For the past two years MixRank has been building the world's largest database of digital advertisers. By analyzing the websites of more than 500,000 digital advertisers with sophisticated data mining technology developed for this project, amazing insights into cutting-edge research best practices employed by the world's leading marketers can be gained. The enormous volume of data studied permits going beyond case studies to present, for the first time, a truly comprehensive perspective about questions like: Which surprising analytics strategy is used only by the top 3% of marketers? How do major global brands effectively decide which user activity data to capture and how do they separate the signal from the noise? Which measurements are actually correlated with the success of a campaign?
Responding to a call by a major consumer electronics company to accelerate the pace and quality of product development, J Walter Thompson (Detroit) and Moskowitz Jacobs Inc. (New York) developed a new paradigm. The paradigm incorporates current as well as new research procedures into a cost-effective, rapid, sustainable development system, with ongoing market feedback. This paper presents the components of that approach, illustrates the changes in the market research paradigm that ensue, and presents data from a case history on PDAs (personal digital assistant).
Using Environics global database resulting from its 1998 International Environmental Monitor survey (involving over 30 interviews across thirty countries representing 68% of the world's population) the authors undertook a segmentation analysis of the worlds people based on their environmental attitudes and concerns. This paper presents the major findings of this attitudinal segmentation and includes a technical appendix followed by a list of participating research institutes.
In order to ensure BT - the largest telecommunications supplier in the UK - obtains maximum value from its investment in market research, its Personal Communications (PC) Division has put in place an initiative - the creation of a market research database - aimed at delivering three key benefits. First, the database - containing all the ad hoc research reports conducted since the PC Division was set up in 1991 - opens up access to existing ad hoc market research in a way that allows people to easily check information, thereby enhancing the quality of day-to-day tactical, decision making. Second and, for BT, a more important objective than the act of setting up a database - there is the drawing together of evidence from a range of different sources to facilitate meta analysis: the identification of overarching themes and trends that inform the development of appropriate marketing strategies. Third, there is the pay off from having in existence a user friendly database - the structure and details of which we will be discussing later - that allows BT to obtain a clear picture of where it has a sound understanding of particular topics and market segments, and where there are gaps in the company's market research evidence that may need plugging with subsequent research. We open the paper by providing a brief review of BT's operation and pinpointing particular aspects of the company's approach to marketing and market research that needed to be taken into account in the development of the PC market research database. We then look at the way in which the database has been constructed, specifically looking at the role it plays in: aiding day-to-day tactical decision making; identifying longer term overarching marketing trends; and pinpointing gaps in BT's information base. At the end of the paper we list a number of general principles that should be helpful to other organisations seeking to ensure that: there is easy access to market research reports; research resources are being focused on knowledge gaps (rather than duplicating earlier effort), and that each project works above and beyond its contribution to solving a particular problem, through a more strategic appraisal of the research findings.
Today media planners are often faced with a wealth of information about consumers' media habits, use of products and services, demographics, and lifestyles. However, in marketing any particular product or service, it is often difficult to determine the most effective media mix to reach the consumer. In the past, the media planner has used demographics, geodemographics, psychographics, and other similar "...ics" to try and determine the particular characteristics of their target consumer. Once a marketer determines the characteristics of their target consumer, it is often a lengthy process to then determine which are the most likely media through which to address these people. For the past two years, we have been investigating whether or not it is possible to segment people by their media habits. If we can assign people to groups for whom we know their particular media habits, then cross-referencing these groups with users of any product or service will provide us with sufficient information to make an informed judgement about the most likely media source through which to market the product or service. Using a comprehensive media data base, we were able to identify 16 segments, each with different media habits.
The Danish Target Group Index provides the user with information at product level, and there is a need to improve media planning with information at brand level. If the existing questionnaire were to include information on more than a 1000 brands there would be an extreme bias in the respondents that would answer. Accordingly, it was decided in October 1990 to conduct an experiment with fusion of brand information database into the Danish Media Index. The results of the experiment were so promising that it was decided to go ahead with the actual fusion. The actual fusionend database was available on May 11991, and it has been very well received. After less than one year all development costs have been paid by the use of the database. The control of the fusion shows that the fused information on market share and demographic structure within target groups defined by brand usage or brand knowledge is very similar to the information in the original database.
