Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday September 15 2002 — All M odd Msgas four mar tot research oosiiniessGS By Deatree Hunter Associated Press Writer LAS VEGAS— Linda Pulido visited Las Vegas last month never expecting she’d help decide who'd be the next anchor on a morning television news show But in true Siskel and Ebert style Pulido gave her opinion about who was hot land who was not during a screening at CBS’ Television City facility at the MGM Grand hotel-casin- o '¥' iisrsm '- - X‘ ' 3 : f y 4- o' V V -' K if iirt - ¥ ill ' Strip- ' £ far i 5 V' J?: Vt W i - AP photo o last month in Las Vegas Researcher Maria Marino waits for passers-b- y at CBS’ Television City facility at the MGM Grand Industry officials say Las Vegas is becoming the city of choice for market researchers to gather data on consumer views on products from pizza to diapers and on media offerings from television shows to advertising commercials: With an estimated 36 million tourists a year the city is a breeding ground for market research gold: consumer opinion hotel-casin- market research makes sense said Nancy Costopulos of the American Chicago-base- d Marketing Association-“Peoplgo to Las Vegas for a reason and that’s usually to be entertained" she said “So by testing people who are there seeking entertainment you have a steady stream of consumers who are right for your test market” With its popu-latio- n in addition to tourists ' from across the nation Las Vegas also brings an instant fast-growi- ng : opinion j Vegas as a haven for of the country to one location Analysts say it ' also provides a fresh test mar- -' ket in which consumers haven’t been surveyed as much as those in Los Angeles or New York Ten years ago CBS set up a temporary test site in Las Vegas to supplement its other test cities and found a perfect match Last year the network cross-secti- on City a permanent site in the MGM Grand in which consumer critics like Pulido can screen new opened-Televisio- printer Johann Gutenberg who “sought to take print materials to as many people as possible” Software Lacy says Now LetterPress reaches the world and at times the partners feel like they’re sitting on topof it For an hour or so they talk technology in rising voices and fire feeling was they could go on for hours more As Drake says “It doesn't take much to get us going ” What music is to the three tenors software is to these three entrepreneurs Even after wading through stacks and stacks workforce information in prepaof ration for training the counselors Peterson says “It’s exciting to know that a year from now 700 employment counselors throughout the state will be using things we made! You can’t help Continued from A10 of Georgia regarding parenr and teacher training Utah State University is also a partner in a project promoting agriculture to children The Cache and Logan School Districts as well as The American West Heritage Center are cooperating on historical software In fact LetterPress products have Cache Valley stamped all over them Valley teachers write lessons artists contribute graphics and USU students work as interns Yes LetterPress might be more in the buzz in Salt Lake City Drake says but being in Research Park is profitable as well “We’ve gotten several projects specifically because USU is very good about showcasing Us” Lacy says There is all that synergy out there in Innovation Campus — for instance LetterPress is partnering with neighboring Safe Food Institute to create lessons to teach food safety to grocery store employees and to children nationwide “And Spectrum Consulting next door” says Lacy “We create products and drey research it — wow what a great partnership!” “Having an address like Research Park Way doesn’t hurt” Petersen adds If LetterPress woe not in Cache Valley and therefore did not have Mark Lemon as a designer well the founders can’t bring themselves to think about it Adrienne Robson and Dave Smellie are the graphic artists who tell the bosses that their ideas may be OK but their visuals need work “No one in our company needs to be managed” Lacy says Maybe not but it’s safe to say that no one could manage without Sallie Petersen die office manager “When we started five years ago” Lacy says “companies would ask us ‘How do we know you’re going to be around in a couple of years?’ Well we didn’t know Now we say to businesses ‘We’ve been around five years and what we want to know is if we work for you will you still be around?’” The answer too often is no but that wasn’t apparent in 1997 when tire three graduate students from Utah State's Instriictional Technology Department decided that from this valley they were not going “We fell in love with Cache Valley” recalls Drake who is from Orem “But in our field ‘ there are no jobs for people with masters or higher degrees You have to go to a city to get a job and we didn’t want to do that? At USU they had been creating instructional software and elected to go right on doing that only off campus As Petersen points out “Why stay at USU and have them take their cut?" The name LetterPress is a bow to pioneer 'irf--i-rT-l- dry-as-d- but get excited” The enthusiasm is in contrast to the sobering 'scenes elsewhere of former colleagues at USU treking from company to company “like migrant workers” as Petersen puts it “It’s not uncommon to have a new job every couple of years in this industry” Drake says When companies downsize he explains training programs are usually the first to go An outside source like LetterPress can help fill that ' need theme BringLacy takes up the ing 700 state employment counselors together for a week or so would be “horrendously costly” he says But software allows those counselors to learn at home convening on the cheap only for a few days at the end But these three didn’t come out of USU’s College of Business They’re from the College of Education and they are liveliest when talking about the classroom Frankly there are la lot of things a teacher doesn’t want to do” says Drake “Repetition Asking a question three different ways When a student is with a computer it’s one on one The teacher doesn’t have time for The creative part of what we do is take principles 6f instruction and translate them into a computer environment” Lacy says “We don't want to replace teachers but to lay a foundation If I can illustrate with graphics add sound effects layer text and audio and video and music we can create an fcmotional experience” “Engagement at Bear River” works he says because of emotion The