As part of The Little Luxuries Project, Luminosity Marketing has commenced on a series of roundtable groups with targeted groups of consumers. Our December 2009 and March 2010 groups focused on how women feel about Little Luxuries. By inviting these women to chat with us and each other in a relaxed environment, we were able to learn why Little Luxuries provide a brief moment of escape and why that is so important in their lives.
“Everyone’s so busy in their own lives and give so much to other people,” says Michelle. All the women agreed that a little treat can mean so much more. It can be a way to relax and escape.
Watch the clip below to listen to our roundtable groups talk about how and why they relax and escape through Little Luxuries.
NEW YORK – Luminosity Marketing, a boutique media and marketing research firm in New York City announces that it has completed a pro bono donor research study for Peer Health Exchange to provide insight into their donation model. Peer Health Exchange trains college students to teach health education in public schools that lack health education and in which the majority of the students live at or below the poverty line. These students experience a disproportionate number of serious health risks ranging from teenage pregnancy to obesity.
By reviewing and analyzing the geography, marketing activities, and other key factors of individual contributors, Luminosity was able to provide recommendations to Peer Health Exchange on the most effective methods for garnering donations.
“Luminosity Marketing was pleased to assist in this important analysis,” said Candice Seiger, Associate Research Director. “By analyzing key factors to contributions over the last year, we were able to identify ways to optimize Peer Health Exchange’s fundraising efforts. We enjoy leveraging our healthcare research experience for a cause like health education and look forward to continuing to assist Peer Health Exchange.”
“The Luminosity team provided an extremely valuable service to our growing organization. We are fortunate to have their pro bono support,” said Madeline Kerner, Director of Outreach and Development at PHE. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with Luminosity.”
About Peer Health Exchange
Peer Health Exchange was founded to address a growing crisis among teenagers: teenagers today are engaging in risky behavior at alarming rates, harming their bodies and their futures. PHE recruits, selects, and trains college student volunteers to teach high school students a comprehensive health curriculum on topics ranging from decision-making and sexual health to substance abuse and nutrition.
If you are at all like me, you’re not sure what to get Dad this Father’s Day either. It certainly isn’t my style to get a kitsch #1 Dad mug or some other product that my father is sure to laugh at the minute he opens the package. So, I took it upon myself to see what everyone else is doing.
According to MediaPost, we will be spending an expected $9.8 billion on our dad’s this year, now that people are willing to open up their wallets again. That expected total is broken up into all kinds of different categories ranging from the highest – taking your dad out to a special brunch/lunch/dinner, to the lowest category – automotive accessories.
Normally, not out of lack of imagination but more because I like spending time with my dad (and I like to think he likes me too), I fall into that large category of taking him somewhere to share a meal together. But, what do I do now that I live in New York City and he is all the way back in Oregon?
This is where advertising could be of some serious help. While I’m sure my dad would love Automotive Accessories or Home Improvement Tools, how am I supposed to know what he needs or where to get it? As this is my first Father’s Day so far from home, I’ve noticed that the marketing for this day for dad’s is largely sentimental and rarely helpful. For example, the Cheerios ad (link below) which warms my heart as I’m sure it does everyone’s is great, yet I’m probably not going to send my dad a box of Cheerios on June 20.
What would be helpful is ads promoting specific, age appropriate gift suggestions for dad. While it may seem strange to ask advertisers to guide me in my decision, that is what I’m asking for – a little direction. Maybe next year? As far as getting my dad something this year? Perhaps I’ll go with the 3rd largest spend category and send him a card.
A few of us spent March 22 – 24 at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) re:think 2010 conference here in NYC. It was great to see all the amazing innovations and creativity that is going on in our industry. From mobile research to neuroscience, re:think had it all. Here’s my Top Ten facts, insights and quotes from the three days:
10. 25% of people delayed doing laundry because of the 2010 Olympics – Alan Wurtzel, NBC
9. Web 2.0 and social media are the IN things. Many researchers are still struggling on how to listen in these mediums.
8. Researchers are being asked to do more and have more responsibility while having less money and time. – Stan Sthanunathan, Coca-Cola
7. I have to be a mix of a business person and a marketing person in a power alley of insights. – Susan Wagner, J&J
6. There is still a big need in the research world for practitioners with strong synthesis, communication and ownership skills. Passion doesn’t hurt either.
