This paper is about taking a holistic approach to online communities and developing a mindset that obsessively focuses on the client end-game, rather than any fixed methodology. We explore what makes an effective online community; highlighting what works, and also some of pitfalls (based on personal experience!). During the course of the paper we'll use four case studies from clients in diverse sectors to illustrate the key points.
Bots are taking over moderation and analysis, snappy chat conversations are the new preferred communication mode by consumers and research will happen in the consumer context. Join us in journey together with Heineken and get a glimpse on the future.
Generation Y (aged 15-30) is the most marketing savvy generation ever. On a global scale, this new consumer cohort is much larger than the previous generation X and their impact on society will soon surpass the Babyboomer's largely documented influence. But what drives this fickle generation and how can global brands really connect with youth worldwide? This paper highlights the key dimensions behind cool brands derived from a research community connecting urban youth in 15 different cities around the globe.
Consumers in BRIC markets account for nearly one-third of the world's online population and experiment with social media more broadly than other consumers. Market researchers hoping to use the Internet to attract, involve, and learn from these consumers need to provide settings and formats that maximize engagement. In this multinational study, we describe differences in engagement, conversation topic, and quality of contribution by country and explore those conditions that lead to the greatest vibrancy and quality. We also identify best practices for recruiting and engaging online community members, implications for generating actionable insight, and specific 'to-do's' and case examples.
Two case studies (Menu Menu and Mirrortime) where online research has been an integral tool for design innovation projects are addressed in this paper. The projects differ in thematic focus, region and target group. The specific methodological approach chosen for each research project and the implications for research set up and execution are addressed. Specifically the presenters argue that we need to move from anonymous respondents to a community of participants, from side line observations to engaging provocations and from interrogations to conversations.
This paper addresses a case study where one of Australia's largest and most complicated companies increased the value of research through simplicity. Telstra created an innovative large scale customer community (mytelstraexperience.com.au) designed to measure the customer experience journey. The goal was to make the process for giving customer feedback simpler and in a collaborative, co-creative and iterative fashion that has resulted in fresher insight generation and accelerated innovation.
This paper examines a very current and widely discussed topic within the market research industry where there are strongly held opinions and an on-going debate. A comparison of an existing online community and online research panel within the same company is discussed in detail, in addition to a case study where the same questions were run simultaneously on this existing community and research panel. A suggested framework for companies considering these alternatives has also been provided.
The work carried out by Face and Nokia within the Relevance Programme is described in this paper. The authors show how a complex organization can respond to the challenges of rapid exponential change through open and agile approaches like co-creation, crowd-sourcing, social media analysis and online research communities.
The goal of this paper is to draw a blueprint for an enhanced and holistic approach on online community research. Both researchers and clients will cede control to participants and make use of new web technologies, in the different phases of the research process. This new approach is very useful in researching consumer habits, practices and consumer needs which is followed by brainstorms with a larger group of participants. This finally results into new insights. Applications lie on the fuzzy front end of product and communication campaign development or product experience testing (e.g. in order to detect possible improvements).
When the Apple Store opened in Sydney recently, eager patrons queued in the cold to be among the first to claim this iconic brand experience. When Grand Theft Auto 4 was launched, Ebay demand was already at a record high before the first products were available for sale. When Radiohead released 'In Rainbows'; direct to market (and at a price aligned to individual demand), even Baby Boomers with no previous interest in the band found themselves compelled to download the album. Not to mention the rush of pre-adolescent Harry Potter fans literally mobbing bookstores around the globe like delirious Beatles fans did forty years earlier in the rush to buy the last instalment in the famous JK Rowling series. This paper examines the idea of 'Anticipation Marketing': the phenomenon in which demand for products and services is not only enabled, but often peaking prior to their availability in market. Whilst this phenomenon is hardly new, it is peculiar in many ways, including the extraordinary fervour that can be created, the immediacy of demand and the apparent lack of advertising or overt brand communications in many instances. In this paper, the authors begin by examining 'Anticipation Marketing' using case studies and semiotics to identify the key success conditions and principles that help us to understand these market experiences. We then look to understand it further through the application of traditional and emergent qualitative techniques (in-depth interviews, online blogging, online qual) across a number of consumers and category experiences. Finally, we use these insights about successful anticipation marketing to design an experimental piece of consumer co-creation to test whether anticipation marketing can extend beyond technology, fashion and creative realms into everyday product or services marketing. By reading the paper, readers will have gained fresh, empirical insight into how anticipation is created and, specifically, how modern online communities and forms of emergent consumer dialogue can (or can't) be used to generate stronger demand than ever for consumer products or services.
Research conducted in the United States and Europe confirms that consumers are twice as receptive to communications while they are waiting (derval, 2007). this approach is called wait marketing, because consumers consider advertising in that specific context as entertaining. a tV commercial, for instance, will be remembered by 7% of consumers when viewed at home. the same ad will be remembered by 27% of consumers when they see it in the doctors waiting room. Discover how brands can effectively leverage wait marketing in online communities and interact with their target customers via SLIC, the Second Life Interview Corner an immersive, congruent and open interview sofa.