ISA President Jacqueline Rosales Answers Cannabis Questions in San Fernando Valley Business Journal

Rosales spoke to the Business Journal about why ISA started doing market research into cannabis, what people are buying post pandemic and why she admires quarterback Tom Brady

ISA’s company president, Jacqueline Rosales, has been featured in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. In her interview, Rosales talks about where consumers are coming from post-pandemic: how the big shifts are centered around self-care and self-sufficiency tools. She believes consumers are really focused on the question of how am I going to do things at home?

Rosales gets very personal when she delves into the details of her history with medical cannabis, which is as a result of being involved in an awful car accident in 2015. Because of her multiple injuries and being laid up for a long time, she found a very good health care team who was able to explore cannabis, which eliminated much of the ridiculous amounts of prescription medications. It was this experience that made her realize the huge opportunity there was to be part of the emerging cannabis industry. Fast forward to 2021, and ISA already has two years’ worth of data, thanks to Green Time, a community of cannabis consumers.

Rosales offered her advice to someone looking to start a business: “Take risks. Fail often”. And most importantly: “People. Hire people who are smarter than you”. When she states this, there’s passion in her voice, “I feel that if we have the greatest team that we can do anything!”

4/20 Celebrations Rebound After Covid

Poll results from ISA indicate significant boosts in dispensary visits, gifting and trying new products for 4/20/2021

There’s a dramatic shift in the way cannabis consumers across the U.S. will be celebrating the 4/20 cannabis holiday this year, according to poll results from insights firm ISA, a Material Company. This year more consumers plan to host friends at home, visit dispensaries and celebrate in public places, such as live events or restaurants. This comparison is based on survey results from another ISA study fielded in April of 2020.

The percentage of cannabis consumers who say they will celebrate the holiday in some way has now outpaced pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2019, 70% of cannabis consumers said they would celebrate the 4/20 holiday. That percentage has jumped to 78% in 2021.

The most significant variance from 2020 poll results has been among people who say they are planning to celebrate 4/20 with friends at home. In 2019, before the pandemic, 58% of consumers who planned to participate in the holiday said they would celebrate at home with friends. That number dipped to 29% in April of 2020, and has now rebounded to 55%, indicating a return to normalcy for cannabis consumers who celebrate by hosting private events.

The findings could indicate the cannabis industry will experience a significant uptick in sales on and around April 20th, with more people venturing out to their local dispensary. The percentage of cannabis consumers who say they will visit a dispensary to celebrate 4/20 rose from 13% in 2020 to 30% in 2021, coming in slightly above the 2019 percentage of 26%. Additionally, more consumers plan to purchase 4/20 gifts for friends and family in 2021, compared to 2020. The 2021 poll revealed that 37% of consumers who celebrate 4/20 plan to buy gifts for others, while 16% reported doing so in 2020. Another positive sign for dispensaries and cannabis brands is that a significant number of consumers (40%) are planning to try a new product as part of their holiday celebration, up from 21% in 2020.

“The cannabis industry grew steadily throughout the pandemic,” said Adriana Hemans, ISA’s VP of Demand. “What’s exciting about the early poll results from 2021 is that cannabis consumers are coming together again for 4/20, seeking novel experiences with new products. Those products could potentially become part of their regular cannabis routines, providing additional growth opportunities for brands.” ISA will continue to gather data and insights from cannabis consumers in the days leading up to April 20th, providing business analysts, industry experts and media outlets with ongoing updates on consumer behaviors related to the 4/20 holiday. Figures presented in this press release are based on three studies – a nationwide poll of 1,001 cannabis consumers fielded April 26th through April 29th of 2019, with a 3% margin of error at a 95% level of confidence; a nationwide poll of 420 cannabis consumers fielded April 18th through April 20th of 2020, with a 5% margin of error at a 95% level of confidence, and a nationwide poll of 420 cannabis consumers with a 5% margin of error at a 95% level of confidence. To qualify for inclusion in all of these studies, participants indicated that they are over 21 years old and had purchased or consumed cannabis in the last 90 days. Participants in the 2021 study were gathered through ISA’s proprietary cannabis research panel – The Green Time.

 

Cannabis Consumers 4/20 Celebration Plans

SoapBoxSample Will Provide Critical Data for USC-LA County COVID Research Collaboration

LRW’s Access Division, SoapBoxSample will assist USC and Los Angeles County with antibody testing and behavioral surveys of LA residents to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of COVID-19

March 29, 2021, Los Angeles, CA — LRW, a Material company will join forces with the University of Southern California (USC) and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) to conduct the Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Study, which is designed to track changes in residents’ health and wellbeing as well as gauge behavioral effects of the pandemic within the region. The complex study of 3,000 county residents will involve multiple touch points – including COVID antibody testing and re-testing at timed intervals, along with surveys to measure residents’ behavioral patterns and test hypotheses significant to public health.

