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The Baldrige National Quality Program announced recently that, based on research provided by the Optimization Group, the program is changing its name to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. The newly-named…

My Mom always said that the best parties are the ones where people do not already know each other. If they are all “office people” they will talk about the…

Traditionally, non-profits have been viewed as “following the pack” when it comes to marketing innovation. Commercial marketers tend to have bigger budgets which allow for greater access to talent and…

Recently, there has been much discussion that social media may drive down the use of surveys and focus groups. Some have claimed that surveys could become obsolete in the next…

A simple question from a client at a recent research presentation. And I’m sure they expected a simple Yes/No answer. But (as you may guess), the right answer is a…

We have tested thousands of marketing messages and campaigns over the last ten years. Why so many? Simply put, marketers want to have confidence that their marketing efforts will be…

Optimization Group was recently invited to participate in an important meeting held by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB). The Board’s mission is to “Establish marketing measurement and accountability standards…

UPDATE: MONEYBALL starring Brad Pitt almost wins the Oscar for Best Picture! Imagine that you are a movie mogul looking for the next big hit. Two screenwriters come to you…

The Coca Cola Company’s vice president of marketing strategy and insights Stan Sthanunathan opened last week’s American Marketing Association Marketing Research Conference with news that he plans to compensate his…

Recently, I was in the car, half listening to talk radio, but mostly in deep think mode trying to develop a topic for this column. Since this is the end-of-the-year…