General Mills will be a founding customer of MarketTools, with plans to conduct an increasing percentage of its consumer research through MarketTools applications. The agreement also includes formation of a separate joint venture company that will conduct customized Internet research for firms worldwide. General Mills will take an equity stake in MarketTools, and will own a 50 percent interest in the joint venture company. Based on General Mills experiences to date, the Internet can save as much as 50 percent in the cost of research, and reduce research time by up to 75 percent. We expect the Internet to be the preferred research vehicle for companies around the world in the 21st century, said General Mills Vice Chairman Steve Demeritt.
Internet applications can clearly deliver more efficient research.
More important, by maintaining the same rigorous consumer sampling methods we ve always adhered to, the quality of the research can be higher because consumers tend to be more candid and thorough in their responses. Consequently, we envision a greater degree of interactivity between companies and consumers, which will ultimately lead to better products and services offered to consumers. General Mills is a perfect partner for MarketTools because of their decades of leadership in leveraging consumer insights. MarketTools in turn is helping General Mills take a leading role in utilizing the Internet to facilitate more design and development of new products as well as increase the emphasis on monitoring consumer and employee satisfaction with existing products. Schlegel continued, General Mills is expanding its global leadership in marketing techniques by migrating its expertise to the Internet.