A Conference in May Keeps the Doctor Away

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On · In Market Research, Professional Conferences

Unless you’re in sales, it’s easy to forego attending industry conferences and educational events. You’ve got proposals to write, projects to manage, and scheduling time out of the office to learn and network seems, well, a luxury. What’s the ROI on that?

It’s sometimes hard to justify in the moment, but oh so important for your long-term success to keep on top of current industry events. Besides, it’s good for your health! Not only do you learn new things and meet potentially valuable connections, studies show it’s good for your mental health to get out and socialize.

The best conferences also challenge your mind. You get the chance to learn brand-new things and expand your understanding of topics with which you’re already familiar. I know exchanging ideas and perspectives with other industry professionals always gives me a mental boost.

I recently had the opportunity to help organize a local conference—the NorthWest MRA Educational conference in Portland, Oregon on May 8th. We had a lineup of six speakers and about 50 guests in our auditorium-style room for the day.

Here are the main takeaways from each presentation:

Gamifying a survey doesn’t necessarily improve it.

Joanne Mechling of Market Strategies International opened the event by describing the results of an experiment she conducted to test the impact of integrative graphics and gamification on online surveys. I was surprised to learn these elements don’t necessarily improve a survey in terms of overall satisfaction, length, etc. But rather, when not carefully applied, can bias results and increase survey length.

Embrace learning about DIY research tools.

Scott Worthge of uSamp invited us to ride the wave of innovation in research technology, and embrace learning about DIY tools like Google Surveys. We may not end up using them for custom research projects, but it’s critical we’re familiar enough to speak knowledgeably about them with clients.

Design all surveys with mobile in mind.

Kristin Luck of Decipher treated us to a lively presentation after lunch on mobile survey research. She emphasized the importance of designing all surveys with mobile in mind. The reality is that anywhere from 5-10% of survey respondents take online surveys via a smartphone or tablet. This number is sure to increase.  By learning to design surveys with mobile in mind, we’ll be ready for the multi-platform future of research.

Use multiple sample sources to optimize representativeness.

Based on his years in sample management, Michael McCrary of Federated Sample highlighted the value of sample diversity. He shared the results of an internal study which compared various sample sources with different reward structures. He pointed out that new survey routing technology makes it increasingly easy to include multiple sample sources to increase the representativeness of our surveys.

Deliver presentations in a way that best suits the way people learn.

Donna Fitzpatrick of Catwalk Solutions addressed a topic near and dear to my heart: the psychology of presentation design. Borrowing insights from John Medina’s highly recommended Brain Rules, she shared a number of valuable presentation tips, such as sharing stories, using graphics for emphasis, and where possible, breaking down insights into easily digestible “bites.”

Know how to read the fine print.

Jovial and entertaining Portland attorney Joe Durkee rounded out our day with advice on how to read standard business contracts. He discussed a number of clauses common to vendor service agreements and offered counseled on how to approach them. (Full disclosure: he’s my husband so I might be a little biased about performance.)

I always come away from professional conferences invigorated, refreshed, and optimistic about the future. And this conference was no exception.

Touch-and-Go with Potential Xbox Controller

By
On · In Connected Home, Convergence, New Product Development, Video Games

A recent Microsoft patent filing suggests individualizing Xbox 360 (or, more likely, Xbox 720) game settings could be as easy as grabbing a controller. According to Engadget, the patent describes a controller with sensors that detect your identity. Based on your unique hand pressure pattern, the controller delivers content according to your personal preferences. This feature would be especially handy for gaming sessions at a friend’s house. Just bring your touch-sensitive controller along and ta-da, your friend’s console knows your setting preferences as well as your own.

If, as rumor suggests, the next-gen version of the Xbox is more akin to a home server, it’s easy to imagine Microsoft extending this functionality to other kinds of personalized content, potentially, through facial recognition via Kinect. How cool would it be if your Xbox 720 recognized you on coming home from work and automatically configured your environment to your needs, say, adjusting your lights and temperature? Unfortunately, the unit can’t be expected to help settle family disputes about who gets to control the thermostat.

NBCU’s Gamification Play: Synergy by Any Other Name

By
On · In Marketing Opportunities, Video Games

The new buzzword, gamification, is beginning to look suspiciously like an old one—synergy.

Earlier this week, Comcast’s subsidiary NBCUniversal announced the creation of UGN (Universal Game Network), a new casual gaming platform that will bring together its most popular online, mobile and social network gaming offerings.

