Doing Business in an Expanding Reality

During the last fifteen years at Repères we have developed a high level of expertise in the analysis of market research data for the modelling of consumer preferences. Our work has been based on Trade-Off analysis models and on Preference Mapping tools. From services that were only initially proposed within the framework of market studies conducted exclusively by Repères, we progressively evolved towards services involving customised modelling, by working on data from a variety of sources that our clients provided us with: sensorial evaluations, physico-chemical measurements, panel data, client data-base extractions...

In order to further develop this expertise and to promote it more widely we decided to create within Repères a department dedicated to Datamining, which intervenes either independently, based on client data, or in synergy with Repères research projects. The management of this department has been entrusted to Fabien Craignou, previously in charge of quantitative Senior studies at Repères and a specialist in research involving preference modelling.

As a complement to the Trade-Off and Preference Mapping models referred to above, the team now has extensive expertise in the use of Bayesian networks, an especially effective learning and modelling technique, that we have applied successfully for the development of typologies and scoring based on client data.

In compliance with the vision of Repères, the objective of this department is to take part in the development of new tools for the profession and the dissemination of new practises. Hence Fabien's presentation, in partnership with Lionel Jouffe from Bayesia, of our work on the identification and modelling of the appreciation of a product at the latest Sensometrics seminar in St Catharines in Canada:

Also attached is another presentation from our Datamining department, again in partnership with Bayesia, conducted during the SKIM conference in Barcelona last May. The objective was to present the advantages of Bayesian networks for defining consumer typologies, namely within the context of the ‘Uses and Attitudes’ studies. Among the advantages of the method a key point is that we analyse links of all variables 2 by 2 without establishing any principle ex ante – contrary to the usual approach of canonical typology, which requires dividing variables into two groups, for example, on one side uses and on the other attitudes, a method which is at times highly arbitrary (“I use this product every day”, is that a behaviour or an attitude, or both?).



For more details concerning these services, or more generally on Datamining services, please contact Fabien Craignou.

For those who do not know the Esomar Congress it is probably the most prestigious event in the field of market research where professionals from all over the world present their most recent research.

We were therefore delighted to learn that we were selected to present a paper at the next Esomar Congress; this is the third time in a row (which to my knowledge, is a first for a French research institute:- ):

. in 2006 at the London Congress, with Moët Hennessy we presented the Emotional Monitoring tool, a real disruptive innovation for the understanding and monitoring of the imaginary perception of a brand, and which has now become the object of a licence with partners in the United States (PERT) in Germany (OPINION) and in Spain (ADVIRA) who now offer Emotional Monitoring to their own clients .

. in 2007 our presentation at the Congress in Berlin concerned our presence in the virtual world of Second Life,

. and finally, in 2008 in Montreal, with Danone Research we shall present a paper on the inclusion of non verbal communication in our research methods, via VideoEtude, a concept developed by our partner Franck Saunier. It concerns a whole field of research aimed at approaching the consumer from a holistic point of view by never separating verbal from non-verbal communication at any stage of the study. Beyond the theoretical aspects, we shall present very concrete examples in two areas that seem especially promising: The detection of unconscious insights able to help anchor disruptive innovations, and the measurement of the emotional involvement aroused by a stimulus (concept, communication, product...).

Happy new year, and please see the film below to discover our wishes for 2008.

On May 22 last, we had the pleasure of receiving the Marketing Magazine Innovation Trophy 2007 in the Studies category.

The profession rewarded our installation in Second Life, Repères having accomplished a world premier by developing a market research activity in a virtual world.

Obviously we are very happy and proud of this award, and I take this opportunity to once again thank the whole Repères Second Life team: Emilie Labidoire, Christophe Desgouttes, Hailong Xia and Moragh McVicar.

This award is timely in that it comes as a crowning achievement following a very fruitful first six months of Repères in SL:
. We are now well established within the SL community, following the exploratory studies we have conducted and published (cf. the Repères Second Life site) and following the organisation of design competitions (Repères showroom, Fabrique du Future Building, The Halles Gardens in Paris)
. our panel includes 8000 original residents from all countries ready to take part in qualitative and quantitative research as well as in co-creation projects,
. within the next few days we will be launching our first research project commissioned by a customer (in our initial plan, we expected our first order only after a year in activity...)
. And more generally speaking our presence in SL has given us the opportunity to take part in many events in France and abroad and to present the different tools used by Repères.

