CHICAGO – Aug. 28, 2006 – Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the leading global provider of enterprise market information solutions for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, today announced that IRI President and Chief Executive Officer Scott W. Klein will be featured among a group of the most influential executives in market research who are gathering at “The Market Research Industry Summit” to address the decline in consumer and business-to-business survey participation rates. Supporting the continued efforts of IRI to provide a deeper understanding of behaviors, needs, attitudes, consumption and purchasing patterns for both consumers and shoppers, Klein will join leaders from such companies as Procter & Gamble, General Motors, McDonalds, IBM and VISA in a roundtable discussion, entitled “Improving Respondent Cooperation,” at The Drake Hotel in Chicago at 8 a.m. CDT on Sept. 28, 2006.
This first-ever industry summit is being billed as the “United Nations” of market research, since all of the key industry stakeholders are joining forces and pooling their resources to address the critical issue of respondent cooperation. This roundtable discussion will serve as the platform from which new processes, standards and recommendations will be divulged and agreed upon by the industry as a whole.
“The roles of consumers and shoppers are becoming increasingly differentiated,” said Klein. “Today’s leading CPG manufacturers and retailers need to not only know that a product is being purchased but, more importantly, why, when, where and how the product is being used and by whom, making survey respondent cooperation an even greater priority. However, gathering these types of insights is becoming increasingly difficult, since people are less willing to participate in surveys, focus groups and consumer panels. It’s vitally important for our industry leaders to come together and examine the best way to build sustainable relationships with consumers and shoppers so that the market research industry can continue to thrive. I’m confident that this summit will get us moving in the right direction.”
Improving respondent cooperation remains a key priority for IRI as the company continues to strengthen its Consumer Network™ Panel and its Integrated Insights, Shopper and Specialty Panels, which are all enabled through revolutionary new personal collection devices and surveys. IRI continues driving new consumer and shopper insights through a variety of unique and differentiated capabilities, including:
- AttitudeLink™ to segment consumers along attitudinal dimensions;
- IRI MedProfiler™ to segment individuals along important health and wellness characteristics;
- Individual User Surveys to understand who is consuming products within the household;
- ShopperLink™ to understand trip missions and point-of-decision influencers during the shopping trip;
- RxPulse® to measure prescription usage;
- Personicx™ database to provide advanced consumer profiling and targeting through a strategic relationship with Acxiom Corporation.
The utilization of these unique solutions combined with the enhanced panel services and IRI point-of-sale (POS) data provide a comprehensive view of the consumer, the shopper and the marketplace, empowering manufacturers and retailers to make more informed decisions about their business.
“As IRI continues down the path of delivering a deeper, more complete understanding of preferences and behaviors of today’s shoppers that have been difficult to measure using traditional panel survey techniques, having an increased ability to improving respondent cooperation will be critical to success,” added Klein. “The Market Research Industry Summit should provide some great insights from which IRI and the entire industry will benefit.”
For more information about the summit, which is sponsored by RFL Communications, Inc. in partnership with the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research and the Institute for International Research, please visit: www.iirusa.com/respondentcooperation.
About Information Resources, Inc.
Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world’s leading provider of enterprise market information solutions and services, empowering its clients to grow their business profitably in a complex marketplace. Driving the transformation of the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, only IRI provides a unique combination of real-time market content, advanced analytics, enterprise performance management software, and professional services. The company’s portfolio of services, solutions, and technology enable leading retailers and their suppliers around the globe to see what they are missing, act faster with greater confidence and win at the shelf. Ninety-five percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 in CPG and retail leverage IRI to power their business. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.