decision. Therefore, previous concept testing methods have failed to provide market researchers
with the complete information necessary for them to create products specifically tailored to satisfy a
consumer group balance of purchase criteria.

Moreover, traditional concept testing methods have failed to accurately quantify the relationships
between consumer response to concepts and consumer choice of existing products which compete
in the same consumer market. Thus, they were unable to provide a communication of the benefits of
a consumer product, closely representing the tested concept, to a high degree of accuracy.

These problems of concept testing have been identified in business and marketing journals. For
example, Moore and William (1982) in a literature survey and review of concept testing
methodology, point out that concept tests have failed to account for changes between the concept
tested and the communication describing the benefits of the product which embodies the concept.
The Moore article reports that "no amount of improvement in current concept testing practices can
remedy these problems." This is reflective of the fact that none of the traditional methods provided
a quantitative means for ascertaining the relative importance of the underlying criteria of concept
choices as a means for identifying the visual and verbal expressions of the concepts which best
communicate the benefits sought by the consumer. Nor did the traditional methods quantify the
relationships between concepts and existing products offered in the same consumer market. The
ability of a method to ameliorate or overcome the above shortcomings would provide substantial
improvement in communication of the concepts identified in testing and offered to the market as a
product.

One such method is conjoint analysis another is choice modelling

Modern concept testing

Today, with the advent of the Internet, concept testing has experienced a resurgence. Armed with
the ability to show thousands of respondents images of an actual concept, many market researchers,
and organizations, have had their faith restored in this once questionable method. Online survey
takers now have the ability to view a potential product in a similar manner to how they would view
the same product in a retail environment. In addition, with online retailing become increasingly
prominent, many online respondents are also online consumers. Thus, they are able to easily place
themselves in the mindset of a consumer looking to buy goods or services. Since the arrival of these
methods, market researchers have been able to make better, more accurate, suggestions to their
clients regarding the decision to move forward, revise, or start over with a product concept. Online
Choice Modelling for example can produce detailed econometric models of demand for various
attributes of the new product such as feature, packaging and price.

Product research
Product market research serves several goals: new product design and market validation research, or
assessing existing products. The goal -- and your overall positioning and market strategy -- drive
our product research design.

Coolhunting
Coolhunting is a term coined in the early 1990s referring to a new breed of marketing professionals,
called coolhunters. It is their job to make observations and predictions in changes of new or existing
cultural trends. The word derives from the aesthetic of "cool".

In this they resemble the intuitive fashion magazine editors of the 1960s such as Nancy White
(Harper's Bazaar 1958–1971). Coolhunters operate most notably in the world of street fashion and
design, but their work also blurs into that of futurists such as Faith Popcorn. Many webloggers now
serve as online coolhunters, in a variety of cultural and technological areas.

Pattern Recognition, a 2003 novel by William Gibson, features a coolhunter as its main
character.Contents [hide]
1 Business
1.1 Firms
1.2 In-house
1.3 Open-source
2 Methods and practices
2.1 Focus groups
2.2 Undercover coolhunters
2.3 Online coolhunting
2.4 Uncoolhunting
3 See also
4 Further reading
5 External links
5.1 Video
5.2 Print

Business

Coolhunters are found in many different places. The most popular are:

Firms

A coolhunting firm is a marketing agency whose exclusive purpose is to conduct research of the
youth demographic in the areas listed above. They then compile their data and produce reports
detailing emerging and declining trends in youth culture as well as predictions for future trends.
These reports are then sold to various companies whose products target the youth demographic.
They also offer consulting services. Coolhunting firms often provide services for some of the largest
corporations in the world.

In-house

Rather than outsourcing their market research, some companies opt for in-house youth culture
marketing divisions. These divisions act in much the same way as a coolhunting firm but the reports
and data collected remain within the company and are used solely to promote its products. A
company will often prefer this form of coolhunting as a way to gain an advantage in the valuable
youth market since the research conducted by coolhunting firms is available to anyone willing to
pay for it. A prime example of a company that employs in-house coolhunting is Viacom's MTV
television network.

Open-source

Coolhunting turned into a global online project when trendguide.com was launched in December
1998 to be the first open-source lifestyle trend database with rankings based on users' votes, uploads
and comments. The global project was started by a Swiss research team led by Michael Hänni,
creating a global virtual network of coolhunters. The concept of trendguide.com (democratization of
trends: give free access to trends reports and base trend reports on inputs from all around the world)
changed the former trend business field where reports, that are created by few individuals, are sold
at high prices.