In conclusion I would like to stress that our presence in Second Life is perfectly consistent with the strategic vision for the next 5 years that we have defined for Repères – Passion for Research:

To be in 2011 the research institute:
connected worldwide and constantly renewing and updating the tools of the profession by being a reference in terms of methodology and innovation

An entrepreneurial vision that is indeed ambitious, but also clearly has the power to mobilize… and is rather fun.

CB News in partnership with Repères presents an opinion poll conducted among 1085 Second Life residents on their perception of Real Life brands in this universe.

The main thing learnt from the poll was that the presence of RL brands is perceived as positive by a great majority of Second Life residents: 66% believe that the presence of RL brands has a positive impact on SL, whereas 22% believe that RL brands have no impact on SL, and only 11% believe that RL brands have a negative impact on SL. Therefore there is no evidence of any overexposure effect or rejection. On the contrary, the avatars are looking forward to the presence of brands (45% of respondents even want more brands) because they enhance and give more credibility to Second Life:
- they give realism and substance to SL by establishing a link with Real Life,
- they make SL more interesting by increasing the number of residents and thus contribute to a greater permanence of this universe.
On the contrary, the main obstacles have more to do with the fear of spoiling the universe, by being too close to real life or too commercial.

In this context, being present in SL may represent a real opportunity for a brand since beyond the impact of communicating around events linked to the current buzz around SL, the brands can promote RL products and also benefit from the creativity of the avatars by associating them in their innovation processes. The potential of Second Life in the co-creation process is confirmed in this study. The majority of the residents are ready to take part in this type of operation… in exchange for remuneration and visibility. It should be noted that the motivation to take part will be even stronger if the aim is to innovate for a much-liked brand.

Upon analysing the results of the study, it is clear to date, that the brands are still far from having succeeded in exploiting all of their SL potential. For instance no RL brand introduced in SL has succeeded in establishing a strong presence in the minds of residents. According to residents, the RL brands that wish to penetrate SL should offer a sim which:
. associates the philosophy of the universe (namely conviviality, originality and innovation) and the image of the brand
. maintains a link with RL
. is visible, easily spotted
. energises the universe by introducing real added value by offering goods or special offers, by organising events, in a fun manner.

You will find a report on the study here.

For further details, please contact Emilie Labidoire, project manager at Repères Second Life.

I have the pleasure of announcing the creation at Repères of an Industry and Services quantitative department, headed by Christophe Ralle who recently joined us and will provide Repères clients with the benefit of his experience in these areas.
Christophe’s team will work in perfect synergy with the other departments at Repères: qualitative studies, observation studies, community management, data mining and modelling.
The creation of this new department is consistent with our intention to develop innovative research in all sectors of activity.

. We have published the results of a new Repères Second Life study: “Purchase Habits”, to know everything there is to know about the shopping habits of SL residents, ranging from the frequency with which they visit shops to the psychological price of clothing for avatars. You can read a complete report on the study here.

. Marie Juan Lallier has published a note in her blog "Pourquoi Second Life n’est pas une déviance ? "(Why Second Life isn’t a deviance?)

. The apéros du jeudi organised on Thursday 22 February, by Jeremy Dumont from the agency pourquoitucours gave me the opportunity to share a few thoughts about Second Life (the summaries of all the talks are available on the blog levidepoche) and especially to explain what, according to us, constitutes the three main areas of opportunity for brands in Second Life:
• communication: Second Life can enable brands to offer an experience of immersion in the values of the brand via a site presenting the brand’s platform in an interactive and fun manner,
• e-commerce: Second Life, often considered as the future of the Web, is characteristic of what could be the future of e-commerce, more human and more experience oriented,
• lastly, an area which especially interests us at Repères Second Life, this platform gives us an opportunity of offering brands protocols for the co-creation of products and services: this is a typical example of participative marketing, with creative residents who wish to express themselves and to act and whom the brands will be able to call on in order to develop their offers.

The interest previously shown by brands and the media in Second Life has been confirmed. On Christmas day, we had the pleasure of discovering the television report by Soir 3 on Second Life, which included sequences shot at Repères and a short excerpt of the interview I had given on this occasion. This report can be seen on YouTube.

At the beginning of the New Year, François Laurent also interviewed me on his Blog marketingisdead.

