northwest mra topline - summer 2012

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The NorthWest Marketing Research Association

Summer 2012 Newsletter of the NorthWest MRA

IN THIS ISSUE

Message from the President - Jeff Spitzer

Editor’s Note - Brian Parker

Feature - Updates from NorthWest MRA Scholarship Winners

Upcoming Events - National MRA Conference - Professional Development Program

Past Events - NorthWest MRA Educational Conference - Tri-City Event: The Gamification of Research

Financial News & Notes

Contact Information

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The NorthWest Marketing Research Association P a g e | 2


Message from the President Jeff Spitzer

as it been a year already? The last twelve months have been quite a whirlwind and I’m very proud of the things this board has

accomplished. I hope that you were able to take advantage of some of the exciting events of this past year. In case you weren’t keeping track, here are some of the highlights from this year.

Along with Oregon State University and University of Washington, this year we partnered with a third school, Golden Gate University, and awarded $1000 scholarships to students at all three schools. We still have the Professional Development Fund as well, reimbursing MRA members for expenses related to continuing education and upgrading skills.

We have begun offering local meet-and-greet events at no charge to members in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco, which has been very well received. Thank you for coming out and supporting our events! We will continue to offer them as long as you continue to support and enjoy them.

Don’t forget about education. Our annual educational conference moved to Portland this year and it was a great success yet again. Teaming up with The Research Club for the after-hours mixer proved to be a ton of fun as well. Continuing with educational content, many of you made the trek down to our annual Joint Chapter conference in Las Vegas again this year. If you missed it, then you missed out on a great conference and a great time. Mark your calendars now for early March next year as I think you will be in for an even bigger treat when you see what we are planning for next year’s conference.

Finally, we held a Tri-City event on The Gamification of Research in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco which proved to be a very engaging and relevant topic. Pictures from most of these events can be found on our website and Facebook page.

We can only offer these events because you, our members, support our Chapter; so THANK YOU. But we want to continue to offer content and events that are relevant to you. So please let us know what you would like to see from your Chapter in the upcoming board year that starts July 1. Drop me a note and let me know your thoughts. As always, I’d love to hear from you.

Jeff Spitzer Universal Survey President, NorthWest MRA [email protected]

P.S. In case you weren't already aware, the NorthWest Chapter now has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Take a moment and connect with us!

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http://www.facebook.com/nwmra

http://twitter.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=43666

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Editor’s Note Brian Parker

In the last Edition of Topline for this chapter year, I’d like to take a minute and thank all the volunteers from the Northwest MRA board, as well as those people not on the board. We had a great year! Jeff has done a tremendous job of building on a fantastic 2011 under Amanda Durkee. The upcoming year is something to look forward to as well. I’m very excited to work with Chris Robson as the incoming President along with quite a few new faces on the board. We are continually striving to branch out and get feedback, volunteers, and participation from a wider variety of people, and I think the new board is a great step in that direction. Along with Jeff’s piece, we have a couple thank you notes from our scholarship winners. We thought it would be nice to get a chance to see where some of the hard work goes and how it affects others. We had a busy spring full of events and you can catch up on many of them with the pictures and summaries included in this edition of Topline. We also have some nice events coming up in the near future. Here’s to a great 2011-2012 chapter year! Brian Parker Co-founder, watchLAB Studios Editor of Topline If you would like to submit something for consideration, or would like to help out in any way, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

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NorthWest MRA Scholarship Winners Updates from Anna Marie Tallariti and Mikaela Inman

Anna Marie Tallariti University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business, Seattle, WA

would like to take this opportunity to thank the NorthWest MRA for awarding me the 2012 NorthWest

MRA Scholarship. It is an honor to have received this scholarship during my senior year at the University of Washington. During the past four years of college, I have conducted and utilized marketing research to drive marketing recommendations for multiple companies in the Seattle area. I have also been fortunate enough to take both Marketing Research and Consumer Behavior while attending the Foster School of Business. Collectively, these opportunities have led me to have a passion for marketing research. I highly enjoy conducting focus groups, and digging deep into data sets from secondary research engines to determine demographics and product information. Post graduation, my ideal career would to either become a market researcher or continue to utilize marketing research to drive marketing recommendations. I am currently looking forward to my next internship as a Media Planner at Razorfish, where I will utilize marketing research to place advertisements onto online platforms. Since beginning my journey at the University of Washington, I’ve been constantly immersing myself in the marketing industry through experiential coursework, involvement in professional organizations, and internships at nationally-recognized corporations. I’ve had the opportunity to gain pragmatic experience in the professional world through internships at Starbucks, Hearst Media Services, and 4th Avenue Media. At each organization I made a lasting impact through the planning and implementation of key projects. As a Category Specialist Intern at Starbucks I conducted competitive analysis and market research to develop product and brand messaging recommendations for Starbucks Iced Coffee. I also interpreted statistical information on the Starbucks Reserve – Clover Brewed business to drive sales, identify trends, and inform strategy. While at Hearst Media Services as a Market Research Analyst Intern I leveraged market research platforms such as comScore and Scarborough to complete a sales deck with the Marketing Manager to showcase the “value story” of the company. Most recently at 4th Avenue Media, I was a Marketing Specialist intern, and in that capacity I wrote and implemented the company’s current Marketing Plan.