5. Are researchers figuring out the “So What?” in research? – John Forsyth, MicKinsey & Company, Inc
4. Data < Information < Knowledge < Wisdom – Gary Flake, Microsoft
3. Research should be thought of in terms of feedback and discovery. – Diane Hessan, Communispace
2. It is the role of researchers to provide inspiration and provocation to drive transformational change. – Stan Sthanunathan, Coca-Cola
And finally…
1. Never underestimate the power of n=1. – Diane Hessan, Communispace
NEW YORK – Luminosity Marketing, a boutique media and marketing research firm based in New York City, announces that the company has expanded its research capabilities with a subscription to the Mendelsonhn Affluent SurveyTM Data Base. Luminosity focuses on clients who market upscale products, including Little Luxury brands. The Mendelsohn Affluent Survey will allow the firm to offer additional insights and metrics to its clients who market brands in those categories. Mendelsohn has been reporting on the demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal characteristics of the American affluent population for the past 33 years.
“Adding Mendlesohn to our arsenal of research tools enables us to create a more complete picture of our client’s consumers,” said Candice Seiger, Associate Research Director at Luminosity Marketing. “Affluent consumers are an important segment of our economy and should be included in any consumer connection activity.”
“Because Mendelsohn is the definitive research source for media habits and lifestyles of the affluent marketplace in the US, utilizing it is provides us with yet another way to better serve our clients,” said Christina Yu, Associate Media Director at Luminosity Marketing.
Marketers serving affluent consumers are encouraged to contact Luminosity to learn more about their customers.
NEW YORK – Luminosity Marketing, is pleased to announce that the company will exhibit two new proprietary services at Re:Think, the Advertising Research Foundation annual conference in New York City on March 22 & 23, 2010.
The Real-Time Lifestyle MapTM is a research tool that utilizes mobile phone research technology to dynamically study consumer behavior. This new technique improves upon the best aspects of many research approaches. It is similar to an ethnography study, yet more quantitative and cost effective. And unlike panel studies and focus groups, Real Time Lifestyle Mapping is based on consumer responses that happen in a natural environment.
The Competitive Culture Map TM is a research tool in which Luminosity Marketing predicts future marketing maneuvers of competitors by analyzing the culture of their marketing organizations and what their key stakeholders have done in the past. Luminosity can answer not just the question of “what” competitors have done previously, but “why” they made critical marketing decisions.
“These products leverage the latest advancements in mobile technology and information availability to provide clients with sophisticated intelligence about their consumers and competitors,” said Lamont Swittenberg, Head of Brand & Planning, Luminosity Marketing.
Luminosity’s exhibit space will be located opposite the event registration tables.
To meet with Luminosity’s research team for a personal presentation, contact Elizabeth Dolinski, President & Strategy Director, info@luminositymarketing.com, (646) 213-4860.
Market research technologies are constantly improving and evolving to provide better information to research consumers. Here at Luminosity Marketing, we love using the latest technologies to find the best research solutions for our clients. Below is a brief on an emerging research technology that is showing great promise for gaining additional insight into consumer’s lives.
Mobile Research is using a participants mobile device (cell phone, tablet PC, PDA, etc) as the hardware to participate in market research. Mobile research started over 10 years ago, but due to the limits of SMS technology has not gained full functionality until now. Given the increasing rate of cell phone only household (up to 23% according to NHIS) and the increasing usage of Smartphones (currently at 15% according to Nielson), mobile research technology has the potential to reach populations that are becoming increasingly difficult to include in research studies.
Mobile Research benefits:
Ability to include respondent populations that are currently missed by traditional phone and web studies
High variety of question types, logic options and user interfaces
Possibility of having qualitative elements embedded within a quantitative study
Software packages and vendors available to serve nearly all types of Smartphones and web enables phones
Mobile Research drawbacks:
Costs are still relatively high due to low usage by MR professionals
Only valid for populations who have high Smartphone or web enabled phone penetration
Could have high learning curve for those not familiar with mobile technologies
Mobile research works best for companies that have a customer base that is very technologically savvy and are difficult to research through more traditional research methodologies. Mobile research can be of particular usefulness to companies that already have a high mobile presence through advertising, cell phone apps or by being in the telecom sector itself.
For more information on how Mobile Research could help your company focus your research strategy, contact us at info@luminositymarketing.com.
Market research technologies are constantly improving and evolving to provide better information to research consumers. Here at Luminosity Marketing, we love using the latest technologies to find the best research solutions for our clients. Below is a brief on a research technology that is being used by organizations to gain faster and more insightful qualitative data from their customers.
