Communispace Adds Consumer Emotion Tool

US-based online research community builder Communispace has launched a proprietary approach called 'Emotive Elicitation', which uses body language images to uncover subconscious consumer emotions and perceptions.

Launched in 1999, Communispace offers access to insights via nearly 600 customer communities. The Boston, Massachusetts-based firm, which also has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Sydney was acquired last year by marcoms giant Omnicom in a deal reported to have been worth $100m.

The new tool has been developed to tap into emotions that act as drivers for consumer choices, while also overcoming the limitations of facial expression analysis. Julie Wittes Schlack (pictured), SVP, Innovation and Design, explains: 'Unlike facial expressions which can hold various meanings from culture to culture, most forms of body language universally signify the same emotions. Through Emotive Elicitation, we are able to harvest insights that illuminate the emotional strengths and weakness of an advertising or product concept for our global clients, across countries and even continents.'

The new tool has been designed to complement the company's existing EmotionCentric Explorer free association methodology, which exposes community members to a stimulus and asks a simple question: 'How does it make you feel?' Communispace says that when combined, the tools offer a 'three-dimensional view into consumers' subconscious behavioral drivers', by uncovering recurring themes or issues which drive a target consumer's preference or attitude towards a concept.

Web site: www.communispace.com .