The Future of Market Research: 5 Innovations to Watch for in 2012

The great David Ogilvy once said, “I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.” Those words from the great David Ogilvy are as true today as they were then.

Market research professionals, firms and organizations from IBM to Forrester Research are projecting the next trend in market research to be “making the transformation from research to insight.” If you ask me, that’s what market research has always been. An effective market researcher should be able to plan, conduct, analyze, and report actionable market insights and solutions to  clients.

If you can’t do that, you’re probably just sharing stats that you found on eMarketer. I’m not discrediting eMarketer, which is an excellent research provider, but I see many advertising and marketing professionals searching for and relying too much on the latest stat or trend instead of taking that data point and translating it to something of value. Does that trend even make sense for your client’s unique situation? Or are you simply trying to impress them? This is not a problem with the research provider, but the researcher himself.

Instead of projecting the next trend in market research to be “making the transformation from research to insight,” which should already be innately infused into the mantra of the market researcher, I project the future of market research to be the convergence, or mash-up, of emerging technologies and lateral creative thinking across industries with the discipline of market research.

We are all living in a perpetual state of beta. We all have the ability at any time, to analyze our past and present to optimize for the future. And for market researchers, now is the perfect time to seize the opportunity to innovate the industry in ways George Gallup could have never imagined. So borrow from other competitors, borrow from other industries, borrow from culture – use lateral creative thinking to expand your potential and create new methodologies to reveal new insights and solutions. Below are five examples of this approach, which will continue to grow, especially in 2012.

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April 4th, 2012 by The Adcom Group in Analytics, Brand Management, Content Marketing, Creative, Impact Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Media Planning & Strategy, Social Media, User Experience | No Comments »

Facebook Brand Timeline: What You Need to Know

Beginning March 1, 2012, Facebook Timeline became available to brand and business pages.  Businesses have one month to set their Timeline up to best serve their brand and their fans before Facebook automatically upgrades all of the pages on March 30, 2012.

Before you turn your Timeline on, learn how the latest Facebook feature can benefit your brand or company:

The Cover Photo:  Similar to personal profiles, the cover photo is a large, banner-like image that lives atop your Timeline.  Brands may immediately think of this as a large space for advertising, but proceed with caution.   The cover photo can of course put an identity to a brand, but can’t be an advertisement, can’t be a call-to-action (‘Like Our Page!’) and can’t include any contact information.  Take a look at some impressive cover photos: Today Show, SportsCenter,  Coldplay, Nike.

Pin to Top: With the Timeline, the landing tab is no more.  Those brands who utilized a ‘Welcome Tab’ or a promotion as the default tab will need to find new and engaging ways to gain attention from their potential fans and current audience.   Brands can, however, ‘Pin’ items on their page, which will be prominently displayed at the top of the Timeline.

Tell Your Story: In line with the profile pages, companies can now tell their story with the Timeline.  When did your brand make its debut?  Did you acquire another company years ago?   Have you won awards you want to highlight on your Timeline?  Companies need to think about key dates and historical data about their brand to paint a larger picture for their Facebook audience.

Like (and more):  Facebook actions are a new part of the Apps tool for Timeline.  Not only can users ‘Like’ something, they will be able to express their ‘love,’  ‘want,’ ‘need,’ ‘own’ along with a variety of other verbs towards a product.

Messaging:  At last, brands can send private messages to their fans.  Instead of messaging the entire community, brand managers can build deeper, more personal relationships with fans of the page.

If your brand is ready to upgrade to the Timeline before it switches automatically, learn more here.

- Written by: Alana Munro, Social Media Manager at Optiem, part of The Adcom Group of Companies.

March 2nd, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: , , in Social Media | No Comments »

Better Marketing Through Personas

It’s no surprise that advertising has gotten more complex in recent years. With the emergence of unique digital opportunities, mobile, and a more competitive, complex marketplace, brands need to do a lot to avoid getting lost in the crowd. One of the simplest, most effective ways to make products and communications efforts stand out is by understanding the target audience. One way we examine and define the target audience at the Adcom Group is via persona development.

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March 1st, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: , , , , , in B-to-B Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Media Planning & Strategy, User Experience | No Comments »

Landau Public Relations Merges into The Adcom Group of Companies

The Adcom Group of Companies is pleased to announce that Landau Public Relations is joining us! Our neighbors on West 6th Street have become the fourth operating division of The Adcom Group, joining Adcom Communications, Optiem and Uppercut Motion & Sound.

The addition gives The Adcom Group even more capability in social influence and brings such clients as Giant Eagle Supermarkets and Daimler Trucks North America into the fold.

