Customer Listening Blog

3 Questions to ARF Chief Research Officer: Joel Rubinson

Following my investigation of the current burning issues and questions of the Research Industry (see for example interview of Finn Raben, Esomar Director General about the Impact of criis on MR), I am glad to welcome Joel Rubinson, ARF Chief Research Officer.

Indeed, for the last 18 months, under Joel's leadership the ARF has been leading the way to develop the Industry skills toward a LISTENING based research practice. Of course, I could not agree more as a customer listening evangelist myself for a long time now.

Here are the answers to the three questions I asked Joël.

 

 

L.F - The ARF is now fully leading the way on the “Listening” Initiative. Could you please tell us more about how the Industry is reacting and what next is to come?

J.R. We’ve seen a transformation in thinking in the year and a half since The ARF has been bringing this approach for generating insights to the attention of the marketing research community.  In 2008, purists were questioning the sampling issues, attempting to apply traditional “frequentist statistics” constructs to understand if listening brings value. We have been saying that research does two things: quantifies the expected and listens for the unexpected. This year, the belief that listening is important is more universal.  My sense is that research is much farther along at understanding the value of managed communities than they are at understanding how to integrate insights from mining the blogosphere, search etc.  I think understanding how to integrate listening sources from naturally occurring conversations and behavioral signals with surveys is the next step in the evolution that we’ll see over the next 12-24 months.

L.F - It clearly seems that “Listening” is calling for a complete revamp of marketing and MR practices, what do you think may be the toughest challenges for brands to adapt and evolve?  

The toughest challenge is that listening is the start of a process for marketers that is still uncomfortable for many where they are opening up the leadership of their brands to customer influence.  Listening leads to “n-way” conversation (brands to customers, customers to brands, customers to customers) and creates an integration of advertising, PR, customer care, research because the same conversation gives you all four at once.  PR is changed from one to many via news media to now include many one-to-one conversations. Communications about a brand can now come from anywhere so marketers will need to find new ways to maintain leadership of their brand stories. This leads to the need for new organizational models, so listening will lead to tremendous change.  I think the culture change needed will be traumatic for many; how to listen and learn from young people in the organization, from customers, how to respond in a way that shows customers you not only listened but you HEARD them.

L.F - Any specific events, publications you want to point our readers to find out more and join the ARF Listening initiative?

The dramatic change that becoming a listening organization requires means that the message needs constant reinforcement, expressed in numerous ways.  As such, the ARF has attempted to align touchpoints.  We just created a white paper called, Foundations of Listening, that is really more like the definitive book—140 pages, 30+ case histories and growing.  This is free to any who come to our San Francisco event on January 28^th, “Putting Listening to Work” with keynoter Jeremiah Owyang.  The white paper can also be purchased directly.  More information on the event and the book is available at our website, thearf.org. Our annual conference in NY will also reinforce the importance of listening and will have a “listening learning zone”.  Last year, we had 11 of the leading organizations in the space providing demonstrations so it was a one-stop learning zone for many.

 

 

Thank You Joel for your time and insights, we are looking forward to hearing more from the ARF in the coming weeks! Keep the great work going!

Crowdsourcing getting traction for NPD

In line with my recent post about the trend of consumer driven advertising, consumer insight lead new product development initiatives get more and more traction. Indeed, marketers now view crowdsourcing as a more effective way of creating new products and services than consulting or internal R&D, according to a survey by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG).

The percentage of respondents who saw crowdsourcing as effective or highly effective for new product and service development shot up from 62% a year ago to 75%, overtaking R&D which fell slightly from 73% to 72%.

The percentage who rated traditional consulting and professional services firms as effective or highly effective fell from 54% to 49%.

In the same period, familiarity with the term ‘crowdsourcing’ – which describes organisations using web 2.0 tools to tap the knowledge of stakeholders and experts through open invitations for help and ideas – rose from 30% to 72%.

Richard Guha, chairman of MENG, said: “Tapping the wisdom of crowds over the internet can be enlightening for an organisation in many ways, providing marketers with valuable insight to expand their brand mind share and market share. However, like any good customer insight, interactive ideation or predictive analysis effort, it’s important to frame the issue, manage the process and carefully assess the value of the collective data.”

The survey was conducted last month in association with online social network Crowd Forum.

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Happy New Year... for Web Analytics...

