Advertising and Marketing Division Web Site: New York, 2003 Programs

The panel of experts discussed the pros and cons of using the Internet to conduct market research. The topic mainly concerned conducting focus groups in an online setting rather than face-to-face but also touched on e-mail surveys and other techniques.

COST
Online focus groups are less expensive than face-to-face ones. Cost is the number one reason why most places now use online market research tools.

LOGISTICS
Another important advantage is that online focus groups are not conducted in one place or time. Because of this, researchers are able to gather information from a larger, more accurate sampling.

CUSTOMIZATION
Online market research also makes it easier to customize questions on the fly, which is helpful for researchers who want to tailor their questions as they go.

Preliminary testing of new products is also more easily done online, or when the client just needs to get a general direction of a product or trend.

ANONYMITY
Participants are freer and more anonymous in the online setting, making their answers to questions more honest and reliable. This especially applied to situations where the survey group was a highly trained set of professional, such as medical doctors. This group was able to be more honest and relaxed in the online sessions because they felt less pressure to impress their peers.

Online research groups are also less biased because they don’t allow people to do as much “selective listening” as in face-to-face groups.

Also, people tend to respond more passionately online which is what researchers want. The “wallflowers” speak up more and the “leaders” are less able to dominate the conversation.

RECRUITMENT
Online works better for recruitment of participants than newspaper ads or cold calls do. The screening process is similar to that for face-to-face. Respondents have a preliminary screening, and then a secondary one by a research expert. As with face-to-face research, the group composition is crucial, but with online situations, the pool of candidates is bigger to begin with..

MORE QUALITY CONTROL
There are less omissions and mistakes in e-mail questionnaires than in paper ones. This is because each page of an online questionnaire must be filled out correctly before you can advance to the next page.

l to r: Carol Fitzgerald, Will Febbo, Lynn Edlen-Nezin

MISSING INFLECTIONS
Nuances are harder to notice in written responses than they are face to face. However, it is debatable how important these inflections really are.

TECHNOLOGY INCOMPATIBILITY
Technical compatibility issues arise when respondents are using their own equipment. This holds true especially when graphic files need to be viewed and everyone’s monitor displays colors and shapes a different way.

TARGET MARKETS
Some target markets are not online as much as others. In particular the Hispanic market is not as much online as the mainstream US. As of now, Hispanic market research online is unproductive.

PRIVACY
Consent forms become more complicated when the respondents are submitting answers online. New tools are being developed though to counter these and other privacy problems.

CLIENTS
Interestingly, many clients are still resistant to having market research done over the Internet and would prefer the tried and true methods of the past.

CONCLUSIONS
Whether online or face-to-face, the most important aspects of good market research remain the same: you must have the right group with the right questions and the right facilitator to bring about the best results.

For most situations though, a combination of online and offline (quantitative and qualitative) still works best.

Library Websites in the Advertising Industry
Speakers:
Robin Feuerstein, IPG Group; Kathleen Hunter, Association of National Advertisers; Christopher Brune, Bates Worldwide; Stephen Fleming, Young & Rubicam

At this “show and tell,” four DAM division members shared how they use the Internet to deliver information services. The presentation was well-attended and generated a lot of positive feedback.

Christopher Brune, VP Knowledge Manager at Bates Worldwide, spoke first discussing the evolution of their Intranet site called The Big Brain.

Chris discussed how The Big Brain was designed to be Bates’ way of managing intellectual property, identifying expertise, developing communities of practice and accessing online information.

Their original concept was to create a site that was fun, irreverent and playful with the hope of attracting the attention of their creative clientele. They rolled with out with an impressive internal ad campaign and waited to see the reaction.

What became apparent was that “fun” didn’t work. It was too cute and confusing. There were also some technical difficulties with users outside New York who did not understand the idiomatic humor.

So after a period of time, they scaled back The Big Brain, eliminating the cartoon icons and funny names and re-focused it on only the knowledge management and research functions.

The latest version allows users to search for internally created reports as well as many external sources such as Dialog and Lexis-Nexis. Users are also able to search the Bates Library Catalog and to submit research requests online.

l to r: Stephen Fleming, Kathleen Hunter, Robin Feuerstein,
Adam Schmidt, Chris Brune

Robin Feuerstein, Vice President & Director of Information Services for the Center for Marketing Intelligence at Interpublic Group, spoke next. Accompanying Robin was CMI’s webmaster, Adam Schmidt.