battle itself plays out bn the screen leaving students to debate whether the neutral wind “engagement” really was a “massacre” Previewing die program Ins daughter Sarah 16 watched with mounting dread “Oh no!” she said when it became apparent that this ending would not be happy Of all the focus groups LetterPress facqs incidentally families can be the most intimidating Focus groups don’t cry out “Boming!" But in fairness that word doesn't fit Letter-Pre' television shows and movies and participate in focus In addition to coupons for percent off CBS merchandise and Other freebies the experience gives viewers an opportunity to perhaps change television programming That attracted Paul Rudzins-k- i of Austin Texas who like most TV viewers has a few gripes about what’s on tire tube “If it’s about cops lawyers or doctors I’m going to be automatically against it” RudzinskL said before going into a screening at Television 10 '' groups The diversity found in Las Vegas was a big draw said David Poltrack CBS executive vice president of research and programming “It’s something you can’t do anywhere else but Vegas because of all the demographics" he said “The MGM Grand is particularly good in that regard because its demographics are right in the middle of the spectrum” ' Consumers' conclusions about products services and shows can be the deciding factor in whether companies pursue their projects or try something else With so much riding on the test results market research companies sometimes go to great lengthsto keep client projects secret MRCGroup conducts research for clients in a variety of industries on products that include chocolate diapers slot machines and kitty litter the Medicks said Tire company's employees sign confidentiality agreements when working with major clients Once all the stops had to pulled out during consumer testing for a large pizza chain Lee Medick said! “All the pizzas had to be out of tire boxes' all the boxes : had to be wrapped in paper bags and I had to be escorted out to the trash receptacles to throw stuff away" she said Some clients even use so encryption coded their communications with MRCGroup can’t be intercepted lest the competition know the ingredients of the latest pizza topping or TV sitcom- - The Association records ancestral information and keeps production records on individual animals for its members These permanent records help members select and mate the best animals in their herds to produce high quality efficient breeding cattle which are then recorded with the American Angus Association Most of these registered Angus are used by the US farmers and ranchers who raise high quality beef for US consumption In ft vate companies in Utah Each of the companies were from a different industry but all had common links in being privately held As a privately held company each was relatively free from the fashions and moods Of the marketplace! Larry W Miller has been honored recently as Entrepreneur of the Year Small Business- man of the Year has been a past president of the Utah Transportation Association just to mention a few He believes in making service as easy to access as possible to the widest variety of customers He has expanded in areas of his expertise and kept his focus on the direction he wants his companies to go “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell” — Anon Larry -- top 100 In a recent issue of Utah Business magazine LW Miller Transportation was listed as cme of the top 100 pri- - ' 7 believes in staying in touch with the cme purpose of the company and building from there Guidelines The People in Business column appears each Sunday in The Herald Journal to highlight the accomplishments of local businesswomen and men Items are published in the order in which they are received on a le basis and may not necessarily appear the week in which they are submitted The Herald Journal reserves the right to both edit and refuse submissions and cannot guarantee that submissions will be returned For more informa' tion phone 1 and ask for Jeremy Pugh space-availab- 7S2-212- cost-cutti- ng Insurance affordable flexible backed by good neighbor service one-on-on- e” K Lana Powell 550 N Main Street Suite 220 Logan UT MarkWeese 1 40 WSkyridge Circle Suite 7 435-753-50- 60 435-752-76- 39 V Ron Brown LUTCF 1260 N 200 E Suite Logan UT Logan UT 435-752-84- 44 like a good neighbor State Farm is there statefarmcom" Sate Firm Mutual Automobile Insurince Company Home Office: Btoomingtoii Uinoii ' INIVIAMC CalJhrdeUdbon cmvtugr oxfi mMctiom and mmmbttity ss M8414 1M0 ' - People in business Continued from A10 “ rs who enjoys comedies “But the only way that will happen is if people don’t watch the shows with the sex and violence in it" Feedback like that from Rudzinski and Tucker-Saun-deis exactly what media executives crave NBC is looking join the Las Vegas action and is negotiating with MRCGroup to open a site similar to Television City at another hotel on the Las Vegas "V'' Jb ''y Tucker-Saundc- rs t With an estimated 36 million tourists a year Las Vegas is becoming the city of Choice for market researchers to gather consumer opinions on products from pizza to diapers and on media offerings from television shows to advertising commercials “That’s what drives this industry" said Lee Medick president and owner of MRCGroup Research Institute “Companies make million-doll- ar decisions based on what people think” Finding out what people are thinking is a booming industry that generates an estimated $61 billion annually Dollars spent on market research have grown steadily since 1991 except for dips in 1996 and 2001 said Larry Gold editor and publisher of Inside Research a Chicago-base- d industry newsletter When Medick and her husband Jim who is MRC-Group-’s chief executive officer and managing director moved their com- pany to Las Vegas in 1996 others in the industry were shocked Jim Medick said But the Medicks found only a few similar companies in Las V T-5- ! sex” said j where" University rs f ' i too-Mor- I 1 ' “I thought it was pretty cool I’d do it again" said the Laredo Texas resident “It makes you feel like maybe your little opinion might mean something and might count to some big corporation some- - Viegasand avirtually untapped source of consumer City “That’s all there is on TV today” Laugh tracks — when laughter is dubbed in — get a thumbs down from him wholesome family oriented shows should be on TV said Phyllis Tucker-Saun-deof Laurel Md “There needs to he more shows like Cosby and less Vf V i |