NewsletterMidyear 2011

Don‟t miss…

The topic most likely to make market researchers mad!

A sneak preview at the MR event of 2011 – sixty days to Conference

SUGGING it ain‟t, but here‟s why you should be concerned about surveys which sell data.

A busy year of building bridges at AMRO

From sticky marbles to social marketing: news from the growing talent pool of NZ market research

Recent events: why size isn‟t the only thing that matters, who won the Wellington Quiz, and much more!

Clever survey software measures emotions

A word with the

President

Welcome to the mid-year newsletter from MRSNZ.

It is with regret I must announce that for personal reasons, Michelle Simpson-Edwards has decided to step down as President of the Market Research Society. On behalf of the MRS Committee I want to thank Michelle for the hard work and time she has dedicated to our Society.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for their kind words of support. Those words have reminded me how very lucky I am to be collaborating with such wonderful group of people.

The Committee is currently in the process of reorganisingprojects and tasks to make sure that none of the planned activities are disrupted through the transition.

In particular, after months of planning, the 2011 Market Research Conference is starting to shape up. The excitement is building, we‟ve received a lot of great quality submissions, so it has been particularly hard to choose the best speakers. What I can assure you is that we are going to have some fantastic content to share. I hope you will join us and enjoy this conference as much as we are enjoying putting it together.

Over the past few weeks you may have heard the controversy around the NZPost „survey‟. NZPost is running a database building activity, receiving negative press coverage in the process. Concerns have been expressed that the general public would misinterpret the activity as a traditional market research survey. We have taken the issue seriously and engaged with AMRO to come up with a unified NZ Market Research

industry response. Our answer was made available to NZPost, the Marketing Association and the Privacy Commissioner. We have focused on ensuring that in the future there is a better clarification of the purpose so the exercise can‟t be confused with market research. It was decided that in the best interest of the industry we would try to keep the issue away from the media.

The Marketing Association already responded positively to our letter saying that NZPost had gone to great lengths this year to ensure that the objectives of the 2011 „survey‟ were clearly articulated so there could be no misunderstanding on the part of anyone choosing to complete it as to its ultimate purpose. As such, the MA said, NZPost hasn't breached the law or any MA best practice guidelines.

There is still the outstanding issue of potential misunderstanding by members of the public, given the use of the word „survey‟ in the title. The MA has suggested we organise a meeting with NZPost to explore the options and agree on a position moving forward. We‟ll be working on this together with AMRO shortly.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our newsletter this month and, as always, we invite our members to write letters to the Editor. So, if you have any comments you‟d like to share, please send them to Claire at Secretary@mrsnz.org.nz.

Hope to see you all at the conference on the 2nd of September!

Ciao!

Too late, you’ve been

The topic most likely to make market researchers mad.

SUGGed!

Selling Under the Guise of

Market Research:

"SUGGING"

Have you been the victim of SUGGing? The most expert SUGGers lull their target into a false sense of security by appearing to be calling you on behalf of a bona fide market research company, saying it‟s conducting a very short survey. You‟ve got a few minutes to spare so you agree to do the survey.

You may not even realisethat you‟ve been part of a sales scam until you‟ve already answered several questions of a general nature. Then they get to the clincher questions like, “How much do you save?” And then "If the government had an approved system of how you could save 50% of your tax, would you want to learn more".

Now comes the aha moment - you realise they‟re trying to sell you something! That‟s when you‟re likely to get really angry! But it‟s too late, you‟ve been SUGGed!

Alternative tactics these scammers use include a follow-up phone call a few days or weeks after you did that “survey”, thanking you for taking part and asking, by the way, would you like us to send you some information about planning for your future and how to save on your tax, or explaining that you‟ve been chosen to receive a free trial of XYZ product.

Also common are the unsolicited postal “surveys” from companies like “Redlus, Roberts and Shaw Marketing Research”, offering a prize

draw / free book if you‟ll take a few minutes to fill in an important research study. The survey asks for personal information including age, income, employment status and a raft of other personal details. Read the fine print in the Terms and Conditions and you‟ll find that by sending the questionnaire back you are giving the company permission to “make your details available to companies with products or services that may interest you”. Of course what happens after you send the questionnaire back is that

you are pestered by telemarketers or receive endless addressed junk mail.

All these tactics come under the term SUGGing or Selling Under the Guise of market research. It is against the codes of practice of the MRSNZ, ESOMAR and the New Zealand Marketing Association.

Under these codes respondents should be fully informed as to the purpose of a survey, must not be misled as to what their personal details will be used for, and the data obtained from a market research survey must not be used to generate sales leads.

Of course if you‟re a member of the general public who‟s not involved in the market research industry, it‟s quite likely that you may not differentiate between the contacts you‟ve received from SUGGers and the ones you‟ve received from genuine market research agencies.

SUGGing is a serious problem for the market research industry. Victims of this practice are reluctant to accept requests to participate in genuine surveys, leading to lower response rates and tarnishing the image of the market research industry. Ultimately the actions of these companies make genuine market research more expensive to clients.

The MRSNZ has received numerous complaints from the general public about SUGGing. Unfortunately although SUGGingcontravenes the various industry codes, it isn‟t currently illegal and companies who do it aren‟t usually members of the MRSNZ or other associations. We have been working closely with the Marketing Association and The Privacy Commissioner to find ways to reduce the practice and to punish the culprits. Last year the Committee resolved to focus on SUGGing as a priority in 2011. Our past experiences showed us that addressing the problem is complex and probably needs creative solutions. We want to open it up to comment from the wider society membership.

At this year‟s AGM Colin Ingram from Focus Research proposed a motion that the MRSNZ take ownership of the issue and develop a media initiative to:

• Create awareness of the practice among the general public

• Highlight the distinction between legitimate market research carried out by professional organisations adhering to a Code of Practice and those using market research as a pretext for sales

• Name and shame offenders

A vote was held on the motion but was later declared invalid as several Associate Members had voted and under the constitution only Full Members are eligible to vote.

Call To Action

We would like members to be as fully informed as possible about the issue prior to holding another vote. We will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting of the MRSNZ on August 3rd at the Horse and Trap in Auckland. The Wellington members of the MRSNZ are also holding an event to discuss SUGGing at the end of July.

At the Auckland meeting we will have a debate on SUGGing - two teams each of three industry leaders will debate the motion. We want the evening to be a great night that combines spirited debate and fun and that concludes with a vote on the motion. Please mark the date on your calendar. A formal invitation will be sent out shortly.

RECENT EVENTS

Forget about Satisfied Customers

Theo Muller from MMReseach™ gave his personal view about the importance of „satisfied customers‟ versus „loyal

customers‟. He encouraged debate about this point of view among the audience.

Theo commented, “Researchers might be measuring the wrong data”. He feels that satisfaction and loyalty are not

the same thing, although satisfaction is a key ingredient in building customer loyalty.

Satisfaction is about logic - from your head; while loyalty is about emotions - from your heart. Loyal customers don‟t

quit, but satisfied customers do!

The meeting ended with a lively discussion about how satisfaction and loyalty comes into play when choosing

whom to fly with.

A full copy of Theo‟s article is available on the MMResearch™ website:

Forget about satisfied customers

Wellington Quiz Night

For the second time in a row, Research NZ demonstrated their cranial superiority and took out first place in the

Wellington Quiz, although the team did include a few last-minute ringers who seemed extremely familiar with

quizzes!

We would like to say a big thank you to our quizmaster, Steve Moore, who kept the teams bamboozled by a mix of

music, multi-choice and other mental challenges.

Included were rounds of „The eyes have it‟, „True or false‟, and my personal favourite, „Woman‟s Weekly‟, which

caused much head scratching and whispered debating at some tables, while others just called for another round of

drinks to help with the thinking!

Thanks to all the teams who took part and made it an enjoyable night.

Final scores were:

111 - Research NZ „We are just here for the nibbles‟96 - UMR & Co

89 - „Bring it on!‟84 - Nielsen

79 - Colmar Brunton „Margins of No Errors‟

19/5

13/4

RECENT EVENTS

The Beijing Olympic Games debrief

Our March event featured Matt Benson from Synovatetalking about his award winning research with SPARC. TheBeijing Olympic Games debrief won the Community Platinum award at the MRSNZ Effectiveness Awards in 2010, it was described by the judges as being “an outstanding example of market research „best practice‟”.

We were guided through the project, the outputs and the outcomes. The research was effective because the client needs were well understood and a partnership was developed between the research team and client team. There was also an investment of time to ensure the team quickly became familiar with SPARC and their processes.

His two top award tips were, if you have done good work and made a difference then you should enter, and even if you are 100% certain you are not going to win, always write an acceptance speech!

Professional Development Workshops with

Ngaire Reid and Duncan Stuart

The “practicality of the information” and the “experience of the presenters” were what impressed participants most about the two workshop presented by Fellows of MRSNZ, Ngaire Reid, the Managing Director of Reid Research Services Ltd, and Duncan Stuart of Kudos OrganisationalDynamics Ltd.

The workshops „It‟s not just the sample size that matters‟ and „Six sources of Bias – six simple things that can badly skew your results‟ used real life stories to illustrate the ideas, making them accessible to the audience.

An real benefit of the day was the opportunity to network with the other participants, the majority of whom were researchers based in government departments or agencies.

31/3

16/2

AMRO’scorner

A busy year of building bridges at AMRO.

By Rob Bree, Executive Director AMRO &Patricio Pagani, President MRSNZ

The aim of these projects varies quite considerably but includes the following:

• Creating a more unified NZ research industry

• Creating opportunities for more research companies to be involved with AMRO

• Preserving high standards of research in NZ and identifying 'cowboys' who might damage the reputation of our industry

With this in mind, last month we paid a visit to the MRS and presented to the MRS Committee taking them through our intentions for the coming year or two.

One of the intentions expressed was the need for AMRONZ and MRSNZ to work much more closely together ensuring that we cooperate where possible and avoid duplicating our efforts and reducing the overall effectiveness of what we do. To formalize the initiative, we have invited Patricio Pagani, President of MRSNZ to be the AMRO liaison and start attending all AMRO meetings to facilitate the idea exchange.

Finally, we touched on our belief that a future which sees AMRO and MRS more formally linked is definitely a possibility we would like to consider. We acknowledged that this would create some short term challenges but that these could be addressed reasonably quickly if people agreed it was important.

Over the last couple of months AMRO

has been busy activating a number of

new projects.

Small working groups have been formed and we are currently investigating what our colleagues "across the ditch" are doing with respect to the first matter. They have introduced an ISO system over there and we will be evaluating its appropriateness and effectiveness for NZ. Very importantly we want to know how burdensome it is to operate and whether the investment in it is justified.

The second project focuses mainly on the issue of non-industry members and research practices that have the potential to damage the reputation of our industry. We will work closely with MRS Complaints Committee on this one.

If you have an interest in either topic and are keen to be involved, please don't hesitate to let us know.

We will keep you posted on this and other developments. Finally...we are thinking about hosting a `meeting within the next couple of months to update industry on AMRO's plans. More anon.

Rob BreeExecutive Director AMROrob@themarketingguy.co.nz

Patricio PaganiPresident MRSNZ, AMRO liaison Patricio@infotools.com

A couple of projects that we are actively working on right now and will be involving MRS are:

A National Industry Standards Certification Process.

An industry-wide complaints and disciplinary practices process.

12

If you know of anyone who would like to become a member of the MRSNZ then please direct them to our membership information on the website.