Robin shared information about the evolution of her company’s Intranet site, which is called CMI Online.

Robin and her team were thinking about knowledge sharing as far back as 1984, but it wasn’t until the birth of the World Wide Web that they were able to implement their ideas. In 1998, CMI Online (then called CASNet) was born.

The current version of CMI Online has many features, including links to subscription services (such as Yankelovich) and other great websites selected by their staff of Internet research experts.

However, the main attraction on CMI Online is the extensive collection of internally produced research. These reports are the hallmark of Robin’s library and feature detailed market research from in-house experts.

Kathleen Hunter, Director, Information Resource Services at the Association of National Advertisers, spoke next. Kathleen discussed the ANA’s site IRC Online.

IRC Online, unlike the other sites in this presentation, is an Extranet site. It exists on the ANA Intranet, but is also accessible from outside the organization. ANA members access the public ANA website and then enter the “members only” section by using the appropriate passwords.

IRC Online was launched in 1999 and uses Inmagic to manage its content. IRC Online provides members with access to publications, surveys, job descriptions, meeting notes and conference summaries published by the ANA. It has a section of “Member FAQs” and also allows users to contact librarians for customized research.

The ANA Extranet delivers information to members 24/7 and also allows library staff to provide more service in less time. It has been such a success that it is used as a major selling point to prospective new members. This is all evident in the steadily increasing traffic to the site.

Kathleen pointed out that the unique content and the collaboration with senior management were major factors in the site’s success.

Stephen Fleming, Manager of the Virtual Library at Young & Rubicam Advertising, spoke last. He presented their Intranet portal known as The Virtual Library.

Stephen explained that The Virtual Library is an Intranet-based research tool that exploits the expertise of the Y&R Library staff. It provides access to information-rich websites, subscription services, internal research and the library catalog. It also allows users to submit requests online.

The Virtual Library was begun in 1997 and developed “under the radar.” Since then it has gone through transformations to make it more user-friendly and more integrated with other research initiatives. It is currently being overhauled again for a re-launch in the near future.

The Virtual Library changed the way business was done at Young & Rubicam. It allowed end-users to do more searching on their own. Users in remote offices also gained access to previously unattainable sources. It liberated librarians from routine requests and saved thousands of dollars with commercial vendors.

Click on the links to view the speakers PowerPoint presentations.

Christopher Brune

Kathleen Hunter

Stephen Fleming

This year's Open House promises to be a unique event. Everyone will have the opportunity to socialize and network. New members will be officially welcomed and introduced. Presentations relating to the advertising and marketing industries will demonstrate the unique skills and practices of Division members. Raffles will be held. And other surprises are being planned. All conference attendees are welcome to attend.

Information Sharing Across a Global Agency Network
Speakers:
Ted Graham, Director, Worldwide Knowledge Management, Hill & Knowlton
Laura Limbach, Worldwide CIO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Mark Taylor, EVP & CIO, Young & Rubicam/Wunderman

This panel brought together representatives from some of the world’s leading marketing services companies to discuss the challenges of creating and evolving corporate information systems that can both engage employees and help them work better. The wide range of topics included promoting compliance with a company’s global information policies, measuring employee participation online and the security implications of access to these information-sharing sites.

Moderator Gretchen Reed first asked whether compliance with information policies could be consistent globally. But when it comes to corporate intranets, it seems that the “one size fits all” plan rarely works. At Saatchi & Saatchi, Laura Limbach explained, they took a two-tiered approach. “To promote usage, our leadership council developed the policy that virtually all corporate news and communication are only be available on the intranet. But we discovered that at the same time it was not practical or wise to aim for 100% of all account-related information being placed on the system. Different lines of business require flexibility. So those guidelines call for collaboration via a private account community whenever possible.”

At Young & Rubicam/Wunderman, they’ve also learned that one solution can’t fit everyone. “I believe we have three main “buckets” of activities in our industry,” said Mark Taylor. “There’s relationship management, with duties like account management and new business, ideation, which covers creative and analytics, and manufacturing, referring to areas such as studio and production. People who work in different areas will have different uses for an information-sharing site. On our intranet, which is called The Loop, we’ve worked to fulfill those needs with a range of features and capabilities that will engage them and provide a faster exchange of information.”