Read the details.

February 15th, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: , , , in Agency News, Content Marketing | No Comments »

Emphasize Customers and Realize Value

It’s a huge value, you know that, right? If a business would place more emphasis on their customers instead of themselves they will see better results for both their customers and their business.

In one well-known example, The $300 Million Button, UIE’s Jared Spool made one simple change and the rise in revenue was enormous. He writes:

When the team contacted us, they’d already pretty much decided what the problem was and how they were going to fix it, even though they had never watched any shoppers make purchases. And they were dead wrong. Not only was their fix not going to help, our research showed that it was going to increase abandonment.

Two weeks of usability testing on the live site (and on competitors’ sites), followed by two weeks of iterative paper prototype testing produced a streamlined checkout process, which, once implemented, showed a dramatic increase in revenues. It’s amazing what you’ll learn when you actually watch your users.

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February 8th, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: , , , in Brand Management, Information Architecture | No Comments »

Our first Super Bowl commercial microsite

We didn’t make a Super Bowl commercial, but we did make a microsite that supports a Super Bowl commercial.

It’s not an ad for companies that sell beer, pickups or soft drinks; it’s for a foundation that helps people start companies that could someday grow big enough to pay $4 million for their own Super Bowl spots.

Our client is the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City organization that studies and promotes entrepreneurship. The commercial asks viewers if they have it in them to become the next great entrepreneur and directs them to the website we built for more information on getting started.

The entrepreneurial subject matter, unusual for a Super Bowl spot, has caught the attention of CNNMoney.

The commercial is airing only in the New York, Washington, Kansas City and San Francisco markets, but the microsite can be seen everywhere.

No Matthew Broderick or Go Daddy girls on the site, just information on turning dreams into reality.

February 3rd, 2012 by The Adcom Group in Brand Management | No Comments »

Super Bowl commercial preview

There was a time when you would have had to actually watch Super Bowl XLVI to see the commercials. This year, the best ones have leaked out all over the Internet. In fact, there have even been commercials supporting the main commercials.

Ferris Bueller is back. So are the Coca-Cola polar bears. In case you haven’t had the chance to see the commercials, here are links to some of the best:

M&Ms will also be making a splash first quarter with the introduction of their sixth computer-animated mascot and second female M&M, Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown and the M&Ms crew have been promoting her anticipated arrival on the M&Ms Facebook page to drum-up excitement.

Other advertisers, like Coca-Cola®, are also incorporating social media into the mix. For instance, the Coca-Cola® Polar Bears will throw their first-ever Polar Bowl Party via Facebook. According to the CokePolarBowl Facebook page, fans can watch the game with the famous polar bears, receive highlights, learn how to do a polar dance or two as well as chat with friends.

No matter who wins, Super Bowl XLVI is sure to be an exciting advertising game!

February 2nd, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: , , in Advertising, Brand Management | No Comments »

Adcom hires Stacey Vaselaney, Derryl Strong, Alicia Lenhart and seven others

CLEVELAND, OHIO – February 1, 2012 – The Adcom Group of Companies, a Cleveland-based full-service marketing firm, is proud to announce the additions of Stacey Vaselaney as senior public relations strategist, Derryl Strong as art director, Alicia Lenhart as senior media planner and buyer, Jacob Pniewski as email marketing developer, Rachel Bucey as content and SEO strategist, Steven Logan as digital production artist, Jay Bonning as back end developer, Morgan Rooks as digital media traffic manager, Michelle Phillips as media associate and Steven Eng as assistant systems administrator.

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February 1st, 2012 by The Adcom Group Tags: in Brand Management | No Comments »

Adcom helps KeyBank thank customers

KeyBank wanted to thank its customers in unusual ways over the course of a week. Adcom helped create the promotions and mapped the social media campaign that spread the word throughout Greater Cleveland.

The Adcom campaign in mid-December was a big success, earning KeyBank lots of friends and lots of free media. It turns out giving away free food, popcorn, movie tickets, T-shirts, parking, ice cream and coffee is a pretty good thank you.

Here’s a video on how it worked.

January 23rd, 2012 by The Adcom Group in Brand Management | No Comments »

Adcom Group hires Nick Dyko, James Abrams and Benjamin Murphy

The Adcom Group of Companies, a Cleveland-based full-service marketing firm, is proud to announce the additions of Nick Dyko as interactive designer, James Abrams as account executive and Benjamin Murphy as assistant account executive.

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January 20th, 2012 by The Adcom Group in Brand Management | No Comments »