In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the JMRA, [The JMRA 30th Anniversary - Marketing Research Professionals -] was held at the Imperial Hotel on Wednesday November 9th.

The first section of the conference (Venue: Fuji no ma) started off with a greeting from Mr. Takashi Makita, the chief service executive of the 30th Anniversary project execution committee, followed by presentations on 6 publicly selected case studies of research analysis. Then, a special keynote lecture was given by Mr. Fujio Cho, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Toyota Motors, as well as a couple of messages on expectations and challenges of research by the ‘research users’. From overseas, the chairpersons of the marketing research associations of Korea and China made speeches, which contributed to add diversity to the conference. The final speaker was Mr. Norio Taori, the President of JMRA, who declared the 30th anniversary to be the benchmark of a new start.
1.Special Keynote Lecture ‘Making of people the Toyota way’

Mr. Fujio Cho, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Toyota Motors, gave the keynote lecture. Based on his own experiences along with the history of car industry after the war, he emphasized the importance of: management that cares for people, culture that builds capacity of people, and untiring improvement. An example of utilizing marketing research to become a pioneer was introduced: In response to the research findings made that Toyota was evaluated poorly concerning its engagement in environmental issues, an in-house ‘Eco Project’ was set up. As a result, ever since the launch of Prius in 1997,

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Vice Chairman of the Board
Mr. Fujio Cho
Toyota has been evaluated as the leading manufacturer in this respect. In order for the Research industry to be responsive to the new age and the changing environment, Mr. Cho stressed the importance of ‘build-up of people’, as well as the untiring improvement of research methodology.
2.Publicly Selected Case Studies: 6 Presentations
Among many candidates, carefully selected 6 case studies were presented on new research methodologies and analysis techniques to tackle present-day marketing issues.
1. The Validity of Research Using Mobile Phones
Ipsos JSR Co., Ltd. Mr.Satoru Nakamura, Marketing Department Senior Research executive
Mr. Yusuke Yomoda from Marketing Department
  Comparisons of collection status were presented on: Mobile phone vs. Landline, and Mobile phone Internet vs. PC Internet. In both cases, the collection speed was faster for Mobile phones, but the issues of Mobile phones were found to be: low collection rate of telephone survey due to disconnection, and limited survey volume for the Internet survey.
 
2. Analysis Method of Brand Images by Personalized Questionnaire
  Interscope Inc. Mr. Toshio Sato, Business Development Director
By extracting the reasons for favouring a product (personal merit), and by measuring the importance of each reason, Personal Merit Index(PMI)can be calculated. Method of analyzing the originality of the brand, or analyzing the prerequisites of the relevant product category was presented.

Scenery of Conference(at Imperial Hotel)
 
3. Interactive Research using Blogs
  Dentsu Research Inc. Mr. Hironao Ashizawa, Client Service Department Director
Regarding Home Use Test of daily household products, the use of Blog diaries to let respondents report their usage and evaluations of the product was introduced. The merits were raised, such as: availability of real time data, reciprocal interaction between respondents and researchers, and the digital accumulation of data.
 
4. Brand Value Analysis from Consumers’ viewpoint
  INTAGE Inc. Ms. Yoshiko Takayama, Solution Division Marketing Solution Initiatives Development Senior Analyst, Manager
The structural analysis of convenience stores brand association as an example, a research frame was introduced which extracts brand strengths, differentiating aspects, differentiating aspects to be penetrated, and assured benefits. It was strongly emphasized that this analysis method widely covers the necessary attributes to extract the strengths and potentials of brands.
 
5. Segmentation based on the Diversity of the Sense of Worth
Video Research Ltd.
Mr. Shinichi Tsukahara､Research & Development Division Acting Director
Mr. Gen Tamura, Research & Development Division Assistant Manager
  A case study was presented on segmenting the media by their preference of media, which was done by the Potential Classification Analysis using Video Research’s ACR data. As a result, two factors ? multimedia-oriented, and information-oriented ? were extracted. The possibility of utilizing the Potential Classification Analysis on the data of attitude and awareness was introduced.
 
6. The role of Marketing Research in the CS Management: An example of Real Estate Housing research activities.
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. Mr. Kenichi Yatomi, Customer Satisfaction Promotion Development Residential Development Division Project Leader
  Research and Development, Inc. Mr. Yoshio Oda, First CS Department, Department Director
Among the housing projects of Mitsui Fudosan, a case study was presented on improving the CS by the interaction of CS survey and CS improvement policy. The current issues being the improvement of interactivity with operating actions, and the establishment of Feedback Cycle, it was stated that the case would become a business model centralizing customers.
 