“We don’t have formal, overreaching information policy,” added Hill & Knowlton’s Ted Graham. “But it certainly is crucial to have employee contact numbers, bios, case studies and many other items posted on the site. When it comes to biographies we can figure out who does what and who doesn't, but it's much harder to chase down a great case study on your own.”

Graham went on to explain that while compliance and participation is voluntary, Hill and Knowlton has put into place incentives to get the employees to visit and return to the site. For a time, their employees had the chance to earn “Beenz” (a micropayment system developed by www.Beenz.com) for CDs and other prizes when they downloaded intranet pages. The company also developed “best-seller” lists of the most frequently accessed pages. Plus, departments that have shown a high level of participation also receive cash bonuses.

Getting employees to initially visit and then return for more has been a challenge for all the panelists. At Saatchi, Limbach said, it involved a campaign similar to a rollout for a client: “It’s no longer just enough to send people an email that there’s a new site. We hired a creative team to come up with a concept. The campaign had several lead-up days, then the main event on the actual launch date. The overall strategy was a set of visual props, both at the individual level as well as a public 'scene' to announce the birth of the site and tease them into going to the site to check it out.”

l to r: Gretchen Reed, Mark Taylor, Laura Limbach, Ted Graham

Limbach pointed out that some of the resistance to intranets had to do with the nature of the ad business: “Advertising is competitive, so it’s kind of counterintuitive to be asking people to post their best ideas for all to see. Fortunately, access and security are more sophisticated now, so you can have more control over who’s seeing your ideas. And ultimately I believe that while you can drive people to visit the site, they have to want to “play” there for you to secure any lasting involvement.”

One successful strategy for involvement at Hill and Knowlton was the installation of a webcam pointed at the bar room of their London office, providing some refreshing, global 24/7 viewing, and the encouragement of employees to include material about their families and interests in their public folders. This combination came to be known as “booze, babies and Bob” (Bob was an employee training for an Iron Man competition). “The idea was to give employees the chance to find out about their colleagues beyond the typical bio, and that this interaction could lead to opportunities with different offices and teams in our global network,” explained Graham.

At Y&R/Wunderman, Taylor explained, a big effort has been made to integrate knowledge management into daily activities: “If sharing requires an additional step, it becomes a burden, and if it is a burden it will be done less well.” He added: “Though much of what we do is unique, the way we do it does not have to be if we have a system in place to learn from experiences. With The Loop, our people have an easy way to make sharing and learning simply a part of doing their job every day. They can post important presentations, studies, client work, and much more, so that they and others can reapply those learnings for future engagements. I think that’s the big selling point for intranets, the progress organizations like ours are making in the marriage of internal and external knowledge.”

Next the panelists discussed advances in technology and how it has improved collaboration and security. In particular, Limbach noted the improvement in search engines and portals: “Previous versions of the intranet were primarily focused on the document management technology. All documents were 'in there' somewhere. The portal approach has allowed the introduction of many other functions and perhaps more importantly, the creation of uniquely branded and organized communities dedicated to the specific account group or project team. Each community can be secured down to the individual document level if necessary. Plus, all information can be organized exactly as the community administrator wants it, not as the document management software dictates.”

Taylor noted the importance of Intraspect, which he’s found well-adapted to fast-paced distribution on knowledge and Y&R/Wunderman, plus the industry-standard Webtrends for understanding who’s visiting the site, where they go, and what they do.

Graham added that his company uses Intraspect to capture team discussion in email archives on Intraspect, which can not only help new team member’s catch up, but also provides an electronic trail in the event of any security concerns when people leave the firm.

All the panelists agreed the future looks bright for information sharing and its place in global companies because technology continues to get cheaper to use and easier to deploy. The takeaway:

Limbach: “I agree with the Gartner Group analysis I read that within the next 2-3 years collaborative efficiency management will be considered a critical success factor and a well exercised discipline in 80% of enterprises with revenue more then $1 billion"

Graham: “I think we've come a long way but we need to continue to be more creative on the technology side to match the way creative people work and share information. We need to create more sense of communities and give them some fun things to do online to get over the hesitation to share around the globe with people you don't know very well.”

