CTC Names Jen Hanson a Finalist in the Women of Innovation Awards!

Jen Hanson has been named a finalist in the 2009 CTC Women of Innovation Awards in the Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership category! The winners will be honored during the fifth annual Women of Innovation awards dinner on January 29, 2009.

For more information: http://www.ct.org/WOI_2009.asp#Finalists2009

Below is Jen's nomination:

Please explain generally why this nominee should be considered a Woman of Innovation.

Jennifer Hanson is the market research industry’s Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford:  she has led a quantum leap in the field of market research, creating one of the first, and most effective, post-cognitive research approach and technology systems, Quantitative Anthropology.  Unlike self-reporting, which relies on people remembering what they do, or short-term observation, which relies on a mere snapshot of consumer behavior, Jen’s company, Realsight, uses video cameras to observe everyday behavior over an extended period of time, putting companies inside the real daily lies of consumers for thousands of real usage situations. Comparing these observations with participants’ interactive online diaries, and then applying proprietary scientific and anthropological methods to quantify the patterns hidden in the thousands of qualitative observations of common everyday behavior, Realsight uncovers patterns that connect consumers’ intentions with their actions.  It is in these patterns of behavior that Realsight discovers the unmet needs of consumers, provides insights into product, packaging and positioning opportunities that lead to 40-60% more growth opportunities for its clients.

Please provide specific information relating to the judging criteria for your nominee.

The daughter of an entrepreneur, Jennifer Hanson always dreamed of starting her own company.  She spent 12 years in the trenches of market research and innovation at companies like PepsiCo, Diageo and Kraft, identifying growth opportunities and developing ideas that others missed by questioning the status quo, pushing the boundaries and reinventing commoditized innovation practices and techniques.  Like many marketers, she found herself growing increasingly frustrated with the decreasing quality of research information, which then negatively impacted the ability of her brands to innovate and bring successful products to market.  She began pursuing a new way to gather information, one that would be more accurate, more reliable, and save money in the long run.  In 2006, driven by her passion like so many other entrepreneurs, Jen mortgaged her house, maxed out her credit cards, and launched Realsight in her garage.  Today, with its patent-pending research approach and technology system, Quantitative Anthropology, achieving results for leading brands, Realsight employs 17 people and counts industry giants like Kraft, Nestle, Avon, Sara Lee, and Cadbury Adams among its clients.