Staff from TNS Gallup and Research International were the prime representatives for the research industry at Norwegian industry association NMF:s fullday conference on brands last Tuesday. Travel group Ving presented a great example on succesful brand development work.

Case studies were mixed with theory, presented e g by Inger Stensaker from the Bergen business school, who spoke about the consequences of merging several brands into one.

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The entire article in Swedish (photos of participants further down):

Norsk Markedsanalyse Forening, den norska branschföreningen för undersökningsbranschen, genomförde en endagskonferens på Aker Brygge under onsdagen. Upplägget var ett par teoripass av framför allt en handelshögskoleforskare från Bergen, Inger Stensaker, följt av några fallstudier från norska näringslivets arbeten med varumärken. Innehållet i Stensakers presentation centrerades kring hur flera varumärken inom en koncern ersätts med ett och vad detta kan innebära för organisationen. En teori kring hur företagets kultur, identitet och image hänger ihop presenterades.

Stensakers teorier exemplifierades sedan på ett åskådligt sätt i kanske framför allt Christian Fr. Grønlis presentation av hur norska Ving (charterresearrangören, som har nordiskt huvudkontor i Stockholm men ägs av brittiska Thomas Cook) gått från fem till ett varumärke på tre år. Främst existerade varumärkena Ving och Saga sida vid sida, vilket ökade marknadsföringskostnader och skapade en osund intern konkurrens. Undersökningar visade så att Saga borde läggas ned, trots dess djupa förankring i den norska charterresenärssjälen, eftersom Vingresenärerna var mer lojala.

"Men det berodde även på att ving.no var en bättre webblänk", sade Christian Fr. Grønli i sin presenation.

Med (medveten eller ej) tillämpning av de på NMF-konferensen presenterade teorierna blev resultatet av varumärkesarbetet, eller åtminstone en samtidigt inträffad förändring, att

• Ving blev etta i norska charterbranschen med ca 430 000 resor per år
• Resultatet på EBIT-nivå ökade med 199 procent
• Omsättningen ökade med tio procent
• Kostnaderna minskade med 37 procent.

Avgörande framgångsfaktorer sade Grønli var följande:

1. Intern öppenhet
2. Kunddialog
3. Låt kunden behålla "sin" produkt (i Vings fall betydde det att alla kunder skulle kunna hitta sitt gamla favorithotell, även om det hörde till Saga, även efter rebrandingen)
4. Ha kontroll över distributionen

Christian Fr. Grønli berättade om Vings framgångsrika arbete med att gå från flera varumärken till enbart ett i Norge.

Stian Bråthen, strategisk rådgivare inom marknadsanalys på Vizeum, Ole Jacob Eide på Statoil/Hydro Energy/Retail, och Eva Hagan, konsulent på TNS Gallup.

Marianne Lervik på norska TNS Gallups kvalitativa analyscenter pratade i pausen med TNS-kollegorna Arnhild Hjelde och Karen Voldsund.

Stig Holseth, rådgivare på norska Research International drack kaffe med Liv Karin Slåttebrekk och Anne-Kathrine Hjolrten Støren från samma företag. Anne-Kathrine är norska RI:s brandingdirektör och berömde det helhetstänkande som genomsyrade flera av konferensens talares presentationer. "Bra att de jobbar med 'Living the brand'", sa Anne-Kathrine.

Efterrätt. Del av den rikliga lunchbuffén, som serverades omedelbart efter ett föredrag om hälsokostbutikskedjan Sunkosts varumärkestransformation, där även vikten av att äta sund kost poängterades.

Martin Lindgren
08-54 50 43 60
martin.lindgren@stockholmbusinessresearch.se

They didn't make it to SMRN:s top ten of the Innovate conference, but they got what is even better: the chance to win ESOMAR:s most prestigous price for excellence. This is no contradiction and no sign of bad judgement on either side: the ESOMAR jury reads the papers, we don't.

Peter Hartzbech, CEO of innovative and fast growing Danish research software company iMotions, found time in his tight schedule to sit on the program committee for the newly ended ESOMAR Innovate conference in Copenhagen. In this short web-TV interview with SMRN, he explains why he enjoyed being on the committee and why ESOMAR is an organisation we should all support.

Far from everything was perfect at the Innovate conference in Copenhagen. How could it have been? The subject is a very tricky one and the conference was only run for the third time. Seventeen presentations from ten countries couldn't possibly all be fantastic - it is rather a success that none of them was poor.

Approaching the end of the second and last day of the Innovate conference in Copenhagen, the pieces are beginning to fall into their places. What yesterday seemed like an endless and futile row of attempts at definition innovation, today proved to be a vital build-up of the foundation the following presentations needed. Todays presentations provided the specific research innovations I hoped to find from the start.

Impressions after the first day of ESOMARs Innovate conference in Copenhagen. Found myself wondering somewhere around afternoon coffee break when the conference was actually going to start. I realised it could have ended already around ten, after the keynote speaker.

