Creative Client: Water Water Everywhere -- MRI Helps National Geo Measure Campaign On Global Drinking Water

Two-thirds of the earth may be covered with water, but there's not enough of the drinkable kind to go around. To call attention to this global concern, National Geographic and Dow created a Dow H20 Map Supplement. This program--a recipient of a min Integrated Marketing Award--succeeded in raising awareness and driving action, and MRI's Media Panel, a turnkey solution for branded proprietary internet panels, helped to quantify its success.

In an unprecedented collaboration with an advertiser, National Geographic and Dow developed an extensive integrated print and online program that included a Dow-sponsored custom map supplement in the magazine, multiple corporate brand ads in print editions and an online microsite with an interactive map—all of which illustrated world-wide water issues.

"We created this campaign to elevate Dow's leadership position and extend their 'Human Element' messaging," said National Geographic Marketing Director Michele Murphy. "The strategy  was designed to engage their target audience with content that leverages our core capabilities, notably photography and cartography."

National Geographic's previous experience with Media Panel made it the obvious choice for this assignment. "Media Panel allows us to survey a highly targeted audience," said National Geographic Research Director Carrie Campbell. "One component of the campaign -- the Dow special section -- ran in our Big G demographic edition (top 30 DMAs), and through Media Panel we were able to select panelists identified as Big G subscribers who would have had the opportunity to see the supplement." In addition to using impressions to gauge the success of the online campaign, the panel helped National Geographic determine how many respondents went to the websites listed in different parts of the program.

Among the findings from The National Geographic reader panel (MRI's Media Panel) that point to the campaign's success:

• 90% of readers opened and looked at the map and 69% saved it for future reference
• 89% had a more favorable opinion of Dow after reading the map
• 73% learned new things about fresh water issues
• Nearly 1 in 2 are trying to change their water consumption as a result of seeing the map.

National Geographic has used Media Panel for a variety of advertiser and category surveys. "The Panel provided key data in a ground-breaking environmental segmentation study in 2008," said Ms. Campbell. 

It was also a critical element in a multimedia impact survey conducted on behalf of Ameriprise Financial that determined the influence various National Geographic media had on a cross-platform program executed on their behalf. "We were able to determine how many people saw the Ameriprise LifeDreams campaign in National Geographic magazine, nationalgeographic.com and the National Geographic Channel individually and combined," said Ms. Campbell. "We also learned which media drove respondents to each of the other mediums."

National Geographic often uses data from Media Panel and the Survey of the American Consumer in sales presentations. "The Panel augments Survey data to provide advertisers and agencies with additional insights about the relationship our readers have with National Geographic and demonstrates how their products/services benefit from an association with National Geographic," concluded Ms. Campbell.

MRI Starch Tested Copy: Reader Actions Taken

Show me the money. ROI in print advertising can include many objectives, such as selling product, steering web traffic and boosting word-of-mouth. MRI Starch provides insight on how specific print ads meet these objectives.

The following MRI Starch Tested Copy includes some of the ads in the MRI Starch database that emerged as the highest performers in regard to driving reader action.

Product Portfolio: MRI's Service Bureau Pitches In When You’re In A Crunch

Short-staffed, overworked and overwhelmed with deadlines looming? For more than 15 years, MRI’s Service Bureau has been a resource for clients when there’s more to do than time and hands to do it. Our staff can help your staff turn out research data runs to meet your specifications and beat your deadlines.

Working with the Service Bureau is easy: simply call or email your request and we will contact you within a few hours with pricing. The data runs are then delivered in an excel file within 24-hours or less.

This service is available to all MRI subscribers. On a one time only basis, it also is offered to agencies and advertisers who are not subscribers.

For more information about how the Service Bureau can help you in a crunch, please contact us.

Because You Asked: What is MRI’s "Golddigger" And How Can It Help My Research And Marketing Efforts?

So many numbers, so little time. Golddigger can help. "Golddigger" is a time saving tool that allows you to easily create reports in MEMRI with custom-filtered data targets ranked by the criteria most important to you.  Golddigger can be used for any study accessed through MEMRI including: The Survey of the American Consumer, The American Kids Study and Teenmark.

Golddigger makes it easy to quickly find your strongest selling points using customized filters to:

• Identify a target audience’s "hot buttons" among thousands of data points enabling you to select the highest-ranking items against your target
• Determine factors such as audience size, percent composition, percent coverage and index that show the greatest selectivity
• Exclude data below or above a specified cutoff, for example an unweighed count of <50 or a percent composition of >75%

Tip: To access Golddigger from MEMRI, click on "recall definition" and select Golddigger from the list of options.

For more information, please contact us.

Highlight On Gfk: GfK SMART Takes The Mystery Out Of Mystery Shopping

Mystery shoppers have studied the consumer experience incognito for years by strolling aisles and talking to store employees to examine factors that influence customer relationships. GfK SMART, a new end-to-end software solution -- available in the U.S. -- was developed by GfK Custom Research to increase opportunities to use mystery shoppers for assessing and shaping the customer experience.

Companies are paying closer attention to the first contacts between customers and products to maximize the success of their businesses. This focus has clear implications for market research, and GfK SMART (Superior Mystery Shopping Administration and Reporting Technology) supports the entire research process by facilitating complex mystery shopper projects efficiently. Combined with GfK Mystery Shopping, but also applicable to other face-to-face interviewing field management, GfK SMART brings this research to its next level.

GfK Mystery Shopping provides trained professional mystery shoppers who use evaluation criteria custom-tailored to each client's requirements. Examples include product presentation, staff appearance and complaints processing.

The GfK SMART web-based system offers clients a data and reporting platform combined with support for web development that enables efficient online sharing of results. The software enhances data reporting and customer service through project management, operations and administration features. The system also includes online communication with mystery shoppers ensuring proper implementation of procedures by the field staff.

For more information, please contact us.