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Marketing Research Techniques White Papers

Free white papers and articles on different marketing research techniques. Topics range from advertising research to innovation to concept testing and product testing to win-loss evaluation. These articles detail the best practices for research. All articles were written by marketing research professionals.

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Advertising Effectiveness by Jerry W. Thomas The advertising industry, as a whole, has the poorest quality-assurance systems and turns out the most inconsistent product (their ads and commercials) of any industry in the world. Unlike most of the business world, which is governed by numerous feedback loops, the advertising industry receives little objective, reliable feedback on its advertising.
Advertising Research by Jerry W. Thomas A summary of recent insights about advertising, based on the latest research findings.
Advertising Tracking by Jerry W. Thomas The promise of media advertising is great. It's an opportunity for a brand to tell its story directly to the ultimate consumer. It's an opportunity to build awareness and project a powerful brand image.
The Basics of Packaging Research by Jerry W. Thomas The market is changing, and the time has come to redesign the package of that old established brand.
The Case for In-The-Box Innovation by Renee Hopkins Callahan, Gwen Ishmael and Leyla Namiranian A groundbreaking international case study proving that a much larger number of relevant, actionable, and original ideas can be generated by using creativity techniques that encourage “in-the-box” thinking as opposed to “outside-the-box” creativity techniques more typically used.
Competitive Best Practices: Win-Loss Evaluation Research by Joel Mincey Successful win-loss research programs are built around a well-tailored research tool that collects crucial information from decision makers and influencers who are involved in the sales decision process. The overall goal of the research is to determine what factors are used as decision criteria in selecting a company for a project.
Concept Testing (and the “Uniqueness” Paradox) by Jerry W. Thomas A well-designed, new product concept testing system, overseen by experienced and knowledgeable researchers, can vastly improve a company's ability to develop successful new products or services. This article suggests some guidelines and best practices on improving new product concept testing.
Creating and Measuring the WOM-Worthiness of New Products: a Case Study by Karen Kraft, Felicia Rogers, and Gwen Ishmael Most word-of-mouth (WOM) marketers would agree that having a great product is a major key to the success of a word-of-mouth campaign. However, coming up with and developing great product ideas that will be talked about can be a daunting task. Additionally, how can a marketer know that an idea is really “great” and will be talked about by consumers?
Enhancing the Open Model Through the Use of Community by Gwen Ishmael & Michael Richarme Communities can be a viable open innovation source. This article contains six simple steps to making an innovation community effective.
Hang the Innocent by Jerry W. Thomas So what is marketing research? Marketing research is collecting data in an unbiased manner and translating that data into information, which can help solve marketing problems. Marketing research includes experiments, surveys, product tests, advertising tests, promotion tests, motivational research, strategy research, customer satisfaction monitoring, and many other techniques.
Is There Such a Thing as “Early Adopters Fatigue”? by Leyla Namiranian and Renee Hopkins This paper uses the “Diffusion of Innovations” model to explore the concept of new technology adoption by consumers, in light of recent reports that the early adopters are becoming fatigued with the fast-paced rate of technological change. By examining early adopters of new technologies from a number of countries, an understanding can be gained of whether fatigue has set in, how, and why. (Presented at the ESOMAR NetEffects Conference in Germany, January 2002)
In Creative Self-Defense by Jerry W. Thomas A humorous article about how advertising agencies can defend their advertising from marketing research attack.
It’s Not Always Your Fault…Measuring the Impact of Economic Factors on Consumer Satisfaction and Pricing Perceptions by Joel Mincey While you can control many factors that influence consumer satisfaction and perceptions, other factors are beyond the control of even the most attentive store manager. In this time of rising prices and uncertainty, it is helpful to understand what external market and economic factors are impacting the attitudes and perceptions of consumers.
Looking For Ideas In All The Wrong Places by Gwen Smith Ishmael and Renee Hopkins Callahan A look at in-the-box creativity versus outside-the-box creativity techniques in new product/services development.
New Products by Jerry W. Thomas An examination of the secret to successful development of new products.
New Products for Tough Times by Jerry W. Thomas Every change in the marketplace creates opportunities for successful new products. One way to keep new products flowing to market during tough times is to rely on “hyper-creatives” and idea-centric creativity. This is the creativity of innovative individuals with relevant product category experience. Hyper-creatives can help generate hundreds of new product ideas to keep companies driving forward through tough economic times.
Oh! We of Little Faith by Jerry W. Thomas An article about the psychological principles that underlie successful advertising.
Product Testing by Jerry W. Thomas A summary of product testing techniques and guidelines for testing consumer products.
Qualitative Analytics by Jerry W. Thomas Much has been written about how to conduct qualitative research (that is, the techniques of moderating and interviewing), but comparatively little has been published about the far more important task of analysis and reporting. The purpose of this primer is to share some basic ideas on how to achieve the greatest learning and the most profound insights from qualitative research.
Qualitative Package Design Research by Jerry W. Thomas While many quantitative methods are utilized in package design research, sometimes we overlook the importance of the softer side of research—the qualitative techniques. So, the purpose of this article is to share some basic ideas and best practices for the use of qualitative research as a component in the package-design research plan.
Quality Promise Program Empowering Consumers as Your Quality-Control Agents by Felicia Rogers A Quality Promise system helps you establish accountability with your manufacturers and upgrade the quality of your private brands over time.
Quantitative Analytics by Jerry W. Thomas The analysis of survey data is a massive topic, and most of this exotic landscape is beyond the purview of this article. The purpose of this paper is to offer some suggestions for the novice researcher, but even those with experience might find one or two of the tips useful.
The Quantum Mechanics of Brand: What You See—and Don’t See—with Derived Importance Analysis By Susan Schwartz McDonald, Ph.D. and Michael Polster, Ph.D., National Analysts Worldwide Derived importance is a hammer that, if aimed wrong, can hit not the nail, but the fingernail. This piece discusses the assumptions and the limitations of derived importance in order to help market researchers and marketers make thoughtful decisions about whether and when to rely on them. Our focus is particularly on “professional purchase decisions,” but most of the points made here have application for consumer products research as well.
Six Questions Every Would-Be Innovator Should Ask: How Successful Innovation can be Shaped from the Beginning of a Project—by Asking One Question at a Time By Gwen Ishmael and Renee Hopkins Innovation is legitimately hard to predict. But there must be a way to gain a clearer picture of an unknown future. Based on in-depth studies of 20 innovation stories—both successes and failures—we propose a six-question framework that helps companies gain a clearer picture up front of what factors they must consider to make their innovation efforts successful.
Using Consumers to Fuel Your New Product Generation Pipeline: the Role of Idea-Centric Creativity By Leyla Namiranian and Gwen Ishmael This paper discusses the use of consumers and idea-centric creativity in new product concept development. With competitive environments and shorter product lifecycles a company needs to have the various versions and extensions of its current products ready to release quickly by having its next-generation products in the pipeline while its current successful products are still selling well.
What Drives Innovation? A Heuristic Framework for Corporate Innovation By Renee Hopkins Callahan and Gwen Smith Ishmael The idea that there are factors that, singly and in combination, drive innovation (successful innovation in particular) has just begun to be discussed. An effort to understand innovation drivers—those factors that motivate and shape innovation efforts, and in no small way determine their success or failure—seemed to us to be a promising way to discover what factors make for success and failure in innovation.

Marketing Research Techniques White Papers

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