The Merrill Dubrow Blog

A few weeks ago I was playing (or trying to play) a game with my kids. Not sure but it might have been Go Fish or Concentration. During the game we were joking around and laughing when all of a sudden a new TV show comes on (apparently one of their favorites) and so long to Dad and the card game. I tried to be rational with two boys under seven by saying "you have to finish something that you started". Clearly that didn’t work, and now they were mesmerized in a trancelike state as they were watching Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Recently I read a story about a Texas oilman who graduated college 71 years later! Good for him. I also read a story about a 59 year old guy who was kicked off his football team 37 years earlier and recently went back to school and finished out his last year of eligibility.

We have all:

• Started a book
   
• Started to get in better shape
   
• Started a project in the back yard
   
• Started to remodel the house
   
• Started to get back into religion
   
• Started to taking golf or tennis lessons

The real question is, "DID YOU FINISH?" Did you continue with what you started? It is easy to start something. In fact it is VERY easy to start something but very hard to finish it.

• What have you started that you would like to finish?
   
• Do you have a secret that helps you finish things that you start?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Note from Jennifer Davis, Jane’s daughter:

“…we lost my mom on Saturday August 9th. We were all in the room, telling stories of love and teaching. We will miss her more than words can express… Thank you for all of the wonderful postings, flowers and prayers.

Jennifer on behalf of Rob, Katy and Robbie”

The rest of Jennifer’s message and Jane’s obituary can be found with Jane’s comments below.

For the past 5+ years I have been on the Market Research Association (MRA) National board. During that time, I have had the opportunity to work with and be led by some great presidents.

Each year the association gets a new president, one with their own style, grace and goals. I can still remember the first board meeting with a very special president in 2005 and my desire to send a follow-up email right after it ended:

Jane,

I am sitting here at 30,000 feet and thinking about the MRA and can’t help but send you an email. I am truly impressed with your leadership qualities, communication skills and ability to work with any type of person.

Thank you for being the next President of the Association and leading us during another exciting time! I know everyone on the board is looking forward to working with you and exceeding all of our goals in the years to come.

Enjoy the weekend.

Merrill

This president that I am referring to is Jane Cook. She is much more than just a past president of the MRA. She is a daughter, wife, mother, business executive and friend. Jane is that one person you COULD always count on to be there for you. Jane listened to you when you were down and gave needed advice that usually was right on. She is one special lady who always had time for everyone. She is beautiful on the inside and out and has a smile that would always force you to say yes no matter what she asked. She is always even-keeled and has so many other special qualities it would take me hours to list each and every one of them.

Way back in the early 80’s my dad developed cancer. During that time he insisted on not only having the treatment before work so it didn’t get in his way, he also insisted that no one know. To me, that speaks to the heart of my dad, who he is and the passion and work ethic he has and still possesses. I never knew until two days ago that Jane did the exact same thing during her year as President of the MRA. Was she hurting? Yes. Was she tired? Yes. Did she ever complain? No. Did she ever tell anyone? No. Did she ever show it? No. That’s not Jane. She always knew what needed to be done and NEVER allowed anything to get in her way–not even her treatment for cancer.

In the past decade, Jane has battled cancer a number of times. Each time she has won. Unfortunately our beloved leader, mother, wife and friend has another round of this battle as she goes up against this disease once again. This time the doctors have told her it is terminal with not a lot of time left.

To her husband Rob, daughters Jennifer and Katy, and son Rob, please know that you aren’t the only people who love Jane. That love is shared by hundreds if not thousands who are in the research and business community and have been fortunate to know her.

At the present time Jane is not in a position to take calls. However, all comments that are posted here will be read to Jane as well as cards that are sent to her.

You may send cards to:

Jane Cook
222 Crescent St SE.
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

Jane, our thoughts, prayers and love are with you and your family as you fight this battle again with the same positive attitude, energy and grace that you have each and every day.

Everyone has stress in their life but we all deal with it a little differently. Working every day, going to the first day of college, planning a wedding, having a child, moving into a new house, moving out of state, not having enough money to pay your bills, not saving enough money to send your kids to college, not saving enough money to retire are all stressful things.

The question is, what do you do about it.

