CANARIE-funded marketing tool proves success of broadband market research

Delvinia Interactive Inc. head Adam Froman says the company’s new AskingMedia research tool has proven the utility of using broadband Internet tools to conduct market research. The company was recently the recipient of an Excellence Behind the Scenes award at the 2004 Professional Marketing Research Society conference in recognition of two experiments using the application for Nissan Canada and Expedia.ca, in partnership with Millward Brown Goldfarb. Froman is pinning his hopes on AskingMedia as Delvinia makes the transition from a digital marketing company to a full-service shop. AskingMedia allows companies to measure the effectiveness of such things as television advertising spots, movie trailers, print ads or product packaging, using Millward’s methodology and back-end data collection software from U.S.-based Global Market Insights. The first Expedia and Nissan tests were conducted using a prototype of the tool, development of which was funded with $200,000 in cash from CANARIE’s Applied Research in Multimedia program (CNM, June 13/04). Delvinia’s contribution was to create the user interface with such elements as Flash animation, video, an animated hostess/guide, and a "mood bar" - real-time tracking and feedback of viewer response. Since the trial’s conclusion, Delvinia has introduced a commercial version of the tool and is knocking on doors here and in the U.S. to generate interest. Froman tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that other companies are looking at using broadband Internet applications to conduct market research, but that he’s not worried. "We’re early out of the gate in terms of commercializing this," he says. To sell its services to other market research companies and advertisers, Delvinia is in the final stages of hiring a research manager, and Froman says the company is now investing "heavily" in the technology. As required under CANARIE guidelines, Delvinia has made public its findings about using broadband in market research. In a paper titled Bringing Broadband Research to the Masses: Understanding the Power and Implication of Internet Research, Froman and Millward senior VP Stephen Popiel conclude that using the Internet to conduct market research has the potential to change the industry. "The broadband revolution will change survey methodology more profoundly than did CATI," the authors write. "The broadband methodology marries the speed of response and control over skip patterns associated with CATI with the ability to show visuals associated with face-to-face ." Compared to traditional research methods, Froman and Popiel say the online tool gives firms much greater geographical reach, especially for a viable alternative to face-to-face interviews in remote locations, and that the speed to develop completed surveys is quicker. Costs, however, are roughly the same so far.

CANARIE-funded marketing tool proves success of broadband market research

Broadcast | May 28, 2004

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