Methods and practices

Coolhunting is much more than simple market research because of the nature of the subjects. The
teen and preteen market is often referred to as a "stubborn" demographic in that they do not respond
well to blatant advertising and marketing campaigns targeted at them. Coolhunters therefore must
be more stealthy in their methods of gathering information and data.

Focus groups

Focus groups, though quite obvious in their attempts at gathering information, are very popular
among coolhunters as they provide direct insight into the thoughts and feelings of their target
demographic. Coolhunters will typically gather a group of randomly selected individuals from their
target demographic. While one or more market researchers interact with the group, they are often
being monitored and recorded by a non-visible group, because not only do coolhunters want to hear
what their subjects have to say, they also want to observe their simple mannerisms.

Depending on the nature of the study, the methods of the information-gathering during a focus
group interview may be extremely broad, with questions relating to lifestyle and youth culture, or
more specific, like comparing certain brands and determining which brands the group is most
responsive to.

Participants in focus groups are usually rewarded for their participation, whether it be a cash
amount, free products, or other rewards.

Undercover coolhunters

Coolhunters will often seek out individuals from within their target demographic who are regarded
as leaders or trendsetters. They will then hire these individuals to be undercover coolhunters, who
gather information secretly among their peers and report their findings back to their employers. This
is a popular method of coolhunting as it provides insight into their target demographic within their
natural environment.

Online coolhunting

There are a wide variety of methods for conducting market research online. Popular examples are
online surveys where upon completion, the participant will usually receive a prize or monetary
compensation. Other times coolhunters will enter chatrooms and webgroups posing as an individual
within the target demographic and gather information.

Uncoolhunting

This word appeared for the first time in the website/magazine The UncoolHunter.com . The
uncoolhunting refers to the search, cataloguing, referring and then publication of the circuits that are
not related to the fashion and to the massive cultural industry at the precise moment. This activity
researches the social margins, rescuing the trash, the bizarre, the kitsch, the pretentiously cheap, the
expensive sold at a lower price, the freak, the badly designed, the surreal, the hyper real, the
incoherent, the sub-professional, the sub-scientific and the underdeveloped.

Although the uncoolhunting is based on the coolhunting, they are opposites. The uncoolhunting
does not research the emergent but the submerged, a look from left to right which is totally different
to the unidirectional look offered by the coolhunting.

Pricing research
Pricing research involves first a pricing strategy assessment supported by strong pricing research capabilities.
configurations in the context of market positioning opportunities. For pricing studies, we employ both qualitativ
Pricing research usually concentrates on customers' sensitivity to pricing. This price sensitivity is driven by the n
research about the overall price-feature offerings for your brand or product category, we recommend simultaneo
stage in the decision process

Commercial Eye tracking

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze ("where we are looking") or the
motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye
movement. Eye trackers are used in research on the visual system, in psychology, in cognitive
linguistics and in product design. There are a number of methods for measuring eye movement. The
most popular variant uses video images from which the eye position is extracted. Other methods use
search coils or are based on the electrooculogram.Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Tracker types
3 Technologies and techniques
4 Eye tracking vs. gaze tracking
5 Eye tracking in practice
5.1 Eye tracking while driving a car in a difficult situation
5.2 Eye tracking of younger and elderly people in walking
6 Choosing an eye tracker
7 Applications
7.1 Commercial applications
8 References
9 Additional References
9.1 Commercial eye tracking
10 External links
11 See also

History

In the 1800s, studies of eye movement were made using direct observations.

In 1879 in Paris, Louis Émile Javal observed that reading does not involve a smooth sweeping of
the eyes along the text, as previously assumed, but a series of short stops (called fixations) and
quick saccades.[1] This observation raised important questions about reading, which were explored
during the 1900s: On which words do the eyes stop? For how long? When does it regress back to
already seen words?

An example of fixations and saccades over text. This is the typical pattern of eye movement during
reading. The eyes never move smoothly over still text.

Edmund Huey[2] built an early eye tracker, using a sort of contact lens with a hole for the pupil.
The lens was connected to an aluminum pointer that moved in response to the movement of the eye.
Huey studied and quantified regressions (only a small proportion of saccades are regressions), and
show that some words in a sentence are not fixated.
The first non-intrusive eye trackers were built by Guy Thomas Buswell in Chicago, using beams of
light that were reflected on the eye and then recording them on film. Buswell made systematic
studies into reading[3] and picture viewing[4].

