How do you make a contest interesting if you already know the final score before the game begins? Once the results have been quantified, is there any benefit to further inquiry?

At this year’s national political conventions the real results were determined long before air time. At the recent Democratic convention, one network introduced the use of “focus group interviews” to gain additional insights.

The “focus group interview” is a well established and reliable market research exercise. As used at the recent convention, the focus group interviews were effective in providing accurate insights as to delegate’s behavior in what was already a fairly unsuspenseful event. But after all, isn’t that what good marketing research is all about – taking the suspense out of the final outcome.

All businesses do market research. Some do it consciously, others unconsciously. Some do it formally, others informally. Some do it well, others not so well.

Good market research should provide answers to six basic questions. Who buys? Why do they buy? What do they buy? How do they buy? Where do they buy? When do they buy? The success of any business will be enhanced with the right answers to these questions.

Market research information can be categorized in two general areas, “quantitative” and “qualitative”. “Quantitative” information can be summarized in statistics like percents, averages and other numbers. For example, how many delegates are pledged to each candidate or the number of single family homes in an area.

“Qualitative” information, on the other hand, is information of a greater depth. It seeks open ended responses from people who are willing to share their thoughts on specific topics. For example, how strong is your support for the nominee? Or, what was your primary objective when you made that purchase? The advantage of qualitative research is in learning what the respondent is really thinking while the decision is being made.

One of the most frequently used forms of qualitative market research is the “focus group interview”. In its simplest form, a focus group interview involves the gathering of a small group of about ten people that represents a cross section of your intended customer population. Assembled in an informal setting that will be conducive to group interaction, review with the group the purposes for which you have brought them together.

Ask questions in a direct and open manner that will solicit unbiased responses about your proposed project. It is important for the leader to ask the type of open ended questions that will stimulate discussion.
At the convention, focus group members were recruited from different geographic areas and political constituencies. The members of a focus group for your business would be your prospective customers. Don’t be bashful in asking people to participate, most individuals are flattered to have their opinions asked and will take the group seriously.

If you are interested in reactions to a potential new product, inquire as to how existing products are not meeting the groups needs. Examine your groups reaction to the advantages and disadvantages of your new product. Explore the groups perception of value and how much might they be willing to pay for the new product. Delve into all those areas that could possibly impact the success of your venture.

A weakness of the focus group concept, as with all qualitative market research, is that so much can depend on the researchers or group leaders perceptions. To neutralize these biases, take notes as the discussion progresses or better yet, tape the session for subsequent review.

When a good group is established, keep it together for periodic reviews as the project progresses. Supplement the focus group discussion with random interviewing. Much the same as the “roving reporter” on the convention floor corners an unsuspecting delegate for their opinion, interview individuals shopping in an area where you contemplate locating. If you are developing a new service, talk to those who you anticipate needing that service and get their first hand reactions to your idea.

You can use focus groups and other qualitative market research techniques to gain valuable insights into the needs and behavior of your intended consumers. By not relying strictly on your instincts and quantitative analysis, you will increase your chances for a successful marketing effort.

From a Portuguese ad agency, a set of ideas and their enemies. There are a whole lot more after the jump!

[via]

I’m still unsure what names or taglines to give to the project at the moment – without the results of the Focus Group (about their process and feelings towards sharing ideas), it’s hard to pin-point a particular mood or tone.

Though an initial idea is:

I’m going on the idea of an embossed notebook, aiming at a more personal feel – which is why it’s almost invisible. In case it’s unreadable:

VISIONS

collab + create

Development is needed.

After a few weeks of apathy, after being snubbed by Bower Ashton, I’ve started to recruit some creative friends instead. All being well, I’ll organise a focus group to get a better understanding of their attitudes and processes of conceptualising their ideas.

I read about IDEO’s approach to Focus Groups, as well Mike Kuniavsky’s advice in Observing the User Exerience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research, I thought about bringing context to the group by “setting homework”, and “engaging participants” with activities. This meant planning the two following activities:

Activity 1: Sharing Notebooks

I will ask all participants to bring a regularly used notebook of their ideas. Each participant will explain a bit about their thought process while displaying their book, whilst I quiz them more about specific details as they arise. Questions could follow these guidelines, with deeper investigation as appropriate:

1. How often do you use the notebook?
2. When was the last time you put something in it? Where were you?
3. Have any of these ideas been developed further?
4. Have you shown or talked about that idea with anyone?
5. Do you ever look back at your previous ideas?
6. How do you know which ideas to develop further, or which to drop?

