Andrew Reid, President and Founder of Vision Critical and Jason Smith, President of Innovation will share their views about the latest trends and innovations in market research and game changing developments from Vision Critical.

Vision Critical’s research products will be on display including Sparq, IdeaScreenPlus and Virtual Shopping.  The demos will all be hands on so clients will get the chance to test-drive the latest research innovations.

Yola Zdanowicz, Managing Director Health commented, “The EphMRA conference is a terrific forum for knowledge sharing, recalibrating perceptions of industry issues and priorities, and catching up with global clients and partners. This year’s backdrop of shifting economic, political, and regulatory landscapes should make for a fascinating event.”

Vision Critical Health provides global consulting and strategic research services to pharmaceutical companies.

ReputationPlus, is a diagnostic reputation measurement and management approach that provides guidance for gaining reputation edge. Through its proprietary segmentations, ReputationPlus provides unique stakeholder perspectives critical to understanding the rapidly changing world.

Agenda

Angus Reid, CEO, Vision Critical
The Global Mood: as seen by a 40-year veteran of polling wars.

Andrew Grenville, Chief Research Officer, Vision Critical – The Social Media Elite: do they matter to brands and reputation.

John Gilfeather, Consultant to Vision Critical
ReputationPlus™ Results: mad as hell meets corporate evaluations.

If you would like to join us please visit http://www.visioncritical.com/pages/backlashblues/

Online consumer panels give researchers unprecedented access to the consumers most interested in their products and the forum to develop a long term dialogue with their clients and future clients for continuous insight.  Vision Critical online communities and panels enable researchers to conduct qualitative and quantitative research swiftly and accurately.

Vision Critical already has over 300 online communities in North America and Europe and works with 25% of the world’s top brands.

By incoporating existing retailer CRM data with its innovative Community Panel, Vision Critical enables retailers to achieve a 360 degree view of customer attitudes and behaviors. Custom recruited Community Panels provide on-demand access to a dedicated group of customers enabling instant access to consumer insight and opinions.

Sparq is the #1 online research platform used by 25% of the world’s top brands. Sparq enables retailers to manage thousands of customer respondents quickly and easily – providing interactive surveys, private panels and online communities that simplify access to attitude and behavioral data.

Toronto, May 13, 2010 – Angus Reid, 40-year market research veteran and CEO of interactive research and technology company Vision Critical, will discuss how the digital age has transformed research and what that evolution means for newspapers. Reid will give his keynote address on May 14 to hundreds of publishers, owners and other leaders of Canada’s newspaper industry at the 2010 Ink & Beyond national newspaper conference.

“Quality online research is essential to editors, publishers and advertisers, if you want to understand your audience,” says Reid. “In the 80s, we used telephones to connect with consumers; now we use online and mobile technology. However, the research process hasn’t changed; we still need well-thought-out questions and careful analysis of data – much like quality journalism is still valued in the new media order.”

During Reid’s address to Canadian publishers, he’ll share the results of two new three-country consumer studies that compare online social media to traditional media. The first study, which surveyed 3,000 adults in the US, UK and Canada, explores who is using social media, what other media consumers are using, how receptive they are to advertising in those mediums and how much credibility consumers put in various forms of media – from newspapers to television to social networks. The second study, involving 4,000 adults in the US, UK and Canada, focuses on the trustworthiness of online social networks, as compared to traditional media channels.

“The majority of respondents from all three countries place more trust in traditional media than in social media,” says Reid. “Newspapers rank among the most trustworthy, second only to broadcast radio. Social networks and online forums, blogs, reviews and chat rooms are the least trustworthy of all mediums.”

Angus Reid founded his first company, the Angus Reid Group, in the late 1970s, later selling it to France’s Ipsos SA (now known as Ipsos Reid) in 2000. In 2004, he joined Vision Critical – a company founded by his son, Andrew. At the beginning of this year, Angus Reid was inducted in the Marketing Hall of Legends. Vision Critical is now a global enterprise, with 400 employees and 10 offices across Canada, the US, Europe and Australia.

The Vision Critical team, who will be at Booth 6, will be offering copies of the company’s new media segmentation study. The study, which surveyed 3,000 randomly-selected adults in the US, UK and Canada, reveals how consumers access social media, online news, television, newspapers magazines and radio – and how advertisers can succeed in an age where the consumer’s attention is fragmented by an avalanche of messages and media.

The CTAM Research + Insights Conference runs from May 12-14 at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles.

In addition to leading Vision Critical’s Product Innovation Centre, Smith is the recipient of the Ernst and Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award, the BDC Young Entrepreneur of the Year national award and was recognized as one of Business in Vancouver’s top 40 under 40. Under Smith’s leadership, Vision Critical is focused on continuous product improvement and innovation in 2010 – and is set to launch five new research products, this year.

VEF Momentum was founded under the Vancouver Enterprise Forum with the purpose of connecting, inspiring and mentoring aspiring and emerging technology entrepreneurs in Vancouver.

Re:think 2010: The ARF’s 56th Annual Convention + Expo
March 22 to 24, 2010
Marriott Marquis, New York City

Kodak & Vision Critical Presentation:
TOPIC: Social Media: Fertile Ground or Hostile Environment for Advertisers?
(Part of Key Issue Forum #1: Social Media and Brand Opportunities)
DATE: March 23, 3:30-5pm, Ziegfeld Room, 4th floor

Dawn M. Novak, Eastman Kodak’s Director of Marketing Communications and Brand Research, and Andrew Grenville, Vision Critical’s Chief Research Officer, will discuss the results of three consumer studies conducted in the US, UK and Canada. Results in two of the studies identify who is using social media, what other media consumers are using, what kind of receptivity they have to advertising in those mediums and how much credibility consumers put in social media. The third study examines a particular set of brands to test whether or not the conclusions from the general investigation applies to the specific.

“Social media has recently been attracting intense interest, with instant experts found on every corner,” says Grenville. “But what has been missing is real insight into how it fits into the marketing mix and what the implications are for advertisers.”

Click here for more information about Re:think 2010.

Bon-Ton & Vision Critical Roundtable Presentation:
TOPIC: Voice of the Customer: How Bon-Ton’s Research Utilizes their Customer Panels and How the Learnings are applied to Marketing and Merchandising Efforts
DATE: March 4, 2010, 2:05-2:50pm at Roundtable 5

Colleen Mayer, Bon-Ton’s VP of Marketing and Admin Services, and Scott Switzer, Vision Critical’s Director of Business Development for US Retail, will lead this roundtable discussion. They’ll share ideas, processes and technologies regarding how Bon-Ton has tapped into customer insight using a Vision Critical online community panel.

Bon-Ton is one of the leading fashion retailers in the United States, operating 278 stores, under various names, in 23 states.

Click here for more information about the inaugural Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference.