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Engaging Consumers
in New Product Development
A Case Study in Panel Design and Execution Lynne
Kerger, The Chicago Tribune Ron Pocs, The
Blackstone Group
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Three Things We All Know about Newspapers
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Three Things We All Know about Newspapers
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Three Things We All Know about Newspapers
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How Did This Happen?
The world changed

• Our future is in the hands of a sight, sound,
  motion generation
• News is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Depth of coverage is out of sync with fast-paced
  21st century life
• Things that used to drive 18-34s to the paper
  are now done online
• Multitasking is a way of life

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Chicago Tribune Needed an Edge
2002 Reach Among 18-34s ( of mkt.)
50
10
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Source Gallup Poll of Media Usage, Chicago
Market 2002
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Preliminary Work Informed Us
Internal Information Resources External
Resources Primary Research
Focus Groups 20 Adults in their 20s
THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION
Editorial Readership Priorities, 2001
1 x 1 Interviews with External Industry Experts 3
out of market newspaper peers
Tribune Proprietary Research Studies Local
Newspaper Study Single Copy Newspaper Buyer Study
Leisure Time Study
Industry Analysis
Tribune Young Readers Panel 10 adults 17 23
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What We Learned

• Young readers are interested in local and
  relevant news
• You can have attitude but you must choose your
  spots
• Humor is essential
• Too much celebrity coverage is too much
• Brand credibility still means something

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What We Made
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What We Needed To Do

• Short-term
• Reach 18-34 year-olds, mainly in the city, who
  are commuters
• Quickly build trial and brand awareness
• Develop a daily reading habit

• Long-term
• Grow circulation and readership among young
  readers
• Increase market share against competing
  publications
• Migrate readers to other Tribune media
• Generate healthy profits and margins

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What We Launched
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What We Still Needed to Learn

• Who was reading this thing?
• Was it working for them?
• Did we have the right content mix?
• Most importantly, were the covers attracting our
  targets?

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The Research Challenge

• Conduct a study among consumers of a product that
  does not yet exist
• Routinely survey a target audience (Gen Y) that
  is difficult to reach
• Mobile
• Tech savvy
• Notorious for low newspaper readership
• Generate initial and sustained interest
• Construct a daily interviewing and reporting
  process
• Cover and content specific
• Frequent topline reporting
• Iterative process
• Track results over time

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Methodology

• Quantitative Panel
• Online ?
• On Site / Central Location Intercept ?
• Other ?

• Recruitment Options
• Use existing online panel(s) ?
• In-paper ads ?
• Postcard ?
• Online ?

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Postcard
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In-Paper Ad
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Panel Construction

• Intro survey (populate potential panel members,
  comments)

Panel survey (screening, demographics, panel
invite)

• Weekly survey
• Morning launch (9-10am)
• Midnight close
• Reshuffle sample each week

• Qualifications
• Current RedEye reader
• Mix of demographics (age, gender, income, etc.)
• Mix of geography (city/non-city, distribution
  area)
• Security (industry) screen

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Questionnaire

• 1st half Base survey
• Readership behavior

• 2nd half Targeted area (specific focus over 1-3
  week periods)
• General appeal
• Specific content, design elements
• Reader attitudes
• Shopping behaviors and cross-media habits

• Length Less than 10 minutes

• Form
• Mostly closed ends
• Comments at end
• Visual

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Questionnaire
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Fieldwork
3. Initial Results Checked
2. Survey Re-tested then Launched
4. Results Monitored
A. Weekly Questionnaire Provided
DAILY
1. Cover .jpg Received / Inserted
B. Questionnaire Programmed / Tested
WEEKLY
5. Close Survey
6. Data Pulled / Topline Created
C. Sample Cleaned / Randomized
D. Weekly Report Generated
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Reporting

• Daily topline
• Download from secure site
• Basic graphical report

• Summary report
• Compiled weekly

• Verbatims
• Presented in raw form

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Reporting
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Reporting
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Incentives

• Initial Sweepstakes

• Gift card
• Mailed via USPS
• 3 options
• 10 per occasion
• After first full survey
• After every 4 additional surveys

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Ongoing Panel Management

• Non-Responders (Non-Readers)
• Out after X weeks

• Feedback Loop
• Establish one
• Monitor it daily

• Housekeeping
• Removal from panel
• Change of address (mail, e-mail)

• Repopulate as needed

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Panel Results

• Panel Members 900

Response rates High (63-72)
Longevity 5 months

• Bottom line Actionable results
• provided on a timely basis
• used to improve the product
• ultimately resulting in increased circulation

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Key Process Learnings

• Consider multiple options (be creative)
• Offer popular incentives (relevant)
• Monitor costs (10,500 at less than 10 per
  complete)
• (Try to) keep it simple
• Avoid overload (take a break)
• Pre-test (and adapt)
• Build in controls (process checks)

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Cover Elements Analysis

• Working with Tedesco Analytics, Inc. analyzed
  panel findings
• Panel readership and satisfaction scores varied
  from issue to issue
• Wanted to make best use of panel learnings to
  inform future efforts

• Complexity science uncovered patterns of most
  successful covers
• Each element of every cover was put into the
  model
• Appended readership/satisfaction scores for each
  issue
• Determined which elements were linked with
  highest readership/satisfaction

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What We Learned
Subject preferences of younger audience will not
turn off 35 readers
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What We Learned
Covers featuring males that have an outdoor feel
outperform others
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What We Learned
Stories with a local connection and covers that
give people a lot of reasons to open the paper
work best
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What We Learned
Photos that suggest action and are not staged
resonate most
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What We Learned
TV/movie take-offs are best used sparingly
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RedEye Panel Wave II

• Fieldwork recently completed
• Smaller scale, more focused
• Previous learnings put into action

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Engaging Consumers
in New Product Development
A Case Study in Panel Design and Execution Lynne
Kerger, The Chicago Tribune Ron Pocs, The
Blackstone Group