We’re just back from the excellent two-day European Customer Experience Event where folks from Zappos and Harley-Davidson talked about how they build their ‘wow’ experience.

It’s our first time there and, to be honest, not the usual beat for us. But it should be – both for us and the insight community in general. Researchers who do anything related to loyalty or customer service should be attending this type of event because they get to meet the folks who actually put their work into practice – customer experience and service heads from major organisations, public and private.

We’ll blog more with some things that caught our eye. But first, in what’s becoming a tradition, here’s a wrap-up chat with three fellow delegates in which we talk highlights, learnings, customer experience in the public sector, digital natives vs. immigrants, behavioural economics, engendering loyalty by charging people (!), transparency and authenticity, convergence, and improvements for next year. Enjoy!

STARRING:

• Brian Koma, VP Research, Vovici
• Sharon Bayliss, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
• Toni Blumeris, MD, Harding & Yorke (S. Africa)

European Customer Experience World event

A lot of folks are drinking the Zappos kool-aid these days. And it’s easy to see why. Because every now and then you come across a company that’s so contrarian in its thinking and execution that it leaves most observers bewildered. Before it was Google with quirky initiatives such as 20% time, something we now know powers its innovation funnel.

Online retailer Zappos is the latest purveyor of contrarian thinking, all in the pursuit of its happiness business model. For example, staff can spend six minutes or six hours on the phone with a single customer – there’s never any pressure to hit productivity quotas. New staff are paid to leave to gauge their commitment. And customers can return shoes up to a year after purchase, postage free, for a full refund. The list goes on.

The result? Booming sales – a couple years ago they broke the $1bn mark. And they were recently acquired by Amazon for – insert Dr. Evil voice – one billion dollars!

Harley-Davidson needs no introduction. It’s an iconic brand that, unlike Zappos, has been around for decades. And for many of us it conjures up distinct emotions such as freedom even if we’ve never experienced their products.

So, why are we telling you all this? Because you’ll learn more about how these companies are building strong cultures which drive profitability in the short podcast below (15 mins). It’s a discussion with the COO of Zappos and a senior marketer from Harley-Davidson, both of whom will be speaking at the upcoming European Customer Experience World event in May – check out the website for tickets and details.

Kindly hosted by Dean van Leeuwen, TomorrowToday’s intellectual adventurer and scholar of the new world of work. He focuses on customer loyalty and talent engagement.

In the chat we learn about…

• The genesis of Zappos quirkiness
• How Harley-Davidson is managing to stay relevant today
• Whether the ‘humanizing the organisation’ movement has staying power
• Examples of initiatives to build a sustainable culture of positive experiences/behavioural economics
• The evidence that these deliver topline and bottom-line results

STARRING:

• Alfred Lin, COO, Zappos
• Markus Kramer, director of marketing operations, Harley-Davidson
• HOST – Dean van Leeuwen, intellectual adventurer, TomorrowToday

Music by Amber Ojeda.

Faris Yakob, EVP and chief technology strategist at ad. agency McCann Erickson, takes us through his six rules of social media engagement which he believes brands should follow to offer something more meaningful and powerful to people.

Filmed at the BrainJuicer/HSBC London Summerfest in June 2009 (disclosure: we produced the vid).

More videos from this event here.

Mark Earls, author of Herd, talks about why copying is the important new paradigm for encouraging behavioural change.

Filmed at the BrainJuicer/HSBC London Summerfest in June 2009 (disclosure: we produced the vid).

More videos from this event here

First up there’s Tom Ewing, yes theTom Ewing who created quite a stir at this year’s Research ‘08 conference. Back in 2000, Tom created the ILX (I love music) message board as a personal endeavour and it grew viraly. At the time of recording Tom was in a marketing role at Research International. But soon after, parent Kantar had the sense to make him a social media adviser.

Next there’s Matt Rhodes of FreshNetworks, the online community-building part of the award-winning FreshMinds. Matt’s an active blogger and recently revealed that FreshNetworks had won a £5m ($7.5m) interest-free loan as part of an entrepreneur competition – quite a nice prize in the (economic) circumstances.

Hoping, as always, you find this useful.

 STARRING 

• Matt Rhodes, Head of Client Services, FreshNetworks
• Tom Ewing, Social Media expert, Kantar Operations

Timeline [24:39]
00:00 Intro.
00:40 Why bother with communities?
02:07 Dealing with representativity.
04:23 How Tom developed the ILX community.
06:19 Optimising participation ratios.
09:00 Should senior clients actively participate in their own communities?
10:06 Stages in a community (infancy, toddler, adolescence).
11:48 Community types: social vs. business, marketing vs. research (Tremor).
13:59 KPIs/success criteria.
14:59 The value of crowdsourcing.
15:41 RoI: Beeline Labs – Tribalisation of Business study.
17:25 How well is Dell’s Ideastorm community performing?
19:27 Worked example of developing a community (aims, strategy, platform, logistics, beta stage).
23:24 The client ‘wow’ moment.

Notable Mentions
BBC Talking Points community.
Beeline Labs.
Communispace.
Community Server.
Community.
Drupal.
Engagement.
Forums.
Ideastorm (Dell).
Jooma.
Passion.
Sampling.
Starbucks.
Tremor (P&G).
Trip Advisor.
Watercooler moments.
Wikipedia.

Thanks to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones in the outro

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:AdTalk
Series:MarketingTalk

It’s a fun and informative read. Plus it balances a discussion of their successes in 2007 by giving equal prominence to, well, ‘things they learned from’ (including being called out by BBC’s Watchdog for their exploding packaging, and that polarising deal with McDonald’s).

It’s embedded below but if you want to read it and don’t have bionic eyes then you can download your very own copy here.

Coinciding with its publication, Innocent also ran the first AGM…

‘…a day when we open the doors of Fruit Towers, ask our drinkers to come and hear what we’ve been up to and let them tell us face to face what we could be doing better.”

Here’s one of the videos from the event – we can’t imagine too many AGMs being this much fun

Series:AdTalk
Series:MarketingTalk

But wouldn’t it be cool if someone actually decided to go to a conference as a result of listening to one of the podcasts? Well, the kind Ruth McNeil, who handles marketing for the BIG Conference who we recently collaborated with, came back with just that message.

Ruth says:

…One person said that the podcasts had influenced their decision to attend (a first timer who came to the whole conference). I am pleased that so many had listened to the [pre-]conference [podcasts]!

Fantastic news.

Podcasting works because people are drawn to interesting conversations. Not conversations they feel they must listen to. Conversations that they want to listen to. That’s what makes it a perfect medium for sponsors of all kinds who want to get their compelling message across to movers and shakers.

Get in touch in case you fancy a chat (contact details as always in left sidebar).

End of advertisement

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:EMRE Series:BIG Series:Wildfire

• The genesis of Reuben’s interest in Second Life
• Coping with the Second Life Liberation Army
• The virtual worlds landscape and the likely impact of Sony’s new virtual world ‘Home’
• Are virtual worlds a reaction to an alienation in real life?

7mins | Recorded @ Wildfire ‘07 | More podcasts in this series

Notable mentions
Habbo.
Habitat virtual world.
Linden Labs.
Multiverse.
Second Life Liberation Army.
Second Life.
Sony Playstation Home.
There.com.
Wikipedia.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Events Series:Wildfire07

• The online-only Mark Burnett-produced show Gold Rush
• Consumer-generated content
• Performance of AOL properties
• Evolution of video search service Truveo

6mins | Recorded @ Wildfire ‘07 | More podcasts in this series

Notable mentions
Best Buy.
Coca Cola.
Doritos.
Dove.
Engagdget.
Gold Rush.
Manchester United.
Mapquest.
Mark Burnett Productions.
Matt Dickinson.
NFL.
Spinner.
T-Mobile.
Truveo.
Weblogs Inc.
Ze Frank.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Events Series:Wildfire07

• The business importance of authenticity
• Why PR agency Edelman’s reputation suffered in the Wal Mart undisclosed blogger fiasco
• Three big media trends he’s seeing including the shift to on-demand, the participatory culture, and the shift from segmentation to reaggregation
• Why he’s ’short’ on Google’s ability to monetize YouTube and ‘long’ on Yahoo’s future

8mins | Recorded @ Wildfire ‘07 | More podcasts in this series

Notable mentions
AOL.
Apple.
Authenticity.
Bebo.
Denuo.
Edelman.
Google.
iPhone.
iPod.
MSN.
MySpace.
Publicis.
Richard Edelman.
Wal Mart.
Web 2.0.
Yahoo.
YouTube.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Events Series:Wildfire07

