Hamlin Harkins, Ltd

Hamlin Harkins, Ltd.

Cascade® Measurement System

- Keys to Reliable Knowledge -

This report provides a detailed description of the Cascade® Measurement System (Cascade®), an exclusive and proprietary research method, offered by Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. The report contains information on: (a) uses of the system, (b) the Cascade® contribution to the field of survey research, (c) Cascade® research approaches, (d) the method’s mathematical and theoretical foundations, (e) and reliability measures. References and testimonials also are provided.

Hamlin Harkins, Ltd.

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The Cascade® Measurement System (Cascade®)

- Keys to Reliable Knowledge -

Table of ContentsPage

TYPICAL RESULTS ……………………………………………………………………………..4

Research Applications ……………………………………………………………..4

HEB Grocery …………………………………………………………………. 4

House Ear Institute……………………………………………………….. 4

James J. Blanchard ………………………………………………………..4

American Lumenetics Corporation ……………………………….. 4

Health Maintenance Organization ………………………………….4

Nation of Israel …………………………………………………………..... 4

New York State Department of Energy ………………………….5

Silicon Valley Manufacturer …………………………………………….5

Community Crime Prevention Organization ………………….5

Michigan United Conservation Club …………………………………5

California Credit Union ……………………………………………………5

Employee Opinion Studies ………………………………………………………..6

User Comments …………………………………………………………………...... 6

HEB Grocery …………………………………………………………………… 7

House Ear Institute…………………………………………………………. 7

Coakley Heagerty Companies ………………………………………..7

Xerox ……………………………………………………………………...... 7

CommonWealth Central Credit Union ……………………………..7

McClintock Metal Fabricators ……………………………………………7

Hill and Knowlton ………………………………………………………...... 7

HomeComputer Software ………………………………………………... 8

ABOUT MARKETING & MARKET RESEARCH …………………………………………..8

Market Research ………………………………………………………………...... 9

Marketing Communications Research …………………………………………. 9

SURVEY RESEARCH …………………………………………………………………………………9

Straw Polls …………………………………………………………………………………..9

Sampling………………………………………………………………………………………. 11

Message Strategies …………………………………………………………………….11

Cascade® RESEARCH APPROACHES …………………………………………………….. 12

Open-Ended Questions ………………………………………………………………..12

Unbounded Fractionation Methods ……………………………………………...13

Metric Multidimensional Scales ……………………………………………….....13

Four Research Advantages ……………………………………………....14

Underlying Relationships …………………………………………………..14

MATHEMATICAL & THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS ………………………………..14

Measurement Theory ………………………………………………………………….. 17

Real Numbers ……………………………………………………………………17

Change Over Time ……………………………………………………………18

A Practical Research Tool ………………………………………………18

Subjective Magnitude …………………………………………………...18

Multidimensional Space ………………………………………………… 18

A Diffusion of Innovation Model ……………………………………………… 20

Risk Traits ……………………………………………………………………… 20

The Diffusion S-Curve …………………………………………………… 20

EXAMINING HUMAN ATTITUDES ……………………………………………………….. 22

CASCADE® COMMUNICATION AUDIT RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS …… 22

CORPORATE CAPACITY ………………………………………………………………………. 24

CORPORATE EXPERIENCE ……………………………………………………….. 25

Partial Client Roster ………………………………………………………………….. 25

TESTIMONIALS …………………………………………………………………………………….. 27

SUMMARY ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

CITATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

The Cascade® Measurement System (Cascade®)

- Keys to Reliable Knowledge -

Cascade® is a proprietary behavioral, market research, and marketing communications research method, developed by Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. It is the world’s most accurate and advanced system for measuring human opinions and attitudes.

Typical Results

Cascade® has been used – successfully – in a variety of different ways by many satisfied clients.

Research Applications

Here are a few specific examples of instances in which Cascade® has provided benefits to specific clients:

HEB commissioned a Cascade® study to improve customer use and loyalty to its pharmacies and increased prescription fills and customer usage and revenues within 6 months.

