By Tom Neri, Executive Vice President Vision Critical, New York Bryant Park, an oasis in mid-town Manhattan was in full bloom and lush on a sunny mid-June morning and a perfect setting for executives to gather and address the current fragile state of corporate reputation.  With this backdrop Vision Critical and its public affairs division Angus Reid Public Opinion launched ReputationPlus at a gala breakfast event at the Bryant Park Grill, attended by more than 60 corporate and agency researchers, consultants, ... | Read More

By Demitry Estrin, Managing Director, Financial Services Practice Changing patterns in retail banking and the continuing integration of merged banks have resulted in regular updates and transformations of our local branches and retail banking groups. Creating these new branch environments is a complex undertaking and a major financial investment. Vision Critical’s Financial Services Practice has developed a virtual retail bank environment which is a completely new way of testing layout concepts, positioning of key elements like greeters and tellers, and other ... | Read More

What you need to know to research, evaluate and optimize your website  By Maxine Stoddard, Senior Research Manager, Retail Practice Any company offering consumer products or services knows that an effective website is essential to growing business. Your website is often your company’s first touch point with customers and one of the chief ways they interact with your brand. When optimized properly, your website can help consumers find and evaluate your service or product quickly and cost-effectively. According to our research*, ... | Read More

By Steven Davis, Director, Product Innovation You’ve seen it. The advertising campaign launched by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, for Old Spice, to market their brand of shower gel. The ad features football hunk Isaiah Mustafa, reciting a quick deadpan monologue about how "anything is possible" if a man uses Old Spice. Mustafa is filmed during a single, uninterrupted take from a bathroom, to a sailboat, to Mustafa riding a horse. The creative is brilliant. The choreography is brilliant. But what are the various ... | Read More

Vision Critical’s ongoing social media research is directed by: Andrew Grenville, Matt Kleinschmit, Jeff Vidler, Maggie Jurgens and Jordan Leith Online social networking is driven by friends and families. It is a place for keeping in touch, and for sharing with the people we trust and care about. Facebook and other social media are so snuggly ensconced in our lives that they have become the virtual equivalent of the cozy kitchen table ready for confidences, idle chitchat and occasional drunken pronouncements. ... | Read More

By Andrew Grenville, Chief Research Officer, Vision Critical In our continuing quest for intelligence about different types of survey formats and suitability for different question types our latest Research on Research compares card sorts and radio buttons. When respondents were asked their level of agreement with 24 statements presented as a card sort or series of radio buttons we found significantly different responses depending on the layout of the question used. Their options were shown as a verbally labeled 5 point scale. Attitude ... | Read More

Interview by John McAlister, Senior Editor - Salvationist Andrew Grenville is the chief research officer of Vision Critical and a member of The Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board. A 20-year research veteran, Andrew leads in the development of innovative and informative analytics and approaches to research. Andrew is the author of numerous Vision Critical research products and measurement tools and focuses on global social and marketing research. This interview appears in the Salvationist publication and offers critical insight about ... | Read More

By: John Gilfeather, Executive Advisor to Vision Critical Has there ever been a better time to talk about corporate reputation? Financial collapses. Venerable old firms being swallowed up or disappearing. Unsafe products being sold and deaths resulting. Major corporations being bailed out by the government. Bonuses being paid to executives who presided over colossal failures. Is there any wonder that corporations are being battered by the American Public? Vision Critical just completed a study of the reputations of 54 companies. Each company was ... | Read More

By Chris Ryan, VP of Interactive Design & Usability - Vision Critical [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z5dEGv25ys[/youtube] | Read More

By Jennifer Reid, SVP of Strategy & Monique Morden, EVP - Vision Critical In today’s social media-driven market—in which transparency is among the most potent loyalty drivers of all—a new and powerful research tool has emerged. The online branded panel. Where traditional panels will always be indispensible for their detachment—for how they reach respondents anonymously through an intermediary—a branded panel is like approaching customers with a tap on the shoulder. (What do you think of this? What else can we do for ... | Read More