 Sponsored by 

 PLANNER TALK  Four seasoned ‘planners’ discuss major developments in online and consumer generated media as attention shifts from conventional to PC-based viewing and interaction. The panel represents a diverse range of opinion and expertise from host Fiona Blades, a planner by background and now head of her own research firm, to the omnipresent planner John Griffiths, ad. agency research head Lee McEwan, and senior researcher Beverly Clarke who works for one of the UK’s largest and newest media groups, Virgin Media

Listen to other podcasts featuring Fiona and John

 STARRING 

• Beverly Clarke, Associate Director of Insight, IDS (part of Virgin Media)
• Fiona Blades, Managing Partner, MESH Planning (host)
• John Griffiths, Planning Above and Beyond
• Lee McEwan, Director of Research Services, Leo Burnett (blog)

Timeline [24m43s]
00m00s Intro.
01m06s The changing nature of content creation.
01m59s The motivations behind people creating their own content?
02m50s The differences between CGC and MSM (mainstream media/broadcasters) and why they don’t compete.
04m20s Watercooler chat and people expressing themselves with copyright material.
05m32s Some broadcasters are openly sharing their content, to some acclaim.
06m28s Broadcasters: the shift from being an opinion former/agenda setter to being a conversation host.
06m45s How advertising needs to change.
07m55s The arrival of Martini TV.
08m50s Better integrating brands into programming.
09m52s Branded content.
12m08s The adman speaks: initiatives from Leo Burnett.
13m20s Proctor & Gamble – the innovative client.
13m39s Client-created content and branded utility/services (Adidas, Audi, BA, HP).
16m45s Measuring CGC.
17m38s Interactive TV.
20m01s A generation of increasingly PC-focused multitaskers.
21m14s Could Apple TV edge out the broadcasters?
22m13s HD TV means cosmetic surgery is one of the biggest growth sectors in Hollywood!
23m05s Redefining TV.

Notable Mentions
Adidas.
Audi.
Blogs.
BMW Films.
Branded utility.
British Airways.
Broadcasting.
Business Life magazine.
Campaign magazine.
Channel 4.
Chicken Tonight.
Chris Anderson.
Consumer generated content (CGC).
Conversations.
Emily Bell (Media Guardian).
Flickr.
Google Video.
Guy Ritchie.
HD TV.
Hewlett Packard (HP).
Intellivision.
Ivan Pollard.
Jeremy Beadle.
Mike Hall.
NBC.
Neil Dawson.
Ofcom.
Podcasting.
Proctor & Gamble.
Raleigh cycles.
Russell Davies.
Slingbox.
The Guardian.
The Long Tail.
TiVo.
User generated content (UGC).
Viral.
Vlogging.
Washington Post.
Word of mouth.
X Factor.
YouTube.

Music Theatrimus and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to MrWeb.com for sponsoring this podcast, and to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the intro and outro.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Sponsored

10mins | Recorded @ Wildfire ‘07 | More podcasts in this series

Download the mp4 version (right click, ’save as’)

Timeline [10m44s]
00m00s Intro.
00m46s Ze’s interest in airline safety cards.
02m42s Will the internet ever become full?
04m20s Ze’s path to internet stardom.
05m44s ‘How To Dance Properly’.
06m33s Ze’s mad itinery/show appearances.
07m07s What’s next, after ‘The Show’?
08m12s Are the relationship rumours true?
08m31s Ze’s 2004 TED appearance.

Notable Mentions
Contagious.
Dennis Interactive.
Esther Dyson.
Felix Dennis.
Freeman Dyson.
Google.
Iconography.
James Dyson.
Larry Page.
Leo Burnett.
Sergey Brin.
TED.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Events Series:Wildfire Series:Wildfire07

During our chat, Emmi mentioned a big youth study which has now been published. Emmi was kind enough to send us a review copy, and we thought we’d share a few bits…

