The ARF Shopper Insights Initiative

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Why are ARF members interested in shopper insights? Understanding the shopper experience is a critical part of true integrated marketing which will dramatically improve the flow of marketing spending as marketers, retailers and agency partners learn how to bring value to people via the shopping processes and experiences they engage in. Learn how both marketers and retailers can work together with a common purpose – to better understand and serve their consumers/shoppers.

I. The ARF Shopper Insights mission

Joel Rubinson – Chief Research Officer, The ARF

II. Defining the Power and the Importance of Shopper Insights Research

Michael Twitty – Director, Shopper Insights, Unilever Americas

III. Linking Virtual Shopping to Actual Purchase Data

Staci Covkin – Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights, Information Resources, Inc (IRI).

USA Diversity Opportunity & Panel Discussion

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The Diversity Task Force is focused on the quality of research produced for multicultural consumers. They have established partnerships with a variety of research vendors to enhance existing learning, knowledge and outreach. The panel will share their findings and a vision for a new ARF Multicultural Super Council to establish the most accurate measurement of the business opportunity for multicultural marketing. This panel will be followed by multicultural marketing success stories from Bank of America, Wal-Mart, and the US Navy. The session will conclude with the announcement of the new Multicultural Super Council, including meeting dates and topics.

MODERATOR: Kevin Brockenbrough – VP/Associate Director, Account Planning, Burrell Advertising

PANELISTS:
David Burgos – VP, Multicultural Practice, Millward Brown
Anita Lai – Director of Research, UniWorld Group, Inc.
Issac Mizrahi – Multicultural Expert
Don Williams – President, HarVal

Advertising in Recessionary Times: What you need to know, and what you can do.

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I. What Do We Know about Advertising in a Recession?

Gerard J. Tellis, Ph.D. – Professor of Marketing, Director of the Center for Global Innovation, and Neely Chair of American Enterprise – Marshall School of Business, USC

There have been countless articles about the effectiveness of advertising in a recession, including much conflicting advice. Professor Gerard Tellis, reviews the findings from 40 major research studies, integrating and synthesizing them into a set of key learnings. Drawing on the evidence from 21 recessions in the past century and 37 countries, hear about the response of advertising to economic expansions and contractions, the effect on sales, market share and profitability, and why most advice on advertising in a recession is flawed. This presentation is based on a major research study, co-authored by Kethan Tellis, which will be published in the Journal of Advertising Research in the Fall.

II. 7 Recommendations for Marketers To Succeed (best you can) in a Recession

Rex Briggs – CEO, Martketing Evolution

What should marketers do in a recession? Marketing ROI Expert Rex Briggs will present 7 wise moves for marketers to make in a recession from his recently published thought leading whitepaper. Based on the world’s most broadly validated cross-media measurement methodology, and billions of dollars in spending, Mr. Briggs draws insights from the data, and his experience to argue what marketers can and must do to be effective in the current economic climate.

The Consumer Video Mapping Study

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The Video Consumer Mapping Study is the largest and most significant observational study of media activity ever undertaken. It is the first known source to document consumers’ media behavior across various screen media from a single sample, and to identify sole media use versus media multitasking.

The year-long, $3.5 million study confirms earlier research, but challenges a number of widely held beliefs:

* Which age group consumes the most screen time during their waking day?
* Who does the most media multitasking?
* Are younger viewers really shifting away from traditional TV toward online video?
* Which medium, TV, Computers, Print, or Audio, has the highest percentage of time spent as the sole medium being used? How does Live TV compare to the DVR playback, computer video, and mobile video?
* How much commercial time are TV viewers exposed to in a typical day?
* What impact does acquiring HDTV have on overall television usage?

The study was commissioned by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), a Nielsen funded, but completely independent industry think tank, consisting of roughly 40 of the top senior research executives in the industry, and conducted by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners.

MODERATORS:

Craig Gugel – SVP, Media Analytics, The ARF
Mike Hess – EVP, Research, Marketing Science & Consumer Insights, Carat

Online Research Quality Council: Report and Reaction Panel

Bob Walker, Ph.D. – Principal & Founder, Surveys & Forecasts, LLC
Raymond Pettit, Ph.D. – SVP, Research & Standards, The ARF

Bob Walker, Surveys & Forecasts, LLC and Raymond Pettit, The ARF presented the initial results of the Foundations of Quality research project. This landmark study provides fact based insights, key metrics, and guidelines to improve online research quality. Following the presentation, a panel of Council participants will discuss the implications of the study and the industry solution scenarios that the ORQC will pursue in 2009.

Given the preliminary nature of the findings, video and presentations are not available. When finalized, results will be available through the ARF. Please visit the website (www.thearf.org) periodically for updates and details.