Taylor: “Now we can focus more on the business and human values and resources people need to get the job done. The next big thing is the further sophistication of autonomic computing systems, now in development, which will offer self-monitoring and self-repairing features. These computers will be able to learn from the routine things that you do each day, to the point that the computer will be able to do a lot of the work for you.”

Ad Lib: The Advertised Librarian
Co-hosted with the Solo Librarians Division and the Women’s Issues Caucus
Speaker:
Jenny Tobias, Librarian, Collection Development, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Jenny Tobias is a librarian at the Museum of Modern Art, managing reader services and collection development. She also studies art history at the City University of New York. Following library school at Rutgers University (1994), she served as Reference Librarian at the Parsons School of Design. Her first library job was checking bags as a Cooper Union undergrad, followed by stints at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts and Barnard College.

Jenny Tobias, Librarian, Collection Development, The Museum of Modern Art, New York	Ever have the feeling…
Jenny’s take on the librarian with a bun…it was delicious	Ever diligent. Primed to shushhhh. Photos: John R. Harris

Note:
Many of the television commercials featured in the program are being provided by Xtreme Information.

Tour of the American Association of Advertising Agencies followed by lunch (provided by the AAAA).

Annual business roundtable discussing current issues in our industry follows lunch and tour.

Moderator:
Julie-Ann Zilavy, Manager, Online Services (Member Information Service), American Association of Advertising Agencies

Walking tour of three advertising libraries on the West Side of Manhattan. Libraries to be visited: BBDO Worldwide (host: Sylvia Wachtel); Bates Worldwide (host: Sara Stein); Young & Rubicam (host: Maureen Pine).

Walking tour of three advertising libraries on the East Side on Manhattan. Libraries to be visited: DDB Worldwide (host: Alice Bromley); IPG Group (host: Robin Feuerstein); Association of National Advertisers (host: Kathleen Hunter).

Meeting of the 2002-2003 Board & Division Officers. Past-year activities and future directions will be discussed. All Division members are invited to attend.

Meet Division officers, welcome new members, and discuss past-year activities during our annual business meeting and luncheon. Enjoy a three-course lunch featuring cuisine by renown chef Francesco Antonucci in The Rialto Room at Remi Restaurant. Designer Adam Tihany created this magical space which includes a beautiful mural of Venice and spectacular Venetian glass chandeliers. Minor changes to menu items might occur prior to the date of the luncheon.

Meet the new board to discuss the 2004 conference and other upcoming plans. All members welcome to participate.

Conference Sessions

Collecting Market Research Online
Speakers:
Will Febbo, CEO & Co-Founder, MedPanel, Inc.
Carol Fitzgerald, Partner & Founder, BuzzBack
Lynn Edlen-Nezin, PhD, VP, Strategic Planning & Research, Grey Healthcare Group

Information Sharing Across a Global Agency Network
Speakers:
Ted Graham, Director, Worldwide Knowledge Management, Hill & Knowlton
Laura Limbach, Worldwide CIO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Mark Taylor, EVP & CIO, Young & Rubicam/Wunderman

Conference Sessions

Collecting Market Research Online Speakers: Will Febbo, CEO & Co-Founder, MedPanel, Inc. Carol Fitzgerald, Partner & Founder, BuzzBack Lynn Edlen-Nezin, PhD, VP, Strategic Planning & Research, Grey Healthcare Group

Information Sharing Across a Global Agency Network Speakers: Ted Graham, Director, Worldwide Knowledge Management, Hill & Knowlton Laura Limbach, Worldwide CIO, Saatchi & Saatchi Mark Taylor, EVP & CIO, Young & Rubicam/Wunderman

Collecting Market Research Online
Speakers:
Will Febbo, CEO & Co-Founder, MedPanel, Inc.
Carol Fitzgerald, Partner & Founder, BuzzBack
Lynn Edlen-Nezin, PhD, VP, Strategic Planning & Research, Grey Healthcare Group

Information Sharing Across a Global Agency Network
Speakers:
Ted Graham, Director, Worldwide Knowledge Management, Hill & Knowlton
Laura Limbach, Worldwide CIO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Mark Taylor, EVP & CIO, Young & Rubicam/Wunderman