1to1 - Spring 2009 - (Page 13) Getting Into the Online (Meow) Mix m ost people are passionate about their pets. They share pictures, tell stories, and spend time and money choosing the right food for those precious family members. So when Del Monte Foods was considering new ways to gain insight from its Meow Mix cat food customers, creating an online community was a natural choice. “We were looking to do some innovation and new product ideation work,” says Michael Steve, senior market research manager at the Del Monte Foods pet products division. The company had been using traditional focus groups, surveys, and market research, but wanted to take its communication to the next level. Working with MarketTools, Steve’s group recruited by email more than 300 members to an online community called “Meow Mixer,” which ran through July and August of 2008. Its goal was to gain customer insight about new products. There, participants could comment on a message board, vote in daily and weekly polls, share pictures of their cats, and most important, suggest new product ideas. As an incentive, members accumulated points based on their site activity per week. The site’s dedicated moderator awarded three winning members Hallmark Insights gift certificates, redeemable at many stores and restaurants. This approach generated a “game-like” feel that kept members interested and inspired to participate. The moderator’s involvement also included keeping up member activity and maintaining the focus on new product ideas. “The role of the moderator is critical,” Steve says. “She kept people involved—participating and contributing.” The moderator started discussion threads, posted polls, and pushed discussions to generate insight. The community generated more than 300 new product ideas for snacks, treats, weight control, accessories, and packaging. Members voted on each idea, and the 15 ideas with the most votes were further refined by the community. Of the final 15, 11 passed Del Monte’s research screening criteria for new product development. Steve won’t reveal specifics on the new products because they’re in development, but they include vitamin-enriched snacks, as well as liquid and dessert-type snacks, for example. “I was surprised to see that consumers came up with ideas that we haven’t seen before,” Steve says. Steve says he definitely has plans to use online communities for customer insight and new product innovation in the future for other brands. “It’s been a great experience,” he says. “People are passionate about their pets, so it’s a perfect environment.” > Elizabeth Glagowski Social Media Provides a Close Connection c ancer is a sensitive topic, so Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to provide, as well as to discuss recurring questions or topics. “Then on in New York City tries to be aware of its patients’ emotional needs a weekly basis we publish new topics…in the form of discussion throughout the treatment process. But staying connected between visits boards, surveys, brainstorming sessions, and so on, which are put out is a challenge. to the community,” she says. “It’s an amazingly private time, a personal and traumatic experience, Though the amount of time and money needed to adequately oversee and I could see no way to insinuate myself into the process,” says Ellen such communities ultimately was exceeded in early 2008, Sonet says the Sonet, vice president of marketing at Sloan. insights gleaned continue to inform Sloan’s marketing decisions. Sonet started casting her net for new ways to reach the cancer center’s “We’re undertaking a large website redesign project right now,” she patients. Sloan partnered with Communispace because its invitationsays, “and one of the things we asked our community was how they only online community can create a comfort level that generates openwould identify the ideal website. We’ve pored through hundreds and ness that may not exist in a focus group or public online community. hundreds of responses, to the point where we feel we have a much better “Our main objective [in working with Sloan-Kettering] was to get understanding of what someone’s looking for.” access to the right patients and caregivers, invite them to talk about the As a result, Sloan now offers online resources that may not necessarily challenges they face, and find out what influences what they do, where answer a particular question, but instead elucidate the range of they go, and who they trust in these situations,” says Andrea Evans, vice possible responses to a broad topic. For instance, president of client services at Communispace. Sonet says she’s now adding content to the site on “Our main objective was to get Communispace typically posts links on releend-of-life issues. access to the right patients vant Web pages advertising for members of a “We tend to focus on survival, and research and caregivers.” particular community, who are then shows that two thirds of those diagnosed now required to take an online survey before live for five or more years,” she says. “We want to being approved to join. Sloan’s community accompany them on their cancer journey, whattopped off at about 300, according to Evans. ever it may be. We’re cognizant of the spiritual Evans and other Communispace execuand emotional needs involved, and offer much tives met regularly with Sonet to determine more information, contacts, and links than the types of information that Sloan wanted previously.” > Kevin Zimmerman Spring 2009 13 http://www.delmonte.com http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?itemid=29293 http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/44.cfm
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