NEWSKing County Elections Releases Voter Opinion Survey Results
Gilmore Research Launches Healthcare Division
Ten Branding and Marketing Trends
Power Supply and Risk Management
Liquor Control Board Launches Effort to Educate Parents about Underage Drinking
Are Marketers Missing Cell Phone Population?
CODEBLUENOW! Conducts Ground Breaking Health Care Reform Survey in Washington State For immediate Release
March 27, 2012 King County Elections releases voter opinion survey results King County Elections has posted results from a statistically valid survey of registered King County voters to its website. Conducted in fall 2011, the survey assessed voter impressions of King County Elections’ services; voter familiarity with Department of Elections’ ballots, voting materials, and public service announcements; voter awareness and knowledge of voting and elections procedures; and voter reactions to voting technologies. Gilmore Research conducted the statistically valid survey among a random sample of 604 registered King County voters. A grant from the Help America Vote Act funded this research. An executive summary of the survey results is available online. Connect with King County Elections
Online: www.kingcounty.gov/elections
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingcountyelections
Twitter: @kcelections
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/kcelections
For immediate Release
May 13, 2011
Gilmore Research Group Reorganizes to Launch Healthcare Division After many years of consulting with clients in both public and private healthcare organizations, Gilmore Research Group has recently reorganized to launch its Healthcare Division. As market forces and the new regulatory environment reshape the healthcare industry, the company can now focus its team of healthcare research experts on the particular challenges facing organizations in this field. The mission of this specialized unit is to provide the expertise needed to negotiate the changing healthcare landscape. As John Cell, Gilmore Senior Vice President and Director of the re-aligned Healthcare Division commented: “Our team has been conducting research for the healthcare industry for many years, developing a number of specialized tools and proprietary processes. The reorganization of the firm allows us to highlight these practices and offer them to other payer organizations, healthcare providers and public agencies.” Gilmore’s Healthcare Division uses a third party auditor to assure compliance with HITECH regulations and is on track to conform to the most stringent HIPAA designation of “Covered Entity,” differentiating it from research providers who merely have “Business Associate” status. This means the company has maximized its data loss prevention solutions with policies and procedures protecting the extensive databases of highly sensitive PHI and PII information it handles for clients. Mirroring the company’s time-honored corporate philosophy, Gilmore’s Healthcare Division will continue to provide strategic counsel, creative solutions and timely, responsive service to clients in the healthcare industry. For more information about the division, please contact John Cell at
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or 206.219.1968. Information about Gilmore Research Group is also available at www.gilmore-research.com
January 7, 2010
Ten Branding and Marketing Trends
Source: Brand Keys. January 7, 2010. Written by: Robert Passikoff. Predictive loyalty metrics measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace and consumer articulations of category needs and expectations, they identify future trends with uncanny accuracy. Having examined these measures, Brand Keys offers 10 trends for marketers for 2010 that will have direct consequences to the success - or failure - of next year's branding and marketing efforts.
1) Value is the new black. Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This spells trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.
2) Brands increasingly a surrogate for "value". What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what's wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for. Why J Crew instead of The Gap? J Crew stands for a new era in careful chic --being smart and stylish. The first family's support of the brand doesn't hurt either.
3) Brand differentiation is Brand Value. The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to plague the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success --meaning sales and profitability.
4) "Because I Said So" is so over. Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can't just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.
5) Consumer expectations are growing. Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive - and prosper.
6) Old tricks don't work/won't work anymore. In case your brand didn't get the memo here it is -consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim "we're all in this together" when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings: think Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values need to be in concert, like Tiger Woods & Accenture. That's authenticity.
7) They won't need to know you to love you. As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street cred can go viral in days, with awareness following, not leading, the conversation. After all, everybody knows GM, but nobody's buying their cars.
8) It's not just buzz. Conversation and community is all; eBay thrives based on consumer feedback. If consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. Not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This means the coming of a new era of customer care.
9) They're talking to each other before talking to the brand. Social Networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. Look for more websites using Facebook Connect to share information with the friends from those sites. More companies will become members of LinkedIn. Twitter users will spend more money on the Internet than those who don't tweet.
10) Engagement is not a fad; It's the way today's consumers do business. Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods including Platform (TV; online), Context (Program; webpage), Message (Ad or Communication), and Experience (Store/Event). But there is only one objective for the future: Brand Engagement. Marketers will continue to realize that attaining real brand engagement is impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.
Accommodating these trends will require a paradigm change on the parts of some companies. But whether a brand does something about it or not, the future is where it's going to spend the rest of its life. How long that life lasts is up to the brand, determined by how it responds to today's reality.
October, 2009
Power Supply & Risk Management
Source: NWPPA Bulletin. October 2009 Written by: Kathi VanderZanden. "Plan today. Power tomorrow" - A campaign to educate everyone about the Northwest's power supply. Read a summary of research results which provided a regional data and perceptions baseline to help utilitites across the region tailor their communications messages to target audiences. (Click on the link above.)