Activity 2: Rapid Concept Development

…or “Mind Mapping”

The group will be split into smaller teams of around 2 to 3 people; each participant is to be given a blank piece of paper.

• Everyone will be asked to write, draw or visualise a concept for an possible project in the centre of the page – a box will be printed to confine the initial input.
• Everyone is asked not to talk, but to pass their concept to the person on their left.
• Each person is then to add at least one thing to the page, in the style of a Mind Map. All are asked to put their initials next to any contributions.
• The page is passed to the next person, and the process repeated – participants are able to add or comment on other people’s contributions.
• This cycle continues until the page is returned to it’s owner, where they can ask the contributors directly about any feedback given.

There are 2 objectives to this activity:

1. Observe and note the concept sharing process in miniature, for a better understanding of the structure and reactions.
2. Observe the media used to convey ideas – pictures, words, references etc.

Finally, decide who will lead the discussion. You can choose to be the moderator yourself, but remember that you must appear unbiased at all times, no matter what is being said about your company. If you or anyone from your company gets easily offended at something said about your business, hire a professional marketing and communications agency. It is also the moderator’s job to make sure everyone in the group participates. Of course, there may be some dominating personalities in the room and the more reserved group members will need a chance to speak.

After the focus group is over, it is time to analyze the answers. Look for trends and themes that were discussed among the group. Use these ideas to guide new strategies for your company. Beware that positive and negative feedback often come from focus group discussions.

Although focus groups take time to plan, they can be a huge benefit to your business. They provide the coveted information you want – the public opinion of your company. A proper focus group will provide your company useful information to move forward in a successful way.

Visit Holland Advertising : Interactive

If I only had a dollar for every new product development project I’ve participated in that promised millions of dollar in sales and deliver almost nothing- I’d have 50 bucks or so.

I’ve worked with some exceptional marketing people over the years,  and many not so good, but even the best of them missed the mark many times. This is the hardest part of the new product process- determining how much of a product will be sold, particularly if it is truly a new product- one that no one has previously marketed. I’ve attended many focus groups and not found them to extrapolate well. That’s not really their purpose so I’m told. Surveys, prototype product trials with users, individual interviews with potential end-users- none of them has produced a close estimate. We always had a marketing profile(sales estimate, unit cost, gross margin, key customers, etc) and a product profile (key product attributes, package types and sizes, cost target, capital needed if any, etc), but we never defined resources needed after the project was done.

I don’t have the answers here but do have an opinion (go figure). You know people have use for the product, you know they like it and R&D delivered on the key attributes. There are, however,  a huge amount of post development issues that affect the sales outcome-the amount of money used to get product awareness, the sales incentive, spiffs, etc , etc. . This is where many new product marketing projects falter in small to medium size businesses, in my opinion.  Pepsi and Unilever may have the discipline and commitment to define all of these project parameters before launch, or even at project inception, but none of the businesses I’ve been involved with did.

How many projects have you been involved with that fail to define up front what resources they need to commit to a new product launch? Without them defined you’ve basically said they aren’t needed to hit the sales target. You will not get the same results with no market and sales support as you will with a million dollar launch program. I’ve tried in the past to get the marketing group to do this as part of the validation process, but with no success. I would be very interested on others views on what the most important part of new product validation process is.

What have you done to improve the process that most impacted a successful outcome?

When arranging a focus group, decide who will be a part of the discussion. A focus group should consist of at least 12 people. Make the focus group a good range of people so you can get different opinions. For example, some people in the group should be familiar with your company, while others should not. Maybe your audience is teenagers, so you can include a few parents in the discussion.

Next, choose a venue to host your focus group. If you are unsure of where to host, a research company can assist you in finding a place that already has tables, plenty of chairs, and video equipment for recording. Some places may have one-way mirrors installed so your company can view the focused discussion without interrupting. It’s important to host the focus group on neutral grounds, meaning, do not host the discussion at your office.

Visit Holland Advertising : Interactive

Conducting a focus group can be very beneficial to your company if you are looking to figure out public opinion of your business. Focus groups are also a key part of customer research when trying to find new strategies or ways to improve your services.