In the 1950s, Alfred L. Yarbus[5] did important eye tracking research and his 1967 book is one of
the most quoted eye tracking publications ever. For example he showed the task given to a subject
has a very large influence on the subject's eye movement. He also wrote about the relation between
fixations and interest:
"All the records (…) show conclusively that the character of the eye movement is either completely
independent of or only very slightly dependent on the material of the picture and how it was made,
provided that it is flat or nearly flat." [6] The cyclical pattern in the examination of pictures "is
dependent not only on what is shown on the picture, but also on the problem facing the observer
and the information that he hopes to gain from the picture." [7]

This study by Yarbus (1967) is often referred to as evidence on how the task given to a person
influences his or her eye movement.
"Records of eye movements show that the observer's attention is usually held only by certain
elements of the picture.... Eye movement reflects the human thought processes; so the observer's
thought may be followed to some extent from records of eye movement (the thought accompanying
the examination of the particular object). It is easy to determine from these records which elements
attract the observer's eye (and, consequently, his thought), in what order, and how often." [8]
"The observer's attention is frequently drawn to elements which do not give important information
but which, in his opinion, may do so. Often an observer will focus his attention on elements that are
unusual in the particular circumstances, unfamiliar, incomprehensible, and so on." [9]
"(…) when changing its points of fixation, the observer's eye repeatedly returns to the same
elements of the picture. Additional time spent on perception is not used to examine the secondary
elements, but to reexamine the most important elements." [10]

This study by Hunziker (1970)[11]on eye tracking in problem solving used simple 8 mm film to
track eye movement by filming the subject through a glass plate on which the visual problem was
displayed. To view a slow motion movie of the eye tracking in problem solving click:
http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/eye%20movements%20problem%20solving.swf for
details of the study: http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/forsch1e.htm

In the 1970s, eye tracking research expanded rapidly, particularly reading research. A good
overview of the research in this period is given by Rayner.[12].

In 1980, Just and Carpenter [13] formulated the influential Strong eye-mind Hypothesis, the
hypothesis that "there is no appreciable lag between what is fixated and what is processed". If this
hypothesis is correct, then when a subject looks at a word or object, he or she also thinks about
(process cognitively), and for exactly as long as the recorded fixation. The hypothesis is too often
today taken for granted by beginning eye tracker researchers.

During the 1980s, the eye-mind hypothesis was often questioned in light of covert attention,[14]
[15] the attention to something that one is not looking at, which people often do. If covert attention
is common during eye tracking recordings, the resulting scan path and fixation patterns would often
show not where our attention has been, but only where the eye has been looking, and so eye
tracking would not indicate cognitive processing.

According to Hoffman, [16] current consensus is that visual attention is always slightly (100 to 250
ms) ahead of the eye. But as soon as attention moves to a new position, the eyes will want to follow.
[17]
We still cannot infer specific cognitive processes directly from a fixation on a particular object in a
scene.[18] For instance, a fixation on a face in a picture may indicate recognition, liking, dislike,
puzzlement etc. Therefore eye tracking is often coupled with other methodologies, such as
introspective verbal protocols.

Tracker types

Eye trackers measure rotations of the eye in one of several ways, but principally they fall into three
categories:

One type uses an attachment to the eye, such as a special contact lens with an embedded mirror or
magnetic field sensor, and the movement of the attachment is measured with the assumption that it
does not slip significantly as the eye rotates. Measurements with tight fitting contact lenses have
provided extremely sensitive recordings of eye movement, and magnetic search coils are the
method of choice for researchers studying the dynamics and underlying physiology of eye
movement.

The second broad category uses some non-contact, optical method for measuring eye motion. Light,
typically infrared, is reflected from the eye and sensed by a video camera or some other specially
designed optical sensor. The information is then analyzed to extract eye rotation from changes in
reflections. Video based eye trackers typically use the corneal reflection (the first Purkinje image)
and the center of the pupil as features to track over time. A more sensitive type of eye tracker, the
dual-Purkinje eye tracker[19], uses reflections from the front of the cornea (first Purkinje image)
and the back of the lens (fourth Purkinje image) as features to track. A still more sensitive method
of tracking is to image features from inside the eye, such as the retinal blood vessels, and follow
these features as the eye rotates. Optical methods, particularly those based on video recording, are
widely used for gaze tracking and are favored for being non-invasive and inexpensive.

The third category uses electric potentials measured with electrodes placed around the eyes. The
eyes are the origin of a steady electric potential field, which can also be detected in total darkness
and if the eyes are closed. It can be modelled to be generated by a dipole with its positive pole at the
cornea and its negative pole at the retina. The electric signal that can be derived using two pairs of
contact electrodes placed on the skin around one eye is called Electrooculogram (EOG). If the eyes
move from the centre position towards the periphery, the retina approaches one electrode while the
cornea approaches the opposing one. This change in the orientation of the dipole and consequently
the electric potential field results in a change in the measured EOG signal. Inversely, by analysing
these changes in eye movement can be tracked. Due to the discretisation given by the common
electrode setup two separate movement components - a horizontal and a vertical - can be identified.
The potential difference is not constant and its variations make it challenging to use EOG for
measuring slow eye movement and detecting gaze direction. EOG is, however, a very robust
technique for measuring saccadic eye movement associated with gaze shifts and detecting blinks. It
is a very light-weight approach that, in contrast to current video-based eye trackers, only requires
very low computational power, works under different lighting conditions and can be implemented
as an embedded, self-contained wearable system [20]. It is thus the method of choice for measuring
eye movement in mobile daily-life situations and REM phases during sleep.

