ARF aims to fix quality problems in online research

Eight corporations including Unilever, Coca-Cola Co., General Motors, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Bayer, Capital One and Microsoft will test the newly developed process that aims to ensure the reliability and accuracy of online research. Developed by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), the process is represented by a half billion dollars in research spending by the businesses hopeful of its success. Jack Neff with Ad Age reports the story:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139310

The goals of the new process include making online research panels reliable, creating consistency in research population samples from project to project, and protecting against fake and duplicated research. The foundation of the process is that it relies on a checklist system for project parameters. This would replace the older and arguably ineffective system which only states minimum guidelines. For 30 days, the eight research buyers will use ARF's process to choose a supplier for a project. They will report details and their critiques early in the year 2010.

Walmart Blog? Really?

A revolutionary and sophisticated new blog has hit cyberspace!

It's called "People of Walmart," and you guessed it - it allows people to converse about individuals who shop at Walmart. The blog allows people to joyously upload, rate, and even comment on photos on the blog's pages. Ad Age exposes the riveting story:

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138886

Walmart has kept quiet so far, and Ad Age seems to think any act on their behalf will have a negative effect on their reputation. Walmart may issue a statement on the matter, but it's likely that they'll be just fine sitting on the sideline for this one. The bloggers that are making comments about how a certain shopper's mauve satchel doesn't go with her leopard-print vest probably won't have too much of an impact on whether or not mom buys the frozen pizza and the $5 movies from Walmart. In fact, the blog may even encourage people to trek to their local roll-back habitat and perhaps make a purchase or two in an effort to catch a customer in a laughable outfit.

This will certainly blow over without blemishing the corporation's reputation.

Sigg Bottles

The customer doesn't seem to come first for one brand of "eco-friendly" beverage bottles. Sigg is the maker of trendy metal bottles that were designed to take the place of earth-harming plastic bottles. However, after some fancy (deceptive) messages from CEO Steve Wasik, we find that the metal bottles produced all the way until August 2008 contained the dangerous plastic compound BPA. Ad Age uncovers the mystery:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=138712

A lack of transparency within the company seems to be doing just as much damage as the tainted bottles the company has produced. Customers and loyal Sigg buyers may feel like they aren't valued as much by the company when the leadership at Sigg is unwilling to openly display their activities and efforts to get to the bottom of this issue. The company needs to open up and show their customers exactly what they're up to if they want to see any chance of bottling up and disposing of their troubles.