Web Analytics Market Set to Defy Recession

January 9 2009

In the US, a survey conducted by the Web Analytics Association (WAA) has found that more than 96% of respondents plan to increase or maintain current spending on web analytics during the year. While the survey of more than 650 marketing and analytics professionals highlighted that more than 40% of respondents see funding as their biggest challenge, WAA says that the investment outlook is positive. Around 8 in 10 (81%) plan to invest in consulting and staffing to help make the most out of their existing analytics tools, and take action on the data they provide to improve web site performance. Also, 41% say they will be investing in add-on tools, such as those for behavioral targeting and paid search. Results also reveal a demand to have business decisions driven by analytics, with 65% of respondents claiming this as their top web analytics initiative in 2009. Other top priorities identified include best practices implementation, KPI development, process development and getting executive management awareness and support on web analytics. Both WAA members and non-members took part in the survey, and respondents represented a wide range of job functions from the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The full results are available at: www.webanalyticsassociation.org .

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Présentation au Club du Marketing Client

Ce soir, mecredi 19 Novembre 2008, et suite à l'invitation de Yann Claessen d'ETO et fondateur du "Club du Marketing Client" (dont le dernier billet sur son blog est en plein avec le sujet du jour, coincidence ?), j'aurai l'occasion d'intervenir sur un thème qui m'est cher... :

Le site Internet de marque : point d'écoute capital pour engager vos meilleurs clients.

Nul doute que les experts clients de ce club tout à la fois sympathique et dynamique pourront largement contribuer et débattre sur le thème.

Si vous êtes interessés par la présentation et le white paper, demandez les ICI.

(sélectionnez le white paper: Site de Marque: Un Hub Marketing)

NB. Merci à Nathalie Lemonnier pour l'organisation de dernière minute et à Marie Estelle Carasco pour l'acceuil dans les locaux de Microsoft.

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Wepc.com: crowdsoucring the Asus & Dell way...

An other "crowdsourcing" initiative this time from Asus & Dell..."it starts with one simple Idea: Yours" says the site... Again Co-Creation..but in my mind, Communication rather than Co-Creation to start with really... Co-Creation may be coming in later but the initiative serves first of all a purpose of Communication both on the media scene and among end users: Word of Mouth.

Will be interesting to see where things go from there, and for sure how strongly creating user driven machines will be delivered...key to harvest word of mouth benefits at its best, or to overclaim co-creation without really the means to deliver it...

To visit the site: www.wepc.com 

Marketing and Advertising Week in Helsinki, Finland

I've been invited to be a keynote speaker at the marketing & advertising week in Helsinki in Finland (week of October 27th 2008).

It will be my first there, and I will be happy to share though and data from SiteCRM around one my favourite topics: "Digital today and tomorrow: the Brand website as a marketing hub"?

The overall purpose of the speech is to push advertisers and brands to further develop pull and listen strategies rather than relying too much on push and “talk” strategies.

Markets have always been “conversations”, and now more than ever, with the rise of social media, the Internet has accelerated this trend to a point where brands need to capitalize better on their abilities to sustain closer relationship and conversations with their core consumers. Their brand websites may be the best marketing weapon they have to reach this goal, but only if they if they start using it as a real marketing hub. We will share data, facts, and examples to support our though while recommending key action steps for brands to really embrace the digital world.

To Download the presentation, please select the first white paper from the list (in French...sorry), validate (bottom pae) and fill up your details to receive the Presentation, Thank You:TO GET the FULL PRESENTATION

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Kellogg Special K Digital ROI Surpasses that of TV!

Some really encoraging news as more marketers join the crowd of sharing more insights in the ability of digital to increase brand spending ROI. Again online spending is here well capitalized on a Special K brand website that expands the brand experience beyond what any other media can do.

Below a few insights as provided by Kellog's CMO Mark Baynes.

Source: Ad Age (Emily Bryson York)

"It's still relatively early in our learning," Mark Baynes, chief marketing officer at the Battle Creek, Mich., company told the Lehman Bros. Back to School Consumer Conference during a discussion on how Kellogg is trying to increase advertising and marketing efficacy. "But analysis of the Special K initiative of the last 18 months showed digital media exceeding that of broadcast ROI."

The marketer described the company's findings as "obviously very encouraging," and predicted they would help "drive stronger adoption across the business."

Kellogg crossed the $1 billion benchmark on ad spending during 2007, and its outlay is set to increase this year. Mr. Baynes said his company spends an additional $300 million on promotional marketing.

"For the right opportunity, the [online] space offers fresh ways to commercialize new and existing brands, target specific audiences on needs more cost effectively," he said.

Over the past year, Kellogg has been praised for sticking with its advertising spending despite the recession. The company has credited its brand-building efforts with its ability pass some of the heavy commodity-cost increases onto the consumer.

