Official Call for Presenters is Now Open for the 10th annual Shopper Insights in Action Conference

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioner presenters for the 10th annual Shopper Insights in Action Conference.

Due to the high volume of submissions, we suggest you submit your proposal early and no later than January 5th, 2010 to Amanda Powers, Senior Conference Producer at apowers@iirusa.com or call 1-646-895-7332. (Only proposals from brand and retail corporate practitioners will be considered, for all other submissions please see sponsorship section below).

Shopper Insights in Action is recognized as the world's leading conference focused on understanding shopper behavior and translating insights into action.

This year's theme is The new 360 degree sphere of influence: physical. virtual. mindset.

It addresses the game-changing paradigm shift from influencing shoppers in-store to influencing them whenever, where ever they are in a shopper mindset.

2010 will be a true best practice and idea exchange for those responsible for activating purchasing behavior across the brand and retail continuums. It is the only unbiased shopper-rooted platform where practitioners can properly benchmark their research/marketing practices against the leading brand and retail companies.

2010 Main Themes:
You may choose a specific topic or suggest a topic that fits within one of the themes.

1. STORE DESIGN & THE EXPERIENCE

2. REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH PRACTICES

3. BRAND IDENTITY & PRODUCT INNOVATION

4. PRIVATE LABEL INSIGHTS: MEETING CHALLENGES WITH OPPORTUNITY

5. NEW & NEXT PRACTICES

6. ACTIONING THE INSIGHTS

7. WHAT'S NOW, WHAT'S NEXT...in the retail landscape

8. Other

Speakers receive FREE admission to the conference as well as any pre-conference activity such as workshops or symposium.

What if I am not a corporate practitioner (from a client-side company) but still would like to participate?

More than 75% of our content will be delivered by corporate practitioners. If you are a consultant or solutions provider and wish to be a part of the program, please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467. We will customize opportunities to fit your needs from speaking, branding, networking and/or exhibiting.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS:
For consideration, please e-mail apowers@iirusa.com with the following information by January 5th, 2010:
• Proposed speaker name(s), job title(s), and company name(s)
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• The main theme you plan to address
• Which format you'd like to present
• A brief summary (75 words max)
• Please indicate what is NEW about the presentation
• What the audience will gain or learn from your presentation (please list 3-5 deliverables)
• Previous conference presentations
• Short Bio (2-3 sentences) & Speaker Headshot

If you are a retail executive and interested in attending the event but can not commit to presenting, you may apply to be a "retail thought-leader”. Write to Amanda at apowers@iirusa.com with your interest.

Free Web Seminar - Do Consumers Prefer Private Label? A Look Into Consumer Attitudes About Private Label

Date/Time: Wed, Dec 9, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Do consumers know the difference between national brands and store brands? Do they care? How do they describe private label compared to national brands? Does this differ across categories? How about across markets?

Private label and store brands are having an impact on many consumer purchases today, both in the US and Europe. And within these markets the definition of private label compared to national brands varies according to category and retailer.

When is a brand important? What makes a national brand different? Do consumers feel the same way about brands today as they did a year ago? Why or why not?

Showcasing BuzzBack’s unique portfolio of award-winning online research techniques, this webinar will highlight new consumer research conducted in the US and UK about purchasing behavior and attitudes associated with private label versus national consumer brands. The study will present ways to identify consumer behavior and attitudes about shopping via an online survey.

As you listen in, you will learn:
• What drives consumer purchases of private label brands and why
• Consumer perceptions and attitudes about private label compared to national brands
• Types of people who purchase private label compared to national brands

Featured Speaker
Brendan Light, SVP, Research and Development, BuzzBack Market Research

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/781266785
Mention priority code MWS0020BLOG

Are you contracting out production for private label items?

This post in retailwire discusses that the trend for grocery retailing is for merchants to seek out and contract out production for private label items. An exception though to this case is Kroger, they manufactures about half of the 14,400 private label items it sells. Kroger believes that buy manufacturing these items, it is better able to control production decisions and pricing. Is your outsourcing most of its production of private label items or keeping the bulk of it in-house?

Join us for the 2009 Private Label Impact Conference, this month in Chicago!

Retail Brands are not Engaging Women Through Social Media

This post on retailwire discusses how a recent study conducted by ad:tech Chicago and Q Interactive finds that three out of four women do not feel engaged when interacting with a brand via social networks. Matt Wise, president of Q Interactive mentions, "Although women are socializing a lot more with each other, they are not interacting with brands more. The brands are falling behind in this game and they are not opening dialog with women in this arena. We're seeing a divide right now of where the women are leaping ahead of the brand and the brands are struggling to find how best to interact with them."