A typical focus group gathers people to talk about their needs, attitude, and habits. Focus groups can help you understand public opinions of your branding and/or the services you offer. While quantitative information can be found through phone or online surveys, qualitative data can be gathered through the focus group.

Before planning to host a focus group, you must do the research. Figure out what you want to learn from the focus group and why you want to learn that information. The questions you create for the focus group should spark conversation and dialogue. If you are thinking of introducing a new product, have these ideas mentioned in the group to get feedback. While you may have questions and prompts prepared, do not be afraid to let the discussion move to topics you had not considered – you might learn something new.

Visit Holland Advertising : Interactive

Une excellente façon de progresser, c’est bien sur l’échange. Echanges entre acheteurs, entre “professionnels”;  Le temps de se poser un peu, de se regarder fonctionner, de constater aussi comment raisonnent ses “pairs”.

Et cette opportunité peut avoir lieu de bien des manières: Par exemple, en participant avec plusieurs autres responsable achat à un “focus group”, c ‘est à dire une réunion informelle, bien souvent organisé sous l’égide d’un fournisseur;

Un cas très concret à venir: François Odolant gérante de AFMBooster, recherche des acheteurs dans le secteur voyages et services généraux, pour un focus group qui aura lieu en fin d’après midi à Paris, le 10 Décembre prochain.

Elle vous invite à participer à une réunion pour évaluer un nouveau concept de véhicule VIP

(qui aura lieu en présence du commercialisateur représenté par sa Direction Générale et sa Direction Marketing Communication).
Cette réunion aura lieu le jeudi 10 décembre 2009 de 17h à 19h30.

Elle se tiendra dans Paris intra muros (lieu à confirmer).

Si vous êtes intéressé, veuillez me faire parvenir contacter par mail : francoise.odolant@neuf.fr

• Download Full Report (RTF, 59kb)
• Download Full Report (PDF, 440kb)

Depuis que je l’ai, impossible de me défaire de ce disque. J’adore Broadcast depuis longtemps, et chaque nouvel album me rapproche un peu plus de ma compréhension d’eux, de ma connaissance de mon amour pour le groupe, ses mélodies, son dérèglement, sa manière d’agencer et dispenser le monde, d’en faire un miroir où se reflètent en cohabitant toutes les fantaisies m’ayant jamais traversées l’esprit, le coeur. Ce nouvel album est fait avec The Focus Group
(du label Ghost Box, très prisé des amateurs de Hauntology – pour ceux qui ne savent pas ce que c’est, il parait que Chronicart prépare un dossier sur le sujet : j’ai hâte de le lire). On y entend des vignettes plutôt sans paroles, oniriques, électroniques, réverbérantes de l’intérieur, souvent ambient, parfois déséquilibrées. Lorsque le chant est là, je le trouve si lumineux et perdu en même temps que j’ai l’impression de l’avoir toujours connu là, pas loin. Il y a dans tout cela quelque chose de cinématographique, comme une utopie des années passées capturées en musique : ces musiciens-là doivent vivre dans un autre espace-temps, leur monde est celui qui me parvient dans des vieux films de la Hammer, de Tigon, de ces années étroites entre la fin du Flower Power, du Swingin’ London et les premiers attentats terroristes, le premier choc pétrolier, les années du plastique qui était beau, avant de perdre la trace de Steve Ditko, les années où nous sommes nés.

By the way, no one does focus groups anymore…now it’s Nominal Group Technique (NGT) or modified Delphi method.  Click the link for an example of each NGT and Delphi.

And don’t worry, these processes only sound complicated.  They actually make conducting a focus group much easier.

As a Marketing professional, I know that one of the methods used to “test market” a new product is to use a focus group. These are people who are selected to test a product and provide their feedback. The problem with this tactic is that it is time consuming and costly to pay the participants.

Using social media instead, it is just so easy to incorporate a survey or poll on a blog and get far more results from varied participants in a very short period of time. Certainly this would not work if the product were something tangible that the pollsters had to actually touch and feel. Or perhaps after the product is marketed, surveys and polls could still be used to find out what the public likes and dislikes, to be used going forward in the next generation or revision of the product. The presumption, of course, is that the blog or web site containing the poll or survey has sufficient followers. But if they do, I believe the expediency and number of possible participants makes focus groups a thing of the past. What’s you take? Do you agree?