Technologies and techniques

The most widely used current designs are video-based eye trackers. A camera focuses on one or
both eyes and records their movement as the viewer looks at some kind of stimulus. Most modern
eye-trackers use contrast to locate the center of the pupil and use infrared and near-infrared non-
collimated light to create a corneal reflection (CR). The vector between these two features can be
used to compute gaze intersection with a surface after a simple calibration for an individual.

Two general types of eye tracking techniques are used: Bright Pupil and Dark Pupil. Their
difference is based on the location of the illumination source with respect to the optics. If the
illumination is coaxial with the optical path, then the eye acts as a retroreflector as the light reflects
off the retina creating a bright pupil effect similar to red eye. If the illumination source is offset
from the optical path, then the pupil appears dark because the retroreflection from the retina is
directed away from the camera.

Bright Pupil tracking creates greater iris/pupil contrast allowing for more robust eye tracking with
all iris pigmentation and greatly reduces interference caused by eyelashes and other obscuring
features[citation needed]. It also allows for tracking in lighting conditions ranging from total
darkness to very bright. But bright pupil techniques are not effective for tracking outdoors as
extraneous IR sources interfere with monitoring[citation needed].

Eye tracking setups vary greatly; some are head-mounted, some require the head to be stable (for
example, with a chin rest), and some function remotely and automatically track the head during
motion. Most use a sampling rate of at least 30 Hz. Although 50/60 Hz is most common, today
many video-based eye trackers run at 240, 350 or even 1000/1250 Hz, which is needed in order to
capture the detail of the very rapid eye movement during reading, or during studies of neurology.

Eye movement is typically divided into fixations and saccades, when the eye gaze pauses in a
certain position, and when it moves to another position, respectively. The resulting series of
fixations and saccades is called a scanpath. Most information from the eye is made available during
a fixation, but not during a saccade.[citation needed] The central one or two degrees of the visual
angle (the fovea) provide the bulk of visual information; the input from larger eccentricities (the
periphery) is less informative. Hence, the locations of fixations along a scanpath show what
information loci on the stimulus were processed during an eye tracking session. On average,
fixations last for around 200 ms during the reading of linguistic text, and 350 ms during the viewing
of a scene. Preparing a saccade towards a new goal takes around 200 ms.[citation needed]

Scanpaths are useful for analyzing cognitive intent, interest, and salience. Other biological factors
(some as simple as gender) may affect the scanpath as well. Eye tracking in HCI typically
investigates the scanpath for usability purposes, or as a method of input in gaze-contingent displays,
also known as gaze-based interfaces.

Eye tracking vs. gaze tracking

Eye trackers necessarily measure the rotation of the eye with respect to the measuring system. If the
measuring system is head mounted, as with EOG, then eye-in-head angles are measured. If the
measuring system is table mounted, as with scleral search coils or table mounted camera (“remote”)
systems, then gaze angles are measured.

In many applications, the head position is fixed using a bite bar, a forehead support or something
similar, so that eye position and gaze are the same. In other cases, the head is free to move, and
head movement is measured with systems such as magnetic or video based head trackers.

For head-mounted trackers, head position and direction are added to eye-in-head direction to
determine gaze direction. For table-mounted systems, such as search coils, head direction is
subtracted from gaze direction to determine eye-in-head position.
Eye tracking in practice

A great deal of research has gone into studies of the mechanisms and dynamics of eye rotation, but
the goal of eye tracking is most often to estimate gaze direction. Users may be interested in what
features of an image draw the eye, for example. It is important to realize that the eye tracker does
not provide absolute gaze direction, but rather can only measure changes in gaze direction. In order
to know precisely what a subject is looking at, some calibration procedure is required in which the
subject looks at a point or series of points, while the eye tracker records the value that corresponds
to each gaze position. (Even those techniques that track features of the retina cannot provide exact
gaze direction because there is no specific anatomical feature that marks the exact point where the
visual axis meets the retina, if indeed there is such a single, stable point.) An accurate and reliable
calibration is essential for obtaining valid and repeatable eye movement data, and this can be a
significant challenge for non-verbal subjects or those who have unstable gaze.

