GfK launches first market research project in Second Life
Bucharest, November 9, 2009 - GfK Romania is the first local market research institute to launch a research project on Virtual Bucharest, on Second Life social networking platform. GfK Romania has implemented this first focus group in order to explore the opinions, attitudes, motivations, expectations and lifestyle among Second Life users of this platform.
Virtual Bucharest is a three-dimensional virtual replica of the capital in the virtual world and aims to gather within its borders the Romanian community. Already large international companies have developed interesting marketing actions in this environment - conferences, live concerts, product launches and live competitions.
This first focus group in Second Life is part of a unique and extensive qualitative research project that proposed the investigation of the lifestyle of young people aged 15 - 22. For this project, GfK Romania used a mix of qualitative methodologies: classical focus groups, discussions on online forums and the virtual focus group among users of Second Life, where the moderator and the respondents met and discussed exclusively in this environment, transposed in the conference space of Virtual Bucharest.
"We are proud to be the first market research institute in Romania that had this unique achievement: a focus group in Second Life. It is obvious that the younger generations and the opinion leaders adopt new technology very easily. Therefore, any company that wants to know what trend setters think is to be looking for them where they consider interesting to spend time and must explore all the resources of online space, mainly the resources of the social environments" said Oana Mirila, director of Qualitative research of GfK Romania.
The study was conducted during September-October 2009, during the discussions using a series of projective techniques that allowed access to arguments of emotional nature that complement and explain the rational arguments. The participants were selected through a selection process which included a number of previous tasks prior to the participation in the group (filling in questionnaires, discussions with informal groups), based on which the selection was made of those who are looked at and who behave as opinion leaders in the media, groups they belong to.
"GfK has decided to get involved in this pioneering project for Romania in all openness and naturalness, which proves that it is a courageous company, ready not only to join the new media, but also to innovate with their help, adding value to its business" says Aura Tatu, Business Developer Chase Corp.
About GfK Romania
GfK Romania, founded in 1992, is integral part of GfK Group. For over 8 years, GfK Romania has been the number 1 market research institute in Romania. Its activities are structured into four segments: Custom Research - Ad Hoc Research, Consumer Panel – continuous research for consumer goods, Retail and Technology - continuous research for durable goods and Media - qualitative and quantitative research on the consumption of media.
Established 75 years ago as the first market research company in Germany, the GfK Group has today more than 150 branches in 100 countries on five continents. GfK Group is one of the largest research organizations in the world market. For further information, visit the website: www.gfk-ro.com
About Second Life
Second Life was launched in 2003. The Platform has become known worldwide only in 2006, with the entrance of the Embassy of Sweden followed by a series of brands that started to test the opportunities of virtual worlds. Right now, Second Life has over 15 million registered accounts, an economy and own currency (Linden dollars), and the value of the daily trading value amounted to over U.S. $ 1.5 million. Second Life users are generally trend setters and early adopters, people with influence in their social circles and they master social networking tools well. Most of them are producers of content - writing on blogs, using photo and video sharing or producing virtual goods.
Contact person: Raluca Bob, PR Specialist GfK Romania, Mobile phone: 0745 12 12 31; E-mail: raluca.bob @ gfk.com
