For the third year, GfK MRI is offering free access to its University Internet Reporter (UIR) service to participants in GfK’s Next Generation (“NextGen”) Competition. The annual event challenges US undergraduates in any major to design and execute a market research project, vying for a grand prize of $1,000 and a trip to GfK’s New York City headquarters.

Interested students can request the free trial by writing to nextgencompetition(at)gfk.com.

UIR provides college students and instructors with online access to GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer™ database. GfK MRI conducts some 25,000 consumer interviews each year, capturing extensive data on media use, product purchase, and attitudes and beliefs.

Competition entry forms for GfK’s 2016-17 NextGen Competition are due October 21st; during this first stage, entrants only need to propose a research project. A handful of finalists are later asked to conduct and report on their research.

This year’s NextGen Competition asks students to focus on one of five topics of key interest to marketers today – from understanding Generation Z’s brand relationships to perfecting the “out of box” experience. Selected members of the winning team will visit GfK’s North American headquarters in New York City to present their findings and gain firsthand experience in market research.

Click here to view a video about the NextGen Competition.

Using an intuitive and interactive interface, UIR subscribers (only non-commercial, academic clients are accepted) can access GfK MRI data and organize it in a number of ways. Options include:
•        finding data instantly by keyword
•        creating custom targets using binary logic
•         analyzing 3-year trends for Spring studies
•         developing customizable reports
•         exporting data to spreadsheet
•         displaying only needed rows and columns
•         sorting data based on any target and data variable