HI-TEA FOCUS GROUP

Dear Fr3b’rs,

We are calling for Fr3b’rs that are interested to enjoy a nice high tea session with us and at the same have some informal discussion on lipcare.

Here are the details:

Session 1 : Fr3b’rs that does not use Lipcare for the past 3 months or more [Fully booked!]
Date: 6 Nov 2009, Friday
Time: 3-4pm
Venue: Fullerton Hotel | The Courtyard

Session 2: Fr3b’rs that use Mentolatum Lipcare frequently (Examples: Lipice, Theraphy lipbalm, Natural lipbalm, supersoft lipbalm, mens cool aqua lip balm, lipice sheer color,water lipbalm, Gloss lipbalm, Dual gloss lipbalm, Lippure, water colour lip balm, lip pot)
Date: 9 Nov 2009, Monday
Time: 3-4pm
Venue: Shangri-la Hotel | Rose Veranda

Session 3 : Fr3b’rs that use other brands of Lipcare frequently (Example: Nivea, Neutrogena etc) [Fully booked!]
Date: 10 Nov 2009, Tuesday
Time: 3-4pm
Venue: Swissotel – Quinox

Submit your interest:
Please email to helpdesk2@fr3b.com with the following:
Fr3b username:
I/C:
Age:’
contact:
Preferred session: Session 1 OR Session 2 OR Session 3

* Hotel venue subject to change
*p/s please note that for each session only 7 members will be selected.
* Selected members will be informed by email and we will also contact you on your mobile phone

Cheers
Elfaine

“The Gypsy and the Hobo”

October 25th, 2009

“Where do you want me to start?”

Writing these reviews has been a strange experience this season, as the critics are all receiving screeners which means that by the time I get to the episode on iTunes (no cable/satellite provider in my province carries the channel) I’m invariably late to the party. As such, you see that I resisting using perhaps the show’s most  ”on the nose” final line in its history, as Carlton asks Don who he is supposed to be for Halloween as he takes Sally and Bobby out trick or treating. It’s the kind of line that everyone has already jumped on, to the point where I will simply acknowledge it was a clever reminder of the act he’s been playing for the better part of his adult years and move on.

What’s interesting about “The Gypsy and the Hobo” is that we’re now at the end of October, which means that the series’ handling of the single most important event of 1963 is just over the horizon. What’s most interesting at this point is how concerned the show is with the past during a time when we, as the audience, know how concerned they should be for the future. What the episode depicts is how it is only at a point of desperation, when you see everything in front of your eyes melting away, that you truly turn to the past in a way that is both vulnerable and enlightening. It is only when you see no future ahead of you that you’re willing to open the pandora’s box of the past, or in this instance unlock a drawer.

It makes for an enormously compelling episode that demonstrates how moments you thought would be explosive turn out to be the exact opposite, while moments which may have normally been handled with grace turn into a vase over the back of the head. Such is Mad Men, and such is a pretty damn fine episode.

I want to start with Greg Harris, who we as an audience despise in a way that has us cheering when Joan turns and smashes a vase over his head in response to his claims that she couldn’t possibly understand what he’s going through. His inability to decipher the fact that his current life situation, having done everything he was supposed to without doing it well enough to succeed, in many ways mirrors Joan’s own expectations for their marriage, a doctor in his prime turning into a rapist and a failure in just over a year, is yet another example of how he has failed her. Not only that, but Joan had her own experience with a similar phenomenon at Sterling Cooper, having been ideally suited for a job in the growing TV department only to be shuffled away from the job and back into her Officer Manager role based entirely on stereotypes. She, more than perhaps anyone else on the show, knows what it is like to go through what he is going through, and yet there he sits complaining bitterly after botching an interview for which she had trained him. As such, the vase to the back of the head, the kind of moment that keeps you on the edge of your seat during a show that rarely explodes with that sort of violence.