Here are a few things that I do:

• Go for a ride in the car and just think - for me this really can help clear my mind
   
• Go to a comedy club - laughing can help a lot
   
• Get a massage - no better way to relax for me
   
• Call someone - remember that is what your significant other and your friends are for. By talking it out you can make some real progress and in the end whatever you were stressing out about might not be that big of a deal.
   
• Play a sport - this really helps me a lot. For some reason when I am playing a sport it brings me back to my childhood and allows me the opportunity to forget about everything.

What do you do?

I look forward to hearing your comments.

I get a lot of emails some of which are very interesting and thought-provoking. One of the ones I received last week falls into this category. As we all know, the airline industry has been in the news a lot lately for a number of reasons–none of which are good. From fare increases to airlines charging for everything. Below is an email I received that talks about some of the issues in the airline industry and calls for a stop of oil speculation. The interesting thing for me wasn’t all about the message but rather who sent it. Or actually what group sent it. You will see that 12 airline CEOs all joined together and signed the letter.

Amazing that competitors most of the day and night can and will join forces to fight for a common cause.

Is this the first time you are seeing this email?

What do you think about this group having a unified front?

Now stop and think about how and what they did as it relates to the research industry. Most researchers would say that the research industry has an issue with respondent cooperation and panel quality–not sure many people would disagree with that.

How powerful and meaningful would it be if Larry Brownell and Jon Last (MRA), Diane Bowers (CASRO), Bob Lederer (RFL Communications) , Roger Green (PMRG), Bob Borocci (ARF), Richard A. (Dick) Kulka, PhD (AAPOR), Tom Kinnear (AMA), Véronique Jeannin (Esomor) and Linda Lawrie (PBIRG) and others collectively develop a letter and send it out to ALL the researchers across the world! How much would this group accomplish by working TOGETHER rather than each association trying to solve industry problems on their own?

I for one strongly believe that everyone should check their egos at the door and try to make this happen in 2009!

• Do you think this is a good idea?
   
• Do you think this great industry needs for this to happen?
   
• Who will be the first to step up?

I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THIS, BUT MY HOPE IS WHY CAN’T THE RESEARCH INDUSTRY BE LIKE THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY! 

I look forward to reading your comments.

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation. Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs. Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper. The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem. We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com. Richard Anderson CEO Delta Air Lines, Inc. Gerard J. Arpey Chairman, President and CEO American Airlines, Inc. Bill Ayer Chairman, President and CEO Alaska Airlines, Inc.   Dave Barger CEO JetBlue Airways Corporation   Mark B. Dunkerley President and CEO Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.   Robert Fornaro Chairman, President and CEO AirTran Airways   Timothy E. Hoeksema Chairman, President and CEO Midwest Airlines   Lawrence W. Kellner Chairman and CEO Continental Airlines, Inc.   Gary Kelly Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines Co.   Douglas Parker Chairman and CEO US Airways Group, Inc.   Douglas M. Steenland President and CEO Northwest Airlines, Inc.   Glenn F. Tilton Chairman, President and CEO United Airlines, Inc.

We tend to remember certain days of the year. Birthdays and anniversaries tend to be easy and obvious. But for me, other days like the first day I started at M/A/R/C Research or even a day that something special happened I remember (which is the case on August 1st.)

Two years ago we launched the Merrill Dubrow Blog. Since that day we have:

• Posted 300 different times
   
• Exceeded 4,000 comments
   
• Over 750 different people who have posted comments
   
• Averaged 1,200 hits every week

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

In addition, we have tried really hard to make the blog very creative, dynamic, fun and a learning experience for everyone.

Over the past few months we are hearing from readers more and more with ideas for posts, videos and funny pictures and general comments.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

When I go to conferences I am hearing more and more from people that they enjoy what we are doing and how we are doing it. Readers seem to like the quick contests we have had and also the diverse subjects we have been writing about.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

To our internal team of Christopher, Susan and Frank, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! We wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything without your support and dedication.

So happy two year anniversary to the Merrill Dubrow Blog.

• If you have an idea, let us know.
   
• Want to be a guest writer? Let us know.
   
• Like/dislike what we are doing? Let us know?

On behalf of our team

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments.

Lots of companies have partnerships. Done right, it is a way for each company to increase their revenue and establish a win/win with the right partnerships.

Recently, Peanut Labs–which provides access to members of social networking sites–has partnered with online gaming community Acclaim Games to enable the latter’s members to take market research surveys in return for in-game items such as weapons, clothing and character boosts.

