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CTC Names Jen Hanson a Finalist in the Women of Innovation Awards!

Jen Hanson has been named a finalist in the 2009 CTC Women of Innovation Awards in the Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership category! The winners will be honored during the fifth annual Women of Innovation awards dinner on January 29, 2009.

For more information: http://www.ct.org/WOI_2009.asp#Finalists2009

Below is Jen's nomination:

Please explain generally why this nominee should be considered a Woman of Innovation.

Jennifer Hanson is the market research industry’s Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford:  she has led a quantum leap in the field of market research, creating one of the first, and most effective, post-cognitive research approach and technology systems, Quantitative Anthropology.  Unlike self-reporting, which relies on people remembering what they do, or short-term observation, which relies on a mere snapshot of consumer behavior, Jen’s company, Realsight, uses video cameras to observe everyday behavior over an extended period of time, putting companies inside the real daily lies of consumers for thousands of real usage situations. Comparing these observations with participants’ interactive online diaries, and then applying proprietary scientific and anthropological methods to quantify the patterns hidden in the thousands of qualitative observations of common everyday behavior, Realsight uncovers patterns that connect consumers’ intentions with their actions.  It is in these patterns of behavior that Realsight discovers the unmet needs of consumers, provides insights into product, packaging and positioning opportunities that lead to 40-60% more growth opportunities for its clients.

Please provide specific information relating to the judging criteria for your nominee.

The daughter of an entrepreneur, Jennifer Hanson always dreamed of starting her own company.  She spent 12 years in the trenches of market research and innovation at companies like PepsiCo, Diageo and Kraft, identifying growth opportunities and developing ideas that others missed by questioning the status quo, pushing the boundaries and reinventing commoditized innovation practices and techniques.  Like many marketers, she found herself growing increasingly frustrated with the decreasing quality of research information, which then negatively impacted the ability of her brands to innovate and bring successful products to market.  She began pursuing a new way to gather information, one that would be more accurate, more reliable, and save money in the long run.  In 2006, driven by her passion like so many other entrepreneurs, Jen mortgaged her house, maxed out her credit cards, and launched Realsight in her garage.  Today, with its patent-pending research approach and technology system, Quantitative Anthropology, achieving results for leading brands, Realsight employs 17 people and counts industry giants like Kraft, Nestle, Avon, Sara Lee, and Cadbury Adams among its clients. 

2009 Edison Best New Products Awards Nomination!

Realsight is proud to have its technology system, Quantitative Anthropology, nominated for the 2009 Edison Best New Products Awards (http://www.edisonawards.com). Thank you to all that have contributed to such a wonderful honor!

"Realsight's patent-pending Quantitative Anthropology technology system promises to revolutionize the field of market research.  As one of the first,and most effective, post-cognitive market research approaches, it provides companies with a deep, rich and unprecedented view of their products or services through the eyes and experiences of their consumers. Using Quantitative Anthropology, consumer product and service companies can save valuable resources by focusing their time and money on innovations that will succeed in the marketplace.

Market research is a critical function for consumer product and service companies.  Unfortunately, the traditional research methods companies have employed - surveys, focus groups and ethnographies - rely on highly inaccurate self-reporting, offer a mere snapshot of consumer behavior or provide limited consumer input to business decisions.  For years, the results delivered by these methods have been decreasing in quality, causing bad business decisions to be made based on incomplete information about consumers. 

Two marketers, frustrated by this situation, joined forces to found a company, Realsight, and have created one of the first and most effective post-cognitive methods to conduct consumer market research - Quantitative Anthropology.  A patent-pending research approach and technology system, Quantitative Anthropology opens the door to innovation opportunities that generate new products, build competitive advantage, strengthen brand relevance and earn consumer loyalty for consumer product and service companies. Founded in 2006, Realsight has grown from two to 17 employees and now counts industry giants like Kraft, Nestle, Avon, Sara Lee, and Cadbury Adams among its clients.  

The engine behind Quantitative Anthropology employs a combination of multiple technologies, scientific research approaches and proprietary algorithms that have never been used together before, including anthropological tagging of web-based interactive videos, neural language analysis and data mining via pattern analysis tools.  It starts with  portable video cameras capturing in-and out-of-home consumer decisions over 20-30 days, which is coded and compared to participants’ online diaries.  Trained observers then identify the differences between what participants do and what they report on a daily basis, probing to understand and identify the reasons behind their actions.  Using proprietary statistical, anthropological and psychological methods, Realsight analyzes and quantifies the behavior patterns, connecting intentions with actions.  As a result, Realsight identifies growth opportunities that have true value for consumers and can be targeted by its clients.  Quantitative Anthropology saves time and money in the development pipeline while also increasing success in the marketplace.

But most importantly, Realsight’s method, unlike others, puts the consumer first, truly engaging them to become partners in the process of discovery for the first time.  By making the qualitative quantitative, the unstructured structured and the intangible tangible, Quantitative Anthropology promises to revolutionize market research and become the gold standard for companies wishing to truly understand their consumers’ unmet needs."

Realsight Convergence Webinar Invitation

Spending on the right ideas

The 2008 Innovation report by BCG has finally arrived. The big idea coming from this work is: Is the tide turning? Looking at the results tells a familiar story: an increase in frustration with innovation and more money being pulled back as a result.

There are 4 things that are the culprits for the lack of return on innovation:

1. lengthy development times

2. risk averse corporate culture

3. difficulty selecting the right ideas

4. lack of internal coordination 

The summary goes on to state that all of the above are under executives control. While this may be true, 1 & 3 are easily solved by finding better quality ideas from Stage Zero. If focus is place on finding and choosing QUALITY ideas, rather than QUANTITY, this issue will start to correct itself and innovation teams will be able to cut down on development time and overall spending by focusing on ways to generate better ideas in the front end of innovation. 

Existing brainstorm and research techniques force companies to chose between a lot of ideas without quality or few ideas that lack uniqueness. Spending a little more in the front end to collecting hundreds or thousands of observations of how products are actually and then applying a little science into the art of innovation will allow companies to have their pick of better ideas from the start and save them money in the long-run, ultimately increasing their rate of return.

Top Down and Bottom Up Understanding of Consumer Decisions

It's a common phrase used when building financial models for new products. In fact, most of us use it in many ways in our own lives, even if we don't realize it. Why? Because it helps create consensus and delivers a level of comfort we need to make decisions.

It amazes us how this notion is rarely used to understanding consumer decisions. When looking for ways to innovate, we often rely on how people interact with products. This approach leads to a dangerous assumption that the product is the "hero" and nothing else in the usage situation matters. This is not the case!

By understanding the multiple dimensions that influence usage events and marry them with product benefits that influence use, we can establish a top down and bottom up approach that will create consensus that innovation teams are making the best decision in Stage Zero.