Use of Candid Cameras May Be Next Big Trend in Advertising Research

The advertising research folks--always looking for new ways to see what appeals to consumers--have just come up with a doozie. Soon they’ll be watching us from thousands of miles away.

Smile, you’re on costly camera.

High-tech video-conferencing systems--at a cost of many thousands of dollars a month--could very well become the next rage in advertising research. Next month, three of these systems will be placed inside “focus group” rooms in different parts of the country. In focus groups, eight to 12 consumers gathered around a table are asked to sample new or improved products--such as soft drinks or hair spray--and comment on them.

At the same time, three major advertising agencies--thousands of miles away--have set up conference rooms with special TV screens. Executives will be able to quietly view these focus groups in action from afar.

An estimated 100,000 focus groups are asked to evaluate products or product concepts every year. People in these groups, who answer questions from moderators, are usually paid anywhere from $15 to $75 for about two hours of work. Focus groups are one of the most widely used form of marketing research.

Until now, these independently owned “focus group” rooms--which number about 600 nationwide--have been stocked with fairly simple equipment. All of them have one-way mirrors so that ad executives can sit undetected and view consumer reactions. Some also have video cameras to tape the group in action.

But now, a Newport Beach research company is placing live cameras in several of them.

At their whim, executives observing from their offices across the country will also be able to make themselves heard too.

“We think it’s the most revolutionary thing since the one-way mirror,” said John J. Houlahan, president of Focusvision Network Inc., the research company that devised the seemingly simple concept. “We’re bringing video transmission of focus groups right into the client’s office.”

For people in the advertising research business, this could represent a major change in how they do their work. After all, focus group rooms are scattered nationwide--many of them in smaller cities--in order to get a cross-section of consumer opinions. Traditionally, the agency and corporate executives who observe focus groups travel many weeks out of the year.

The new technique was introduced last week at Advertising Research Foundation conference in New York.

“Sure, most companies will love this because it will save them time and money,” said Richard Bruskin, founder of the New Brunswick, N.J., research firm Bruskin Associates.

Meanwhile, some may wonder if these fancy cameras aren’t just another attempt by the advertising world to further pry into our lives.

“I remember hearing all this years ago when we first started using one-way mirrors,” said Houlahan. “But there’s nothing clandestine about this. It allows top corporate people to be in touch with the consumer. And if companies can better understand what consumers want, everyone will be better off.”

Others question whether the camera might somehow taint the natural reactions of focus groups. “If you put a camera in a room, will people freeze up?” posed Graham Phillips, chairman of the giant New York ad firm Ogilvy & Mather.

“We live in a video age,” responds Houlahan. “You walk in a bank, and there’s a TV camera staring at you. You go to the local 7-Eleven to buy a ‘Big Gulp,’ and you’re being watched by a camera.”

But in general, Ogilvy & Mather’s Phillips seems to think that it might be a pretty good idea. “Clients often want to go along on these things but don’t always have the time. Something like this could give them the time.”

One top marketing executive thinks that televised focus groups could be the wave of the future.

“It seems to me you’d save a lot in the long run,” said Michael J. O’Neill, marketing development director for the American Tobacco Co., which makes Carlton and Malibu cigarettes. He figures his company spends $150,000 to $200,000 annually sending executives across the country to attend focus groups.

The next step? The same video-conferencing concept--but on an international basis, said Houlahan. “Within five years,” he added, “everyone will do it.”

European Ad Research Firms Seek U.S. Clients

Guess where European marketing research firms are all pushing hard to peddle their services these days?

America, of course. The hook is obvious: American firms should prepare now for 1992, when all fiscal barriers between members of the European Community will be swept away, leaving behind one gigantic market of more than 300 million consumers.

Several European marketing research firms were anxiously scouting for American business last week at the Advertising Research Foundation’s annual conference in New York.

“We are the European experts,” said Martin Dik, consultant at Marketresponse, a research firm located in Amersfoort, Netherlands. He said researchers at his firm speak virtually every European language. Besides customized research, he said his company can also provide special insights into traits common to specific European countries, such as the fact that nighttime shopping is a rarity in Holland.

Another research company based in Amsterdam, Interview Europe, said the United States is already lagging behind the Japanese in its marketing research in European countries.

There is also a shift in the type of European marketing research that companies are now looking for, said Harold de Bock, international research director at Interview Europe, whose clients now include Monsanto and IBM. “It’s shifting from consumer research to business-to-business research. That’s the way many companies make their first sales to other countries.”

Hispanic Group Gets Anti-Smoking Account

One of the year’s biggest West Coast minority advertising accounts was snatched last week by the Los Angeles-based Hispanic Group. The agency was handed the estimated $2.5-million anti-smoking Spanish-language account from the California Department of Health Services. Keye/Donna/Pearlstein is handling the mainstream business.

“This is perfect for me because I don’t smoke and I never have liked it,” said Anita Santiago, president of the agency, which also creates Spanish-language ads for See’s Candy Shops. Of course, See’s candy could be popular with those who quit smoking as a result of the agency’s anti-smoking ads.

Stein Robaire Scores With Acura and IRS

While many West Coast agencies are seeing their annual billings drop during the nation’s ongoing advertising slump, one upstart Los Angeles agency continues to pick up new business.

Stein Robaire Helm, which opened its doors just 18 months ago, last weekend was handed the estimated $5-million annual advertising business for the Acura Advertising Assn. of Southern California. Acura now ranks as the biggest client at the agency, which posts total annual billings of $25 million.

“Needless to say, this is a big win,” said Greg Helm, president of the agency which is already raising eyebrows for its unusual creative efforts. Later this week, just days before the April 16 income tax filing deadline, an unusual print ad the agency created for client DayRunner Inc. will appear in major newspapers.

The full-page ad is a reprint of the official Internal Revenue Service form used for requesting income tax filing extensions. The ad agency sought--and received--permission from the IRS to reprint the form. The ad is for the personal organizer made by DayRunner. The headline above the form states: “Last year 3,109,534 people got organized with DayRunner. Here’s something for the rest of you.”

The form is even the actual size of the real IRS form. Even though it appears on newsprint, it may be used to file for an extension, said Helm. “We suggest people make a photocopy of the form before using it,” said Helm. “But the IRS told us it’s fine the way it is.”