(First published Aug.1/97)

NADbank Inc. has a new logo.

It's a sign of changes now underway at the organization that compiles Canadian demographic, media and marketing data linked specifically to newspaper readership and other media habits for categories of products and services.

If a small town girl from Harriston, Ont., had continued in her early career choices as a music teacher and a pastry chef, NADbank Inc. might not be undergoing the same changes that Rosanne Caron, executive director appointed last February, is hoping to put in place.

Caron plans to put the experience gained in her recent job at Mediacom towards developments that should enhance NADbank's value to its member newspapers and Canada's advertisers. During 20 years at Mediacom, courses in marketing, research and statistics helped her move into business development and research. She held nine various positions there, becoming vice-president marketing and research, with responsibility for several innovations.

"Coming from a small town and helping my father in his retail supply store taught me basic principles that I live by," says Caron. "One is never to assume anything. Another is to keep the customer happy."

They are principles that guided her at Mediacom and continue at NADbank. But however much she wanted to avoid long hours as a chef, she was known as putting in long hours at Mediacom, to the point of being considered a workaholic.

"She's ambitious, a self-motivator, and at Mediacom was demanding of, but good to, her staff," says Yvonne McKinnon of Yvonne McKinnon & Associates Communications, Toronto, and Mediacom's former vice-president advertising and promotional services. "She was always on the lookout for new research ideas. But as a researcher, she didn't limit herself to that field and always made an effort to know people from all aspects of the advertising industry:creative, accounts, media, press, advertisers. I think she genuinely loves the ad business and is interested in what people think when it comes to researching their products or services."

"When I went into outdoor, it wasn't thought of as a primary medium," says Caron. "The challenge was to make it visible and to develop new business, especially in packaged goods. My aim was to leverage research to attract outdoor."

In one study, she developed leverage with partners to measure and quantify advertising on outdoor products. Mediacom and the advertisers shared the cost and Caron negotiated up front with the advertisers so that results could be released. They showed how brand awareness could be tracked and business could result.

Another accomplishment involved customer research. Mediacom had identified companies that weren't comfortable with the outdoor medium. Caron implemented research that would show the kind of creative and variables that influence.

"From there we could develop an outdoor awareness model, with knowledge of the kind of gross ratings points and message style were needed for the media planner to develop an effective campaign," she says.

But 20 years was long enough.

"I knew the newspaper business was restructuring, and NADbank offered a great opportunity to take a solid piece of research and to build on it," she says. "I was surprised to discover how rigid its technical specifications were. It's a good basic product that needs to increase its profile and usage in the marketplace."

One thing Caron noticed when she joined NADbank, which is supported by 42 member Canadian dailies, was its lack of buyers' input at the Board of Directors level. That problem is now solved with a change from 12 members, all from newspapers, to 16 where eight are from the newspapers and eight from advertisers and agencies.

"If there is no input by advertising buyers at the senior level, it makes people suspicious," says Caron. "They ask why they're not involved. Now, by having input, it helps set the direction for future research and enhance the NADbank study, because it's working more as a true partner and giving the right material to help make buying decisions."

Another area where a need has been identified involves awareness. NADbank's profile has been low compared to other research vehicles, says Caron, probably because, after the annual gala event when figures are released, there was no continuous presence. NADbank personnel weren't going out on a regular basis to meet with agencies. This fall, while there will still be major presentations in Toronto and Montreal, NADbank will be more active in meeting agencies and organizations.

"One-to-one meetings give us a chance to give information that's relevant to their clients and to show how it can be used," says Caron.

NADbank is currently working on an advertising supplement for this year's Sept. 15 launch and examining how it can further pursue opportunities to build its profile. To that end, it has established a new publicity committee chaired by Lorraine Hughes, media director at TBWA Chiat/Day, Toronto.

New membership - and fees?

Also on the horizon is a new associate membership of NADbank, open to marketing consultants, universities, governments and others who could use NADbank. Exactly what services will be accessible to associate members and what costs will be involved is still under discussion. (Full NADbank membership allows voting rights, full data access and the possibility of adding proprietary questions to its surveys). Non-members can obtain some data through NADbank members and newspaper sales representatives.

For the next year, NADbank will continue to provide data freely for advertisers and agencies, but fees appear to be on the horizon.

It's a big challenge," says Caron. "Buyers like to get it for free, but they have to pay for research data from others and realize that it's not fair. Part of my job is to make NADbank more valuable and make improvements in future studies so that they'll want it more."

NADbank was stung in Quebec with the move of the Probec papers to a new study by the Print Measurement Bureau that they funded last year after disagreeing with some NADbank numbers. (While there were differences and PMB's study was more extensive in certain aspects, PMB figures and NADbank figures under dispute didn't vary greatly).

Caron wants to see one cohesive study, not two, although the Probec papers are again working with PMB.

"Agencies and advertisers don't want two different studies," says Caron. "It takes time to see the differences, and it's costly for the papers. I'd like all the players to come together, with one standard measurement."

NADbank plans to continue to concentrate on major markets. But after losing a couple of members because of costs and seeing that information on small markets (under 150,000 population) is relatively steady from one year to the next, small market papers now have the option of only being measured every three years.

"This should allow us to increase our small market papers because it will be more affordable for them, and they'll still have some numbers to work with," says Caron.

Long term plans

Caron would like to see NADbank expand its mandate and play a broader role in the industry.

"Right now it's used in various software programs, so maybe we could work with software suppliers to do customized software," she says. 'And I'd like to develop case studies to help sell the newspaper medium.

"I've learned to always be open to new ideas. Our new board has varied perspectives, and I love the opportunities and challenges. Bringing in a new perspective challenges you and lets you see if what you're thinking or doing is right. If you close yourself off from new ideas, you'll find yourself at the end of the road and that you didn't take advantage of opportunities. I've always enjoyed seeing and developing opportunities, and I love working with people.

"Media research must be creative in terms of understanding customer problems, identifying opportunities and finding advertising solutions. Research has changed and is playing at all levels in organizations.

"Media research is no longer a desk job and crunching numbers. You must take the numbers and interpret what they mean in the market, how they can be used strategically by companies to identify opportunities. It's a growing, exciting field . But the excitement isn't in sitting behind a desk. It's going out and applying the information."