Roundtable review: spring insights ahead

Original article by Crispin Beale at the Insights Association first published on 12th April 2022

As the dregs of April showers begin to subside, spring is in full swing, bringing with it new growth and opportunity.

The success of our work is in the impact it has - or doesn't have. Research has no value until it's used.

Crispin Beale, in the Insights Association Roundtable Review, approaches experts in market research from across the globe, to hear their thoughts on what is driving research forward this year:

“I hope you find these fourteen global perspectives as fascinating as I did…Great work is happening in our sector and these innovators and leaders shared their perspectives on the following question:

‘As market research becomes increasingly important to businesses, what methods, tools, approaches or aspects of the discipline do you feel are helping to drive this growing acceptance forward within both companies and industries?'”

Richard Colwell, Owner & Chief Executive Officer, RED Research (Ireland)

“I think we are moving into a really positive phase where companies are truly realising and appreciating the real skills we as market researchers have at reading and analysing data and research. Our strong data mining skills, coupled with new technologies such as AI, enable us to provide real solutions for business now sometimes overrun by data themselves. At the same time passive monitoring of emotional response, such as facial coding or biometric testing, adds another layer of deciphering human reactions that take our understanding to another level. Our ability to tie this all together with great storytelling is more important than ever in my mind, and upskilling in the area of storytelling is vital for us as an industry, to make sure this great data analysis and understanding cuts through at the very highest level.”

Seyi Aedoye, Chief Executive Officer, Pierrine Consulting (Nigeria)

“The availability of market research tools and approaches that are able to provide much needed guidance when business growth decisions are to be made are taking the lead in growing overall acceptance within client businesses. Broadly, MR innovation related approaches have helped businesses break into new markets and categories with great level of certainty. Also gone are the days, when you have to convince business/brand owners to invest in market or category understanding work, like usage and attitudes studies, brand tracking, CX/HX/UX etc.; clients now appreciate the immense value these approaches deliver to their businesses.”

Lonneke de Roo, Senior Vice President of Customer Success, Behaviorally (Switzerland)

“Any tool or method that can provide agile and reliable answers to the business questions of our clients in an efficient way. Here the role of innovation and artificial intelligence is critical. Let’s say spring is the period of the year for giving birth to new ideas…more daylight and open windows typically favour creativity. We need to constantly challenge ourselves in what we’re doing and how we can drive efficiency in the learning processes of clients – both in terms of time and money – and contribute to important business decisions. When I started in this industry more than 20 years ago, I would not have been able to imagine that today we can deliver great consumer insights in a few days.”

Mariela Mociulsky, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Trendsity (Argentina)

“Working in a truly cooperative way between regions, agencies and clients to achieve change in the positioning of our industry can be tremendously valuable. This will be increasingly important as time goes on. We, as individuals, cannot do it alone; the spring forward is to be able to work as a network to achieve full potential.”

James Endersby, Chief Executive Officer, Opinium (United Kingdom)

“Machines and tech are vital, but if our profession is going to thrive in the boardroom, we must ensure that we continue to put equal energy, focus and investment into developing our people. They will be the ones our clients turn to as trusted advisors; they will be the ones who are able to communicate that one nugget of insight that changes a brand’s fortunes forever.”

Marcin Godlewski, Vice President of Product, mTab (Poland)

“A lot of the innovation driving the industry forward is focused on applying advanced technology to help the researcher become more effective and innovative in how they extract insight and understand markets and consumers. This is creating a paradigm shift where technology is enhancing the efficiency of the experts so they can deliver more in order to drive success. This not only elevates the utility of research, but also the impact of the researcher within the organization.”

Ed Clarke, Market Research Director, Microsoft (United States)

“Market research organizations have changed their orientation from solving research questions to helping solve business questions. This subtle shift in words has dramatic implications on the overall approach and value delivered by research teams. When a research team is focused on the business question, there is a completely different level of knowledge required, information sources utilized, and recommendations provided. Research teams that do this well, don’t have to ask for a seat at the table.”

Nick Baker, Chief Research Officer, Savanta (United Kingdom)

“The success of our work is in the impact it has – or doesn’t have. Research has no value until it’s used. The laser-like focus on driving the commercial impact of the sector’s work is the most important development (and development requirement) out there right now – through better storytelling and audience engagement, the use of multiple media formats in the delivery of our messages, insights and implications. Breaking out of the methodological hothouse and into the commercial realities and discourse is what is driving the greatest successes – and will continue to do so more and more.”

Read the full article by Crispin Beale here.