Mr. Baynes did not specify how Kellogg was measuring success of the campaigns, and the company did not immediately return calls for additional comment. While he did not address specifics of the Special K work, the company has repeatedly touted the success of its "Special K challenge," which calls for two bowls of the cereal every day for two weeks. Dieters replace a more traditional lunch or dinner with cereal, and are told they can expect to drop a full clothing size after two weeks.

CEO David Mackay has said the initiative has not only resonated with consumers, but also boosted cereal consumption outside of breakfast.

A Special K website offers customized plans for consumers, sign-ups for a Yahoo e-mail group, tips from a trainer and nutritionist and a point-of-purchase link to Amazon.com. The company has added a number of products to the Special K platform in recent years, including cereal bars, flavored waters and waffles.

The investment may continue to pay off, given the economic environment. UBS analyst David Palmer said he anticipates cereal consumption to grow during the fourth quarter, not only because of food costs, but higher rates of unemployment. More people will be eating breakfast at home because they don't have anywhere else to go, he said.

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Are Retailers just really discovering CRM and brand building?

I came across an interesting article title in Ad Age yestreday "The Newest Brands? Open for Business" by Jim Lucas. In this short article Jim argues that "Retailers have switiched gears, Marketing their stores and labels and strengthening bonds with shoppers".  Of course they have, I fully agree with Jim, but my though this has been really going on for a long time specifically in Europe as Jim points out,  Tesco in the UK for example is usually perceived as a CRM king to develop and maintain profitable relationship with its customers. Some Retailers, and in fact all of them now, finally realized that the biggest asset they have is that they are "touching consumers" and have an opportunity to know them more, engage them at least once a week (as Jim says in the US, the average U.S. household is making 150 to 200 store visits a year) what an opportunity to sell more than products!

A lot more can be done to offer real experiences in stores and supermarkets, the kid that will forster people relationship with store brands rather than only relying on deals, promos, coupons, etc. I am not saying they are not important, I simply think there is room for building true experiences, the ones that drive loyatly and word of mouth... However, I really think that the biggest challenge is for brands and manufacturers, it is tougher than ever to market brands (at leats in the old fashion way). In the past, pushing messages on TV and having a good product available on store will do the trick, nowadays, it is not enough any more.... What costs more is people attention. As consumers, we have less time for everything and although economic slow down is pushing people to be cost consicious, they probably also want their shopping trip to be as simple and rewarding as possible, relying more and more on other consumers' feedback and conversations (online and offline!) to shape their opinions and choices. So brands you'd better hurry to partner with retailers to shape the right experiences for end users and use every opportunity to think about your brand loyalty with a specific approach tailored to partnering with retailers beyond price...of course, retailers need to talk the same language says retailers are getting there, and eventually it is for the benefits of both brands and retailers. As Jim says in his article, they need to work toegther "It is also important for retailers and manufacturers to align business goals, including driving traffic to the store or a specific destination in the store; creating larger sales receipts, better conversion rates, solution selling and cross-selling; and improving the total shopping experience -- for example, making it easier or more engaging, entertaining, educational or inspirational to shop."

To view Jim full article on AdAge (click here)

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P&G Taps Bloggers, Moms for Unconventional Product Launch

Word-of-Mouth, Buzz Push for Crest Weekly

I came across an interesting article and initiative described by Jack Neff , in Ad Age. What will be interesting is really to find out if it really worked...as "organic" (vs marketing amplified) word of mouth is really what make things happen... See below the full artcile:

Published: August 21, 2008

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Procter & Gamble Co. is trying something decidedly new with toothpaste: launching a product designed to be used once a week.

Crest Weekly Clean Intensive Cleaning Paste is meant to be a weekly addition to daily tooth brushing, giving a 'just-from-the-dentist,' smooth, clean feeling.

The idea, of course, isn't to get people to brush less often. Rather, Crest Weekly Clean Intensive Cleaning Paste, which is set to hit stores by mid-September, is billed as a weekly addition to people's daily tooth brushing. The goal is to provide that "just-from-the-dentist," smooth, clean feeling, as P&G and some bloggers who've gotten sneak previews of the product have put it.

Little mass-media spending
Crest, long one of P&G's biggest-spending media brands, with $236.8 million in measured media spending last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, is also taking a fairly nontraditional marketing approach for the unconventional product, relying heavily on word-of-mouth and buzz marketing and relatively little on mass media.

P&G began sending the product to bloggers earlier this month, some of whom also have Twittered their interest in Weekly Clean. And Crest is using P&G's Vocalpoint buzz-marketing program for moms to spread the word too. It sent a survey about the product's marketing to the more than 600,000 moms in the program last week.