The collaborative project is an early initiative within the Population Health COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center (CPRC), part of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. It brings together multi-disciplinary thought leaders from medical, health and public policy fields of academic research, LA County medical and public health officials and experts in sampling strategies, analysis and research design from LRW’s Access Divison – SoapBoxSample.  Principle investigators of the Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Study include Professor Howard Hu, MD MPH ScD, of the Keck School of Medicine at USC; Professor Neeraj Sood, PhD, of the Price School of Policy at USC; Rani Kotha, JD MPH, of the Price School of Policy at USC; Paul Simon, MD MPH, of the LACDPH, and Will Nichols, MD MPH, of the LACDPH.

“Our partnership with USC and LA County began last year, when SoapBox was brought on as a partner for the first COVID antibody research in LA County. We will continue to provide critical insights as we strive toward restoring normalcy in LA County,” said Jacqueline Rosales, President of LRW’s Access Division. It’s the most challenging yet rewarding work of my 25+ year career in the data insights industry. ISA has been headquartered in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years, and our deep roots in the community make us uniquely suited for this groundbreaking research engagement.”

SoapBoxSample will recruit a representative sample of 3,000 LA County residents, including 2,000 adults and 1,000 children. Participants will be recruited from neighborhoods with high, medium and low population densities. By including a diverse cross-section of the LA community that represents multiple age groups, socioeconomic strata, genders, and the racial and ethnic makeup of the county, this study aims to shed light on the potentially inequitable impact of the pandemic. The overall goal is to generate data on the “true” prevalence of COVID-19 infections, as well as it’s progression over a defined period of time.

Thus far, SoapBoxSample has assisted with COVID-19 antibody testing for over 5,000 California residents. County-wide testing programs in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County and Stanislaus County have leveraged SoapBoxSample to reach and test representative samples of their populations, empowering health officials to develop public health policies supported by critical data.

“Even as the vaccination campaign proceeds and continuing measures such as masking, social distancing and other guidelines are embraced, it is clear that this pandemic has a long way to go,” said Howard Hu, professor and the Flora L. Thornton Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. “A rigorous understanding of the pandemic’s ongoing impact will be critical to devising the public health strategies to navigate this current situation and to allow us to return to some form of ‘normalcy’ as quickly and safely as possible.”

Top 5 Reasons Your Company Needs An Employee Insight Community In 2021

Mike Chavarria, Expert In High Touch Research Approaches: Insights Communities, Mobile Research, and Digital Passive Metering


Who could have predicted that a year into the pandemic, we’d still be doing Zoom happy hours with friends, or changing diapers during conference calls (just me?), or even something that seems so normal now like working from home full time? Let’s be real, when this pandemic hit most of us thought “maybe this will last two or three weeks then we’ll get back to normal.” Seems silly to look back on now. What we’ve all done, even the most inflexible of us, is learn to adapt.

Employers are learning to adapt to this new environment too. According to research conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management 7 in 10 employers have struggled to adapt to remote work, and 2 out of 3 employers say maintaining employee morale has been a challenge. This makes all the sense in the world for those of us used to being able to collaborate with our colleagues in real time, whether it’s in a meeting, at the water cooler, or happy hour after work. It’s also the key reason we’re seeing a major increase in our research clients reaching out with interest in building Employee Insight Communities.

Insight Communities are the fastest growing Market Research methodology because they allow brands to gather continual and fast feedback from their core audiences, all while having an ecosystem that encourages community members to interact and engage with each other, kind of like social media. Predominantly we think about Insight Communities as a tool for customer or potential customer research, but there are a number of reasons they’re ideally suited for employers in our post-COVID world. For brands that want to do multiple things at once – gather critical insights about their employees while keeping them engaged, communities can be a time-saving and cost-effective tool.

Without further ado here are five reasons employee communities are blowing up in 2021:

Employee Engagement

With workers spread all over the place it’s super important to find new ways to keep connections with colleagues online. Most people think of Insight Communities simply as a place to do surveys or focus groups, but the interface is perfect for fun and interactive employee engagement activities. In our own ISA Employee Community we’ve had activities like Pet Pageants, Recipe Shares, and an ongoing Coworker of the Week. All of these activities have helped foster relationships and helped our team feel like a team, even though we’re all spread out.

Employee Pulse and Satisfaction Research

Let’s be real, it’s a lot easier to gauge an employee’s happiness in their job when you’re around them in person every day. Things get a bit trickier when you see each other in Zoom meetings here and there. Employee Communities are the perfect way to track employee satisfaction. Our clients have leveraged them to run quarterly satisfaction surveys, and some have even gone so far as to build Morale Diaries where employees check in each week to share how they’re feeling, what’s working, and what challenges they’re facing.

Ideation, Innovation, and Crowdsourcing

One of the biggest pain points for companies in a remote work setting is losing the collaboration that comes from your face-to-face interaction with colleagues. Using the Ideation Session functionality that comes in some Insight Community platforms such as ours (shameless plug) can help foster that same collaboration that might be missing. The crowdsourcing can run the gamut from perks and benefits workers would like to see, to new product and service ideas. Employees can vote on each other’s ideas, follow each other, and provide their own feedback on new ideas in the comments. Major bonus – your employees know your customers wants and needs more than anyone! Why wouldn’t you want to have a pulse on what they’re hearing from your customers?