Each method of eye tracking has advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of an eye tracking
system depends on considerations of cost and application. There is a trade-off between cost and
sensitivity, with the most sensitive systems costing many tens of thousands of dollars and requiring
considerable expertise to operate properly. Advances in computer and video technology have led to
the development of relatively low cost systems that are useful for many applications and fairly easy
to use. Interpretation of the results still requires some level of expertise, however, because a
misaligned or poorly calibrated system can produce wildly erroneous data.

Eye tracking while driving a car in a difficult situation

Explanations see corresponding text to the left.

The eye movement of two groups of drivers have been filmed with a special head camera by a team
of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology: Novice and experienced drivers had their eye-
movement recorded while approaching a bend of a narrow road. The series of images has been
condensed from the original film frames[21] to show 2 eye fixations per image for better
comprehension.

Each of these stills correspond approximately to 0.5 seconds in realtime.

The series of images shows an example of eye fixations #9 to #14 of a typical novice and an
experienced driver.

Comparison of the top images shows that the experienced driver checks the curve and even has
fixation number 9 left to look aside while the novice driver needs to check the road and estimate his
distance to the parked car.

In the middle images the experienced driver is now fully concentrating on the location where an
oncoming car could be seen. The novice driver concentrates his view on the parked car.

In the bottom image the novice is busy estimating the distance between the left wall and the parked
car, while the experienced driver can use his peripheral vision for that and still concentrates his
view on the dangerous point of the curve: If a car appears there he has to give way, i. e. stop to the
right instead of passing the parked car.[22]

Eye tracking of younger and elderly people in walking

Elderly subjects depend more on foveal vision than younger subjects during walking. Their walking
speed is decreased by a limited visual field, probably caused by a deteriorated peripheral vision.

Younger subjects make use of both their central and peripheral vision while walking. Their
peripheral vision allows faster control over the process of walking.[23]

Choosing an eye tracker

One difficulty in evaluating an eye tracking system is that the eye is never still, and it can be
difficult to distinguish the tiny, but rapid and somewhat chaotic movement associated with fixation
from noise sources in the eye tracking mechanism itself. One useful evaluation technique is to
record from the two eyes simultaneously and compare the vertical rotation records. The two eyes of
a normal subject are very tightly coordinated and vertical gaze directions typically agree to within
+/- 2 minutes of arc (RMS of vertical position difference) during steady fixation. A properly
functioning and sensitive eye tracking system will show this level of agreement between the two
eyes, and any differences much larger than this can usually be attributed to measurement error.

Applications

A wide variety of disciplines use eye tracking techniques, including cognitive science, psychology
(notably psycholinguistics, the visual world paradigm), human-computer interaction (HCI),
marketing research and medical research (neurological diagnosis). Specific applications include the
tracking eye movement in language reading, music reading, the perception of advertising, and the
playing of sport.[24] Uses include:
Cognitive Studies
Medical Research
Human Factors
Computer Usability
Translation Process Research
Vehicle Simulators
In-vehicle Research
Training Simulators
Virtual Reality
Adult Research
Infant Research
Adolescent Research
Geriatric Research
Primate Research
Sports Training
fMRI / MEG / EEG
Commercial eye tracking (web usability, advertising, marketing, automotive, etc)
Finding good clues
Communication systems for disabled
Improved image and video communications
Computer Science: Activity Recognition [25] [26]

Commercial applications

In recent years, the increased sophistication and accessibility of eye tracking technologies have
generated a great deal of interest in the commercial sector. Applications include web usability,
advertising, sponsorship, package design and automotive engineering. In general, commercial eye
tracking studies function by presenting a target stimulus to a sample of consumers while an eye
tracker is used to record the activity of the eye. Examples of target stimuli may include websites,
television programs, sporting events, films, commercials, magazines, newspapers, packages, shelf
Displays, consumer systems (ATMs, checkout systems, kiosks), and software. The resulting data
can be statistically analyzed and graphically rendered to provide evidence of specific visual
patterns. By examining fixations, saccades, pupil dilation, blinks and a variety of other behaviors
researchers can determine a great deal about the effectiveness of a given medium or product. While
some companies complete this type of research internally, there are many private companies that
offer eye tracking services and analysis.

The most prominent field of commercial eye tracking research is web usability. While traditional
usability techniques are often quite powerful in providing information on clicking and scrolling
patterns, eye tracking offers the ability to analyze user interaction between the clicks. This provides
valuable insight into which features are the most eye-catching, which features cause confusion and
which ones are ignored altogether. Specifically, eye tracking can be used to assess search efficiency,
branding, online advertisements, navigation usability, overall design and many other site
components. Analyses may target a prototype or competitor site in addition to the main client site.

