We should not fear social web feedback as a dangerous rival to, or replacement for, structured MR practices. Indeed, a more rigorous approach to harnessing the value of social media can yield real benefits for MR professionals and their organizations. Continue reading »

Recently, we were asked by a research supplier to define “getting the business”. What do clients mean by this and how should research companies act to show that they really do “get it”? Well, here are a few thoughts. Continue reading »

“We’re all doomed!”

“No, this is the age of Aquarius!”

These are, in a nutshell, the two opposing arguments that we hear and read at MR conferences, in the blogs and in our trade magazines. The one group would have you believe that the survey will be dead by 2020 (the title of a workshop at this year’s MRS Conference in London, Research 2011) and that researchers who don’t get that will end up like the dodo. Tom Ewing of Kantar more ghoulishly predicted that the survey (and, presumably, survey researchers) will be the “walking dead”. The other believes that this is just the start of an incredibly creative era in research and that our best years are ahead of us. Which is right? Continue reading »

We all know the story of the cobbler’s shoeless children and the related irony that sometimes those who we expect would most naturally benefit from a situation go without. And as I think about our industry (an occupational hazard), I’m struck by some surprising ways in which clients of market research firms may be going without – and I’m also curious as to how they might feel about that. Continue reading »

The Winds of Change – The Future of Staffing

by Ian Lewis and Lock Collins, Cambiar Partners

The future of client market research departments lies with management consultants, polymaths* and specialists. Management consultants will lead client market research (MR) departments, …