Welcome to new members

Samantha Humphris

Anika Nafis

Olivia Jones

FOCUS RESEARCH

FOCUS RESEARCH

RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND

Ian Yin RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND

Usa Budsaba VICTORIA UNIVERSITY WELLINGTON

Meadhbh Ni Challanain SYNOVATE

Rania Guirguis COLMAR BRUNTON

Lisa Salas NINE REWARDS (TICKETEK INSIGHTS)

NINE REWARDS (TICKETEK INSIGHTS)

Associate members

Full members

Company

Student members

Joe Hedditch RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND

Jenny Wang ARETE MARKETING

Ritesh Bisoi INFOTOOLS

PEOPLE NEWS

Outstanding

If you have something to add to the next Movers and Shakers or wish to be on the reminder list, please email meR.Moore@phoenix.co.nz and I'll be sure to contact you for the next newsletter!

Contributions to Market Research in New Zealand

PEOPLE NEWS

Life member Duncan Stuart (Kudos Organisational Dynamics) waved the flag for Market Research at the recent annual PRINZ conference held in Rotorua. He was a guest speaker, and his paper “Sticky Marbles and my brush with Hollywood” was about social network analysis, and rather surprised PR professionals because the paper took them not through a discussion of statistics, but through a ghoulish 1808 experiment on a human corpse, a missing dog in Hollywood, a swirling flock of 50,000 starlings over Rome, and the laws that explain the crystal like formation of website traffic.

…And MORE Outstanding Contributions to

Market Research in New Zealand

Kiri Milne, a Litmus principal consultant, was one of nine New Zealanders to attend the World Social Marketing Conference in Dublin in April. Kiri enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with current thinking and debates in the social marketing arena including the growing role of social media and the importance of community-based social marketing. She is looking forward to exploring what these developments might mean for social marketing research and evaluation in New Zealand.

From our Member Companies:

Colmar Brunton..welcomes Carolina Navarro as Account Manager – Quant – from TNS Australia and Hayley Horne as Tracking Manager – Quant, from Ipsos Mori in the UK.…congratulates Spencer Willis on his promotion from Director of Youth Insights to Director of Youth Insights AND National Qualitative Director...And farewell to Lucy Kerr (Account Manager), Fiona Hedley (Sensory Project Manager), and to Marko Tosovic (Data Processing Team Leader) who is off to Australia. Also to Tania Werder, Senior Account Manager, moving to the UK.

The Research Agency is delighted to welcome Arti Badiani to the team in the role of Associate Director. Arriving direct to the office from London, she is a qualitative specialist with over six years experience. Arti most recently held Research Manager and Associate roles at Synovate and Incite Marketing Planning UK and has been working with Nokia, HSBC, Procter & Gamble & Sony Ericsson.

Litmus ResearchLisa Gregg is joining the team at Litmus as a consultant after more than three years of research experience in the public sector, with the Ministry of Justice. During this time Lisa was involved with a number of justice sector research projects, including the 2009 NZ Crime and Safety Survey.Lisa graduated from the University of Waikato with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in psychology. Lisa‟s Masters thesis was an evaluation titled ‘Collaboration in family violence intervention: A process evaluation of the Hamilton Family Safety Team’.

New software

Another tool to help us understanding why people buy things or why they engage with some ads but not others has recently been launched by Swiss start-up nViso.

nViso claims their new software can accurately measure consumers‟ emotional reactions to products or advertising by detecting and decoding facial micro-expressions and eye movements.

Alastair Gordon discusses the

implications this new technology could have for Market Research in an article for ESOMAR's Research World Connect Magazine.

The article explores how this technology might work, and how it can address some of the issues with trying to collect emotional responses via survey questions, or across cultures and ethnicities.

He concludes with "Rather than spelling the end for the survey, scientific approaches

like facial imaging could provide just the kind of support that survey research requires in order to remain relevant in the new age of marketing."

For the full article: The face as the ultimate survey tool.

Alastair Gordon is managing partner at Gordon & McCallum.

INNOVATIONS