Mercedes Web Site Now Gathers Consumer Sentiment
Acquia partner TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres, London), a market research and consulting company, has leveraged Acquia Commons social business software to build an award-winning Mercedes-Benz social community Web site.
TNS won the Best Study 2011 award from the German Association for Marketing and Social Research for the development of the Mercedes-Benz site. The award honors innovative and creative new studies in the field, with special attention on projects with measurable results.
Using Acquia Commons, TNS built the Mercedes-Benz community Web site Stars Insight, the first online market research community in the German auto industry. Stars Insight takes advantage of social media and Web 2.0 dynamics to conduct consumer market research on its target market of drivers of compact cars between the ages of 20 and 45. The website includes questionnaires, moderated discussions and forums, chat, a media gallery, ideation contests, creative competitions, ratings, and comment areas.
With Stars Insight, Mercedes is now able to pilot test marketing materials and advertisements to their target community. Their ideation contests allow them to solicit key customers for desired features, support and services, while the rest of the community provides feedback through votes on what they like. This allows Mercedes to react to the needs of their market in a timelier manner than ever before.
"We are proud of this honor for our partner TNS, a true expert at building this type of online community, and are thrilled that our Acquia Commons is helping revolutionize traditional business processes," said Tom Erickson, Acquia's CEO. "The Mercedes-Benz Web site is a great example of how large enterprises and luxury brands can take advantage of social software to build communities that help drive their business."
"Our work with Acquia to create the Stars Insight Web site has been a complete success," said Thomas Wachter, TNS senior consultant and automotive market research team leader. "Acquia Commons allowed us to quickly build this Web site while adhering to Mercedes' strict brand guidelines and maintaining the flexibility needed to support TNS's strategic requirements," Christian Bauer, head of Mercedes-Benz Communication Insights, agreed. "The continuity of the online community and the interactive integration of its members provide numerous benefits for Daimler AG: We can get to know a broad section of this target market, we are completely flexible in the content, various methods can be combined, and we can validate our results directly with the community itself."