Eye tracking is commonly used in a variety of different advertising media. Commercials, print ads,
online ads and sponsored programs are all conducive to analysis with current eye tracking
technology. Analyses focus on visibility of a target product or logo in the context of a magazine,
newspaper, website, or televised event. This allows researchers to assess in great detail how often a
sample of consumers fixates on the target logo, product or ad. In this way, an advertiser can
quantify the success of a given campaign in terms of actual visual attention.

Eye tracking provides package designers with the opportunity to examine the visual behavior of a
consumer while interacting with a target package. This may be used to analyze distinctiveness,
attractiveness and the tendency of the package to be chosen for purchase. Eye tracking is often
utilized while the target product is in the prototype stage. Prototypes are tested against each other
and competitors to examine which specific elements are associated with high visibility and appeal.

One of the most promising applications of eye tracking research is in the field of automotive design.
Research is currently underway to integrate eye tracking cameras into automobiles. The goal of this
endeavor is to provide the vehicle with the capacity to assess in real-time the visual behavior of the
driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that drowsiness is
the primary causal factor in 100,000 police-reported accidents per year. Another NHTSA study
suggests that 80% of collisions occur within three seconds of a distraction. By equipping
automobiles with the ability to monitor drowsiness, inattention, and cognitive engagement driving
safety could be dramatically enhanced. Lexus claims to have equipped its LS 460 with the first
driver monitor system in 2006, providing a warning if the driver takes his or her eye off the road.
[27]

Since 2005, eye tracking is used in communication systems for disabled persons: allowing the user
to speak, send e-mail, browse the Internet and perform other such activities, using only their eyes.
Eye control works even when the user has involuntary movement as a result of Cerebral palsy or
other disabilities, and for those who have glasses or other physical interference which would limit
the effectiveness of older eye control systems.[citation needed]

Eye tracking has also seen minute use in autofocus still camera equipment, where users can focus
on a subject simply by looking at it through the viewfinder.[citation needed]
Customer satisfaction research
Customer satisfaction research is that area of marketing research which focuses on customers'
perceptions with their shopping or purchase experience.

Many firms are interested in understanding what their customers thought about their shopping or
purchase experience, because finding new customers is generally more costly and difficult that
servicing existing or repeat customers.

Many people are familiar with "business to customer" (B2C) or retail-level research, but there are
also many "business to business" (B2B) or wholesale-level projects commissioned as well.Contents
[hide]
1 Types of research
1.1 Descriptive or documentary research
1.2 Inferential or models-based research
2 Methods
2.1 Quantitative Research Studies
2.2 Qualitative Research Studies
3 References
4 See also

Types of research

Descriptive or documentary research

Many customer satisfaction studies are intentionally or unintentionally only "descriptive" in nature
because they simply provide a snapshot in time of customer attitudes. If the study instrument is
administered to groups of customers periodically, then a descriptive picture of customer satisfaction
through time can be developed (this is a type of "tracking" study).

Inferential or models-based research

Beyond documentary types of work are studies that attempt to provide an understanding of why
customers have the perceptions they do and what may be done to change those perceptions. While
models-based studies also provide snapshots of customer attitudes, the results of these studies are
more powerful because they present the firm with recommendations on how to improve customer
satisfaction. Frequently, these studies also provide firms with a prioritization of the various
recommended actions. Inferential studies can also be conducted as tracking studies. When this is
done, the firm can gain insight into how the drivers of customer satisfaction are changing in
addition to documenting the levels and areas of customer satisfaction.

Methods

Quantitative Research Studies

Quantitative studies allow a firm to develop an understanding of the "big picture" of their
customers' experiences based upon a relatively small number of interviews. This "sample" of the
firm's customers must be carefully designed and drawn if the results of the study are to be
considered representative of the customer population as a whole. In most cases, the results of
quantitative studies are based upon the responses of a relatively "large" number of interviews.
Depending upon the size of the population and the amount of segmentation desired, "large" can be
as few as 50 responses or range from several hundred to thousands of interviews. Mail-based,
telephone-based, and (more recently) Internet-based surveys and related data collection methods.

Qualitative Research Studies

Qualitative studies are used by firms to provide a more detailed and/or unconstrained understanding
of customer experiences. In most cases, the results of qualitative studies are based upon dozens of
interviews. Qualitative studies are not designed to provide insights that are projectable to the
customer population: qualitative studies are used for initial exploration of experiences and topics or
to probe more deeply the reasons behind customer perceptions. Focus groups (group depth
interviews) and "one-on-ones" (individual depth interviews) are common examples of qualitative
studies.