The House Ear Institute used Cascade® to determine what message platform would best reach young adults about the importance of protecting their hearing from noise-induced hearing loss. Awareness of the issue and attitudes about self-care improved 49% in 6 months. Use of HEI’s educational website about hearing protection increased 48% in 6 months.

James J. Blanchard (the former governor of Michigan) commissioned a Cascade® study to outline the key message strategy for his congressional campaign and secured his election.

American Lumenetics Corporation, a California energy management firm, developed its entire marketing strategy around the message themes generated in a Cascade® study and reduced its sales cycle by eight months (from six months above the industry average to two months below).

Cascade® research was used by a Health Maintenance Organization to achieve targeted membership growth goals, with results that helped attain the five-year objective in less than six months.

The Nation of Israel based a public relations campaign, promoting the increased use of its beaches, on Cascade® results.

The New York State Department of Energy identified key themes for an effective energy communication campaign.

A Silicon Valley Manufacturer of semiconductor equipment recaptured a leadership position in its industry by adopting the marketing strategies suggested by detailed Cascade® results.

A Community Crime Prevention Organization used Cascade® to develop a program which led to marked decreases in reported crimes in Buffalo, New York, over the first six months.

The Michigan United Conservation Club did a one-time study to develop campaign themes which achieved electoral passage of bottle bill legislation in their state.

A large California Credit Union surveyed 500 of its members, with a Cascade® instrument, to develop a marketing program which led to substantial increases in the use of the complete array of financial services offered by the organization.

Cascade® also has been used in strategic campaigns by Intuit, Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola Bottling, Upjohn, L’Eggs Brand Hosiery, NASA, Shedd’s Peanut Butter, Midas Muffler, General Electric Company, Pacific Northwest Bell, Culler Scientific Systems, Leasametric, and Volkswagen of America.

Intuit, Apple Computer, Steelcase, Intel, IBM, Philips, Chrysler/Daimler, BioReliance, Asyst Technologies, National Semiconductor, California & Hawaiian Sugar, Geothermal Food Processors, TeraData/NCR/AT&T, House Ear Institute (HEI), HEB Grocery, San Jose Ballet, Hill and Knowlton, Modesto City Hospital, Outsource Group, Pacific Western Bank, Infant Toddler Day Care Center, Spectra-Physics, Sun Microsystems, Westinghouse Electric, and many other corporations.

Cascade® research can measure the most miniscule of changes and differences in a client’s relevant market.

Employee Opinion Studies

Applications are not confined to external market research studies. The precision and accuracy of Cascade® methods can be applied – with equal effectiveness – to in-house organizational development research.

By coupling a custom-design analysis with a standardized Cascade® comparative assessment approach, this procedure studies a client’s specific concerns and strengths in relationship to directions, patterns, and other trends.

Cascade® values will identify – precisely – where the organization stands; what action plans should be implemented; and, most crucially, on what schedule. No other analytical approach can do this with anywhere near the same levels of accuracy in the waysCascade® can.

The program removes the guesswork from action planning.

Results from the Cascade® analytical process enable a client to establish priorities and step up to the challenges which the company faces. Exclusive modeling methods enable the client to see the best possible pathway to action; they reveal what must be done to improve productivity and organizational effectiveness.

The original application of Cascade®, within General Electric Corporation, was for a 1982 organizational design study. As a result of this work, three members of Dr. Hamlin’s Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. staff received the top award of the International Communication Association (ICA) for that year’s leading contribution to organizational research as well as an award from General Electric corporation for most significant contribution to organizational performance.

Manufacturers, hospitals, multi-national corporations, consumer food processors, and financial institutions are among the many satisfied users of this specific Cascade® program.

