We are delighted to announce that Qmedia, an Optimisa Research company, have won the 2009 Market Research Society award for Advertising and Media Research.

‘In VoD We Trust’ researched Channel 4’s on demand services (4oD), providing the first insight into how viewers watch the content and what that means for advertisers using the new ad-funded platform. As the first major commercial research study of its kind (2008), it has significantly increased industry understanding of Video on Demand (VoD) as a whole:

• How to use VoD in advertising campaigns, to increase reach and maximise engagement
• The brand-building benefits it has for advertisers, which are significantly improved beyond those achieved by linear TV or online display campaigns alone
• How to protect valuable audience enthusiasm, by ensuring that ads are targeted and intrusion minimised.

What the judges said:

This paper outlines one of the first commercial studies undertaken to increase the industry’s understanding of how Video on Demand works as an advertising and communication medium. It was an extensive study both in terms of the number of brands involved and the robustness and scale of the samples used. As a result the research puts a useful value on a relatively unknown medium and has widespread and actionable implications.

It was innovative in terms of the area researched, it delivered real commercial benefit and the research findings have wide implications for the communications industry.”

Find out more about the awards here.

• We helped Taylor Woodrow steer the course of a well-known brand.
• Each month we help Hilton keep their customers satisfied.
• Our work for a food corporation prevented the launch of a soft drink that would not have been a commercial success.

And here are some examples where we successfully tackled some particularly complex questions.

• For Tesco we got to the heart of what value means to customers.
• We helped Pfizer Consumer Healthcare get to know grocery and pharmacy shoppers better.
• We gave Vodafone the key insights they needed to create superior offers for customers.

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Email:
Michelle Norman (CEO)
Tim Sheard (Research Director)
Lucy Pedrick (Research Director)

In the mobile communications market customers are looking for products and services that are simple to understand, easy to use and which offer great value for money – and this is what Vodafone aims to provide. Buckingham Research helps by identifying the needs of key target groups in different countries and how to meet them most effectively.

In achieving this there are many aspects to consider. The service itself can have several elements (voice, email, web, etc.) and they can be accessed through a wide range of devices. There are multiple sales channels and tariff structures.

Because of the large number of elements to the service, we often need to create and apply customised trade-off methodologies which can identify the options most valued by customers from literally thousands of possible combinations. Such projects demand a careful balance between the need to obtain and analyse large amounts of information, and the need to make the task for respondents simple and manageable.

VODAFONE and the Vodafone logo are trademarks of the Vodafone Group.

Government initiatives have changed the healthcare environment. The wider availability of over-the-counter medicines is creating growth opportunities. Buckingham Research has been working with Pfizer to develop their understanding of the shopper and so give them competitive advantage.

A first study delivered a robust set of shopper segments which we brought to life with demographic and attitudinal profiling. We used ‘Spark’ – our own advanced modelling tool – to identify a small number of ‘golden questions’ that will accurately classify shoppers.

We then looked into the behaviour of the different types of shoppers. Pfizer has shared our findings with retailers to improve ranges and merchandising.

We have also developed a new approach to improve understanding of shopper decision-making. This helps Pfizer identify the ideal product range and, once again, to work with retailers to make displays meet shoppers’ needs.

Tesco is always looking to provide better value for its customers. One element of value is low prices but quality is equally important – and quality is subjective.

Tesco asked Buckingham Research to identify the areas in their stores that would have the biggest impact on value. We came up with a “double” conjoint trade-off approach, which identified the impact on quality and price perceptions of different levels of performance on 58 separate areas.

We also measured Tesco’s current performance against their key competitors on the most important areas. Putting these different pieces of information together, we were able to recommend the areas that would have the greatest positive impact.

A major food corporation had developed an energy drink with a unique positioning – it contained natural ingredients, in particular one exotic fruit with a range of claimed health benefits.

Our job was to find the ideal target audience for the new drink, and measure the drink’s appeal. Pricing was critical. Costly ingredients made it expensive to produce: it would have to be sold at a higher price than other energy drinks.

As it turned out, too high a price: we discovered that while the drink generated strong purchase interest, its planned price point was around 20% above that deemed acceptable by consumers.

Our client looked at ways of reducing the production cost but couldn’t find a profitable solution. The launch was shelved and a costly error avoided.

Hilton understands the link between a good experience and customer loyalty. Buckingham Research conducts Hilton’s guest satisfaction research, monitoring service at hotels all around the world.

There are two key pieces of information in this type of work.

First, to understand how a customer’s satisfaction affects their loyalty. We isolated this relationship by merging satisfaction ratings with spending patterns drawn from Hilton’s Honors loyalty scheme. This helps Hilton set meaningful guest satisfaction targets.

Next, which levers have the most impact on overall satisfaction and how big an improvement is needed to hit the targets? We conduct this analysis at individual hotels, helping managers focus on the areas that will have the biggest impact.