For Immediate Release
Sept. 15, 2008
Liquor Control Board Launches Effort to Educate Parents about Underage Drinking OLYMPIA - To increase awareness of underage drinking issues and motivate parents to talk with their kids about drinking, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) has launched an alcohol awareness poster campaign in all state liquor stores targeting parents of school-aged children. The posters and accompanying materials such as brochures highlight current alcohol research, detail Washington underage drinking statistics, and offer tips and suggestions on how parents and the community can help reduce underage drinking. "This campaign offers the WSLCB a unique chance to reach parents at our stores with regular messages about underage drinking," said Lorraine Lee, WSLCB Chairman. "Our first poster, which is in stores now, has a back-to-school theme featuring a football player in time for the new school year. The first few weeks of school are a great time for parents and their children to talk about family expectations about alcohol use." Alcohol awareness poster campaign
The 22" by 28" posters are displayed in a metal frame in all 161 state liquor stores. The WSLCB is working with communities across the state to find ways to display the posters, and is also working with the state Department of Licensing to display the posters in Licensing Service Offices around the state. The WSLCB will release new posters with themes relevant to the key times in which underage drinking is likely to occur, such as prom or graduation. "Underage drinking is a leading public health problem in Washington," said Tony Masias, WSLCB Alcohol Awareness Program Manager. "Studies show parents are the No. 1 influence on whether their children drink, so this campaign targets parents with the latest information about alcohol and youth in an effort to reduce underage drinking." Parent and youth focus groups results released
In June 2008, the WSLCB contracted with Gilmore Research Group of Seattle to conduct parent focus groups in Seattle and Yakima. The participating parents have children ages 10 to 17. The results were compared to data from 11 youth focus groups conducted by the two organizations in June 2007. The youth participants were divided into four groups, including sixth graders, eighth graders, older high school students, and younger college students. The results from the youth and parent focus groups support previous studies that have found that parents are the primary influence on their child's decision to drink. Data from the two focus groups - including information on youth drinking habits, family perceptions of drinking, and motivations and deterrents to youth drinking - will be used in conjunction with other studies when creating future WSLCB educational programs and alcohol awareness posters. To view a summary of the parent focus groups and the results from the parent and youth focus groups, please visit www.liq.wa.gov. An image of the first poster is also posted on the WSLCB Web site. Parent Focus Group Summary (www.liq.wa.gov/releases/pr080915-%20summary.pdf)
Parent Focus Group Results (www.liq.wa.gov/releases/pr080915-report.pdf)
Youth Focus Group Results (www.liq.wa.gov/releases/pr080915-results.pdf) Contact: Tony Masias, Alcohol Awareness Program Manager, 360-664-1771
Brian Smith, Communications Director, 360-664-1774
Anne Radford, Communications Consultant, 360-664-1604
Date: June 18, 2008
ARE MARKETERS MISSING CELL PHONE POPULATION?
A study recently completed by Gilmore Research Group for the State of Washington Department of Health investigated a population which is often missed in survey research: households that use only cell phones rather than a land line for their telephone service.
Although surveys to cell phone and land line telephone numbers are exempt from the provisions of the “Do Not Call Registry,” the methods of contact are restricted for cell phone numbers. Because automatic dialing systems are not allowed when calling cell phones, most cell phone only households are not included in samples used for marketing research studies.
Therefore, when marketers use results from telephone surveys of the general consumer population to plan sales strategies, they may be missing an important segment of their potential customers. The study recently concluded by Gilmore profiled the cell phone only segment as predominantly younger consumers, more often male and more likely than land line households to represent minorities.
- Cell phones are the major channel of communication for more than 1 household in 4 (16% cell phone only/no land line, 13% cell phone “mostly”) Whereas the proportion of US households without any phone service has stayed at fairly constant levels (between 1% and 2% since 2003), the number of “cell phone only households” has steadily increased.
- This is a less settled population including more renters and more who have moved recently. More cell phone only households report being minority and / or Hispanic.
- Not surprisingly, these households represent younger consumers than those in households with land lines.
- More feel they are healthy although fewer are covered by healthcare insurance or have regular doctors; a finding consistent with other research into attitudes about health among younger consumers.
- They are more likely to exhibit both risk factors and protective measures when it comes to health; more smoke and binge drink but more also have had PAP tests / been tested for HIV and/or have received hepatitis B vaccine.
Because the portion of US population using only cell phones for telecommunication continues to increase, mixed mode research designs (using both telephone and web surveys for example) will become even more important. Such studies will assure all consumer segments are included in a marketer’s plans for the future – particularly crucial for products and services marketed to consumers under 35.
Dr. Jeanne Wintz who presented results from this important study to the national MRA (Marketing Research Association) Conference in New York City in June of this year can be reached at Gilmore’s headquarter offices in Seattle, WA (206)726-5555 or
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CODEBLUENOW! CONDUCTS GROUND BREAKING HEALTH CARE REFORM SURVEY IN WASHINGTON STATE
In December 2007, CodeBlueNow! worked with The Gilmore Research Group, a Northwest market research firm, to conduct a phone survey, known as the CodeBlueNow! Pulse®. The CodeBlueNow! Pulse® is intended to gauge the public's views about priorities in health care reform. CodeBlueNow! intends to use this data to give voice to citizen's values and ideas on health care reform.
The following documents highlight the results from the survey of 600 registered Washington voters.
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