User Comments

Here are excerpts from letters which have been sent to Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. by users of the Cascade® method:

HEB: “Cascade® research is a great marketing investment. This proprietary method gives keener insights into customers’ thoughts. But it goes beyond better-honed customer knowledge. It provides approaches you can really implement to create the best message – even the best language to use – for highly effective, target audience positioning and communications. I prefer Cascade® over other research approaches because it gives you a holistic perspective – marketing, human resources and services combined, telling you where you are in the market, where you need to be, and the best approach for getting to that point for best results. Highest marks!”
House Ear Institute: “We were very impressed with the Cascade® method. It is highly comprehensive, thorough and takes market research information a step beyond what more traditional methods can provide. It was highly recommended to us as a proven and powerful research tool, and it lived up to all of our expectation and more. It is ideal for getting to the heart of consumer choices, behavior and lifestyle patterns. It is certainly a top choice for our market research purposes.”
The Coakley Heagerty Companies: “I have been very pleased with the ability of Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. to provide innovative research methods which have resulted in cost-effective solutions to client problems.”
Xerox: Without any qualification whatsoever, I would recommend Cascade® (for either employee opinion surveys, communication audits, or market research) to anyone who wants to learn the real state of attitudes which affect their organization.
CommonWealth Central Credit Union: “We were very pleased with the presentation of the results, explained so concisely and thoroughly at our planning conference. It is the consensus of the Board and Management that this survey was very crucial in this stage of the credit union’s growth. It seems the value of research can never be overestimated.”
McClintock Metal Fabricators: “I know I speak for the entire McClintock team in saying that your advanced research methodologies, exemplified by the Cascade® Measurement System and the professionalism of your people, has been a crucial element in setting the strategic direction of our company.”
Hill and Knowlton: “Repeatedly, your Cascade® system has shown us the keys to development of creative and efficient public relations campaigns. Because your methods provide such a clear path to effective action, we have saved considerable time and effort – for both ourselves and our clients – in avoiding false starts and unproductive message strategies.”
HomeComputer Software: “You displayed a clear-cut, no-nonsense evaluation that reflects a genuine understanding of the software industry. Your research helped us avoid entering a marketplace that would not have been profitable.”

About Marketing & Market Research

In many engineering-oriented firms, especially in Silicon Valley, where Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. works with technology companies, “marketing” often is a term which is either little understood or misunderstood. The most common error involves using the term interchangeably with “sales,” both conceptually and in actual practice. It is an error which can have disastrous consequences in the marketplace.

Marketing and sales are not the same thing!

They are, of course, integrally related. Marketing is a strategic activity; sales is tactical. The purpose of marketing is two-fold: (1) to maximize sales potential and (2) to lower the cost of actual sales.

Strong analogies can be drawn with “development engineering” and “manufacturing” because most individuals readily will acknowledge these are not the same thing either. There are many parallels between “development engineering” and “marketing” and between “manufacturing” and “sales.” In the same way it is virtually impossible to manufacture a quality product unless a solid engineering effort has come first, it is equally difficult to conduct a cost-efficient sales program until a good marketing program provides the sales force with the necessary tools and information to do their job.

Another parallel involves the reality that – to be effective – both “development engineering” and “marketing” must be preceded by accurate research.

In technology areas, this research usually is called “applied research;” for marketing, the terms are “market research” and “marketing communications research.”

Market Research

Studies in this area define the client’s relevant market, and position within this market. They identify potential prospects, the types of individuals who make purchase decisions, the competition, and all important competitive factors.

Such information provides the foundation for marketing communication research.

Marketing Communication Research

Strong market research will identify who in a prospect firm makes the buying decisions; good marketing communication research, such as Cascade®, will tell the client how to get them to buy!

It is a well-known that such decisions, almost never, are rational ones (e.g., “it was the lowest price”). For virtually every product in existence, research repeatedly shows that people buy things on the basis of a set of multiple, interrelated elements which are both emotional and ‘practical.’

This complex of factors which influence buying decisions is dynamic.

Environmental influences can dramatically, or subtly, influence buying patterns for a specific product. Cascade® can identify the key factors that profile the buyer mindset.

The method makes it possible for users to implement responsive marketing programs, i.e., ones which (a) drastically reduce the time required to close and secure sales, and (b) detect and address changes in customer expectations in a timely, effective fashion.

Cascade® is marketing communications research at its best.

