Imagine the ability to be a true “voyeur” as a brand marketer. iPhone and Android technology is allowing marketers to stretch far beyond the traditional focus groups and in-home interviews to conduct extended research studies with unprecedented access into people’s everyday lives.And the spotlight has been on Egg Strategy’s Over the Shoulder® digital ethnography tool, which has been catching the attention of major marketers such as the Clorox Company, Kraft Foods, a major hotel brand and a leading spirits brand since its debut at the Front End Of Innovation Conference in May. The Corporate Innovation and Discovery team at The Clorox Company came to Egg Strategy with the task of identifying the fleeting moments when the elusive Gen-Y population felt most at risk of catching or spreading germs. With the Over the Shoulder app in the respondent’s hands, the research team was shown first-hand evidence from the inside of taxis, restaurants, clubs, public toilets. The research participants fed back provocative videos, photos and texts, all while being tracked via geo-location over a 10-day period. "Over the Shoulder® got us insights into real-life moments that we've found challenging to fully explore with certain target groups,” stated Staci Ball, Director of Corporate Innovation and Discovery, The Clorox Company. “The level of candor we got from our audience through the app rather than through having a live person there was pretty stunning.” And Clorox isn’t alone. For marketers looking to increase the emotional equity of their brands, powerful insight is fundamental to success. "Smartphone ethnography like Egg Strategy is doing with Over-the-Shoulder is one of the most promising growth areas for market research at the moment,” says Leonard Murphy, Editor-in-Chief GreenBook Blog & CEO, BrandScan 360. “Fortytwo percent (42%) of global researchers we surveyed plan to use some form of mobile-based research in 2012. That's up from 22% who used it in 2011. Mobile Ethnography itself is projected to be used by 24% of the industry, up from only 10% in 2011. That's simply unprecedented adoption-rate growth.Murphy adds, “There's a huge amount of excitement and interest in Digital Ethnography methodologies like Egg Strategy's Over-the-Shoulder. It opens up the possibilities to get in the-moment, in-the-situation insight that simply weren't possible to access before. Over-the-Shoulder is the right product at the right time to capitalize on these trends."With Over the Shoulder®, regular people are recruited and paid to download the Over the Shoulder app from the iTunes store or Android Market to their smartphone. They then use the app to answer questions and prompts to document their lives and activities from market researchers seeking insight to how they live, think and buy."Over the Shoulder® has been extremely well received in the marketplace so far because it allows us to turn our participants' smartphones into amazing portals to their world and their experiences. With smartphone penetration projected to pass 50% before the end of 2011, there's now an opportunity to get insight into their lives, beliefs and behaviors that 's simply never existed before" said Ross McLean, Director of Over the Shoulder with Egg Strategy in Chicago.As the market for mobile phone-based insight research rapidly expands, Egg Strategy plans to continue to aggressively develop their industry-leading smartphone ethnography practice with Over the Shoulder as the primary tool. Click here to download the press release.
Egg Strategy’s Boulder, Colorado headquarters announces key upper level management changes as it prepares for fourth quarter and 2012 growth.Former General Manager Kevin Malloy has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Malloy began his tenure in 2000 at Kindred Keziah, which became Egg Strategy in 2005, as Senior Strategist, then Director of Research and Resources before his GM position. He is also a Partner in Egg Strategy. Prior to making his mark in Boulder, Malloy worked in various advertising agency capacities in the San Francisco area after graduating from Stanford University. As COO, he will be responsible for overseeing the growth and expansion of all Egg Strategy offices and divisions.In addition, the Boulder Egg office has promoted Jonathan Rodd from Managing Director to President, where he will be responsible for forging the direction of the Boulder office, ensuring vision and talent to deliver top-notch results for its world-class client base. Rodd, also an Egg Strategy Partner, has been with the EGG for over 3 years, hailing from the UK where he started his career in packaged goods marketing and innovation at companies including Unilever, Kraft, Dairy Lea, and Diageo.“These are exciting times at Egg Strategy,” Managing Partner, and Founder Heather Dupréproudly states, noting that the firm was recently recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. “We have experienced tremendous growth in client partners, global scope projects, and in the products and services we employ to solve each challenge,” adds Christopher Wilshire, Egg’s other Managing Partner and Founder.
Egg Strategy is proud to announce the addition of strategic planning veteran Ross McLean as Director to lead the growing Over the Shoulder® division of Egg Strategy. McLean formerly EVP, Group Planning Director at Draftfcb Chicago, will guide the growth of the division, focusing on innovation in consumer insight techniques, including digital ethnography and social media enabled tools. He will lead and develop the company's proprietary new digital research tool, Over the Shoulder® (OTS).McLean's keen interest in the history of humanity and its interaction with technology makes him an ideal captain for OTS. Prior to Egg, he spent fifteen years leading strategic planning for major ad agencies on brands including Kraft Mac & Cheese, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Jell-O, Taco Bell, Motorola, and numerous beer and spirits brands. At Draftfcb Chicago, he was in charge of developing and training the planning department and the agency in the digital/social/mobile space."Ross is a great leader, and an odd hybrid that makes him perfect for this space," says Tom Trenta, President of Egg Strategy Chicago. "He's a powerful strategic and creative mind with a great track record with category-leading brands. And he's also a leading technology thinker. He's the ideal person to explore, create and push at the edges of new ways we can use technology to find consumer truths that drive business growth."“Technology is presenting amazing opportunities to reveal human truths in ways that we simply couldn't before,” says McLean. “It is genuinely exciting for me to partner with a company that is dedicated to breaking new ground in this space, and help lead the charge as it matures and develops.” Download the press release here.
