• by Staff Writers , September 5, 2008

Finalist - Research/Consumer Insights

Spark: Karen Coleman, senior vice president, media director; Shelby Saville, senior vice president, media director; Miraj Parikh, media director; Jennifer Nolan, associate media director; Joseph Nunziante, associate media director; Rachael Gutierrez, supervisor. E*TRADE: Nick Utton, chief marketing officer; Jamie McClelland, senior vice president, marketing; Lea Stendahl, senior director, advertising; Alison Mittelstadt, senior director, online marketing; Craig Shiffrin, Dawn Burke, senior marketing managers.

Ever wonder what type of people participate in fantasy sports leagues? The E*TRADE account team at Publicis' Spark Communications unit did, and conducted some research that identified a unique consumer insight: E*TRADE's uber-competitive prospects are also avid fantasy sports leaguers, and managing a fantasy sports team is a lot like maintaining a stock portfolio.
The insight, gleaned from a proprietary Spark study ranging from soccer to fantasy sports, led to a unique opportunity: a "fantasy stock" segment on the NFL Network's Total Access that helped fantasy managers make better decisions. The buy was supported by an interactive tool (the CBS SportsLine "sticky note") developed by the Spark team that enabled consumers to communicate while managing their portfolios, whether they were making genuine stock orders or fantasy sports trades.