A small percentage of women who friended brands actually had a positive reaction. Sixty four percent of survey respondents felt neutral and nineteen had a negative reaction. Brand marketers will have to improve on engaging women on social networks in the future.

CMSI LinkedIn Newsletter: Meet the Leaders in Shopper Marketing & Category Management at Fusion 2009

This is an excerpt from our LinkedIn newsletter that we distribute regularly to our Category Management and Shopper Insights Executive Group members. If you aren't already a member, we encourage you to join over 1,200 other professionals in retail, category management, branding and private label executive positions.

___________________________________________________________________

Hello! We’re thrilled you’re a member of the Category Management and Shopper Insights Executive group. We hope you’re finding value from the ability to connect with over 1200 people in your industry.

As a member, we’d like to extend a special discount for you to attend Shopper Marketing Fusion 2009 this October 14-16 in Bonita Springs, FL.

Please join the group for the exclusive discount.


This senior-level event will focus on synergizing category management and in-store marketing to build a seamless shopping experience for shoppers from start to finish. It’s a unique participatory format where speakers drive rich, purposeful conversations so that collectively, challenges are solved and industry standards are created. You’ll be propelled to improve external and internal collaboration and inspired to build a business model that will equip your brand and organization to long-term success.

Event website: http://bit.ly/SMFusion
Brochure download: http://bit.ly/SMBrochure


Highlighted Speakers:

• JB Steenkamp, Professor of Marketing, UNC, Author of The Private Label Strategy
• James Beck, General Manager, Walmart Smart Network, Walmart Stores
• Mark Bennett, Group Manager, Media Production, Target
• Jeff Swearingen, Group Vice President, Customer Sales & Marketing, Frito Lay
• Michael McMahon, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing, ConAgra Foods
• Alison Chaltas, Principal, Interscope
• John Dranow, President & CEO, SmartRevenue

New speakers added: http://bit.ly/SMSpeakers

Featured Category Management and Shopper Insights Executive Group Discussions:
Store specific shelf plans, and the challenges they face when they hit the store. New data. http://bit.ly/CMSIGroup1
70% of purchase decisions are made in-store... http://bit.ly/CMSIGroup2

Shopper Marketing News On Shopper360:

Category Management program set up for tomato sellers
According to The Packer, Farmer’s Best International LLC has decided to create a tomato category management campaign in order to better educate those both buying and selling different types of tomatoes… http://bit.ly/BlogTomato

Organic private labels increasing on your store shelves

The Wall Street Journal recently looked at how the organic farmers are trying to keep in the eye-line of their customers in these tough economic times. Private label organic products have become 22.7% of organic food sales from June of 2007-2008, this is a 13.6% from the same period of June 2006-2007. Read more about the increase of organic private-label foods here.

Brand Loyalty Falters in Recession

Reuters reports that brand loyalty has taken a turn for the worst during the global recession. Companies who were once. According to a study from the Catalina Marketing Corporation, "just four out of 10 brands held on to at least half of their highly loyal customers from 2007 to 2008." The loss in brand loyalty may be related to the increase in private label brands by Wal-Mart, Target and regional grocery stores.

What other factors may be steering customers away from specific brands? Is price the only issue?

Follow us on Twitter to share your thoughts!

Reminder: Free Webinar Tomorrow by MarketTools: Quality Research on a Budget

There are a lot of online survey tools available these days that allow you to do one-off research projects for next to nothing. While these inexpensive tools are relatively fast and easy to use, they don’t always yield quality results on which you can base important decisions. Why compromise? There are ways to do quality research without breaking the bank. Let us tell you how.

Join us to hear how your peers are doing high-quality research on very limited budgets. Our panel of experts will discuss their experiences and provide real-life examples of how they’ve been able to do it. During this one-hour webinar you’ll learn:

* Five simple guidelines for doing quality research
* How a panel can reduce your research cost and improve quality
* What companies are doing to deal with “professional” survey respondents
* When is it a good idea to call in the experts
* And much more…

Facilitator:
Mike Waite

Panelists:
Chris Schroll, Senior Manager Strategic Research & Analysis, Wolters Kluwer
Pat Merrill, Founder/General Partner, Merrill Research
and other research leaders from Fortune 500 firms

Register below, make sure to mention priority code MWS0025BLOG
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/375147800