Consumer Habits Are Hard to Break--Even Good Ones

New York, NY -- The most successful strategies for launching high-investment products or those intending to invent new behavior in a new consumer space (often referred to as new-to-the-world or discontinuous innovation) is to pull early adopters through targeted advertising directing them where to buy, include partnerships with specialty retailers at a higher margin to secure strong in-store support, and initiate a controlled rollout strategy, according to "Consumer Habits are Hard to Break--Even Good Ones: Success Factors in Launching Highly Innovative Products," written by forecasting, modeling, and consulting expert Teri Schlosser.

The essay shows how new-to-the-world products such as the iRobot Roomba and Apple iPod have successfully launched within a competitive marketplace, and is published in the latest issue of Ipsos Ideas, the magazine published by the Ipsos Group, a leading global survey-based market research company.

The issue also includes:

Advertising in 10 Seconds or Less by Angela Muzzo

Advertisers looking to maximize the exposure of their products and services often resort to tagging short, 10-second spots onto longer advertisements. The nature and length of tags are varied: some feature a second product (often a new one); some talk about retail distribution ("Buy this and all of our fine products at..."); and some offer a limited-time promotion ("look for the specially marked packages..."). Sometimes the tag is clearly separate from the original execution, but other times it may just look like one more point about the product. Do either work? Not often.

Getting to the Root of Innovation: Creating Actionable Segmentation Based on Market Landscape "White Space" by David C. Pring and Abby F. Smith

How consumers see the brand landscape in which they search, shop for, and consume products is often quite different from the marketers' perspective. An understanding of the brandscape--how to determine, analyze, and interpret it--provides not only a total understanding of how attitudes, needs, and beliefs combine to drive behaviors and how these play out on the brand terrain, but also where white space--innovation-driven opportunity--can be identified.

Knock, Knock, Who's There? Corporate Identity Theft and Security Concerns by Simon Duke

While governments and security services across the globe are responding to the threat of terrorism, business too faces potential security breaches in ever-increasing numbers. Multitudes of threats exist, from network security breaches to a damaged reputation, to possible loss of customers and revenue from fraud or attempted fraud. With identity theft and security increasingly hot topics, Simon Duke looks at some of the emerging challenges for businesses.

The Insurance Industry's Reputation after Hurricane Katrina by Nicolas Boyon

The hurricanes of 2005 had a devastating effect on the life and livelihood of Gulf Coast residents, and could be having a negative effect on the insurance industry. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Ipsos conducted an online study with over one thousand adults in the U.S. The results for the insurance industry are troubling. The insurance industry rates below all levels of government (national, state, and local) and aid organizations in its response to the hurricane. Nicolas Boyon looks at the story behind the numbers.

Ipsos Ideas delivers the insights and ideas that Ipsos has gleaned from each of their research specialty practices: advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, public affairs, and forecasting, modeling, and consulting. The complete text of each article is available at www.ipsos-ideas.com or by electronic subscription.

For more information, please contact: Erin Williams Editor Ipsos Ideas [email protected] 604.893.1699

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