The paper is divided into four parts illustrating problems linked with verifications a Company can be faced with, within the market realities, when it decides to launch/relaunch/modify a product. This verification takes place after the research preliminary to the launch has already been carried out and the Company decides to put the product on the market. The Authors of this paper, who operate respectively in a Confectionery Company and in an Institute specialized in company problem-solving research, have perfected this research methodology, which in the past 7 years has proven its validity in almost 50 cases, according to both different Companies and markets. The main subjects presented in the paper concern: 1) the problem that originated the research, with repercussions brought about from the necessity to make rapid decisions concerning the strategies to be undertaken for a new product; 2) the methodology illustrating the two major research phases, both with the Trade and with the purchasers/consumers, and the setting up of standard indicators allowing the creation of a database both at the Company and at the Institute; 3) a case history of the Company showing in detail the various research phases and the results obtained in each of them; 4) a reading of the results taking into account the results derived from the research on the new product and their comparison with the Company's database and the Institute's standards.
The role of on-line databases has been consistently developing in the pharmaceutical industry over the last 15 years. It is my firm belief that this role will increase in importance and impact in the next decade. Researchers have a need for faster access to a wider range of information, and agencies have a need to expand their customer base without having to establish offices all over the world. The EPhMRA database is a first significant step in the development of the greater use of databases in the pharmaceutical market research world. We are confident that it will play a significant role, and will become an invaluable tool for researchers in the industry.
In this paper it is argued that growing individualisation of consumer lifestyle and demand necessarily leads to a major change in commercial communication. Already a shift from advertising to direct marketing is noticeable. But also direct marketing has to move further into a direction of individualisation of communication with consumers. Market research base to (re)define its role within this changing environment. Market research has traditionally strong links with advertising. It is argued that market research should get closer to the direct marketing world in view of growing individulisation of consumers. Because of their skills in data collection and data-analysis market researchers are well equipped for executing Marketing Information Management, which is the basis of Marketing & Sales Productivity Systems (MSP Systems). MSP Systems are built upon a central database that holds all relevant information of clients and prospects of marketing and sales activities. Such a system help companies to cope with the communication problems related to the growing individualisation of consumer lifestyle and demand.
This paper deals with the fusion of two of the largest databases in Britain. The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) is the standard measurement of television audiences in Britain, with a panel size of 8 homes. The Target Group Index is the largest product and media survey in Britain with a sample of 24 adults per annum. The provision of an enhanced targeting facility such as a fusion of these two databases would offer could radically change the face of media buying in the 1990s. Extensive exploratory and validatory work has been conducted to ensure that the fusion methodology provides the closest possible matchings, optimising the use of variables common to both databases, and balancing the distance measurement with the donor frequency. Once these findings were validated there are a number of ways in which the fused database could be used in day to day media planning. These include analyses of viewing patterns, conversion levels and assessments of coverage by product categories. The findings indicate that targeting television advertising by product field users can be very efficient and add a new dimension to media buying. The success of this fusion is a confirmation that it can be applied to market research data and should lead the way forward to how other databases are collected and made to work together.
The challenge for European researchers in the 1990s is to meet the requirement for information which is truly global in scope, but which retains a clear focus on local markets and issues. The imminence of the Single Market is merely accentuating the need of international companies for integrated research services which span European and global markets. This is particularly TRUE of continuous marketing information, with manufacturers and retailers demanding databases which enable them to evaluate international brands and markets across conventional national borders. To be truly effective, these databases must be supported by common analysis tools which facilitate the assessment of international marketing strategies in many countries. However, for the present - and the immediate future - local market conditions will continue to have a profound influence. This paper will argue that the development of international services must take place in an environment which also addresses the differing requirements of local market places and the complex behaviour of an increasingly fragmented consumer base. The paper is divided into three main sections. In the first, we will examine the paradoxical trends towards both global and micro marketing, together with the new information demands which each is creating. The second part will use case history material to explore the role which global marketing information can already play in supporting local and international marketing strategy. Finally, we will discuss the ways in which the marketing information industry can and must harness new technology to serve the changing global market place.
This paper deals with the way a company, Philips, has organized its marketing information activities for communication and information systems. The concept of business intelligence is introduced as a way of organizing and controlling the enormous load of available marketing information in this industry. It is argued that coping with data overload starts with priority setting and organization and that high tech databases could fit in this as a logical consequence but that databases and marketing information systems are not by their nature the definitive solution to the problem. A business intelligence cycle is described as a workable way of coping with data overload within a company that uses market research as one of the data sources.