# Presentation: 130126

## Slide 1

## Tales from the Trenches

***Behavioral Research***

**Journey into the  Brain**

## Summary..from idea to product

**Summary..from idea to product**

- Learning SBIR program and application process
- Overcoming obstacles
- Connecting with consultants and schools
- Producing, marketing and distributing

## The Idea

- CD-ROM game
- Teaches children, ages 7-11, about the brain and its relationship to behavior
- Grows out of recent advances in neuroscience
- Promotes positive attitude toward proper care of brain

## Market Strategy

**Primary market - private sector**: consumer product for children at home
**Secondary market- schools: **supplemental learning program
**Strategy:** Neuroscience not typically taught in elementary schools

## Learning about SBIR Program

- Read about it in 1980’s
- Noted great and rare opportunity for small business

## Importance of SBIR Program

- Gives small businesses opportunity to translate basic research into new products and markets.

## Contacting NIMH

**Overcoming Obstacles**
-  Minimal evaluation experience
- Not an expert in neuroscience
**Asking Questions**
- Think like a kid
- Don’t be afraid to ask “dumb” questions

## Phase I - test of feasibility

**Journey into the Brain** prototype-introduces children to basic neuroscience content

## Phase I Objectives

- Design and develop **prototype**
- Conduct **formative evaluation** with children, teachers, parents
**Test feasibility** to determine impact on children’s interest and learning

## Phase  I Application

**Finding consultants and advisors**
-  Content consultants and advisors
-  Child advisors

## Building a Team

**Collaboration** is key
- Smart
- Creative
- Flexible

## Phase I funded(now we have to DO this!)

- Pay attention to the Summary Statement
- Building and testing the prototype
- Do more, not less

## Phase I Challenges

**A Weak Quantitative Evaluation Plan**
- Modify the research design
- Find a new research consultant with more quantitative evaluation experience
- Subcontract Phase II quantitative study to University

## Finding Schools for Testing

- Difficult to get into schools at first
- Reluctant because we were working on a commercial project

## More Phase I Challenges

**Stretching the Phase I funding**
- Problem-not enough money for all the software and equipment needed
- Solution-donations

## Phase I Results

- Succeeded in test of feasibility
- Children in  grades 2-5 were more interested in learning about the brain and understood more, following a computer experience than a traditional lecture or no treatment

## Slide 19

## Between Phase I and Phase II

- Keeping the momentum

## Phase II

- 	• Collaboration is key
- 	• Mistakes are the Portals of Discovery
-  		   James Joyce

## Phase II Goal

- Complete the development, production, and evaluation of **Journey into the Brain**

## Building a Team

**Problem:** Getting employees and consultants  together
**Solution**: Leave the office

## Balance Time Away with Time in Office

- Designed program that simplified information about the brain for children
- Helped us learn about our own brains
**Office**: logical, rational parts often took over
**Away**: time to relax into creative, intuitive parts

## How Getting out of the Office Fosters Creativity and Collaboration

- Creative collaboration has time to flourish once freed from daily concerns, schedules, & e-mail
- Tension eases with no emphasis on deadlines
- Tranquil surroundings inspire brainstorming
-  Staff lets guard down away from the office

## Alpha and Beta Testing

- Observed  children play the game in groups and individually and had them talk about what they were thinking
- Helped determine:
- What revisions were needed
- How the program could be more user-friendly
- What children do and don’t understand

## Communicating with Content Consultants and Advisors

- Set up password protected web-site
- Posted various versions of game
- Asked questions to make sure content accurate

## Phase II Research

**Study 1: Schools**
- Compared children who played the game with other groups of children for increases in interest and knowledge
**Study 2: Home**
- Examined increases in knowledge and interest  in the brain resulting from playing  the game in typical, at-home use

## Phase II Research Results

**School**: strong support for increasing interest in the brain and small increases in knowledge
**Home**: substantial increases in knowledge
- More time allowed at home to play the game than in the school study

## De-bugging

**Office**: played “who can break the program?”
**Testing Lab**: tested on numerous computers with different configurations

## Copyrights and Trademarks

**Copyrighted**: **Journey into the Brain©** CD-ROM and source code
**Trademarked**: MorphonixTM, BrainariumTM, some of our characters

## Permissions and Licensing 

**Permissions**: required if using art or content from outside sources
**Licensing**: required if using development tools like:
- Macromedia Director; QuickTime, various  3-D engines

## Public Relations

- Entered Contests
- Awards won include:
- National Parenting Publications Gold award
- Editors Choice, All Star Rating, Children’s Software Review
- Finalist, Educational Title of the Year, Academy Interactive Arts & Sciences
- Winner, Best of the North Bay
- Finalist Time Inc. Health, The Freddies
- Finalist,  Independent Games Festival

**Notes:**
Started PR early in Phase II. 

## Newspaper and Magazine Articles

## Distribution and Marketing

**Publisher versus Distributor**
**Publisher**
- Generally requires exclusive rights
- Does packaging and marketing
- Pays you a royalty
**Exclusive versus non-exclusive**
**Distributor**
- Generally does not  require exclusive rights
- Generally you provide  finished product and packaging
- Buys product at wholesale price

## Sales Challenges

**Problem**: Our Phase III partner went out of business
**Solution**: We had to find new ways to distribute

## Sales Plan

- Set up a store on our web-site
- Did a direct mail campaign
- Placed it in children’s software catalogs
- Placed in local stores
- Worked with several distributors
- Sold to schools
- Sold to libraries
- Sold as reference software

## Packaging and Pricing

**Packaging**
- Designed packaging and initially manufactured 1000 copies of the CD-ROM
**Pricing**
- Based on what similar software sold for
- Gave schools licenses to use  on more than one computer

## Word of Mouth

- Most initial sales were to home market
- Program sold itself
- Schools bought it and told other schools
- School orders increased
- Home schoolers discovered it

## Sales Increase Over Time

- Contacted by large distributor of reference software
- Gave them non-exclusive contract to distribute **Journey into the Brain** under their name
- Sold almost 40,000 copies
- Received royalties

## Summary