I think all the research industry should adopt a CFO, because what the CFO wants to know is not whether that ad. tested better than that ad., but does the whole program move us ahead in making brands more valuable in peoples’ lives and therefore dropping to the bottom line. (Alan C. Middleton)

ESOMAR’s 2008 Congress is nearly upon us and in this exclusive preCast, BrainJuicer Chief Juicer John Kearon chats with three of the keynotes about how cultural and technological changes are impacting peoples’ lives, and how the disciplines of marketing, branding and research need to adapt to keep pace with such change.

John is joined by former senior JWT executive Alan C. Middleton, popular anthropologist Grant McCracken, and design entrepreneur Richard Eisermann.

Listen to the podcast here

 STARRING 

• Alan C. Middleton, Assistant Prof. of Marketing and Executive Director, Executive Education Centre, Schulich School of Business, York University
• Grant McCracken, Anthropologist, Research Affiliate, MIT
• Richard Eisermann, Co-founder, Prospect
• John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (host)

Listen to other podcasts in this series

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We likes powerful data visualization. After all, some of the best examples take data to a new level and help move people to action.

But not all applications are worth applying data viz to. In this video, Eric Rodenbeck, founder of design studio Stamen takes us through a few applications that do seem to make sense.

Based on live datasets, these involve Flickr, web 2.0 real estate site Trulia, and a SF Yellow Cab mapping initiative called Cabspotting.

One part we like is when Eric says that they’re not interested in the underlying technology, even though one of their team has developed the underlying software (and even better, made it open source).

You’ll find a much better writeup here, courtesy of Scribe Media, the folks who produced the video (and more besides).

Go here for the video (we couldn’t embed without it playing automatically when the page loaded, which slowed load times for everyone, never a good thing )

Series:AdTalk Series:MarketingTalk

This is the breathtaking handiwork of RT friend Olaf Willoughby, a strategic research consultant who specialises in brand innovation and creativity, and who also happens to be a fine photographer.

We’ve been urging him to put some of his portfolio online and luckily he’s obliged. So pop over to his new website where you’ll find more image goodness as well as some words about his passion to help save Antarctica from the perils of climate change.

…being able to touch wealthy companies and having them make changes …to think much more holistically, will have an impact on people all around the world

 EXCLUSIVE  We like showcasing excellence. So why, you ask, does Anne Kirah deserve this accolade? Because she keeps things simple, she keeps it real. And while that may sound like a cliche, it’s what few clientside researchers do. Yet Anne has managed it at Microsoft. She and her team have got engineers thinking about the people who use their products. One team has even named part of their office Howard’s Corner as a legacy to an octogenarian man who forced them to design products and services for everyday folks and not just the tech savvy. Listen on, it’s inspirational and, as Vinny Jones would say, it’s emotional

 STARRING 

• Anne Kirah, Acting Dean, 180 Academy, formerly Lead Design Anthropologist, Microsoft

Recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006

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