3.Best Presentation Award: Mr. Hironao Ashizawa, Best Paper Award: Ms. Yoshiko Takayama
Voted by the Conference participants, the award winners were announced in the 2nd part of the conference, during Information Exchange. The Best Presentation Award was given to Mr. Hironao Ashizawa (Dentsu Research Inc.) for ‘Interactive Research using Blogs’, and the Best Paper Award was given to Ms. Yoshiko Takayama (INTAGE Inc.) for ‘Brand Value Analysis from Consumers’ viewpoint’.
Mr.Hironao Ashizawa
(Dentsu Research inc.) is
won the “Best Presentation Award”.
 Ms..Yoshiko Takayama
(INTAGE Inc.) is
won the “Best Paper Award”.

4.Messages from ‘Research Users’
Two Messages were presented by the users of Marketing Research.
Mr. Yasuhiro Takami , the General Manager of Meiji Dairies Corporation Product Development Department highlighted the main objective of research to be the reduction of risks making mistakes, some requests were addressed to research firms; sharing research objectives, selecting appropriate method, presenting the survey result with recommendations from ‘different angle’, and managing the panels. It was appealed that the research, which is ‘two-edged blade’ today, should become a ‘better victory’.

MEIJI DAIRIES CORPORATION
Mr. Yasuhiro Takami
   

Kao Corporation
Mr. Kenji Miyawaki
 Mr. Kenji Miyawaki, the Vice President of Kao Corporation Marketing Research Department stated that even though companies invest in research, the success of a new product can only be assured 30-40% and therefore it is important for the researcher to intensify the support for the marketer by participating as a strategist, and as long as both parties have strong will as professionals, various struggles should be overcome.
   
5.Messages from overseas
The President of KOSOMAR(Korean Society for Opinion & Marketing Research)and CMRA(China Marketing Research Association) participated in the conference, and speeches were given about the situation of market research in their home countries.
Mr. Hugh Kwon, the President of KOSOMAR, explained about the marketing research industry in Korea and presented that they had sports event for members of the association. After giving thanks for his invitation, he appealed that the conference should be a benchmark for the co-operation of the 3 countries: Japan, Korea and China.

KOSOMAR President
Mr. Hugh Kwon
   

CMRA President
Ms. Huixin Ke
 Ms. Huixin Ke, the President of CMRA introduced herself in Japanese, followed by explaining the characteristics of the marketing research industry in China. She stated currently there are both ‘chance’ and ‘challenge’; along with the economic development, there is a boost of market needs which is a ‘chance’, but at the same time, there is a need to improve the service standards, which is a ‘challenge’. She also introduced that based on the guidelines of ESOMAR, the guideline has been established for the marketing research industry in China.
   
6.30th Anniversary Conference Special Appeal
After the first part of the conference, Mr. Norio Taori, the President of the JMRA, gave thanks to [30yrs until the present day], and made a speech on the determination towards [the next 30 yrs].
After stating his gratitude to those involved in the marketing research industry, and clients, he stated that the industry was at the turning point. He took the case of a fraud being discovered in a benchmark survey, and upon indicating the Association’s perception towards the case, he stated that the marketing research industry is required to respond to the changes.

JMRA President
Mr. Norio Taori
He declared that keeping in mind ‘What needs to change’ and ‘What should not change’, the industry intends to respond to the changes with courage. In addition, a statement was made that the Association’s activities would aim to disseminate information ‘outward’, and explained that 3 thematic projects are already ongoing, the conference would be held annually, and information would be exchanged between Japan, Korea and China.
 
7.Second section: Information Exchange meeting (Venue: Hikari no ma)
The Information Exchange meeting was also a success with many participants.
The section began with a greeting from Mr. Shigeru Ueda, a member of the 30th Anniversary project execution committee, followed by Kagamibiraki (a Japanese ceremonial custom to strike open the sake barrel before toasting) by the chairpersons of the marketing research committees of Japan, Korea, and China. Voted by the participants, outstanding presentations presented in the 1st section of the conference were announced, and Mr. Kazuo Kobayashi was awarded the JMRA Performance Award, a special award. In an amiable atmosphere, researchers and the clients exchanged opinions with enthusiasm.

The participants of the JMRA 30th Anniversary Memorial Conference consisted of 221 organizations, 680 individuals (73 member organizations - 443 individuals, 48 patron organizations - 88 individuals, 59 general organizations ? 101 individuals, 12 overseas organizations - 13 individuals, 28 invited organizations - 32 individuals).


Information exchange Party (at Imperial Hotel)