The company is putting special emphasis on the latter, with an eye toward leveraging gamer data on Facebook and other, similar sites. “Social gaming is a fast-growing category that attracts a highly engaged and targeted audience,” Linda Yaccarino, president, Cable Entertainment and Digital Sales for NBCUniversal, said in a statement. “UGN provides NBCUniversal with a unique platform to connect with these consumers and offer our clients a distinct ad solution that taps into the 300 million social gamers active on Facebook and beyond.”

UGN aggregates NBCU’s gaming efforts around a single platform for the first time. Consumers can play games and accrue reward points, consume content, and challenge friends via Facebook.

What does this mean for companies making packaged games for home consoles and/or gaming-dedicated handhelds? Social gaming tends to grow the audience for games of all kinds, so the advent of UGN means more opportunities for packaged game companies to sell their wares. Casual gamers in this category don’t seriously erode the pool of console gamers; in fact, the success of Wii from Nintendo proves just the opposite.

The real deal here is that UGN extends NBCU’s content and advertising reach to critical targets watching less TV and/or multitasking while watching.

There is, of course, another benefit for NBCU—more consumer data. Per the NBCU press release, “The UGN platform also enables NBCU to track fan engagement, target content to specific audiences and create future experiences based on popularity and demand. Long term, advertisers will be able to take advantage of the integrated big data analytical capabilities of the system to maximize the reach and efficiencies of their buys.”

In other words, NBCU will be able to combine what they already know about TV viewers with data from UGN, Facebook, and a variety of other sources the company accesses.

So synergy, er, gamification is fun for you and me, and another way for NBCU and Comcast to ring their registers. Game on!

The Perils of Crowdfunding Video Games

By
On · In New Product Development, Video Games

Earlier this month, President Obama signed a bill that allows the general public to invest in startup companies over the Internet via crowdfunding services like Kickstarter. Prior to this law, early investments in private companies were restricted to qualified institutions (namely, investment banks) and wealthy individuals. The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act permits average citizens to invest in—and profit from—startups in the same manner as traditional investors. (To be sure, U.S. securities law does provide for investments from so-called “non-qualified investors,” however, the process for offering these opportunities is fraught with legal complexity and considerable expense.)

Although Kickstarter characterizes contributions to the projects it hosts as patronage rather than investment capital (and reportedly doesn’t intend to change its model), passage of the JOBS Act has brought increased attention to the crowdfunding phenomenon. So it was with great interest that I read a recent report in GamesIndustry International which broke down the costs associated with funding one particular Kickstarter project, the indie game Star Command from Warballoon. The article shows that crowdfunding doesn’t obviate the need for solid upfront budgeting.

Warballoon sought $20,000 on Kickstarter for its iOS and Android title and netted roughly $36,000. Sounds like a rousing success, right? Well, not so fast. Here’s how that amount got whittled down in short order to $11,000 for actual game development:

$2,000     pledges failed to materialize

$3,000     fees to Kickstarter and Amazon’s portion of PayPal transactions

$10,000   prizes or rewards for contributors—posters, t-shirts and shipping

$6,000     game music

$1,000     poster design

$1,000     iPads for testing

$3,000     PAX East conference

$4,000     legal fees for incorporation and related documents

$2,000     taxes (contributions must be declared as income)

$4,000     incidentals and daily expenses

There are a couple of collapsed line items worth highlighting. One is that Warballoon “lost” $17,000 out of the gate to a combination of pledge reversals, transaction fees, prize fulfillment and taxes. Startups looking to get in on the crowdsourcing action should budget carefully to ensure they set a fundraising target that accounts for these expenses. If Warballoon had raised only its original goal of $20,000 then around 75% of the total would’ve been exhausted before the team got to product development (assuming proportionately fewer pledge reversals and a slightly lower tax bill).

The line items associated with game development—music, iPads for testing, and incidentals—come to $11,000 or about 32% of the $34,000 in pledges that were actually collected. I don’t know how that figure compares to other, similar Kickstarter projects. But if I were a patron, I’d expect a higher percentage of the monies to go toward direct project costs. The legal fees associated with incorporation and such should properly be considered startup costs. Incorporation filings and associated operating agreements are a basic cost of doing business. I’d be highly reluctant to contribute to a company that hadn’t already taken this step.

Fundraising platforms like Kickstarter are wonderful avenues for startups with a marketable or otherwise appealing idea. Recently, Double Fine made international news by raising over $1 million in a single day for a new multiplatform adventure title. The company ended up with nearly $3.5 million against an initial goal of only $800,000. That’s powerful evidence for the viability of the crowdfunding model. Just don’t let the excitement around a new project blind you to the necessity of diligent advance budgeting.

