Best Research Papers at Excellence in Consumer Insight Conference

At the recent Excellence in Consumer Insights conference, ESOMAR announced the two nominations for the John and Mary Goodyear award for Best International research paper sponsored by NFO WorldGroup.

The first paper is entitled 'The modern upper middle classes in Eastern and Western Europe. Cross-cultural targeting in the case of Bank-Austria/Creditanstalt', presented by Martin Mayr, Market Researcher, Bank Austria, Michael Schipperges, Director Socio-Cultural Research, SINUS Sociovision GmbH and Agnieszka Krason, Founder, Canaletto Research & Consultancy.

Recently, BankAustria Creditanstalt has successfully developed a strategy to target the upper mainstream market in Austria by using the Sinus-Milieu approach. The extension of that strategy to the markets in Central and Eastern Europe is currently underway. Centering upon this practical example, the presentation described a specific methodological concept when confronted with international research and the issue of cultural diversity, its application in the case of the BankAustria Creditanstalt, and its application to the post-communist transformation societies in Central and Eastern Europe.

The second paper is entitled, Market research for a new car concept -an example from the BMW Group, presented by Uwe Ellinghaus, General Manager Market and Trend Research, BMW AG, Farrokh Suntook, Managing Director Global Business Development, HI Europe and Paul Strange, Head of Advanced Methodologies, Hi Europe, UK

BMW wanted to assess the opportunity to develop a new vehicle, designed to fill a gap within a segment of the car market. The hypothesis was that there was a need for a car which combined the more 'practical' aspects of some of the current cars in the market place with 'emotional' elements relating to style and performance which were normally associated with other cars. BMW wanted, therefore, to undertake market research across the main European countries in order to assess the extent to which there was a potential for a car which combined: rational/practical aspects; emotional/styling needs; and the ability to satisfy the requirements of the premium end of the targeted segment.

These papers will be published in the ESOMAR Yearbook entitled 'Excellence in International Research 2004'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.