What I found interesting about Greg’s storyline here though, beyond Joan’s awesome vase to the head, was that he is proving to be quite versatile for the writers. When he eventually decides to enroll in the army to become a surgeon, a light bulb goes off: Vietnam has been mentioned a few times in a somewhat contrived fashion, but in Greg’s decision to enlist we have our first real connection to the coming storm of sorts. It implies that Joan will be staying with him, which is frustrating for us as viewers who would rather see him rot for what he did to her, but I’m willing to put up with it if it gives us a glimpse into the impacts of what was one of the defining conflicts of the era. And, on top of that, Greg’s mock interview with Joan was a fine example of one of the show’s central themes. Faced with his career crisis, and preparing for the interview, he digs into his past to discover that his father once entered into therapy, a fact he never shared with Joan (or really anyone, it seems). He explains that the furniture business was bad, and his mother left the house for a while, which had his father seeking guidance. While he eventually tanks the interview, unable to turn his past into a future, it shows how there are things which only surface (or which you only let surface) when you feel you have no other choice.

The same storyline is at the heart of the arrival of Annabelle Mathis to Sterling Cooper, a blast from the past for Roger. She’s a client, at the end of the day, with a dog food company that’s been singled out as using horse meat despite it being the primary component of all other dog foods. As a result, her family’s business is dying, and widowed she goes to Madison Avenue looking for a new marketing strategy and to reconnect with Roger at Sterling Cooper in particular. It’s an interesting storyline because you can tell that these people haven’t spoken to each other since their own Casablanca moment as they went their separate ways, not so much out of love as they were out of each other’s lives. Now, with her husband dead and her business in shambles, she goes to Roger in an effort to ensure a future by reconnecting with her past, perhaps believing that fixing a mistake in her past (that she would have never admitted was a mistake until she became desperate) could fix the rest of her life at the same time. When Roger’s advice is the same as everyone else’s, to change the name of her company and give up the past for a fresh start unhindered by research and heralded for its taste dogs love, it’s her past falling apart in front of her eyes, a romantic evening (that she doesn’t remember) the only evidence of her futile attempts to use the past to fix the future.

It’s a theme that all culminates in the scene that to some degree came out of nowhere, even when it has been building for three seasons. I never thought we’d get what we ended up getting, Don Draper standing in front of Betty with his eyes glazed over as she asks for the truth behind what was hidden in that drawer. What made the scene so disarming was how strangely it came to be: Don, still in his carefree mode with Suzanne, is planning a weekend away without any sort of subterfuge from Betty, while Betty was at Gene’s sorting out the division of his estate. And yet one conversation with her father’s lawyer, Milton, drives Betty to do something I never expected. Milton’s advice to her is that her hunch that there are other women isn’t enough, and that considering Don’s wealth and power she could be on the streets with nothing, not even her kids, should she attempt to divorce him. It’s a cold dose of reality, one which Betty bottled up last week (when Don called her about the dinner and she was forced to avoid the confrontation) and which some part of me, underestimating her, felt she would bottle up again. But when Don walks into what he thinks is an empty house in order to pick up some things for his trip with Suzanne, he finds his two children running up to the door, and Betty waiting for him. They are going to have the confrontation we’ve been waiting for, and it’s going to be about as stunning as one would expect.

It wasn’t, though, how I had imagined the scene playing out. Perhaps it is just habit, but I had expected for Betty to almost be the victim in the situation, for her prying into Don’s life to unearth some sort of anger in him that makes his past a violent weapon against her. But instead, Betty is the aggressor in this situation: she makes demands, something the character has rarely done in the past, refusing to let him get away without opening the drawer and not once balking at her lack of comprehension of the information within the drawer. She even argues that some part of him wanted her to know about what was in the drawer, considering that he left it in their house and knew that she could bring in a locksmith any time she wanted. She essentially argues that deep down, despite all of his efforts to keep his hidden life a secret from those around him, some part of him purposefully left those keys in his housecoat and wanted to share with Betty the details of his past. And to my surprise, we discover that the idea of Betty knowing any one part of his life puts the entire future on hold: the past he has been holding onto for so long comes out, as Betty is patient enough to hear as he tells of his time in Korea, and the life (and wife) he inherited.

Those scenes are a stunning piece of acting from January Jones and, especially, Jon Hamm. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the episode was a bit light on Don, because this is an Emmy reel waiting to happen. When he tells of his time in Korea, you can see him begin to grimace, but when Betty asks about Adam everything breaks down. You can see the vulnerability where before there was a stoic commitment to guarding this secret, and the opening scenes of the premiere with Don barefoot in his kitchen imagining his own birth are thrown into full view. His life story is a tragedy so deep that, when told out loud, it breaks down even the unflappable Don Draper to the point where he becomes neither Dick Whitman or Don Draper but some sad man caught between the past of one and the future of the other. He’s given up his past to the person who he knew couldn’t handle it, pointing out that there was no good time to tell your wife that she’s marrying a bastard child who stole a man’s identity and who lives a lie every day of his life.

