Roll International Co-Chair Lynda Resnick explains how she uses new media to connect with customers.

Question:rnHow important is research in business?

LyndarnResnick:            Researchrnhas been so key to me, my whole working life.  What we use to pay for research and the time we would waitrnto get the answers, by the time a research study came back tens of thousands ofrndollars later, you’d move on almost. rnIt used to take forever.  Irnwould say that we must have a couple of research projects going every week atrnone of our different companies. rnResearch is free today compared to what it used to be. 

Andrnif you have a website and you know who your market is, then you can researchrnthem, you can make them part of your new product development, you can take carernof them as your ambassadors.  We dorna lot of that.  But if you don’t,rnif you’re just starting out in business; you know about Zoomerang.com?  For $20 a month, you can do endlessrnresearch on that site with your demographic group, the age group, the level ofrneducation, and so forth.  You canrnask all kinds of questions to find out if you should market this betterrnmousetrap that you just invented. 

So therernis no reason; one of the reasons I was into research so much when I was a kidrnis I use to date a guy that worked at Rand and he was a researcher.  So he helped me with my research.  And then, as time went on, I developedrnin house research.  But today,rnthere’s no reason why everyone can’t do research before they go out and take arnchance.

Question:rnHow has transparency affected your business?

LyndarnResnick:            Thernold idea was that when you’re getting hit over the head in the media, just putrnyour head down and wait until it passes. rnThat was the conventional wisdom. rnWe were attacked by the PETA people because in order to do testing onrnhumans for pomegranate juice. And we have spent millions and millions ofrndollars with Harvard and UCLA and the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic andrnso forth and so on, all these great universities and scientific centers.  But you go from a test tube, and thenrnyou do experiments in rats or mice, and then you go to humans.  It’s just part of the scientificrnprotocol. 

Andrnthey [PETA] came after us.  Andrnwhat my husband and the legal experts decided to do was to fight it in therncourts.  Well, 8 months later,rnthey--not PETA so much, but the animal activists that are a fringe group--wherernparked outside of the houses of my innocent employees with foghorns, screamingrnobscenities, calling us murderers. rnThere were bomb threats at the building. 

Theyrnhad gone on the Internet, saying, they had poisoned 500 bottles of juice on therneastern seaboard but they wouldn’t say where.  People were dumping our juice. 

Irnwent into the office one day and my employees who are a happy lot were sorndepressed.  They [the protestors] werernalso outside of my house but it didn’t get to me the way it did if somebody isrnright on the curve and your house is right there and they’re whispering in thernwindow at night, we’re going to get your kids. 

Now,rnwe had stopped animal testing 6 months before this.  But I went to my husband and to the legal people and I said,rn“I’m taking this over.  You canrnfire me if you want to but I’m going to fight this on the Internet. I’m goingrnback to the people.” 

AndrnI wrote a letter to my retailers that I posted online, posted on every blogrnthat was talking about it, our own blogs. rnWrote to the consumers, told them absolutely the truth about we’d stoprntesting 6 months ago.  We were notrngoing to test juice again.  Why werndid it; the mice and the rats. rnThere was one rabbit study for erectile dysfunction.  You wouldn’t think rabbits would be arngood choice but be that as it may. rn

Andrnwithin one day, the animal activists stopped.  Two days later, we made a deal with PETA.  Now, we work with them.  And we give money to the cause to findrnways to test. 

Question:rnHow do you use social media?

LyndarnResnick:  I just hired a community media czar for the companies.  Because every group is doing it but Irndon’t want to reinvent the wheel every time we go out there.  And so, I’m so committed to it.  It’s not like running an ad with arncoupon, you’re going to go and count the money coming in.  It’s just not like that.  But if you are value based, if you arernunique, if you have ultimate transparency, then you go out and become close tornyour consumer.  Let them help yournbuild the business.  You help them,rnthey help you.  The dialogue.  I want to become a part of the fiber ofrnthe dialogue even more so.  So thatrnis my next real effort, corporate effort, if you will, across all brands.

Recordedrnon: March 17, 2009