• LARGE: The study is very large, particularly for such an under-researched and valued audience: over 42,000 teen respondents (most aged 12-16) across 22 countries, interviewed in May 2006
• COMMUNITY: This scale is a testament to the power of good community-building – research panels could learn a lesson or two from them. For example, “They [the community] tend to treat Habbo staff members and moderators as celebrities, often creating rooms in their honour and sending them gifts at Christmas and Easter.”
• REPRESENTATIVENESS: The sample isn’t necessarily perfectly representative of all teens, but then again what sample ever is? As Emmi explained to me, “…teens with certain areas of interest, values and attitudes are more likely to use Habbo, and some groups of teens are probably not interested in Habbo at all. In some countries they are probably quite representative, but in others less so – for example in Brazil, the Habbo users are most likely from much wealthier families than the average teens and thus are not representative of Brazilian teens in general.” (ED: this is typical for many studies in Brazil, not just among teens)
• COVERAGE: Topic coverage is wide – media and brand choices etc., with an average questionnaire completion time of 33 mins
• SEGMENTATION: Part of the analysis includes a five-cluster segmentation based on the dimensions of attitude and social confidence (see chart below). In the global analysis the segments are of similar size but of course there are country differences (e.g. developed countries have a higher % of Achievers, Rebels more prominent in southern Europe and Loners in Japan)
• BRANDS: Found it interesting that Sony is way ahead of Apple in the favourite brand stakes. As Emmi notes, “…in this age group, the Playstation seems to be way more popular than the iPod.”

Below are some charts, enjoy!

CHARTS HERE…
Click thumbnails to enlarge charts

Sample size
 
 
 
 
 

Important Values
 
 
 
 
 

Attitudes to Social Issues
 
 
 
 
 

Interests
 
 
 
 
 

Sub-cultures
 
 
 
 
 

Favourite Brands
 
 
 
 
 

Segmentation
 
 
 
 
 

If you want more detail then I’m sure Emmi won’t mind you dropping her an email (emmi.kuusikko **AT** sulake **DOT** com)
Series:MarketingTalk

Many clients don’t even realise there’s a problem
(Fred John)

 WIN ‘07  Recorded during a world leader meeting, our panel discusses ways to shift MR from a profession that uses closed, carefully controlled methods of data collection to one that cedes control and spends more time listening to people as they air views naturally, and so become more attuned to the new world of consumer self-expression and empowerment

 STARRING 

• C. Frederic John, Research Leader, MasterCard
• Frits Spangenberg, ESOMAR President and founder, Motivaction
• Larry Brownell, Executive Director, MRA
• Philip De Wulf, co-founder and partner, The Mission House

Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN ‘07 event

ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses

Timeline [15m41s]
00m00s Intro.
00m40s The curse of declining participation rates.
01m13s Who should be solving the issue?
01m52s Do clients recognise that this is an issue for them?
02m28s Client purchasing managers need educating.
04m02s Consumer behaviour is changing and this is affecting more than just MR.
05m30s Clients are not interested in methodological issues.
07m35s Solutions: client education; become respondent-focused; ceding control.
10m12s What’s involved in giving up power and control?
11m09s Overcoming vested interests.
11m58s Web 2.0 and the importance of community-building.
12m49s Will more corporates engage with consumers via blogs?
13m10s Is it time to expand MR’s catchment?
14m12s Final thoughts.

Notable Mentions
Access panels.
Blogs.
Bulletin boards.
CMOR.
Dell.
Forums.
Kim Dedeker (P&G).
Microsoft.
MySpace.
Respondent Participation Summit 2006.
Second Life.

Quotes
“This problem has been developing over 30 or 40 years, and us trying to redirect a river on a short term is not a good idea…it’s a long term project.” (Larry Brownell).

“If research is going to elevate this and its status within the corporate world then it has got to be ‘you have got to be able to bet your job on this.’” (Larry Brownell).

“…there’s a shift from boxed approaches to open approaches…people want more freedom of expression…[MR] tools development should go in the direction of listening tools rather than questioning tools.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The challenge is to let go of that feeling of power…I don’t like to be put behind the mirror as a consumer, I like to look people in the eye, to be listened to.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The way access panels are built now do not comply with the rules of community building: you are not the architect, it’s the community itself that defines the rules.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The industry is evolving faster than the profession.” (Fred John).