And yet, what we see in the end is Don giving up parts of his act in order to try to redefine his relationship with Betty. Where Greg and Annabelle both find that the past proves unhelpful at best and damaging at worst, Don finds that they actually make Betty more balanced than she was before. Her opinion of him has changed, but in a way it has helped her understand him better, a transparency that drives Don to leave Suzanne in both the literal and metaphorical cars and to take time to reconnect with his family. Before, Don probably would have let Betty take the kids trick or treating on her own, just as Betty might have let Don take Sally and Bobby while she watched over the baby. However, now, both have reason to stay close to the other, Betty reconsidering his every move from a perspective that is less paranoid than it is wary and Don afraid of losing the life he’s built now that someone knows his secret. It all plays out without that explosion one might expect, and without anything actually changing: Betty learned that her husband has been wearing a Halloween costume his whole life, and yet it actually seems to make her more comfortable (feeling more a part of his life, often separated from her entirely) than it does driving her away.

It’s all a very subtle evocation of some key themes in this universe, and deftly handled by all involved. The episode wasn’t the most comprehensive, fairly neatly dividing into these three storylines as it were, but at its heart was acknowledging how important the past can seem, and how its importance is called into question when it emerges in the present and is thrust towards the future. It’s the ideal episode to enter into the final two hours of the season, as we’re reminded of what the season has established to this point while being reminded (by Vietnam, by the end of October arriving) that we’re closing in on what is bound to be interesting. There’s a point where Annabelle says that Roger is living life as if a character in someone else’s novel, and that fictional reality is about to be shattered by more than just a surfacing past.

Cultural Observations

• As always, a great comic beat in the middle of an otherwise dramatic episode: as Don asks Peggy to “turn off” the focus group when the dog owners react angrily when they learn the dog food is Caldecott Farms, she responds incredulously with “I can’t turn it off, it’s actually happening!” I love naive Peggy, and literal Peggy, so her ignorance to Don meaning the sound was a whole lot of fun.
• I don’t quite know how Joan feels about Greg joining the army. On the one hand, he’s right: it provides financial security, and at this point there’s no war going on which makes it a safe bet. However, a surgeon in the army is far from being an actual doctor, and Joan’s drop in status from a doctor’s wife to a soldier’s wife isn’t exactly what she could consider a step up. Her quest to get a job, perhaps acknowledging that his attempts to get into psychiatry would even fail (although more training was a justified reason as well), runs through Roger and reminds us that she is good at what she does, and that Roger cares enough about her (as another part of his past) for him to try to good by her.
• The scene of Suzanne finally, what seemed like a good hour or two later, leaving the car and walking off with her suitcase, was enormously sad, the kind of scene that makes you realize that all of Don’s mistresses are going to end up like this. She fell in love with him, wanting more than he could offer, and while it didn’t make him run away as it might have with others it did make him that much more guilty when Betty discovered everything, pushing Suzanne out of the picture.
• Love how Betty sits silently as her brother realizes that because he has no money, he has no way of buying Betty out of the other half of the house and thus no way to be able to live in it as he wants – she’s very happy about that, beneath her anxiety over Don.
• As always, other critics have this one covered: check out Sepinwall, Goodman, Roush, Phipps, and Ryan.

Tout se passait bien. Pourtant.

Le stress de l’après-midi disparaissait  avec l’arrivée ponctuelle des premiers participants. Même le retard prévu de l’un d’entre eux et la défection à la dernière minute d’une autre n’avaient pas entamé ma motivation.

Après un week-end à potasser la méthodologie et lire les conseils, une matinée en réunion et un début d’après-midi en présentation, j’avais eu le temps de briefer mon assistante pour l’occasion, retravailler et retenir l’enchaînement de ma grille d’entretien, mettre en place la salle, récupérer l’enregistreur numérique, envoyer un rappel aux participants. Tout était sous contrôle.