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I have gained additional marketing and branding experience through my involvement in the American Marketing Association. This year I had the distinguished honor of serving as President. Together, myself and 7 other board members proactively executed many deliverables and celebrated many milestones, including applying for and receiving a Target grant and being featured on the front page of our school newspaper, The Daily, for our Business Etiquette Dinner. Most recently we were honored with the Dean’s Award at the annual Foster Spotlight Dinner. If you are interested, I encourage you to look at my website (amtallariti.com). There you can find my resume, additional information on my professional development, and a few interesting facts about me. Also, if you are interested in looking at my Twitter account, my handle is @AMTallariti. Thank you again for selecting me for this prestigious scholarship.

Mikaela Inman Oregon State, College of Business, Corvallis, OR My junior year here at Oregon State University has been an important year of academic and professional growth. Embarking on my classes in the College of Business Marketing program has been exciting and has ignited my passion for the field of Marketing. Having the support of my professors and classmates has been critical to my success – and the NorthWest Marketing Research scholarship has literally opened the door to my future career. Working with C2C staff has already been a positive experience that I anticipate will improve next year as I learn the systems and gain necessary skills through hard work and dedication. I am very grateful to the members of the NWMRA and to C2C for providing me with the opportunity to make important contributions to future market research projects.

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Upcoming Event Chapter Endowment Fund - Professional Development Program Deadline: June 30, 2012

ooking to upgrade your skills or the skills of your employees? Don’t have the budget to make it happen? The NorthWest Chapter of the MRA offers

its Professional Development Program, designed to increase excellence in the market research industry and offer participants assistance in their educational endeavors. The NorthWest MRA Professional Development Program allows recipients to pursue a course that will improve skills used in their current position or prepare them for additional responsibilities through traditional schooling or specialized training sessions. This opportunity is commonly used to help fund courses in statistics, computer applications, marketing research skills, market research ethics, and many others. Any member may apply for an award for him or herself, or for one of their full- or part-time employees. Each applicant is permitted to apply for one scholarship per quarterly program period. The NorthWest MRA Professional Development Program approved program/course must be completed within four months of award date. If the applicant is not a member of the NorthWest MRA, a letter of recommendation from the employer member needs to accompany the application. The NorthWest MRA Professional Development Committee selects recipients based on the strength of their application, appropriateness of the desired educational program/course, applicant’s involvement in marketing research, and personal desire to succeed. Award recipients will be notified within 30 days after the end of the application period and the list of award winners shall be published in this newsletter and placed on the website. Funds are dispersed at the satisfactory completion of the designated program/course. Individual awards are provided on the basis of personal criteria and needs and may not cover the entire cost of the course, seminar, specialized training, etc. Awards typically range from $250 to $500. Applications are processed quarterly and the next submission deadline is June 30th, 2012.

For information about presentation proposal submissions, contact Amanda Durkee, Senior Research Consultant, Zanthus, 971-404-0275 ext. 104, [email protected].

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mailto:[email protected]

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Upcoming Event MRA 2012 Annual Conference in San Diego, California June 4 – 6, 2012

et ready for three motivating days of high-level content in an energetic, warm and

welcoming environment. It's a genuine peer-to-peer event where life experience merges with learning. You are guaranteed to collaborate and connect with a community of MR professionals "who do what you do," share your interests and can help you succeed. It's also a lot of fun.

What's New MRA’s Annual Conference & Expo has grown into a unique event that promotes learning and community. Our 2012 event will bring together expert practitioners as presenters who are shaping the future of marketing research. To provide attendees with even more value, this year we’re adding several new features: Seven additional education sessions in four new tracks covering business management, trends

and technology, data integration and real world research. Two networking receptions open to all attendees at no additional charge, with one at the

famed SeaWorld San Diego. Speed Learning – Connect with peers who are speaking, interact with colleagues in the

audience, and learn about a wildly diverse number of topics. CEO Symposium with an exclusive dinner and educational program. Expo Grand Opening reception for extra time to network.