The Fun of Getting Schooled on Internet Data Metering

By
On · In Marketing Opportunities, New Product Development, Telecommunications

For years, consumers have been sold unlimited internet plans in both the wired and wireless worlds. “Eat as much as you want,” said the service providers.

But the era of unlimited data is fast coming to a close with the advent of streamed video. Networks are groaning under the weight of bandwidth-heavy movies, YouTube clips, live sports broadcasts and oh so much more.

In response, service providers are setting monthly limits on how much data consumers can use. They’re especially keen to clamp down on the notorious 1% who consume disproportionately large amounts of data.

The broader problem lies in consumers’ lack of understanding the hard realities of data consumption. The majority not only doesn’t know much about data consumption, but doesn’t really care, either.

In the name of education, service providers have published dry FAQs and tutorials. These learning aids could do the job—if consumers were willing to suffer through them. But as even the most dedicated student will attest, these kinds of mechanisms are marginally effective at teaching innately interesting topics, let alone something like data consumption.

Fortunately for us, the good people at NYTimes.com have injected a little humor into the issue in the form of a short-n-breezy quiz. Don’t be fooled by its light tone or brevity, though. This quiz is a real brainteaser. At the risk of sounding immodest, I consider myself well-versed on the topic, and I scored six of eight.  A sharp colleague scored four of eight.

The quiz demonstrates the virtues of “gamifying” an otherwise dull subject and hopefully, can serve as a model to companies looking to educate the broader public on decidedly staid but important technology-related issues.

Pair: Messaging Sealed with a Thumbkiss

By
On · In Convergence, New Product Development

About a decade ago, Zanthus contributed to a proposed research project on family communications for a now-defunct cross-industry digital home consortium. One part of the study would have focused on a new product concept for emotional communication. This device, dubbed a “mood-fob,” was envisioned to behave like a gussied-up version of that counterculture fashion statement, the mood ring. It would glow in various colors, each of which represented a distinct emotional state. Every family member would have a mood-fob that was continuously synced with the others.

Whenever a family member wanted to communicate her mood to someone, all she had to do was select a recipient and hold her own device. The recipient’s mood-fob would then glow in the color corresponding to the sender’s emotion. If the two family members touched their mood-fobs at the same time, the devices would pulse sympathetically. (The pulse could be considered the electronic equivalent of the hypnotic purr emitted by the Tribbles featured in the original Star Trek series.)

A number of variations of the mood-fob were considered, including a version for romantic partners at a distance, and a stuffed animal version for young children so traveling parents could wish them goodnight without saying a word. Regardless of the form these devices took, however, the focus was on delivering a simple, intuitive means of letting others know you were thinking about them if you couldn’t tell them in person.

The same principle seems to be the animating force behind Pair, a new iPhone app which offers an exclusive social network for two. The app is aimed at romantic partners looking for a quick, private way to communicate. Pair allows couples to share texts, to-do lists and calendars. The most publicized feature, however, is the thumbkiss. When two users slide their thumbs over their individual iPhone screens so their thumbs line up, their screens turn red and their phones vibrate. It’s instant one-touch affection.

Even though Pair doesn’t have any immediate plans to monetize the app, the idea has caught on with investors. After just two months, Pair has secured close to $1.5 million in financing that would value the company at about $10 million. What’s attractive about Pair isn’t necessarily the app as it currently stands, but the company’s apparent commitment to using technology to serve definitively human ends. An innovative technology company dedicated to helping consumers share their emotions is usually a worthwhile bet.

Digital Home Update: On the Cusp of Interoperability

By
On · In Connected Home, Convergence, New Product Development

It’s been a few weeks since I returned from a gathering of top-tier product developers and marketers assembled to advance the cause of the digital home. The Digital Home Forum, offered by the Continental Automated Building Association’s (CABA) Connected Home Council, takes place every six months or so. (Full disclosure: CABA is a long-standing client of Zanthus.)

This session featured an especially high number of “big picture” topics, chief among them, how to improve “interoperability.” That’s tech shorthand for the technology-neutral exchange of information among devices. Discussions of interoperability revolved around how to connect gadgets, content and services to create widely-distributed market opportunities. Think of the ease-of-communication among Apple products without being locked into the company’s devices or associated protocols. Sure, broad interoperability is a decades-old dream, but IMHO the timing has never been better for a genuine breakthrough.

The spirit of invention was certainly alive at the forum, where various manifestations of interoperability were shared. Some of the most memorable include:

The “Facebook of devices.” (Thanks for that handy moniker, IBM.) Beyond the “Internet of Things”—where you can control and monitor everything over the Internet—expect your devices to “friend” each other (with your permission of course), with the goal of delivering an enhanced, seamless user experience. Just think, when your electric car, electric meter, window coverings and thermostat can share status updates with each other, you can start selling energy instead of just consuming it.