“You constantly have to reinvent your own existence.” (Frits Spangenberg).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Thanks to Anna Alu, ESOMAR, for her help in producing this podcast, and to Diane Bowers, CASRO President, and Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for their dulcet tones in the intro and outro. Photos courtesy of Patrice Bondurand

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:WIN07

Businesses have a reluctance to use services that are free because it doesn’t fit their mindset
(Ray Poynter)

 BIG Conference  In the first of two podcasts in the run up to the BIG Conference in May 2007, Phyllis Macfarlane and Ray Poynter take a comprehensive look at how web 2.0 tools and techniques can be used to improve B2B research. They also talk about the obvious cultural and organisational issues that such changes invariably bring up

 STARRING 

• Ray Poynter, The Future Place
• Phyllis Macfarlane, Head, Gfk NOP Custom (Host)

Learn more about BIG Conference 2007

AUDIO QUALITY: We apologise in advance for the below-par audio quality and hope that the quality of the content makes up for this

Timeline [17m17s]
00m00s Intro.
00m42s Clients need to get more involved in studies.
01m37s It’s do or die for researchers – a threat, but also an opportunity.
02m45s New web 2.0 approaches.
04m13s A consumer-driven phenomenon.
04m51s Businesses are reluctant to use ‘free’ services they can’t control.
05m57s Co-creation (Boeing, Nortel, Wikis).
08m18s “It’s threatening, enabling, and changing” (using blogs and forums).
10m09s Will blogging improve access to the best respondent?
11m03s Much less anonymous research, and less sample based.
11m56s Negotiating client demands for robust software, systems and processes.
12m58s Second Life and B2B research.
14m35s CEO blogs and innovation.
15m42s Emerging markets – China.

Notable Mentions
Allen and Overy.
Authenticity.
Authority.
B2B research.
Blogs.
Boeing.
Co-creation.
Forums.
Knowledge management systems.
Microsoft.
Nortel Networks.
Reputation.
Research 2.0.
Second Life.
Skype.
Social networking.
Tagging.
Technorati.
Wikipedia.
Wikis.
Yahoo!
YouTube.

Quotes
“Someone [client] will have to be there everyday, it’s much more of a commitment, but much more enriching as well”.

Thanks
A huge thanks to Phyllis, Ray, and to Ruth McNeil for their help in producing these podcasts

Thanks to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the intro and outro

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:BIG07 Series:Events

Mark Earls’ latest contribution to life, the universe and everything is gaining traction. His new book rethinks how people make decisions and discovers as a result that much of current research practice is fundamentally flawed in its assumptions and interpretation of consumer behaviour. Quite fitting for this self-styled ‘Contrarian’. The book provides psychology underpinning for many recent phenomena such as social networking, engagement, conversations, ethnography, blogging and predictive markets by showing how we act as groups and not individually. Part of our monthly column for ESOMAR’s Research World magazine

 STARRING 

• Mark Earls, author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, Head Honcho, Herd Consulting

TIMELINE [17m19s]
00m00s Intro.
00m42s Why current research practices are wrong.
02m09s The industry is improving, but not enough.
03m21s The value of ethnography and predictive markets techniques.
03m57s ‘Herd’ questions the assumptions made in traditional research.
04m31s Improving opinion polling predictability.
05m10s Does ‘Herd’ have implications for all types of research?
05m29s Do social networking tools play a role in ‘Herd’?
06m48s The benefits of meme trackers.
07m10s Would ‘Herd’ have predicted the eventual success of SMS?
08m09s P&G Tremor panels.
08m58s Persuading others to adopt ‘Herd’ thinking.
09m35s Is Tesco a ‘Herd’ brand?
10m28s Co-creation, software beta testing and the open source movement.
11m34s Consumers co-creating ads.
12m10s Other brands that follow the ‘Herd’ philosophy.
13m03s Progressive research agencies.
14m17s Summarising the ‘model’.
15m25s Inspiration for writing the book.

Notable Mentions
Acacia Avenue.
American positivism.
Andrew Ehrenberg (Prof).
Blogs.
Bob Worcester (Sir).
BrainJuicer.
Co-creation.
David Goetz.
Digg.com.
Dodge.
Dove.
dunnhumby.
Ethnography.
Fiona Blades.
Gerald (Jerry) Zaltman: “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market”.
Hall and Partners.
Harvard Business School.
Influence maps.
James Surowiecki.
Jeff Goldblum.
John Kearon.
MESH Planning.
Mike Hall.
MRS.
MySpace.
NHS.
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M).
OLR (Opinion Leader Research).
Open source.
P&G Tremor panels.
Predictive markets.
Social networking.
Spring Research.
Stephen Phillips.
TechMeme.com.
Tesco.
The Big Chill.
Tom Daly.
Unilever.
Wardle Mclean.
Wendy Gordon.
Wikis.
YouTube.