Test market
A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group
used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out.
The criteria used to judge the acceptability of a test market region or group include:
a population that is demographically similar to the proposed target market; and
relative isolation from densely populated media markets so that advertising to the test audience can
be efficient and economical.Contents [hide]
1 Practical use of test markets
2 Risk
2.1 Risk versus Time
2.2 Product Replacement
3 Virtual Test Markets
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Practical use of test markets

The test market ideally aims to duplicate 'everything' - promotion and distribution as well as
`product' - on a smaller scale. The technique replicates, typically in one area, what is planned to
occur in a national launch; and the results are very carefully monitored, so that they can be
extrapolated to projected national results. The `area' may be any one of the following:
Television area

internet online test

Test town
Residential neighborhood
Test site
A number of decisions have to be taken about any test market:
Which test market?
What is to be tested?
How long a test?
What are the success criteria?

The simple go or no-go decision, together with the related reduction of risk, is normally the main
justification for the expense of test markets. At the same time, however, such test markets can be
used to test specific elements of a new product's marketing mix; possibly the version of the product
itself, the promotional message and media spend, the distribution channels and the price. In this
case, several `matched' test markets (usually small ones) may be used, each testing different
marketing mixes.

Clearly, all test markets provide additional information in advance of a launch and may ensure that
launch is successful: it is reported that, even at such a late stage, half the products entering test
markets do not justify a subsequent national launch. However, all test markets do suffer from a
number of disadvantages:
Replicability - Even the largest test market is not totally representative of the national market, and
the smaller ones may introduce gross distortions. Test market results therefore have to be treated
with reservations, in exactly the same way as other market research.
Effectiveness - In many cases the major part of the investment has already been made (in
development and in plant, for example) before the `product' is ready to be test marketed. Therefore,
the reduction in risk may be minimal; and not worth the delays involved. 'Competitor warning'. All
test markets give competitors advance warning of your intentions, and the time to react. They may
even be able to go national with their own product before your own test is complete. They may also
interfere with your test, by changing their promotional activities (usually by massively increasing
them) to the extent that your results are meaningless.
Cost- Although the main objective of test markets is to reduce the amount of investment put at risk,
they may still involve significant costs.

Risk

It has to be recognized that the development and launch of almost any new product or service carry
a considerable element of risk. Indeed, in view of the on-going dominance of the existing brands, it
has to be questioned whether the risk involved in most major launches is justifiable. In a survey of
700 consumer and industrial companies, Booz Allen Hamilton reported an average new product
success rate (after launch) of 65 per cent; although it had to be noted that only 10 per cent of these
were totally new products and only 20 per cent new product lines - but these two, highest risk,
categories also dominated the `most successful' new product list (accounting for 60 per cent).

New product development has therefore to be something of a numbers game. A large number of
ideas have to be created and developed for even one to emerge. There is safety in numbers; which
once more confers an advantage to the larger organizations.

Risk versus Time

Most of the stages of testing, which are the key parts of the new `product' process, are designed to
reduce risk; to ensure that the product or service will be a success. However, all of them take time.
In some markets, such as fashion businesses for example, time is a luxury which is not available.
The greatest risk here is not having the `product' available at the right time, and ahead of the
competitors. These markets consequently obtain less benefit from the more sophisticated new
product processes, and typically do not make use of them at all.

'When' to enter a market with a new product should, in any case, be a conscious decision. In relation
to competitors there are two main alternatives:
Pioneer - Being first into a market carries considerable risks. On the other hand, the first brand is
likely to gain a major, leading and on-going, share of that market in the long term. Pioneering is
often the province of the smaller organizations, on a small scale, since their investment can be that
much less than that of the majors.
Latecomer - This offers the reverse strategy. The risk is minimized since the pioneer has already
demonstrated the viability of the market. On the other hand, the related reward, that of becoming
the market leader, may also be missed.

To a certain extent this discussion has now long since been overtaken by events. Japanese
corporations led the way in reducing development time dramatically, and even to halving it in the
very mature car industry. To quote George Stalk of the Boston Consulting Group:

"The effects of this time-based advantage are devastating; quite simply, American companies are
losing leadership of technology and innovation ... Unless U.S. companies reduce their product
development and introduction cycles from 36-48 months to 12-18 months, Japanese manufacturers
will easily out-innovate and outperform them."

Accordingly, the choice to pioneer or to follow no longer exists in a number of industries. The only
way for an organization even to survive may be to shorten development times below those of its
competitors and for many others.