Connected communities. The next step up is when your digital ecosystem starts communicating beyond you and your home to include your personal network, your neighborhood, and even your causes. With “conscious consumerism” growing, especially among the young, industry watchers say new digital lifestyle incentive programs and services become feasible. For example, you could generate donations to your cause of choice by signing up for a demand response program with your electric utility, which could then adjust your home’s thermostat for short durations during peak consumption periods. A nice win-win in a world that can’t afford to continue down the path where the average US household now uses three times the amount of power as it did in 1950.

Privacy is not dead. It’s not that people don’t want information shared about them under any circumstances—it’s that they want control over the process. Consumers understand that data is already being collected about them, and they want in on the deal. It could be cash or other incentives. If the price of continued independent living is agreeing to have “connected slippers” that notify your family you didn’t get up today, well then you might be OK with that.

The “God box.” The magic uber-protocol conversion thing, secure yet open, that makes it technically feasible to connect any kind of consumer device, service or content with any other. Using any communications protocol. Even when hardware gets upgraded or changes. As efforts to promote interoperability like DLNA and the new IEEE 1905.1 standard roll out, the dream continues. DRM and patents allowing, of course.

This CABA Connected Home Council Forum was one of the more energized confabs in recent memory. In fact, one presenter actually had to ask the audience to keep the chatter down! I took that as a sign that renewed cross-industry pollination is on the way. If interoperability is to gain traction, forums like this will play a key role, where industry players are encouraged to see the value in collaboration.

App Offers New Way to Read Magazines

By
On · In Convergence, Digital Media, New Product Development

The Internet has brought tremendous price pressure to bear on magazine publishers. Some, like U.S. News & World Report, have conceded and given up print altogether. Others, like Spin, have survived by publishing fewer pages, less frequently and/or by shifting more content online. Yesterday saw the launch of a new model to deal with the digital threat: an all-you-can-read app from Next Issue Media (NIM) dubbed the “Hulu of magazines.” While other digital storefronts exist, NIM is the first to offer a selection of top-tier magazines optimized for the tablet format using a single app.

A joint venture of five major magazine and newspaper publishers, NIM’s app offers flat-rate access to as many as 32 magazines, including The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, People, Esquire, Real Simple and Sports Illustrated. You can choose to pay $9.99 for an unlimited subscription to all the monthly magazines in the app, or $14.99 for access to all monthly and weekly magazines. The app is currently available only for tablets running Android 3.0 or better, but a prominent note on the consortium’s Web site promises an iOS version “soon.”

The full plan could mean substantial savings for readers of multiple magazines. A one-month subscription to The New Yorker iPad app is $5.99, while a one year subscription is $59.99. With the NIM app, single issues cost $2.49 to $5.99 an issue and subscriptions to individual titles cost $1.99 to $9.99 a month. Magazine publishers have a notable interest in lowering subscription costs. Theoretically at least, the lower the subscription cost, the higher the number of subscribers. With most of their revenue coming from advertisers, magazine publishers aren’t selling magazines so much as access to eyeballs.

The popularity of tablets generally and the iPad in particular have boosted digital magazine circulation. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, magazine circulation on tablets, paid Web sites and mobile phones has doubled in the past year, from 1.5 million copies in 2010 to 3.1 million copies in the second half of 2011.

Digital circulation will doubtless continue to gain ground vis-à-vis print for the foreseeable future, mirroring the dynamic between digital and physical media in the music and video entertainment industries. The question is the extent to which the growth is sustainable given the economics of publishing. As publishers know all-too-well, among readers increasingly comfortable with blogs and other forms of free online content, the Internet tends to drive the price of media entertainment to zero.

The Beginning of the End of Physical Media

By
On · In Convergence, Streaming Services

Last week, market research firm IHS Screen Digest reported that for the first time ever in the US, the number of films bought or rented online this year will exceed sales of physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays. The report predicts online media consumption will grow 135% in 2012 to 3.4 billion, and comprise 57% of the filmed entertainment consumers watch. This means traditional distributors will take a significant revenue hit from all-you-can-watch services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon, which constituted 94% of online movie watching last year.