But the product's TV advertising will be relatively light, said spokeswoman Allison Yang, consisting mainly of five-second tags on ads for other Crest products.

The product "is not necessarily intuitive," making TV ads relatively less effective at explaining Weekly Clean, she said.

Talked-about product
"What we've seen with research with consumers is that once they've seen it, they tell everybody," Ms. Yang said, another reason for the emphasis on buzz marketing vs. conventional media.

"The feeling you get is so unique, and women especially love it," she said. "A lot of times you come out with a new toothpaste flavor, and it's not something people talk about."

The product uses silica-based crystals similar to those found in Crest Pro-Health but in higher concentrations, leaving "that incredibly smooth feeling you get when you take your tongue and slide it along the front of your teeth after visiting the dentist," Ms. Yang said.

Weekly Clean is used like regular toothpaste, though it comes in smaller tubes. Ms. Yang said P&G isn't concerned any consumers will believe they can now get away with only brushing once a week. "We're emphasizing that the product doesn't have any fluoride in it," she said. "This should not substitute for brushing in any sense."

Expanding the category
Since it's designed to be an addition to what people are doing now, Weekly Clean stands to expand the toothpaste category, but Ms. Yang declined to disclose how much P&G is expecting in year-one sales.

Interpublic Group of Cos.' Devries, New York, handles public relations for Crest, and Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi and Starcom MediaVest Group, both New York, handle advertising,and media planning and buying, respectively; Digitas, Boston, handles digital.

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Le Sens du Client selon Thierry Spencer : passion, simplicité, régularité, sérieux, et ouverture.

Il y a quelques temps déjà (début 2006), quelques semaines après la naissance de "Customer Listening" Blog, je croisais le blog de Thierry Spencer "Sens du Client", et depuis son travail, sa passion et sa dédication l'ont fait avancer, je reçois ce week end un très gentil email de l'auteur qui annonce qu'il a passé la barre des 50,000 visiteurs...: Bravo, à Thierry bien sûr, mais j'ai profité de l'occasion pour simplement lui demander à quoi il attribuait ce succès. Thierry le fait très gentillement et nous rappelle les ingrédients gagnants de son blog... Ici, sont livrées les réponses de Thierry :

Je dois le modeste succès de mon blog personnel www.sensduclient.com à un mélange de plusieurs ingrédients :

1) Creuser un sillon. Après avoir trouvé mon thème, je m'y suis tenu dans mes 191 billets. Il n'est pas rare que je ne publie pas tel ou tel commentaire, ou bien que je refuse des liens avec des sites que j'estime trop éloignés de mon thème : le marketing client. Pour un blog comme pour une entreprise, plus le positionnement est clair, plus grand est le succès auprès de la cible.

2) Rester simple sur la forme et dans le fond. Je m'impose la discipline d'un titre, d'une illustration et d'un texte pas trop long. Je m'efforce d'expliquer chaque terme, de mettre des liens pour que tout le monde saisisse les références. Rien de plus agaçant qu'un jargon d'expert ! Cet exercice pédagogique me permet aussi d'apprendre.

3) Etre ouvert et exhaustif. Je ne m'interdis aucune référence à un site, une source, un blog ou à un prestataire. N'étant lié à aucune société de service, et quand bien même je n'ai pas d'affinités avec telle ou telle personne (ça m'arrive), j'essaye de donner accès à tous les points de vue dans mes liens ou mes références.

4) Etre régulier. Chaque semaine depuis 2 ans et demi, j'écris un billet. Je note sur un carnet, je découpe un article, je prends une photo, j'ajoute une page web à mes favoris, jusqu'à trouver un lien et une matière digne d'intérêt. Les lecteurs apprécient la régularité et le rendez-vous hebdomadaire.

5) Etre sérieux mais pas triste. Je m'inspire d'études très sérieuses, de livres, de textes de référence mais aussi d'anecdotes et d'histoires qui me sont arrivées auxquelles j'ajoute une touche d'humour, d'iconoclasme et d'impertinence...

6) Favoriser l'échange. Avec crmmetrix aujourd'hui, avec d'autres personnes demain, d'autres blogs ou d'autres sites; j'adore échanger et faire témoigner des personnes d'horizons différents, d'une caissière de supermarché à un grand universitaire. J'adore l'eclectisme et la confrontation d'idées.

J'ajoute qu'il n'est fait aucune référence à l'entreprise dans laquelle je travaille actuellement en tant que Directeur marketing, ni au secteur d'activité auquel elle appartient. La cloison est complètement étanche ; je m'exprime à titre personnel sur mon blog.

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