1. Communispace Case Study
As a brand manager, I would use Communispace's community service for developing my
products. It would be helpful to have a well represented and established company find valuable
market research for my products. Communispace is the leader in brand market research within
online communities. Communispace has a great reputation and has worked with many high
profile companies. According to Exhibit 1, Communispace has worked with high profile
companies such as Best Buy, Unilever, Pepsi, Kellogg and the Home Depot. In addition,
Communispace is known for developing great relationships with clients and community
members. Communispace allows clients to be very involved in the activity and research process
of their projects. The pricing of their service is also appealing and attractive with service prices
under $10,000. The establishment, reputation and pricing of Communispace illustrate great
reasons to develop a working relationship with their company.
I would use the Communispace service for the development and feedback stages of
launching a new product. Their services would provide information towards branding, valuable
consumer feedback, and the competition of other similar products. According to Exhibit 2, the
main examples of their client uses are product innovation, developing insight, marketing and
brand competition. My company would mainly use product innovation and developing insight.
Insight gathering would be the most beneficial. According to Exhibit 2, insight gathering would
discuss trends, attitudes, preferences and listen to the members main ideas. In addition, one of
the most important features Communispace offers is "qualitative research reports that capture the
consumer insights obtained and that offered actionable recommendations for managing" (Keinan
1) for a specific project. The Communispace service would provide valuable and insightful
information for my project.

2. The Communispace market research tool allows for many advantages compared to other
tools. Communispace has a niche in the research market for their service tool. Some of the
advantages are quality feedback, smaller communities, lower costs and convenience.
Communispace prides itself on listening to both its clients and members in their community.
This allows them to develop and gather quality responses from community members. In addition,
Communispace is a private and smaller based community. The community consists of 350
communities. Communispace believes this specific environment allows for a long-term
relationship, which members believe their input is being heard and develop trust with
Communispace. This market research tool allows for lower costs. Communispace offers their
service for an average price between "$5,000 to $10,000 per project" (Keinan 3). This is a
reasonable price as some internal companies conduct "a broad-based survey of several hundred
or several thousand individuals which could cost from $10,000 to $100,000. And a single focus
group could run upwards of $15,000" (Keinan 8). This online marketing tool is also convenient
as members do not have to leave the comfort of their homes to provide their insights and
feedback. The Communispace marketing research tool creates many advantages to their clients
and members.
The Communispace marketing research tool has some disadvantages compared to other
marketing tools. The most prominent disadvantages are time and inaccuracy of the online
sample. A project with Communispace consists of a 12-month contract, which is a long time to
wait for complete information about a product. Communispace mandates a 12-month contract to
understand "broad insights that evolved slowly, such as how one's brand was perceived over
time, and for answers to pointed questions, such as whether a potential television ad was liked or
disliked" (Keinan 2). This type of contract may be unappealing to some clients desiring faster

3. feedback. Another disadvantage is the accuracy of online members. This marketing tool features
online aspects, which can be inaccurate or deliver concerns. Some concerns with online
communities are the representativeness of the targeted population, gathering enough members to
provide feedback and the identity of members. Respondents can make up information about
themselves and provide unrelated information because there is not a direct verbal or visual
communication from the members. Online communities also propose the problem of
continuously gathering enough respondents to keep the pace of their communities.
Communispace has many competitive advantages compared to their competitors. The
main competitive advantages are listening to their community members and establishing smaller
communities. The Communispace community is purpose-driven and focused on delivering
feedback. According to Table A, community members felt the company truly valued their
opinion. In addition, the members somewhat disagreed on the company not making changes
based on their feedback. This shows members feel involved and "their individual voice mattered
more" (Keinan 5). Another competitive advantage is smaller communities. Communispace uses
a small, private community to gain quality insights and feedback compared to "large public
online communities, such as Proctor and Gamble's VocalPoint with 350,000 members" (Keinan
5). A smaller community allows members to feel more involved and deliver a more personal
environment. Communispace believes a personal environment conveys a greater level of trust
and insight.
The Communispace business model is effective and capable of thriving success. The
business model consists of creating small and private online communities to provide valuable
feedback to product-based clients. The business is designed and developed on the internet, which
allows quicker feedback to their clients. These clients have the ability to observe current

4. community responses by logging into their system. The technological aspects of Communispace
are important as the world continues changing into different forms of technology. As technology
continues to evolve, people will continue to vie for immediate and quicker feedback. The
Communispace business model produces value in their relationships with associates and
feedback from their members. The company works with respected companies and vies to
establish long-term relationships with their associates. The Communispace company is different
than other companies by forming small, private online communities. Communispace is a leading
online market research company and should continue to be successful as they grow with
technology advancements.
Works Cited
Keinan, Anat (2009). Communispace. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.