Thanks to everyone who came out for our education event last week. We had an amazing turnout and learned some really great stuff.

Greetings members,

Our sister chapter in the great Northwest is hosting  a riveting education day up in Napa Valley.  Information below, or check out the details on their website.

Silverado Resort, Napa Valley
April 29th-30th, 2010

Pairing the Perfect Vintage:
Cultivating Partnerships in Market Research

In this discussion we will talk about how to be seen as a resource in a competitive business environment. How to provide value through smarter engagement practices, by learning the steps to get prospects and clients to return your calls and respond to other communication efforts. We’ll explore how operations staff and sales staff, alike, can benefit from creating more engaging communication. Guests will be participating in an exercise that will help unfold their company’s core strengths and weaknesses in order to make them stand out from the crowd.

Presenter: Paul Kirch, ActusMR

Paul Kirch has a passion for entrepreneurship, sales and sales coaching. He is President & CEO of his own sales management consulting firm, ActusMR, Inc., specializing in the marketing research industry. Actus is a Latin word meaning “perfection, determination and compliment.” These words define his company’s overall philosophy. In addition to his role within ActusMR, he is an active volunteer within many industry organizations, including the Marketing Research Association (MRA), as a former President of the NorthWest MRA chapter.

Wine Reception Sponsor:		Event Sponsors:

We just wanted to let everyone know that the membership challenge has been updated. The winning Chapters will receive awards which can be raffled off at a future event to raise money for the Chapter, presented to a member or local company for outstanding service, etc.

The awards are as follows:

• Winning Chapter with 10 or more new members will receive a full conference registration to the 2010 Annual Conference in Boston.  This is a $900 value.
• The 2^nd Place Chapter with at least 5 new members will receive a National MRA eNews banner ad for one month (2 issues).  This is a value of $175.
• The 3^rd Place Chapter with at least 5 new members will receive one MRA archived or live webinar.  This is a $65 value.

So please reach out to your colleagues and urge them to join today. SoCal membership form available here.

Read more from

the National MRA site.

Just wanted to inform you that the signup forms are available for the upcoming annual SoCal MRA Holiday Party. We’ve picked up and moved from the Sofitel a few blocks down the street to the SLS Hotel, as recently seen in Entourage.  We’re having a cocktail hour and a tapas style dinner.

You asked for it and we deliver: The Raffle is back, in a bold new way!

Date Friday 12/4/09
Time: 6pm

SLS Hotel
465 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles,California 90048

Early Bird:
Register by November 13^th for $75/ticket
Special rate for party of 10 – $700

Regular admission $85/ticket after November 13^th
Special rate for party of 10 – $800

Special thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible:

• Research Now
• Greenfield Online
• e-Rewards
• Adept Consumer Testing
• Schlesinger Associates
• LA Research
• PeekABoo Research
• Taylor Research
• Frank Magid Associates
• Focus and Testing
• I/H/R Research
• United Sample
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Directions in Research
• Peanut Labs

Click here to download the registration form: SoCal MRA Holiday Party Registration 2009 Form

If you’re interested in sponsoring please contact Shelia Thompson.

We look forward to seeing you there.

We just wanted to remind you that the early bird registration for our Spring Event titled ‘Pursuing a Competitive Advantage’ ends this Monday, February 16th.

We’ve got some great speakers lined up that will provide crucial insights for marketing research during this trying economic time. Sessions include:

• Karen Manne – Online Communities- How Disney uses their online communities to find key insights and develop a competitive advantage.
• Keiko Powers – Data Mining- Learn how JD Power & Associates uses sophisticated data mining tools to analyze data and identify critical issues.”
• Elisa Galloway – How is the economy impacting you? A roundtable discussion moderated by Elisa Galloway.”
• Dan Safreno – Large scale tracking studies- How Intuit uses large scale tracking studies and other research techniques to understand their customer’s needs.”
• Justin Wyatt – Welcome to Hard Times- Marketing in today’s economic environment. Growing your business during hard times.
• Beth Kane & Christie Kawada – Researching Latino Viewers- How Si’ TV and Nielsen teamed up to understand the unique needs of the 18-49 Latino viewer.”
• Merrill Dubrow – Special Economic Panel- How is the economy impacting our industry? An interactive discussion of how industry leaders are dealing with the current economic crisis.” 

These sessions are valid for PRC credit.

The conference takes place the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, NV on March 18 – 20, 2009.

Hope to see you all there!

Irene Gustaitis

Hello SoCal MRA Members,

We’ve experienced some amazing events this year that prompted both celebration and reflection.  In this end of the year letter, I’d like to recap the highlights of 2008 and also give you a sneak peek at what you can expect for 2009 from your SoCal Chapter MRA.
Read more…

Our final event of the year was the Annual Holiday Party held in December at the Sofitel Hotel in West Hollywood.  It was a wonderful evening filled with good conversation, great food and dancing.  A special thank you goes out to the Board Committee that dedicated a lot of time to put together a wonderful event…including the massive leather-boxed tequila centerpieces that were given away throughout the evening.  Congratulations to Ed Sugar who received the 2008 “Research Pillar” award for his outstanding dedication to the field of market research both as a businessman and MRA volunteer. 

Tobin Bailey, Irene Gustaitis, Lee Nizani & Jerome Bettis

In October, our first Hispanic Research Event was held at Café Sevilla in the beautiful coastal city of San Diego – tapas, flamenco and knowledge – all in one evening!  The event received rave reviews, so much so that we may be similar event in the Los Angeles area this year.  According to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, Hispanic purchasing power is expected to hit $992 billion by 2009.  Event attendees heard from Hispanic market research specialists and gained valuable insight on the future trends for this important segment of the population.   We would like to give a special thank you to Dr. Mary Beth McCabe, President of Sun Marketing, who was our keynote speaker and presented her insights into the “US Hispanic Market – Past, Present, and Future.”

In July, our Annual Education Day event was hosted by the prestigious School of Business Management at Loyola Marymount University.  The roster of speakers was impressive and included market research professionals Anthony Patino (LMU), Suzanne Martin (Just Kid Inc.), Christie Kawada (Nielsen Entertainment), Tom Neverill (Storybrand Consulting) and Cynthia Cohen (Verdict Success).SoCal MRA also awarded an “Excellence in Academic Market Research” scholarship to business school student, Lurton A. Gifford.  Congratulations once again Lurton!