Tom H. C. Anderson - Next Gen Market Research

I’ve been meeting with a few companies here in Southern Scandinavia this week. Have just one more meeting tomorrow and I’ll be heading back to the US until October when I’ll be here again on business.The other day I was in Gothenburg, Sweden and had a chance to meet with my friend at Zebra Advertising. I always find it interesting to see what they are working on.

Leif Strid, Zebra Reklam

Scandinavian companies do seem to be disproportionately creative compared to their US counterparts. This is part of the reason Anderson Analytics established our European satellite office in Stockholm in 2006.

There are probably many reasons for Scandinavian companies being so innovative. One important reason is probably the flatter management structure of companies here. In the advertising space, I think it also has to do with the fact that for many years in Sweden, government controlled TV was not an option for advertising so ad/pr firms had to think outside of the box and leverage other means of communication more.

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Ann Margreth Hellberg, who is ESOMAR Vice president and works in the MR field for a Swedish consumer products co. Prior to serving on the ESOMAR council she was also president of SMUF (Sveriges MarknadsUndersökarköpares Förening) or Sweden’s Market Research Buyers organization.

Hellbergs & Tom

In terms of innovative new MR technology, two Scandinavian companies, one Danish and one Swedish, quite literally caught my eye last week. Tobii and iMotions use eye tracking software that is quite impressive. iMotions also measures the pupil dilation etc. to measure emotion. Eye tracking software might not be brand new technology but its application is definitely not wide spread and this was the first time I had the chance to test it myself. I think it would be quite useful for usability testing and ad/concept testing as well.

Tobii Eye Tracking Output

I look forward to coming back in October to speak at Sveriges Marknads Forbund (Swedish Marketing Association) in Stockholm. This is their big Tendensdagen event with over 600 participants. Should be very interesting.

-Tom

A few pics illustrating creative/
comfortable atmosphere at Zebra:

Zebra DM Efforts

One of the many Zebra paraphernalia displays

[My rough translation from Swedish of the Zebra Reklam philosophy : "There are over 200 horse types in the world. The Zebra is one of them. The Zebra is distinctly different from its relatives because of its special pattern...In marketing it's just as important to differentiate yourself from the masses and have your own look...We strive to make sure all advertising efforts are as effective as possible. Often this is a function of budget. However, with increased creativity, increased marketing strategy and unexpected solutions we can make your advertising activities even more effective."]