20h passé. Dernière question : “Souhaiteriez-vous aborder des points qui ne l’ont pas été durant l’entretien ?”. La discussion se poursuit quelques minutes. La lumière s’éteint brusquement dans la salle. Seule reste allumé le témoin lumineux de l’enregistreur numérique au centre de la table circulaire. Je me dirige hors de la salle pour voir ce qu’il se passe, tout l’étage est éteint. Étrange.

Je retourne libérer les participants et les accompagne jusqu’à la sortie. Toujours le black-out à l’étage. J’entre avec ma collègue dans la salle pour la ranger. Mon premier réflexe est d’empoigner l’enregistreur, il tourne toujours. Je l’approche de mon visage pour mieux discerner les boutons et l’arrêter quand je sens le câble d’alimentation se détacher. La lumière rouge s’éteint au moment où je saisis la portée de mon erreur. 1h30 d’échange réduit en un fichier corrompu : “invalid file”.

Mort cliniquement pendant 66 heures, j’ai sauvé mon fichier mp3 grâce à FileRecovery. ouf.

Cet épisode m’a presque fait regretter les bonnes vieilles mini-cassettes utilisées pendant mon cursus de sociologie. Presque.

NB : la (très bonne) prise de note de ma collègue complètera le fichier audio de l’entretien

NB2 : ce billet inaugure une série  sur l’utilisation de la méthode des focus groups employée dans le cadre d’une enquête qualitative sur l’usage et la perception des livrels chez les utilisateurs.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit the GST 120: Leadership in Action class, which consists of 15 of our more engaged freshman. It seemed a decent place to learn more about the social media and Web habits of our students. It’s a small sample size, but the students were bright, articulate and painfully honest … and the findings interesting. (View original Google document.)

What do they use and how often?
- All 15 use Facebook. They all check it daily. (Some would check it hourly if they could.)
- 10 use MySpace, but not much. One checks daily; most hardly ever visit any more.
- None are on Twitter. In retrospect, I should have asked why.

How do they form community on Facebook?
- 11 joined the Class of 2013 Facebook group (created by an incoming student)
- 7 joined our Official SUNY Oswego Fans page (others said they would join had they known it existed)
- They joined other campus-related Facebook groups because they were members of real-life groups (Scuba Club, field hockey team, WTOP, Oswegonian, club rugby, floor of Johnson Hall, Del Sarte dance)

I asked them if they thought joining a group was different than becoming a Fan of a page, and they admitted they didn’t even know the difference. Since we set up a Class of 2014 group, I asked if they would feel different joining a group started by an institution vs. one started by a student. The enlightening response: We don’t even look for that or care. We just want to meet other students. Some even said they would prefer the groups be created by the college because they would trust the information more.

As for our college Web site, 12 said they found it the best place for information. Others didn’t express a preference. None thought of social media as the destination for information because they see it more as a place to connect. For our Web site, their main concerns involved usability: forms that didn’t work, non-functional links, difficulty finding specialized information. A few admitted they used they mainly used the search box to navigate, although this isn’t totally atypical of the Web in general (that’s how I navigate Amazon, for example).

In terms of what we can do better, they mentioned it would be great if we had an AIM name or more available chat. One student mentioned a competing college had an AIM presence but disliked that they used it to contact him instead of vice versa. This is a cohort that likes to use communication on demand but isn’t necessarily keen on unwanted contact from institutions. This is the 21st century equivalent of don’t call us, we’ll call you. Other than that, they seemed to find our social media presence appropriate.

I want to jump back to the group/page, institution/student finding. We, as Web communicators, debate all kinds of things we find more important than our users. These students don’t care if it’s a 2014 group or 2014 page. They don’t really care if it’s launched by an institution or a student. They just want to connect. We see and think about tools. They just see an action, an outcome they want.

It’s also worth noting (as Karlyn Morissette points out in this fine blog entry) that students think of social media as social first and foremost. If they find information they can use on Facebook, that’s a bonus. But when they want information, they’ll go to your Web site. A reminder that while we can be distracted by all the shiny objects that are social media platforms, investing in your institutional Web site — and making sure it’s easy to use and functioning — remains as important as ever.

So just over a month into my MBS Marketing course in DCU and I’m finding it very interesting – lots of new people and new ideas. I’m studying Marketing Communications, Marketing Management & Strategy, Brand Management, Market Research, Changing Consumer Behaviour and the epically named – Next Generation Management, a class that mixes up Marketing, Business Management & E-Commerce masters all into one bubbling pot to learn about new trends and what might happen next in the business world.