Quotes
“Post rationalisation is more important than sex.” (Jeff Goldblum).

“Individuals are really poor witnesses to the richness of their own lives.”

“We (MR practitioners) are still very bad at predicting.”

“I know that when an idea is interesting it creates energy … whereas most of our methodologies don’t look at that as an indicator.”

“The future may be much more two-way.” (in reference to P&G Tremor panels).

“This is perhaps one of the hardest things for business and market research to understand, consumers frankly tolerate us.”

“It’s never been harder to do marketing … we are at an inflexion point.”

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk

“Unlike other applications … Second Life has a storyline related to pretty much any press you want to talk about”

 EXCLUSIVE  You could for forgiven for not having heard of Habbo because it is aimed at teens. But with the seemingly blanket coverage it’s received in the mainstream media as well as on blogs and podcasts, you will surely have heard of Second Life. Both are online 3D virtual worlds where people interact with each other via avatars. Both are extremely popular and are experiencing rapid growth. And some of the largest brands in the world are starting to setup virtual life in Second Life. Here we learn more about them from their creators, and find out why they are so popular and what the future holds. For those unfamiliar with either of these social networks we recommend taking a quick look at their websites to get a basic feel

 STARRING 

• Emmi Kuusikko, Director of User and Market Insight, Sulake (Habbo)
• David Fleck, VP Business Development, Linden Lab (Second Life)
• Mario Menti, GMI, blog

The first conversation was recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006

TIMELINE [30m19s]
00m00s Intro.

NOTE: Prior experience of these two free applications, and hence a basic understanding of what they look like, will enhance the listening experience.

1. Emmi Kuusikko (Habbo).
00m57s Intro to Habbo (scale, growth, turnover).
01m34s Sources of revenue.
02m54s Comparison with Second Life.
03m33s Core target group and managing individual safety.
04m36s Brands that advertise on Habbo.
05m21s Inspiration for Habbo – it started as a viral game.
06m09s Broadband as a growth driver.
06m32s Researching the need for regional customisation.
07m35s Competitors – for mindshare and for people’s time.
08m17s Average time spent in Habbo, and at what times of day.
08m50s Future developments – music, communication tools.
09m13s Key challenges – developing and advanced markets, partnerships.
09m46s Researching within the Habbo world – ‘research stations’ and ‘missions’.

Notable Mentions
Banner advertising.
Bebo.
Cyworld.
Games.
Google.
Habbo Homes.
Instant messaging (IM).
Micro payments.
MMORPG.
Music.
MySpace.
Nike.
Online teen community.
Orkut.
Research community.
Second Life.
Skype.
Social networking.
Surveys.
Teens.
The Snow War.
Tweens.
Viral.
Virtual worlds.
Youth.
YouTube.

2. David Fleck (Second Life), Mario Menti (GMI).
11m54s Intro.
12m20s Intro to Second Life – what it is, how it works.
14m18s Benefits of Second Life – webcasting with avatars.
15m24s Some brands in Second Life – BBC, Starwood Hotels, Harvard Uni.
16m00s Second Life vs. first life (i.e. reality) – policing, liaisons.
16m50s User base and growth.
17m37s Reasons for the wide media interest.
18m19s A utopian vision for Second Life.
18m49s Limitations with land.
19m27s Size of active user base.
20m29s User demographics – 31 is the median age.
21m50s Empowering the community to protect kids.
22m40s Mechanisms for community feedback.
23m01s GMI’s Second Life survey tool – immersive interviewing.
24m03s Business model and cash flow positive date.
“We’re hoping to declare profitability sometime in early 2007″.

24m41s Profitability drivers.
25m41s Whether any plans for a sales tax.
26m15s Future developments – integrated VoIP (virtual phone booths).
26m50s Using voice to hold in-world focus groups and for teaching.
27m27s Using SL to build 3D applications more cheaply.
28m29s SL’s billion dollar worth.