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Danish MR software company iMotions has obtained another two million dollars in bridge funding and CEO Peter Hartzbech gets qualified help in managing the rapid expansion from a new COO.

FDIM har nu uppdaterat sitt internet index med surfare. FDIM är danska motsvarigheten till KIA Index och arbetar likt KIA med att skapa en standard för internetmätningar. FDIM har tagit ett steg till i sin utveckling och numera stoltserar med antalet surfare i sitt internet index. I Sverige visar KIA Index bara antalet unika webbläsare.

The Almedal week is the largest political happening in Sweden each summer. Everybody who is anybody in politics, media and lobbying meet on the island Gotland to listen to political speeches and sit in on seminars Novus Opinion has established an expert panel consisting of 60 important creators of public opinion, all present in Almedalen. The panel answers questions via SMS during the week.

Babyboomen i Sverige har lett till fler barnvagnar och spädbarn på exempelvis restauranger och caféer.Men en ny Sifoundersökning visar att nio av tio inte vill ha barnfria zoner på tåg, flyg, hotell och restauranger.

When you name a conference with such an ambitious term as "Innovate", you immediately open up for reflections about how you live up to being innovative. Is it really OK to arrange an innovative conference in a traditional way? What can you expect from the venue, the presenters, the sponsors, the delegates. We captured a few pieces of food for thought in pictures from ESOMARs Innovate conference and ends our conference coverage with a suggestion for a very bold and creative change in the way international conferences are arranged.

Bill Gillham säger i introduktionen till Forskningsintervjun - Tekniker och genomföranden att han sett att det finns ett behov av att få hjälp att hitta passande intervjumetoder. Det förbryllar mig - jag har sett åtskilliga metodböcker och nästan samtliga har varit mer heltäckande, välbalanserade och informativa än denna. Den enda målgrupp jag verkligen kan komma på som kan ha nytta av Bills bok, är hans egna doktorander vid University of Strathclyde.

They didn't make it to SMRN:s top ten of the Innovate conference, but they got what is even better: the chance to win ESOMAR:s most prestigous price for excellence. This is no contradiction and no sign of bad judgement on either side: the ESOMAR jury reads the papers, we don't.

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Internet giant Yahoo has launched an insight strategy team to develop a common policy for the use of data and analysis across the company’s online platforms.

Google has unveiled a free web analytics, research and media planning tool to enable media buyers to determine the web sites where their online ads will have most impact, based on demographics and traffic info.

The new Google Trends product that measures website traffic (the old product simply measures search queries) is a great way to get data on website traffic.

Peter Hartzbech, CEO of innovative and fast growing Danish research software company iMotions, found time in his tight schedule to sit on the program committee for the newly ended ESOMAR Innovate conference in Copenhagen. In this short web-TV interview with SMRN, he explains why he enjoyed being on the committee and why ESOMAR is an organisation we should all support.

The sale of its share in the jointly owned Finnish fieldwork company to Norstat, does not mean a withdrawal from Finland, according to Hermelins owner Dacke Group. The move is rather a consequence of the group strategy to place all market research activity in Swedish Hermelin and from there work with subcontractors in other countries. Modernisation of the core business and restructuring are the key words of Dackes activities in the near future. CEO Peter Zakrisson sees a bright future in market research for Hermelin and the group.

Maris Poldveer, one of the top persons at the Swedish bank SEB:s Estonian branch, says in a newspaper article that the Swedish love for doing market research is a major reason why the Estonian economy is doing better than the Latvian and Lithuanian.

Scandinavian fieldwork giant Norstat assumes full ownership of the up til now jointly owned CATI center in Pori, on the west coast.

IT-branschtidningen Computer Sweden tipsade på midsommarafton om hur inköp av analyser ska göras så effektiva som möjligt. Tipsen avser främst IT-analyser från företag som Gartner och Forrester, men kan i mångt och mycket appliceras på inköp av vilka marknads- och branschanalyser som helst.

Far from everything was perfect at the Innovate conference in Copenhagen. How could it have been? The subject is a very tricky one and the conference was only run for the third time. Seventeen presentations from ten countries couldn't possibly all be fantastic - it is rather a success that none of them was poor.

SMRN wishes all you dear readers a happy and hopefully sunny midsummer: one of the most important festivals in Sweden from heathen times into our days.

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Danish web analytics organisation FDIM have hired Annette Romme as head of analytics. She will be responsible for the organisations vast flora of measurement and analysis.

Approaching the end of the second and last day of the Innovate conference in Copenhagen, the pieces are beginning to fall into their places. What yesterday seemed like an endless and futile row of attempts at definition innovation, today proved to be a vital build-up of the foundation the following presentations needed. Todays presentations provided the specific research innovations I hoped to find from the start.

Impressions after the first day of ESOMARs Innovate conference in Copenhagen. Found myself wondering somewhere around afternoon coffee break when the conference was actually going to start. I realised it could have ended already around ten, after the keynote speaker.