Steve Kingsbury and Mike Hess (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        As many as Florida exit pollster could attest, there's often a difference between what people say they do and what they actually do.

        Consumer products companies can operate much more efficiently if they understand what causes a consumer to pick one brand over another. Yet the opinions those shoppers voice to a pollster might not reflect what happens at the cash register.

        Cincinnati's Promotion Decisions Inc. has spent years trying to perfect ways to track and analyze buying habits. Now, its acquisition by Silicon Valley polling firm Knowledge Networks has given the company increased visibility and has joined its capabilities with other cutting-edge survey techniques.

        PDI founder and president Steve Kingsbury said his company's ability to follow the purchases of 1 million U.S. households gives it a technological edge in the market research industry.

REACHING PDI

The company can be reached at www.promotiondecisions.com or (513) 751-8877.

ABOUT PDI

Promotion Decisions Inc. (PDI) was formed in 1984 as part of the BASES/Burke companies, which also consisted of The BASES Group, Burke Marketing Research, The Burke Institute and Test Marketing Group. One of the new company's first accomplishments was development of a sophisticated coupon-testing model.   In 1989, Steve Kingsbury, the founder and president of PDI, led an internal buyout. PDI was able to keep its original team, databases and research models. Then, in 1991, PDI added frequent-shopper data to its analytic and testing services — the first marketing research firm to do so, according to company officials.   Other core research technologies offered by PDI include market response analysis, mix modeling and test marketing. The company employs 18 people and registers annual sales of about $6 million.   In September, PDI became a wholly owned subsidiary of Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, Calif.

        “We can tell when you shopped, what you bought and what coupons you used,” he said. “We can track changes in purchasing behavior, which helps us to understand what is driving a particular brand.”

        Company officials say that last year, PDI worked with about 30 of the country's top 50 consumer packaged goods companies. Clients include General Mills, Kraft, Conagra, Food Lion, Reynolds Consumer Products Group (a division of Alcoa) and A&P. Starting with a universe of about 6 million shoppers who use frequent-buyer cards, the company identified a core group of people who shop regularly at clients' stores. The company analyzes data captured when those buyers' cards are scanned at each trip through the checkout.

        But, company officials say, their expertise does not make them Big Brother.

        “We never know the name and address of these customers,” Mike Hess, PDI's executive vice president, said.

        Added Mr. Kingsbury: “There are very scrupulous protocols governing what you can do and how you can do it, to avoid invasion of privacy. We have to be sensitive to consumer confidentiality so (our clients) retain confidence in us.”

        Mr. Hess said the company must remain objective: “All of us want to be purists with respect to marketing research. Our biggest challenge is to get retailers to share the vision that they can release individual data to a third party and not run afoul of consumer privacy issues.

        “Our holy grail is to help our customers gauge the effectiveness of their advertising, consumer promotions and trade activities, both in the short term and the long term.”

        Knowledge Networks CEO Douglas Rivers said PDI is known throughout the consumer packaged goods sector for the quality of its analysis.

        “This was confirmed by some of our major clients. PDI's national shopper lab, which draws data from frequent-shopper programs, is an integral part of our strategy for linking what consumers buy to what advertising they see.”

        Knowledge Networks selects U.S. households at random and offers them access to Web TV in exchange for their agreement to participate in weekly surveys, which they download from the Internet. The company samples about 50,000 households and plans to double that number.

        Unlike some Internet pollsters, Knowledge Networks uses methodology to sample folks who are uncomfortable with computers as well as those who routinely browse the Net.

        Said Mr. Hess, who has also become vice president of the parent company: “If your survey technique aims only at one side of the digital divide, you're missing a large segment of the population.”

        The Web TV box turns the TV into an Internet appliance, but anyone familiar with a remote control can operate it, Mr. Kingsbury said.

        “Some people who would never touch a PC are finding it very easy to use,” he said.

        “Phone and mail research is dying; you only get 15 to 20 percent participation rates,” Mr. Hess said. “The Web TV acceptance rate is really high, and the response rate to the surveys is about 80 percent. We get more honesty from Web TV than from personal interviews.”

        Getting feedback on toothpaste or pantyhose isn't the only use for Knowledge Networks' technology. CBS tapped into the company's pool of panelists to obtain audience feedback after the second Bush-Gore presidential debate.

        The network also asked for response after the final episode of Survivor. (The results? Fewer than one-third of respondents thought Richard should have won, and 42 percent said they'd be willing to eat cooked rat to win $1 million.)

        In time, Knowledge Networks will ask its panelists for permission to begin tracking their use of the Internet and their TV viewing habits. Mr. Rivers said that information will help advertisers get a “360-degree” view of the consumer.

        PDI and Knowledge Networks say there are many advantages to their union. Knowledge Networks likes the pool of talent available here, as well as the price of office space and cost of living.

        PDI employees now have one foot in Silicon Valley and another in Walnut Hills.

        “I get to work for a dot.com company and still live in Cincinnati,” Mr. Hess said.

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