InSites Blog

In March 2009, InSites Consulting organized the ‘Responsible Brands Around the World’ event at Living Tomorrow, Brussels. The eye catcher of this event was our Longest Day: Online Discussion Groups around the world in 24 hours. The InSites Qualitative Research Team dove into the consumer’s mind, all over the globe during 12 online discussion group sessions. More than 80 consumers in 63 countries took part in this project.

The theme was Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and what it means to the consumer. “Relevance of CSR is sometimes questioned by the consumer. So a new more consumer based CSR is required to create sympathy, impact and value.” says Frank Geers, Research Director InSites Consulting. “Only a few sectors come to mind when consumers think of CSR, except for Health and Education. When companies practice CSR, it’s crucial to have a good alignment with their product and brand strategy.”

Responsible Brands Around the World was a chance to put the research tools and platforms we use at InSites Consulting into action on a global scale. We’ve gathered our findings from this amazing event together in a paper. Download Corporate Social Responsibility from a Consumer Viewpoint (free of charge)

On September 16, 2009 Niels Schillewaert (Managing Partner InSites Consulting) will present the methodological insights of this project at the ESOMAR General Conference 2009. Find out more about the conference on www.esomar.org

Gianni Cooreman is Digital Research Manager at InSites Consulting.

What’s the new ‘buzz word’ in your domain? What does it mean and what do we do with it?
I personally think that digital marketing already is a ‘buzz word’. Technology and digital marketing is evolving so rapidly these days that it becomes very hard to keep up with all the trends as a marketer or market researcher.

The Internet is definitely becoming more and more “real-time” thanks to the rise of online micro-blogging services like Twitter for instance. Perhaps we can call it web 0.0 (just kidding) because the latest news is available online 0.0 seconds after the facts (e.g. the death of Michael Jackson). I think marketers should explore micro-blogging services (and social media in general) for 2 reasons: (1) to be aware of what is told about their brand on these platforms and (2) to use it as an additional communication channel to interact with their user base.

What are you most proud of?
I am very proud with the launch of MC DC, “Marketers & Consumers, Digital & Connected” (http://mcdc.insites.eu/), together with IAB Europe. MC DC tries to answer the different challenges brands, companies and marketers are confronted with when entering the digital world of consumers. We really felt a need among marketers for a market research report that contained insights, vision and actionable recommendations instead of just flat research data (e.g. the number of people on social networks, the activities they conduct online,). Hence, the birth of the MC DC to help marketers understand the challenges and opportunities for their brand in the digital world.

What do you want to warn marketers/market researchers about, now and in the future?
I think we all need to keep an eye on technology in general and the impact it has on our business and personal lives. The real world and the virtual world gets more and more intertwined and I’m very curious to see where it’s all heading. I think every marketer should have a basic knowledge of the things that are going on in the online world and embrace these trends as opportunities. E.g. the rise of mobile Internet for instance offers companies a whole new way to interact with their user base and to deliver added value to them.

What has surprised you lately?
I was surprised that so many CEOs were disconnected from social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs… I think it’s important to be where your customers are and to get a grasp of the conversations consumers are having with each other about your brands and products. Watch and learn!

What did your morning look like today?
I had a rather hectic morning today. I woke up at 8AM (yes, I bought an apartment next to InSites) and noticed water dripping from my ceiling. Apparently there’s a leak somewhere in the building, so I had a bad start of the week. This morning Pieter (one of our consultants) and I sat down to discuss the analysis plan for one of our clients who is active in the search engine industry. And I also worked on the reporting of the MC DC to make sure we have the final report ready by mid September. 

Let’s end with a ‘quote of the day’!
I stumbled upon a presentation yesterday and on one of the slides there was a quote from Clay Shirky: “A revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new tools, it happens when society adopts new behaviors”. I couldn’t agree with him more. So, what do you think? Which digital trends are (r)evolutionary?

Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/giannicooreman) or connect with me on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/giannicooreman).

Are you really connected to your consumer?
To come up with eye-opening insights on the daily life of today’s consumers and to understand how you can keep up with “the Joneses”, InSites Consulting (together with Stichting Marketing and NIMA) invites marketers to complete the “Meet the Joneses” Test.

WIFM?
- New consumer insights and finding out how connected you really are.
- Your personal ‘connection’ score and a benchmark with other marketers.
- A full report showing all the conclusions when the test is finished (October), personally sent by e-mail.
- A chance to win a prize and step out of your own daily life for a while.

Entering the ‘Meet the Joneses-Test’ is easy. Just click here. The test will take about 10 minutes of your time. Have fun!

Pieter De Vuyst, Research Consultant at InSites Consulting, was one of the guests in a discussion program on ATV. He talked about the use of social networks by the older population. We believe it is the start of his media career. Check out his performance! 

If you want more information about this topic, contact Pieter on pieter.devuyst@insites.eu.

Niels Schillewaert, managing partner, and Tom De Ruyck, Senior Consultant ForwaR&D Lab, are two of the speakers at the 5th Annual Online Research Conference (30 september 2009, London).

The theme of the conference is “Quicker, leaner and fitter in a socially networked world“. As web innovation develops, so too does the relationship between people and brands and the way that we reserach them. Online research can deliver direct and immediate access to their target audiences via enhanced web surveys, personal web spaces and community-based collaborative techniques, but what is the true quality of its bandwith? Where will future research budgets be spent? Mark Earls, Herd Consulting, delivers the keynote at this important annual event, where researchers explore and debate what the future holds for research online and where they should now be setting their sights.

Niels and Tom will talk about “To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question!… and what the ‘Twittersphere’ can bring to market research’.  Although there is a lot of buzz about this social media platform, little is known about why people & brands are on Twitter and what they want to achieve with their presence. Therefore we believed time was ready to conduct an in-depth usage & attitudes study about it! The study will give an answer to the following key-questions:
- What does Twitter mean in the life of its users, which type of users are there, how is the tool used an what can it bring to the marketing domain?
- What could be the role of Twitter as a communication tool for online access panels or research communities?
- What is the potential of Twitter as a (mobile) research tool and what are the drawbacks?
- What are the advantages of possible uses of an opt-in panel of Twitter users?

Click here for more information about the Annual Online Research Conference.
Or if you want more information on the Twitter study, contact Tom De Ruyck (tom.deruyck@insites.eu).