Goodyear Award Nominations

Papers on the use of psychological insights in qual research and on the optimisation of segmentation exercises are competing for this year's John and Mary Goodyear Award for Best International paper. The nominations were presented at ESOMAR's recent EMAC Marketing conference in Warsaw, Poland.

The conference was held at The Westin Warsaw Hotel from 10 - 12 October and attracted over 60 participants from 25 countries.

The first nomination went to the paper titled: 'Mapping' the customer's mind: Multi-dimensional psychological insights in pre and post project qualitative research by Michael Alioto, Vice President, Global and Academic Research Divisions; Sanford Stallard, Senior Vice President, Qualitative & Interactive Services Division, and Amy Routhier, Project Manager, Automotive Services Division, RDA Group, USA.

The paper applies academic physiological and social anthropological theories and tools, including Hampden-Turner's 'Maps of the Mind', to help understand respondents' inner thoughts and ideas during qualitative research. It outlines the differences between traditional focus groups (based on respondent personal traits) and the alternative Mapping of the Mind approach (based on respondent personality traits), and shows how the latter provides more reliable and useful information for the client. An automotive case study looking at vehicles, driving habits, lifestyles, and life cycle illustrates an application of the approach. The goal is to introduce an alternative framework for qualitative research and offer the first steps in integrating academic theories into the mainstream of the market research discipline.

The second nomination went to the paper: 'Segment optimization: An empirical comparison' by Michael Mulhern, President, Mulhern Consulting, and Douglas MacLachlan, Professor, Department of Marketing and International Business, University of Washington Business School, USA.

This paper aims to enable marketers and analysts to estimate an 'optimal' number of segments, integrating objective statistical indicators and subjective managerial judgement to interpret the results and select a solution. A case study with a consumer durable product yielding an optimal solution of four segments illustrates the approach.

The papers will be published in the ESOMAR Yearbook entitled 'Excellence in International Research 2005'. The CD Rom of papers for this conference can be ordered online at www.esomar.org/publications .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.