9:00 – 12:00

Beyond focus groups—ethnography is a powerful and insightful research approach that studies a small group of people in their own environment. iSight offers a way to maximize the spirit of ethnography by leveraging the immediacy and relative anonymity of online communication to foster a deeply introspective posture from respondents.

This interactive, hands-on workshop will address how to:

• Blend ethnographic approaches with other methodologies
• Utilize technology to capture in-the-moment observations
• Devise exercises to compliment observation and yield even deeper insights into behavior

The workshop combines:

• The educational component, including a presentation of the methodology used, and examples of case studies
• An interactive, creative project designed to enable participants to experience the respondent's perspective
• The role of the researcher, creating insightful recommendations via group discussion

Laura brings an anthropological perspective and years of marketing and research experience to both traditional qualitative research and ethnographic fieldwork. She particularly enjoys the creative application of the spirit of ethnography to otherwise difficult-to-observe situations, yielding new insights to clients. Prior to CMI, Laura worked with companies such as Deloitte Consulting and iXL. Laura is a RIVA-trained moderator with a degree in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Laura Johnson, Moderator, CMI

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

Optimizing Your Innovation: Striking the Perfect Balance between Qualitative and Quantitative Insight Research

When companies and brands embark on innovation initiatives, many share the desire for a similar outcome, namely the development of a pipeline of new products and services that have a greatest chance of success among their core target customer and prospects – in a manner that is true to their brand. The question is, how do best you uncover new innovative ideas, identify which ideas have the greatest chance of success and how do you best implement these ideas to maximize your ROI. Techniques abound: Ethnographic? Focus groups? Expert interviews? Innovation workshops? Environmental immersion? Quantitative segmentation studies? Conjoint and discrete choice?

Using case studies, participates will actively interact to determine best techniques to budget, schedule, create key objectives, and establishing the right balance. We will work through this process and optimize innovation best practices.

This workshop will provide companies with an actionable “toolbox” to evaluate the right balance of (qualitative and quantitative) techniques to solve the innovation marketing challenge – taking into account cost and budget constraints.

Key takeaways:

• Understand the decision criteria to help decide what research methodologies are appropriate
• Provide a clear understanding of the pros and cons of various popular and new/emerging research techniques
• Develop a toolkit of best practices to optimize your research spend to get the greatest return

McRae Williams, 3-2-1Launch!

Luisa C. Uriarte, Partner, 3-2-1Launch!