Hamlin Harkins, Ltd. is one of three research firms in the world which uses unbounded fractionation methods and metric multidimensional scales for marketing communications research. These techniques represent the third major revolution in the half-century history of professional survey research.

Survey Research

Prior to the 1930s, attitudinal research was pretty much of a catch-as-catch-can proposition.

To the extent that it was done at all, practitioners simply went out and asked a few people what they thought about a specific subject. Then, they acted on the information that was given them.

Unsurprisingly, such actions seldom led to the desired results.

Straw Polls

The first sprinkling of professionalism in survey research came, in the early 1930s, when some researchers figured out their results would be more reliable if they asked a lot of people their opinions, instead of just a few.

These data collection methods are called “straw polls.” While they have some merit, frequently they are inaccurate because they are unsystematic and do not take into account various personal and demographic considerations which, typically, are more important than sheer numbers.

The classic case of thundering failure in straw polling was the famous Literary Digest survey of the 1936 presidential election. The publication, which at that time was one of the most prestigious in the U.S., conducted a telephone poll among thousands of voters throughout the country.

Results overwhelmingly indicated that Alfred M. Landon, the Republican candidate, would trounce the Democratic incumbent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the general election. The magazine predicted flatly that this would happen.

They hardly could have been more wrong.

When the electoral votes were tallied, Roosevelt had 523; the two states which Landon carried (Maine and Vermont) were worth 8. How could the magazine have been so far off? Their mistake, of course, was in not understanding that professional survey research requires a whole lot more than the involvement of lots and lots of people.

The Literary Digest poll was conducted over the telephone, at a time when relatively few persons could afford such a luxury. During the depression years, the only individuals likely to have phones were wealthy; they also were likely to be traditional Republican voters. Indeed, these people undoubtedly did vote for Alf Landon, but the vast majority of the American electorate did not.

The reputation of the Literary Digest was so tarnished by this fiasco that the magazine soon went out of business.

Sampling

Right after World War II, most of the familiar names in opinion polling (e.g., Gallup, Crosley, Roper, Hooper, and Nielson) earned their fame by developing scientificsampling concepts which greatly reduced the cost – and, more importantly, increased the accuracy – of marketing research.

These individuals showed it was more important to select the correct individuals to be surveyed than to select a lot of individuals. In other words, if the market research effort is done correctly, the marketing communications research can be made considerably more cost effective. The two go hand in hand.

Message Strategies

This is the area which puts Cascade® on the crest of the wave which represents the third major revolution in survey research.

Constructed on the theoretical foundation provided by MIT mathematician Warren S. Torgerson (1958), Cascade® demonstrates – with extraordinary reliability – the capability to measure human attitudes with more precision than any other survey system. Cascade® can select, from a myriad of potential features, the two or three concepts which create the strongest buyer attraction. Because it is based on the real number system, Cascade® can attain highly-reliable results from relatively small sample frames – a major plus in keeping costs down.

Until the late 1970s, virtually any survey research firm could tell clients where they stood on a specific issue relative their prospect base. Yet, no one had instruments which – in themselves – uncovered definite strategies for improving their position with such key audiences.

The Cascade® research approach is capable of providing this valuable information.

Cascade® Research Approaches

Cascade® is a proprietary attitudinal research method. Offered by staff professionals at Hamlin Harkins, Ltd., a full-service management consulting firm based inCalifornia, Cascade® has been used – by a wide array of organizations – to identify key messages strategies and other variables which are crucial to successful marketing efforts.

Most Cascade® instruments combine open-ended question, unbounded fractionation methods, and metric multidimensional scales.

Open-Ended Questions

Survey research should include open-ended questions – with associated second-level probes – to identify those key rational and emotional concepts which are important to respondents.

Only rarely can all of the relevant variables be generated in client meetings because those individuals who develop, manufacture, and market products and services have a perspective which is bound to differ from that of their potential customers.

Clients inevitably are committed to their specific product or service; psychologically and emotionally, they already have “bought.” Their primary interest, obviously, should be in the opinions of those prospects who do not have that commitment.