At first, I must admit I was taken aback for a second when I thought about getting weapons for surveys, even if they are just for online games.

My kids have Webkinz and get points and items such as clothes and food for their stuffed animals by playing online games. Amazing that my kids are as good and fast on the computer…but I digress and that is probably a topic for another time. After thinking about it for a few minutes I am ok with the Peanut Labs partnership with Acclaim Games. Even though I have never heard of Acclaim Games, I am assuming it is a reputable company. I believe this is a creative way for Peanut Labs to reach a very difficult but important respondent pool and good for them for finding a way to do that.

The real question is what partnerships am I ok with?

• What if an online research panel company partnered with a real gun company?
   
• What if they partnered with a company that didn’t have a great reputation or all of a sudden fell on hard times? Does that affect your perception of the company in any way?
   
• What do you do when one of your vendors partners with one of your competitors?

Interesting questions for sure.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments.

So there I am leaving a baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the Atlanta Braves. As I was walking to the car, I noticed that my cousin had just sent me an email. He thought I would enjoy the article (thanks AL) since it was about blogs. Since I hadn’t spoken to him in a few days, I thought I would give him a buzz and follow up on the article. During our conversation he mentioned that the list of blogs had a few cool stories and one of them was a company that actually bribes their new employees to quit. The company is Zappos. Since I don’t recall ever hearing of something like that I asked him to email me the article.

Zappos is a company that is growing and has a dynamic personality, to the point where a huge number of its 1,600 employees are power users of Twitter so that their friends, colleagues, and customers know what they’re up to at any moment in time. But here’s what’s really interesting. It’s a hard job, answering phones and talking to customers for hours at a time. So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and vision.

After a week or so in the experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls "The Offer." The company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: "If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus." Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!

Why does Zappos do this? They believe if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick–and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later.

My initial reaction was that this idea was a little crazy, it couldn’t work and there wasn’t a place in business for this kind of practice. But then I thought a little longer and harder about it and realized that companies offer incentive packages to staff all the time. Yes most of the time — in fact every time I have heard a story, it is about staff that have been employed for a bunch of years.

• But why couldn’t it work after a month?
   
• Maybe this strategy is a good one?

I realize it can’t work in every company and certainly you could fire staff if it doesn’t work out from the company point of view, but doesn’t this strategy give you tremendous insight on what the employee is thinking?

I really look forward to your thoughts and comments.

P.S. About ten percent of new employees take the money and run.

As most people do, I love to get gifts — but different types of gifts. Not mainstream stuff. So there I am one day and walk by the cube of a co-worker and lo and behold he (thanks FS) hands me a gift that he thought I would enjoy. It was a book. But not just any type of book. It was different than most of the books I have, which tend to be business, motivational, or sports books. This book was very creative and its title was Not Quite What I Was Planning, Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.

The book was fascinating and got my creative juices flowing. Here are a few from the book that I thought I would share:

• When talk matters, make it count
   
• Pay attention to me go away
   
• Ran east, ran west, ran late
   
• Open road, no map. Great Scenery
   
• Afraid of everything. Did it anyway

The book really gave me a chance to pause and think about trying to put some of my own together. Ok — let me start by saying I am not a pro at this but merely trying to make some sense of some thoughts on life stated in exactly six words. So here goes:

• Teachers are very important, thank you.
   
• Passion is so important to me
   
• Sports, competition. That says it all.
   
• Family, friends, work, play. All meaningful
   
• Boston to Dallas. Life in session

Now your turn. Close your eyes take a minute or two and think about six word phrases that mean something to you or describe some type of experience.

I hope you have fun with this — let me share a little secret…I had a BLAST!

I look forward to hearing from you and having you share your thoughts.

When you travel around, you see them all over the place. They are on every street corner, in lots of hotels and even in airports.

They were growing fast. Real fast. Maybe some would say it was at light speed. Recently Starbucks announced they were closing over 600 stores and their growth over the next few years will be slowing down considerably.

For those of you who don’t know, I don’t drink coffee. I will have an occasional cappuccino after a nice meal but I am not a regular coffee drinker. I do go to Starbucks, but mostly as a meeting spot or for a marshmallow Rice Krispie treat. Ok I have a sweettooth and love them. Each and every time I went to Starbucks there was a line–usually a big line and it never mattered what time it was. I for one was very surprised that Starbucks decided to close over 600 stores.