Notable Mentions
3D world.
Avatar.
BBC Radio 1.
Churn.
Economy.
Gaming.
Harvard University.
Linden Lab.
Media Intelligence.
Philip Rosedale.
Picnic 06.
Shopping.
Social networking.
Starwood Hotels.
Taxation.
Teens.
User controlled communities.
User generated content.
Virtual world.
World of Warcraft.

“Second Life is starting to move into the masses and word-of-mouth is starting to generate a lot of interest.”.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:EMRE06 Series:Events

 GUEST  Kirsty Fuller, co-Founder and Chairman of the world’s largest qualitative consultancy, Flamingo International

 TOPICS  The new paradigm in branding (Jay-Z and Budweiser, co-creation, authenticity); The benefits of using intuition in research vs. being strictly evidence-based; EXCLUSIVE: Japan office coming soon

 NOTABLE MENTIONS  Andy Dexter, Apple, Budweiser, Chris Arning, Def Jam, Digg, Edny Tappy, Fiona Blades, Illuminas, Innocent, iPod, James Parsons, Jay-Z, Kate Moss, Levi, Maggie Collier, MySpace, Nike, Reebok, Simon Lidington, Top Shop, Truth Consulting, Walkman, YouTube

Music Brother Love and Martha Redbone from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Weekly

 EXCLUSIVE  Brand Strategy magazine’s Ruth Mortimer talks about some hot issues in branding such as co-creation and branded content. Ray Poynter talks tech trends. And FDS’s new co-owner and MD, Charlotte Cornish, on the extraordinary story behind her acquisition of FDS

 STARRING 

• Ruth Mortimer, Editor, Brand Strategy Magazine
• Ray Poynter, Director, Virtual Surveys, and Head, The Future Place
• Charlotte Cornish, MD, FDS and Director, Munro Global

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS 2006

Timeline [25m19s]
00m00s Intro.

1.Ruth Mortimer.
00m54s The rise of co-creation.
02m39s Are brands embracing the new web?
03m37s Editorial mix, city brands.
05m13s Sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
06m01s Fads vs. trends: branded content.
07m49s The value of research.
08m37s Inspirational research: word of mouth (Net Promoter Score).

Notable Mentions
Audi.
Branded content.
Charles Leadbeater.
City brands (e.g. Dubai, Shanghai, London).
Coca Cola.
Disney.
eBay.
Fred Reichheld (Net Promoter Score).
Google.
Harvard Business School.
MGM.
Old El Paso.
P&G.
Second Life.
Tremor Panels.
Triumph motorcycles.
Viral marketing.

2.Ray Poynter.
09m25s Intro.
10m22s Trends in online research.
10m57s The case for ’slow research’ and its applications.
12m49s The challenges using research to make reliable forecasts.
15m02s Research is fun!

Notable Mentions
Apple.
Blogging.
Burger King.
iPod.
McDonalds.
Multimedia messaging (MMS).
Pete Comley.
Quentin Ashby.
Text messaging (SMS).
Web 2.0.

3.Charlotte Cornish.
15m50s How Charlotte came to acquire FDS.
21m14s The positive state of FDS, recent wins.
22m33s Arrival of a new management style.
23m25s The switch from value-added outfit to mainstream research company.

Notable Mentions
Ace Fieldwork.
BT.
Electra Kingsway.
Experian.
The Future Foundation.
Henley Centre.
Janet Weitz.
John Samuels.
Michael Warren.
Munro Global.
Pim Cornish.
Richard Hepburn.
Venture Capital (VC).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

 GUEST  Online research pioneer Pete Comley, Chairman of Virtual Surveys

 TOPICS  YouGov quadruples profits; BrandIndex tracker & word of mouth; Web 2.0. VS: Staying independent; Accidental genesis of VS and early challenges; Research 2.0; Blogging; Future challenges

 NOTABLE MENTIONS  Al Gore, BSkyB, Current TV, Ed Keller, Eric Berne, ESOMAR, The Future Place, Google, Greenfield Online, Harris Interactive, Henley Centre, Keller Fay, MySpace, Quentin Ashby, Ray Poynter, RI, Stephen Phillips, Trish Comley, YouGov, YouTube

Music Brother Love and Matthew Ebel from the PMN

Series:Weekly