Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

MEL’s Database of the Week for 9/24/10

September 24th, 2010

Welcome to this feature from the Management & Economics Library (MEL).  These database snapshots will give you basic information about our most relevant and beneficial online resources.

Database name: Mediamark Reporter, from GfK Mediamark Research & Intelligence.

Link: www.lib.purdue.edu/mel, in the pull down Quick Access to Business Databases alpha list right below the Libraries’ search box.

Description/focus: Mediamark Reporter provides demographic, lifestyle, product usage, and media data.

Start with this hint: Mediamark Reporter (use Internet Explorer) requires first-time users to create an account using your Purdue email and a password of your choosing.  After you login and enter the database called MRI+, you can explore the choices under Getting Started, but the real substance is accessed by clicking on Mediamark Reporter in the banner next to the tabs. Once in Mediamark Reporter, click on a Report Volume, such as Fall 2009, then select a Report, such as Travel.  The resulting page displays the default data for that report.  Each time you change a Category (Cruise Ships, Domestic Travel, Theme Parks), Base (Adults, Men, Women) or Target (Legoland, Six Flags, Wisconsin Dells), the numbers in the column on the right also change.  If your goal is to find out which groups are the best potential market for your selected product or service, look in the column of Index numbers for scores that are 100 or higher.  In this example, you can find out that women 18-49 are a big target for Cedar Point, Ohio, and that those who use the Web Site LinkedIn are a huge target for hotel rewards programs. For details about the other columns displayed, email your request to kranlib@purdue.edu.

Why you should know this tool: Mediamark Reporter includes historic demographic data back to 2005 so that comparisons can be made.

How this will help students: A marketing plan should include data on user preferences.  This kind of information is included in SimplyMap (see Database of the Week for September 10, 2010) but Mediamark Reporter displays in a spreadsheet which might be more straightforward than a geographic display to some students.

Cost: Paid annually by the Libraries.

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Database of the Week comes to you from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). Our intent is to give you a brief introduction to a database that you may not know.  If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact kranlib@purdue.edu.  Database of the Week is archived  at https://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/MGMT/.  For more Purdue Libraries news, follow us on Twitter (@PurdueLibraries).

If you would like us to promote your favorite database, send an email to mdugan@purdue.edu.