Product Replacement

One form of `new product launch' which is little discussed, but is probably the most prevalent - and
hence most important - of all, is that of replacement of one product by a new one; usually an
`improved' version. The risk levels may be much reduced, since there is an existing user base to
underwrite sales (as long as the new product doesn't alienate them - as `New Coca-Cola' did in the
US and `New Persil' did in the UK). Such an introduction will be complicated by the fact that, at
least for some time, there will be two forms of the product in the pipeline. Some firms may opt for a
straight cut-over; one day the old product will be coming off the production line, and the next day
the new product. Most will favour parallel running for a period of time, even if only because this is
forced upon them by their distribution chains. This ensures that the new really does, eventually,
replace the old; and it may reveal that both can run together.

Virtual Test Markets

The considerable amounts of time and ressources necessary to conduct test markets, restrict the
amount of test markets which can be conducted by companies. The risk to reveal a new product
design too early is another concern for companies in fast moving and highly competitive markets,
which is independent from any cost & time considerations. To overcome these limitations a new
type of test markets, so called Virtual Test Markets, was devised. Virtual Test Markets are computer
simulations of consumers, companies and the market environment. The technological basis for this
kind of test market is a Multi-agent system as well as methods from Artificial Intelligence. In a
Virtual Test Market, new products or marketing and distribution strategies can be tested without the
risk and time constraints discussed above. Another advantage is the ability to test many different
products in one Virtual Test Market as the computer simulation can always be reset to the original
situation before the introduction of a new product.

Viral marketing research

Viral Marketing Research is a subset of marketing research that measures and compares the relative
Return On Investment (ROI) of advertising and communication strategies designed to exploit social
networks.

Algorithms are used to derive respondent-level coefficients of Social Networking Potential (SNP).
These coefficients are integrated with respondent-level data measuring
the selling effectiveness of specific communications and
the Viral Marketing Potential of those communications within specific media (e.g., Internet video,
texting, print ads, television).

Results identify strategies that are likely to drive sales among the target audience and be distributed
throughout relevant social networks.

Examples

An electronics manufacture is about to launch a new video console and wants to maximize new
product potential. In advance of the launch, Viral Marketing Research is used to compare the
relative ROI of several strategies of among high SNP respondents within the target audience.
Results help the manufacturer maximize sales by identifying what needs to be communicated and
through which media (e.g., print ads, Internet videos, texting, television).

A pharmaceutical company has developed a new drug for an existing drug category and needs to
build brand recognition. Viral Marketing Research could be conducted among physicians or patients
to identify which communication strategies are most likely to be spread by word-of-mouth, and
which are likely to induce physicians/patients to prescribe/request the new drug.

The search engine Viral Sauce uses viral marketing research and statistical methods in order to rank
the results of search queries by the perceived viral potential of content (using a measure which they
call vRank), rather than by content's current popularity. In doing so they claim to be able to retrieve
content which is more interesting to niche users.
Social Networking Potential (SNP) is a numeric coefficient, derived through algorithms to represent
both the size of an individual's social network and their ability to influence that network. A close
synonym is the Alpha User, a person with a high SNP. SNP coefficients have two primary functions:
the classification of individuals based on their Social Networking Potential, and
the weighting of respondents in quantitative marketing research studies.

By calculating the SNP of respondents and by targeting High SNP respondents, the strength and
relevance of quantitative marketing research used to drive viral marketing strategies is enhanced.

Variables used to calculate an individual's SNP include but are not limited to: participation in Social
Networking activities, group memberships, leadership roles, recognition,
publication/editing/contributing to non-electronic media, publication/editing/contributing to
electronic media (websites, blogs), and frequency of past distribution of information within their
network.

The first book to discuss the commercial use of Alpha Users among mobile telecoms audiences was
3G Marketing by Ahonen, Kasper and Melkko in 2004. The first book to discuss Alpha Users more
generally in the context of social marketing intelligence was Communities Dominate Brands by
Ahonen & Moore in 2005.Contents [hide]
1 Examples
2 Books
3 References
4 See also

Examples

An electronics manufacturer wants to launch a new product. Traditional advertising is expensive

relative to viral campaigns. The manufacturer wants to create a viral marketing campaign but is
unsure what to communicate and which media to use. A marketing research study that targets High
SNP respondents could be used to estimate the relative potential of a number of different strategies,
delivering estimates of
how effective specific communications are at generating sales and,
which communications and media are most likely to be forwarded through social networks.

A manufacturer of clothing wants to create "buzz" for a new line of products. They have produced a
number of video clips that have differing emotional appeals (fun, sexy, casual, vibrant). By
targeting high SNP individuals, exposing them to the video clips, and measuring the extent to which
they are influenced by each, an optimal viral marketing strategy can be identified.