We know you’ll be impressed with the 30+ cutting-edge educational opportunities that are designed to provoke new thinking, challenge the status quo and help you advance as a practitioner and leader. See you in San Diego!

Visit http://www.northwestmra.org/vegas2012 for more information, or visit http://www.swmra.org/2012LVCReg.aspx to register.

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http://www.northwestmra.org/vegas2012/

http://www.swmra.org/2012LVCReg.aspx

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Past Event NorthWest MRA Educational Conference in Portland, Oregon May 8, 2012

his year’s Northwest MRA Educational Conference in Portland saw the gathering of more than 45 attendees and

six fantastic speakers. Coming together to discuss a great mix of topics during a series of presentations, attendees and speaker also had ample time to mingle, enjoy a delicious meal, and relax at the Research Club after party at nearby Boke Bowl. Feedback from attendees as overwhelmingly positive, with one reporting that it was one of the better conferences they had been to, especially in terms of content and crowd. Special thanks must go out to Meegan—the fearless leader—for putting together another fantastic event. Thanks also to Jeff, Jackie, Betsy, Kelle and Chris for all of their help on site. For those of you who didn’t make it, we hope to see you next year!

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Past Event Tri-City Event: The Gamification of Research San Francisco, Portland and Seattle April 27, 2012

ith the goal of gaining a greater understanding of impact of gamification of market research the NorthWest MRA hosted a Tri-City Networking event last month in San Francisco, Seattle

and Portland. Researchers from over 20 firms congregated for presentations in each city and enjoyed presentations from a variety of speakers. In Seattle, participants heard form Carrie Peters (Marketing VP, BigDoor) and Steve Alter (Director of Social Business Strategy, Ant’s Eye View). In Portland, we heard from Marshall Kirkpatrick (CEO, Plexus Engine) and Manny Acevedo (Business Analyst, Intel), while in San Francisco, the keynote presentation was from Noman Ali (CEO, Peanut Labs). Participants learned from gamification’s vanguard about opportunities for marketers and researchers to utilize this new approach to strengthen a brand’s relationship with their online community and influencers. Increasing online engagement with consumers via gamification can offer new metrics for surveys and even inspire the creation of entire new behavioral research methods to capture consumer insights.

Gamification provides challenges to the industry’s online research status quo, but also offers opportunities for adroit research firms that harness it. For more information, individual presentations and photos have been uploaded to the Northwest Marketing Research website. Thank you to our presenters, Consumer Opinion Services,

watchLAB and all of the attendees for a fascinating conversation about the research industry’s gamification.

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Financial News & Notes

Profit & Loss

Marketing Research Association, NorthWest Chapter

July - April 2012

Total Income

Annual Sponsorship Event Attendees Event Sponsors Membership Dues

Total Income

$6,250.00 $2,605.60

$700.00 $2,535.00

$12,090.60

Expenses Bank Charges Dues & Subscriptions Event Expenses Event Expenses - Facility Legal & Professional Fees Meals and Entertainment PayPal Fees Recognition/Awards Scholarship Contribution Taxes & Licenses Travel Website

Total Expenses

$90.00

$ 108.50 $ 5,578.13 $ 1,425.30

$500.00 $ 332.40 $410.24

$50.81 $2,000.00

$20.00 $332.64 $ 318.02

$ 11,166.04

Net Operating Income Other Income

Interest Earned

Total Other Income Net Other Income

$ 924.56

$5.53 $5.53 $5.53

Net Income

$930.09

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Financial News & Notes Balance Sheet

Marketing Research Association, NorthWest Chapter

As of April 30, 2012

Total ASSETS

Current Assets Banks Accounts

Total Current Assets

TOTAL ASSETS

$47,891.49 $47,891.49

$47,891.49

LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Liabilities Total Liabilities Equity

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

$47,891.49

$47,891.49

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Contact Information NorthWest Marketing Research Association

Mailing Address NorthWest MRA c/o CfMC

547 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94501

General Enquiries [email protected]

Website www.northwestmra.org

About The NorthWest Chapter of the Marketing Research Association promotes

excellence in the opinion and marketing research profession by providing members with a variety of opportunities for advancing and expanding their marketing research and related business skills.

Mission Statement The NorthWest Chapter of the Marketing Research Association advocates

for professionalism and ethical practices within the opinion and marketing research community, serves to inform the public of the purpose, integrity and benefits of opinion and marketing research, and provides members the opportunity to enhance their business and research skills while creating an environment conducive to the open exchange of information among all members.

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