To put us really through our paces, the marketing course arranges all the students into many teams (I’m in 6 different teams) – so its very busy, but also very sociable. We all have to present topic’s in class and so far I’ve done a presentation on Brand Communities (Changing consumer class) and just today  Lynx, Chocolate temptation Ad deconstruction (Marketing Communications class).

All this while brainstorming and storyboarding our youtube viral video (brand management class) and fitting in case study analysis (marketing management & strategy class) and arranging a focus group (for my market research class)  – Its all in days work here, and I have say that’s it can be pretty challenging from a time management perspective , but also lots of fun, and will 50+ in the class – its never ever boring, and its exactly why I decided to this course in the first place – new people, new ideas, new ways of doing things.

Find out more about Derval Concannon at www.firecracker.ie

The answer, A lot. When businesses invest in the Chamber they are supporting the very things that make a community grow. There are many benefits to becoming a chamber member, many of which are automatic when you join. Our goal is to support our business community and help to grow business. That being said, many times what you need from the chamber may not be on our benefits list. That doesn’t mean we still can’t help. 

Last week we held a focus group for the Siouxland Community Christian School in Sioux City. We gathered some individuals who they considered their target market and brainstormed ideas over lunch. This gave the school some useful feedback and brought a new perspective into the mix. Here is what Siouxland Christian School Board Member, Terry Krei had to say.

You all had some great feedback and observations for us. We will continue to discuss the ways we can better leverage our unique position in Siouxland with some of the specific suggestions you shared with us.

We were glad to help the Siouxland Christian Community School as a part of our mission to grow Siouxland. Make sure to keep the Siouxland Chamber in mind when your building your business, or when you just need some new ideas–we are always just a phone call or email away :-)

-Beth Trejo, Director of Investor Relations Siouxland Chamber of Commerce

Attention, families in the Wallingford, Fremont, and University Districts! On November 4, 5:30-7, there will be a Family Focus group for adults. Group participants will receive refreshments, a Safeway gift card, a children’s book, and a chance to have a voice in your community. Participants will be asked questions like these:

• What are the needs that every family has?
• What resources or support would help families to meet those needs?
• What would help to make support networks and resources responsive to your family?

If you would like to participate in this focus group, please RSVP to Danielle at 206-576-6534, or click here to RSVP on Facebook. Childcare is available on a limited basis.

Do you still buy records/compact discs/mini-discs/cassingles?  Or do you seek out “alternate media sources” due to “space constraints” and/or a “bitch ass economy”?  Well, whatever.  Here are some of the more note-worthy releases coming to a “retail store”/”online outlet” near you:

Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age (Warp)

A collaborative mini-album sure to go well with yr herbal supplements.

The Flaming Lips Embryonic (Warner Bros.)

Some fratastic mellows are certain to be harshed by The Lips’ shift back to their more noisy, experimental side.  For the rest of us, we shall rejoice that one of America’s greatest musical treasures is freaky again.  Don’t worry, dudes, I’m sure there will still be room for the confetti.

Lightning Bolt Earthly Delights (Load)

It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since these noise barons released their last full-length blitzkrieg.  Put on yr Mexican wrestling mask and put ear plugs in yr pussy (cat).  It’s about to get loud.

Neon Indian Psychic Chasms (Lefse)

(*Note: This is a fan-made video)

If you aren’t psyched about this, then your bulb has already burnt out.   Get to the old people’s home, McCain!

Small Black Small Black (CassClub)

The kids have created this brand new genre called “lo-fi”.  Don’t tell Lou Barlow or he might go back in time and destroy all of his Sebadoh cassettes.  But get this: sometimes the kids are alright.

REISSUES:

Godflesh Pure/Cold World (Earache)

After Napalm Death but before Jesu, Justin Broadrick was the leader of this pack of equally noisy miserablists.  They ripped skin off of faces and put them on other confused faces.  Then they punched those faces until they cried.

The Raincoats The Raincoats (KillRockStars)

In 1979, The Raincoats released their debut album.  It was a post-punk classic.  It’s being reissued on vinyl.  Get.  It.  Now.

-Chris Piercy