Employee Recognition

I’m not going to lie, I miss hugs. I also miss pats on the back, and giving pats on the back. I think it’s safe to say I’m not alone. It’s tougher to give shout outs for a job well done in a remote world. Now, I’m not going to say an Employee Community can totally replace the feeling of an in-person shout out, but being recognized by your boss or coworkers in an online environment can feel pretty darn good too. We have clients who leverage the community interface to announce promotions, and in our own ISA Employee Community we built a “Shout Out” page where workers can give each other kudos for whatever they want. Shout outs for the win!

Advisory Boards and Leadership Committees

It’s very unlikely your company party planning committee is still meeting regularly. On the plus side, that leaves extra party planning budget for next year (goodbye pizza party, hello fancy corporate retreat, am I right?). You’ve likely thought about a Customer Advisory Board, or maybe you already have one in place. Employee Advisory Boards can fulfill a similar function. For those committees still meeting an Employee Community is a great way to connect. The built in Live Chat feature allows for real-time discussion among team members, or even Town Halls with leadership.

In this crazy environment it’s more important than ever to listen and keep a pulse on what’s going on with your workforce. Understanding employee satisfaction, crowdsourcing new perks and benefits, and gathering in-depth insights from your most valuable resource, your team, is crucial to a successful organization. Employee Insight Communities leverage the power of your team members engaging with each other while giving you the research tools you need to truly understand what’s going on in the workplace. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

SoapBoxSample Helps Riverside County Gauge the Spread of COVID-19

Antibody Study Shows COVID-19 May Have Infected 5.9% of Riverside County Residents, to Date

August 3, 2020, Los Angeles, CA — In an effort to understand and slow the spread of COVID-19, SoapBoxSample partnered with Riverside University Health Systems to test a representative sample of Riverside County residents for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies in their blood. The study was unique because it included adults and children aged 5 and older. This test was administered to 1,726 county residents to gain a more accurate picture of the spread of the virus in Riverside County.

Based on the county’s study, officials estimate there have been between 118,000 and 175,400 infections in Riverside County. On the low end, that would be 235% higher than confirmed case totals; on the high end, it would mean a confirmed infection prevalence that is 431% higher than the county’s current total number of confirmed cases. Riverside County has about 2.5 million residents.

SoapBoxSample recruited a random sample of Riverside residents through their proprietary sampling techniques, designed to ensure reach and diversity. Study participants were included via invitation only. Residents were not allowed to volunteer to be a part of the study, so that health officials could obtain a representative sample of the community, which is a critical component of the study. The study showed a positivity rate of nearly 6%, and officials used that percentage to estimate how many residents likely had the virus by applying the positivity rate to the overall population. These results emphasize the need to practice safe social distancing by wearing face masks and keeping 6 feet of distance from others.

“It is an honor to work on such impactful point-in-time research. We are incredibly proud of the work we’ve done here, assisting Riverside County with understanding the true spread of COVID-19 within their community. We will continue to partner with county officials, medical professionals, scientists and epidemiologists. We have a lot to learn about antibodies beyond just the prevalence.” said Jacqueline Rosales, SoapBoxSample COO.

“We continue to learn new information about coronavirus, and this survey adds important research to the growing knowledge of COVID-19,” said Riverside County Board Chair and Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez.

SoapBoxSample attracted attention from the local and national news media last March when the results of their serosurveillance study of Los Angeles County was released. The study, which tested 863 LA County residents, revealing a positivity rate of 4.06%, was conducted in partnership with the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Department of Health. SoapBoxSample recruited the participants, developed the research instrument and designed the results portals, where residents learn the status of their tests. Read the full article in the Journal of the American Medical Association here.

Business Insider Showcases COVID-19 Antibody Research by SoapBoxSample

SoapBoxSample’s Antibody Study Gets Featured

In an article published on May 22, 2020, Business Insider highlighted the COVID-19 antibody research conducted by Los Angeles-based insights firm SoapBoxSample. Business Insider is a well-respected business news media outlet focusing on tech, finance and American industries.

Article Excerpt:

“In mid-April, Los Angeles tried to understand the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic by asking hundreds of residents to get drive-through blood tests. The results found that estimated infection rates were “28 to 55 times higher” than the number of officially reported cases, but that the virus was also probably much less fatal than previously thought. These tests were the product of an unusual collaboration between the LA County Department of Public Health, the University of Southern California, and 50-year-old consulting firm LRW Group.

LRW Group is best known for consumer sentiment research that clients like Google, Facebook, Disney, and Starbucks never publicize. For example, when an auto company wants to let people test drive a new model and weigh in, or a household goods company needs to see how consumers respond to the smell of a new fabric softener, they often hire LRW Group’s consumer research division SoapBoxSample, according to president Jeff Reynolds.”

[button open_new_tab=”true” color=”accent-color” hover_text_color_override=”#fff” size=”large” url=”https://www.soapboxsample.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Business-Insider_How-a-consulting-firm-thats-done-research-for-Disney-and-Google-helped-Los-Angeles-develop-a-COVID-19-testing-strategy_5.19.20.pdf” text=”Read the Full Article” color_override=””]