Every year the SEMO exhibition is the most important event in the survey and opinion poll industry in France, and it is an occasion for Repères to meet its clients, prospects and partners.

It is also a fine opportunity to present our latest research in methodological workshops. Whenever possible we try to organise these workshops in partnership with a client who is a user or co-designer of a method.

In recent years we have had the opportunity to present the following innovations at SEMO:

In 2005:

• The creation of the Emotional Monitoring method with Moet Hennessy (renovation of imaginary approaches to the brand)
• The Product Insight method (a qualitative approach that makes it possible to identify by means of a blind test all the “stories” a product conveys)

In 2006:

• The creation of the Home Use Blog with Danone Research, a protocol for real-time testing of prototypes, even disruptive innovation prototypes.
• The PackExpert packaging test that combines quantitative research and the memory expertise of Impact Mémoire (Memory Impact)

In 2007:

• The Blog’in blogosphere watch method in partnership with Ami Software
• The 2.0 approaches: Co-design and Communities

In 2008:

• The Heineken case study on the use of Emotional Monitoring
• Our research with Franck Saunier in the field of Video Studies (integration of non-verbal communication in the research process)

In the same vein, we will have the pleasure of presenting two workshops at SEMO 2009, with clients participating in presenting case studies:

• On Wednesday 4^th November at 3:30 p.m.: The case study of an interactive and prospective co-design experiment, presented by Catherine Roty from CTIFL. This protocol, which we have now used several times in different sectors, makes it possible to generate operational disruptive innovation routes for new products and services. It is based on a collaborative consumer approach, boosted by prospective stimuli designed by the Proâme agency.

• Thursday 5^th November at 3:30 p.m.: A case study on the identification and modelling of product appreciation drivers, presented with Valérie Sarkis from PEPSICO. These studies based on Bayesian networks make it possible to greatly increase the added value of product tests, especially by providing highly operational optimisation recommendations.

In these times of economic uncertainty, disruptive innovation is increasingly essential for creating a competitive edge. At Repères we are convinced that innovation must be conducted in collaboration with the consumers to design in a meaningful and differentiating manner. Our prospective and interactive co-design protocol calls on the imagination of hyper creative consumers (recruited in the virtual world of Second Life) to help brands find new sources of inspiration.

So far we haven’t yet had the opportunity to present actual results from co-design initiatives since these are highly confidential. Today, thanks to CTIFL (Centre Technique Interprofessionnel des Fruits et Légumes – Inter-professional Technical Centre for Fruit and Vegetables) and UNFD (Union nationale des syndicats de détaillants en fruits, légumes et primeurs – National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Retailers) we have a unique opportunity to present the details of the process and its results.

I will let Emilie Labidoire, the head of the Repères Communities Department continue:

Our last project conducted for CTIFL and UNFD made it possible for us to work on the design and the offering at the same time, with a 3D model of 2 proposals from among 10.

Point of departure of the project

To adapt to new modes of consumption UNFD intends to make points of sale of fresh fruit and vegetables denser in areas of intense urban traffic through the creation of mobile outdoor kiosks and/or the setting up of dedicated gondolas with traditional retailers.
This is because, in a climate of a decline in the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, UNFD must take up a number of challenges:
- How to promote the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables?
- How to reduce preparation constraints?
- How to enhance the image of fruit and vegetables (healthy, simple, quick, etc.)?
- How to prevent consumption among the young from declining further?


The Protocol

Beyond implementing the Co-design process, the purpose of Repères in Second Life is of course to explore these new digital words to gain more knowledge of them and to advise our clients in their marketing strategies in these virtual worlds.

We also want to play an active role in the Second Life community and to participate in its development, namely by disseminating the results of studies we conduct on our own initiative, or by making research organisations benefit at cost price from field studies conducted by our panel of avatars.

It is within such a framework that we are publishing the results of a qualitative study we conducted last year on the perception by the residents of Second Life of the first launches of brands in SL.

The investigation, under the form of an "in world” focus group (via avatars in SL) and in Real Life, concerned the automobile sector which already presented a certain diversity in marketing terms. The aim of the study is to determine the key factors of success for a successful launch in a virtual world.

You may download all of the findings here, which you may also view in a slide presentation below (given the density of the text, I recommend the option “view on slideshare / Full”)

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

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The development of virtual worlds about which we regularly communicate is a part of the more global process of the massive integration of digital technology in our reality.

This new reality we are moving towards, where the border between the virtual and reality will become less and less discernable, is sometimes referred to as the metaverse.

In the spring of 2007, a group of experts, researchers and players in the field of virtual worlds published a remarkable study on this subject : the metaverse roadmap overview. The authors identify four leading trends which, through their convergence, lead us to the metaverse:
. Virtual Worlds
. the mirror worlds, the digital reproduction of reality (Cf. Google Earth)
. enhanced reality : the integration of the digital in the real world, for example via enhanced reality glasses (you walk in an Antique site and thanks to these glasses you have a completed view of the buildings instead of the ruins)
. lifelogging, which consists of recording all the events of one’s life on a digital medium.

You will find here the support materials from a talk I gave on this subject at the summer university of a consulting company. In addition to the 4 trends of the Metaverse Roadmap, you will find some elements concerning another change I believe is fundamental: the notion of the enhanced body (exoskeletons, cyborgs and brain-computer links) where, here again, the visions of science-fiction writers are confirmed.

To finish with this theme of the metaverse and immersion, here is a video in which a system for measuring brain waves makes it possible for a person to move his avatar in Second Life mentally:



There are many surprises in store for us.