Today we are communicating the main research findings of our 1st exploratory study conducted with residents from Second Life and dealing with their perception of this universe. 137 residents from our panel have completed our survey.

These results reinforced our perception of Second Life as a deeply humain universe. According to its residents, Second Life is first at all :

The largest community ever created, offering opportunities for exchanges with other people ranging far beyond that of the simple chat room,

A step forward for humanity with :
. more athenticity and access to the real self,
. the opportunity to develop and even surpass oneself via apprenticeships and the use and unexploited skills,
. an infinite potentiel for discovery and creativity.

I invite you to read the main research findings of the analysis. For more details about this survey, do not hesitate to contact Emilie Labidoire, Reperes Second Life project manager.

In January 2006, during the National Marketing Day organised by Adetem, Romain Moronzier from Danone Research told me about a problem his team was tackling: How to evaluate the relevance of disruptive technology with consumers, namely when it implies new habits or gestures.

The problem of testing disruptive innovation is indeed a recurring problem in market research: confronted with innovation, the consumer can turn out to be a poor evaluator and to give arbitrary answers that say nothing about the future success or failure of the innovation being tested.

The question raised by Danone Research reminds me of a conversation I had a few months earlier with Christophe Rebours, the founder of the management and innovation agency In Process. Christophe mentioned the launch of the talking rabbit Nabaztag and explained to me that with such an atypical product the approach adopted had consisted of not conducting a test with consumers but of launching the product on a small scale to observe whether or not it would find its place within the community of first users.

The best way to find out whether an innovation is going to work, is to make it live. However, our customers can’t afford to repeat launches “just to see”. With Danone Research we looked for an approach which, with a reduced cost and in a short time, would enable us to test innovations by integrating two dimensions which seem essential to the relevance of the innovation test: experience and exchange.

It is a fact that in the absence of concrete experience consumers find it hard to anticipate:
. they find themselves locked up within their perceptive frameworks based on a past experience and one probably not relevant to the innovation being tested,
. in addition when the concept is being tested they tend to call upon rational thoughts, whereas the body, sensations and emotions are insufficiently relied on.
At the same time, the manufacturer also ignores how the innovation will be appropriated or used by the future consumer (concerning this François Laurent was telling me how surprised clients who had commissioned an experiment with television on mobile phones were: the majority of uses were not outside the home, as expected, but in bed)


The dimension of exchange is another component we believe to be essential for testing innovations: the importance of the impact of word-to-mouth between consumers is growing. Today, the asymmetric relation between a communicating brand and the consumer as a simple receiver is no longer accepted. Consumers refer more to their peers, namely via the Blogosphere which provides them with a new realm of expression, exchange, reference and will soon help them in their decisions too.

Our research protocol therefore had to respect these two conditions of experience and exchange:
. a prototype tested in the conditions of actual use,
. with communication between users and namely a dissemination of uses and perceptions.

That is how we came to launch Home Use Blog: a community of consumers who test a product and share their experiences on a Blog. At the same time as the consumer Blog, a discussion forum enables exchanges within the project team (client company, market research institute…).

The Home Use Blog protocol is simple:
. we recruit 10 to 15 consumers,
. each participant is interviewed separately and is instructed on how to use the community Blog. Participants are given a product to test during a given period, 10 days to a fortnight in the studies already conducted,
. during this test period respondents share on a daily basis their experiences on the Blog, via texts, images, emoticons, etc. Thus generating an effect of amplification and acceleration (one use test generates x tests with immediate validation or invalidation) and an effect of regulating and testing the duration of opinions and practises.

The findings gathered are extremely instructive especially thanks to the special aspects of the Blog as a communication tool, it being at the same time private and social. And unlike focus groups where the effects of leading may perturb the reliability of the information, the experiences or the opinions of the other participants are taken onboard and reinterpreted but without altering their individuality.

In the end, the Home Use Blog is a wonderful, adaptable and quick experimental tool, in line with clients’ timing, an impressive tool for exchange (between consumers, between consumers and manufacturers and between the members of the project team) and for getting close to consumers. This protocol is perfectly in synch with the strategy adopted by brands of placing the consumer at the heart of the innovation process.

The use of the Blog as an information gathering tool in innovation tests has a promising future before it. We would like to conduct experiments with larger samples of consumers soon.

This method was the object of a joint Danone Research / Repères presentation at SEMO, the market research exhibition which was held on 7th and 8th November 2006.