So how do these streaming services stack up? Here are brief descriptions of the major services in this space:

Netflix Watch Instantly

Renowned for its deep catalog, Netflix is the long-time market leader, offering streaming-only service for $7.99 per month. According to its website, the company has more than 23 million streaming customers worldwide. That figure gives Netflix a larger installed base than the top cable provider in the US, Comcast, estimated in September 2011 to have a little less than 22 million subscribers. Netflix was on track to acquire an even greater market lead until it announced plans to split the company into distinct streaming and DVD entities, along with a corresponding 60% price hike. After much public outcry, the company scuttled its planned restructuring, but retained the price increase. The immediate fallout was about 800,000 lost customers in the third quarter of 2011 alone. The full extent of the damage remains to be seen as many rivals are only now ramping up their competitive offerings.

Hulu Plus

This service provides access to thousands of episodes from hundreds of TV programs, along with films from Miramax and the Criterion Collection, for $7.99 per month. You can access streamed content on multiple devices, from smartphones to Internet-enabled TVs. And unlike Netflix, you can view current seasons of many popular TV series from major networks, including ABC, NBC and FOX. The main downside is that programs include (albeit limited) advertising. As of the end of 2011, the company reported more than 1.5 million subscribers.

Amazon Prime

For $79 per year, you receive commercial-free access to about 5,000 videos as well as other perks like free or discounted shipping from Amazon.com. The company also offers one-time rentals starting at 99 cents and the option to purchase downloadable movies. Industry analysts estimate Amazon Prime has between seven and eight million subscribers. It’s widely expected that Amazon will brand its video streaming offering as a separate service, and for it to be priced lower than Netflix’s. (Currently, Amazon Prime represents a savings of about $1.41 per month or $16.99 per year over Netflix Watch Instantly.)

Vudu

Acquired by Walmart in February 2010, Vudu offers digital rentals on demand, including new releases in HD (1080p) that come out the same day as the DVD version. There are no subscriptions, contracts or late fees. New releases generally run from $3.99 to $5.99 depending on download quality, and thousands of movies are available over two nights for $2. Moreover, Walmart recently announced plans to allow customers to convert their personal DVD libraries into anytime, anywhere streaming content. In a deal with five major Hollywood studios, the company will convert customers’ own DVDs into a downloadable format compatible on multiple devices. The conversion service uses Vudu in conjunction with Ultraviolet, a cloud-based streaming service supported by the movie studios. This new service debuts next month.

Xfinity Streampix

Last month, Comcast rolled out a new streaming service (modeled on Netflix) that boasts a mix of TV re-runs and older films. It’s free to some Comcast customers who get their video, Internet and phone service from the company, while other customers pay $4.99 per month. Although the service compares favorably to Netflix in terms of price, Comcast’s agreements with Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures and other movie studios provide it with less content.

There are many other streaming services, of course, including iTunes, Blockbuster and Google TV, but these constitute the most prominent efforts. All signs point to rapid growth in the market, so you can expect a host of new players to emerge in the near future. Nothing brings out the competitive spirit more than an old-fashioned land grab, especially one for virtual real estate.

Enhanced Online Privacy Protection: A Marketing Opportunity?

By
On · In Marketing Opportunities, Privacy Issues

Recent news about the US Federal Trade Commission’s online privacy recommendations got me thinking about what, if anything, consumers would do differently in managing their personal information if given the chance.

The FTC called for legislation that would, among other things:

1. Require development of an easy-to-use, universal Do Not Track mechanism that consumers could use to prevent tracking of online activities by marketers;

2. Make it easier for consumers to learn what information is collected about them; and

3. Strengthen privacy protections on mobile devices.

Until now, it seems US consumers have been more focused on managing their reputations and minimizing the risk of identity theft than on insulating themselves from companies trying to sell them things.

For example, a recent Pew study reports that use of private social media profile settings, profile “pruning” (removing posts and photo tags), and “unfriending” people are commonly used tactics.

Other research reveals how consumer concerns about data security are hampering adoption of new technology, notably mobile payments and home automation.

But when it comes to managing information collected by apps and websites for use in marketing, there is a well-reported gap between what consumers say they’re concerned about and what they do. Unsecured Wi-Fi networks, cookies, social media integration, location awareness and lengthy terms of use policies all seem to be accepted norms for the connected consumer.

As online privacy legislation and voluntary industry practices take hold, it will be interesting to observe the trade-offs consumers make when it comes to managing their personal information—and the innovative ways that marketers respond.

I’ll bet right now that many consumers will jump on opportunities to get rewarded for sharing their information. To my mind, providers that use the increased level of transparency as an opportunity to make the act of managing personal data simple while adding value to the experience, say, through targeted discount offers or other incentives, stand the most to gain.

As with the advent of social media, this could represent a shift that puts more power in the hands of consumers. But it could also unleash unprecedented amounts of information into the hands of forward-thinking marketers who use the data in ways that consumers see as beneficial.

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