Market Research Online Communities (MROC) are private online communities that target a particular group of consumers to participate in a larger breadth of research activities. MROCs can include many elements of Custom Online Consumer Panels but have the added feature of member to member communication and qualitative research options. MROCs are still in their infancy but have been used with various amounts of success. They are generally focused around a particular objective (e.g. new product development, ad testing, general customer understanding, etc).
MROC benefits:
Specific recruiting of targeted consumers
Group can be active for any amount of time — from 1 week to a year or more
Usually cheaper and faster than normal qualitative research methods
Deeper understanding of community member’s opinions and profiles
Only needs to be big enough to support the project type – from 25 to 250+ members
Can internally manage or source a vendor to manage
Can provide members with extra features – forums, photo sharing, games, etc.
MROC drawbacks:
Initial planning and set-up stage before community can be launched could be more complicated than general qualitative studies
Must have constant oversight of members interactions
Complexity of development and management
MROCs work best for companies that have a need for more in-depth knowledge about a particular topic. Good topic choices usually require that a specific group of customers need to be engaged in an on-going basis to gain a full understanding of the customer response to the topic. MROCs can be of particular usefulness to companies that have a qualitative and quantitative need on a particular topic and have customers who are willing to engage on an on-going basis.
For more information on how Market Research Online Communities could help your company focus your research strategy, contact us at info@luminositymarketing.com.
Market research technologies are constantly improving and evolving to provide better information to research consumers. Here at Luminosity Marketing, we love using the latest technologies to find the best research solutions for our clients. Below is a brief on a research technology that is increasingly being used by organizations to gain faster and more reliable data from their customers.
Custom Online Consumer Panels (COCP) are online panels that are recruited to participate in research studies for only the panel owner’s company. These types of panels are also known as customer advisory panels or proprietary panels. COCPs started gaining momentum in the online research world several years ago and are now quickly increasing in usage among consumer facing organizations as way to maintain a constant source of sample for online research studies.
COCP benefits:
Prescreening of panelists to demographics, habits, traits and lifestyle characteristics of the owners choice
Quick turnaround of studies
Lower costs in the long run than buying sample from general panels for every study
Increased panelist and customer validation
Only needs to be big enough to support studies – from 100 to 100,000 panelists
Can internally manage or source a vendor to manage the panel
COCP drawbacks:
High initial costs to build the panel infrastructure and recruit enough participants
Must have constant recruit efforts
If self managed, complexity of management
COCPs work best for companies that have a high frequency of online research studies and want to have control over the sample that is used for research purposes. COCPs can be of particular usefulness to companies that have a high number of communications and touch points with their consumers (e.g. magazines, radio, television, and retailers) or any company that tends to have a cult-like following (e.g. H&M, Apple, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma).
For more information on how Custom Online Consumer Panels could help your company focus your research strategy, contact us at info@luminositymarketing.com.
NEW YORK – Luminosity Marketing is excited to introduce the Little Luxuries Project—a series of marketing research studies that focuses on products and services that fall into the category of Little Luxuries. Defined by Luminosity, Little Luxuries are relatively small-ticket products and services that consumers WANT, but don’t necessarily NEED. Given the current economy and the evolving relationship consumers have with Little Luxuries, Luminosity began this project in order to help marketers better position and communicate their product benefits.
The Little Luxuries Project consists of three research streams:
The Little Luxuries Perceptual Map: A useful tool for marketers to better understand where their Brands fall on the Little Luxuries scale and determine how to maximize their staying power in a tough economy.
The Little Luxuries Roundtable Series: On-going, informal roundtable discussions with various consumer segments to gain deeper insights about each segment’s Little Luxury purchases.
Little Luxury Surveys: A series of quantitative research surveys aimed at understanding Little Luxury purchasing decisions.
“The Little Luxuries project has shown us the breadth of emotions and rationale that consumers have for Little Luxury products, while confirming that the underlying reasons for purchasing them are consistent across products,” said Candice Seiger, Senior Research Manager, Luminosity Marketing. “By utilizing this knowledge, Little Luxury marketers will be better able to move their products from Little Luxuries to necessities in the minds of consumers.”
Brands interested in participating in the Little Luxuries Project should contact Candice Seiger, Senior Research Manager, info@luminositymarketing.com, (646) 213-4860.
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