The question is what happened to Starbucks?

• Did they grow too fast?
   
• Are their prices too high?
   
• Is the economy hurting their business?
   
• Do people all of sudden not like Starbucks?
   
• Is their marketing missing the boat?
   
• Is their competition making all the right moves?

What do you think?

I really look forward to having your share your comments!

[Note: While this article focuses primarily on quantitative research, the basic points also apply to qualitative research]

Whenever anyone talks to me about Respondent Cooperation, I invariably tell them that we should place more emphasis on Respondent Satisfaction. I say this because I believe that if we continue to focus on the former and ignore the latter, we risk losing our audience (our respondents).

Let’s face it: completing the average survey is about as exciting as filling out a loan application. Most surveys are visually unappealing and unexciting.

Respondent Cooperation rates have dropped for a number of reasons, but a major one is that completing a survey is too much like taking a test… not an experience most enjoy. Sure, there are other factors affecting Respondent Cooperation, but we tend to ignore that participating in most surveys is just not much fun.

This is primarily the result of a lack of imagination and creativity.

The lack of imagination and creativity in the research process is the result of numerous factors. I will pinpoint a few:

1. Most researchers are nerds. After all, who but a nerd enjoys studying human opinions and behavior? The clinical approach we take in our work may get us the answers we are looking for, but uses a process and techniques that simply aren’t very entertaining.
2. We write/ask questions in an unbiased manner which will get the answers required, not in ways which will amuse or engage the respondents.
3. We tend to hire only researchers–not creative people–to assist us.
4. We are too often restricted by budgets and timelines which prevent us from doing something “different.”
5. We are creatures of habit. Most research companies have a style, and have developed a catalog of standard questions. It is very easy to throw together a survey from an inventory of questions which aren’t very interesting.

Let’s look at some methodologies.

Phone. Telephone research is effectively on its deathbed. Participating in a survey over the phone is as exciting as listening to a talk radio show in a language you don’t understand. Interviewers ask questions in an unbiased manner and don’t emphasize words or use intonation which will bias a response. Phone surveys are thus not very engaging, which in turn contributes to low cooperation rates.

Phone surveys are also frequently way too long. We live in the age of sound bites and text messaging (limited to 160 characters), not in an age of 20-30 minute questionnaires. As a result, phone research is dying , and will probably never work again as a great method for research.

Paper. Paper surveys all too often are really like a test with all the baggage and negative feeling attached. Paper surveys are, for the most part, badly designed, poorly laid out, and are usually printed in black ink on white paper. Talk about DULL! What’s the problem with using color or incorporating graphics? We should at least attempt to engage people.

Online. This is the medium with the most potential to engage respondents. Unfortunately most online surveys are too much like paper. They simply are not very engaging. This is because the tools used to program the surveys were developed to meet the needs of the researchers not amuse the respondents. What we have to keep in mind is that while we don’t currently have tools that let us design entertaining and fun surveys, these features certainly can be incorporated into existing software. All we have to do is ask for it. Any technique that you see being used on a Web page or an online advertisement could be incorporated into a Web survey. We need to make better use of movement, sound and color. It is time to start thinking of an online survey more like a good Powerpoint presentation.

The Bottom Line.

Researchers need to hire some/more creative people to assist them, and we need to start to make surveys more fun. Otherwise, we stand the risk of having no participants.

Those are a few of my thoughts.

• Do you agree with me?
• What are your thoughts?

I look forward to hearing from you!

###

Peter Van Brunt, PRC

Mr. Van Brunt has been involved with doing quantitative marketing research since 1974. In 1982 he started his own research company, ReData, Inc. Over the years, Mr. Van Brunt has been an active volunteer in the Marketing Research Association. He was one of the founding members of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the MRA, served as the second Chapter President, and remained active on the Chapter Board for a number of years. At the National level, he has served on numerous Councils, Committees, and Task Forces. He served on the National Board of Directors as a Director at Large, and was elected national President of the Marketing Research Association for the year 2002-2003. He was instrumental in MRA starting Professional Research Certification, and he currently chairs the Review Committee for Researcher Certification. He is PRC certified at the Expert Level. In 2006 he was presented with MRA’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award.

He holds a BS in Mathematics from Bucknell University.