Notable mentions
Altus Group Income Fund.
BuzzLogic.
Cagney
Cello
Colin Buchanan
Doane Marketing Research
DVL Smith
Enalyzer A/S
erinMedia LLC
Experian
Facts International
FirstService Corporation
Grizzard Communications Group
iCrossing
Information Services Group (ISG)
Interactive Prospect Targeting (IPT)
Ipsos
JAIC
Kynetec
Leger Marketing
Nielsen
Nielsen Media Research (NMR)
Omnicom
Omniture
Phoenix Marketing
Photon Group
Pulse Group
R. L. Polk & Co
Real World Customer Experience (RWCE)
Research Now
SponsorMetrix
Sports Marketing Surveys
Strictly Financial
Synovate
TNS
TNS Media Intelligence
Vizu
WPP

Series:Leadership

 BIG Conference  In this, the final podcast in the run up to the BIG Conference, Andy Dexter makes the case to Steve Wills for a pure consultancy focused completely on insight. But while he makes a persuasive case, can he convince Steve that he has thought through the many issues surrounding talent? Listen to find out

Listen to other podcasts featuring Steve

 STARRING 

• Andy Dexter, founder and Managing Partner, Truth Consulting
• Steve Wills, co-founder and MD, Customer Insight Solutions (Host)

Learn more about BIG Conference 2007

Timeline [15m28s]
00m00s Intro.
00m43s What is Truth Consulting doing that’s new?
01m37s Why couldn’t Andy do this in his previous, larger organisation?
02m45s Is MR ripe for change?
03m14s Agencies that provide true insight can’t also be data collectors.
04m01s Is the aim to compete with management consultancies.
04m47s The good and bad about being in a listed group.
05m35s Fragmentation.
07m11s Will insight consultants be able to deal with more than just research data?
08m03s Attracting and retaining quality talent.
09m37s Changes in clientside insight teams.
10m21s Where within client organisations should the ‘Insight’ function live?
11m31s Clients are frustrated with the lack of researcher enthusiasm at the end of studies.
12m19s Clients are learning to ask for something different to promote change.
12m52s Andy’s paper at BIG.
14m43s Andy’s future ambitions.

Notable Mentions
Allan Leighton.
Compaq.
Consultancy.
Customer Insight Forum.
David Smith (DVL Smith).
Dell.
GMI.
IBM.
Industry consolidation.
Insight.
Jorge Garcia Gonzalez.
Management consultancy.
Managing talent.
McKinsey.
Research Now.
RoI.
Simon Chadwick.

Quotes
“The world ‘industry’ is freighted with quite a lot of connotations…it by no means captures the whole of the market research sector”

Thanks
A huge thanks to Steve, Andy, and to Ruth McNeil for their help in producing these podcasts

Thanks to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the intro and outro

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:BIG07
Series:Leadership

 EXCLUSIVE  As official podcaster to the upcoming ESOMAR conference, we’ve secured some exclusive and meaty previews. Kindly hosted by Mark Whiting, Director of Marketing Intelligence Services, Moët Hennessy, and Program Committee Chairman, this is the first of four previews and focuses on improving foresight accuracy

 STARRING 

• Dr. Howard Moskowitz, Moskowitz Jacobs
  Stock Market Prediction
• Fiona Blades, MESH Planning Tools
  Using Mobiles to Improve the Accuracy of Marcomms RoI
• Thomas Perry, Oliver Tabino, SINUS Sociovision
  A Sensitive Approach to Screening Future Innovation
• Mark Whiting, Moët Hennessy (Host)

Learn more about ESOMAR CONGRESS ‘06

THANKS
A huge thanks to Mark Whiting, his guests, and to Véronique Jeannin, director general of ESOMAR, and her team for their help in producing these podcasts.

TIMELINE [36m41s]
00m00s Introduction by Véronique Jeannin, Director General of ESOMAR.

Stock Market Prediction (Dr. Howard Moskowitz).
01m29s Introduction.
02m43s Motivation.
03m16s Approach.
05m28s Validation.
05m55s Key challenges.
06m59s Commercial applications.
07m35s Competing approaches.
08m25s Overcoming the challenges.
09m09s The benefits of Howard’s unconventional background.
10m00s Is MR-driven foresight getting more accurate?
10m38s Drawing inspiration from James Surowiecki’s ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’.
11m10s Other sources of inspiration.
11m48s Other aspects being covered at Congress.

Using Mobiles to Improve the Accuracy of Marcomms RoI (Fiona Blades).
13m00s Introduction & motivation.
14m22s Approach and benefits.
17m25s Potential limitations.
18m07s Length of texting period.
18m45s Improvements to WoM measurement.
20m41s Importance of the post-interview.
21m35s The importance of context in marcomms.
22m06s How the technique improves accuracy.
24m08s The potential for under-reporting.

A Sensitive Approach to Screening Future Innovation (Thomas Perry and Oliver Tabino).
25m33s Introduction.
26m19s Approach and benefits.
27m00s The core psychographic segmentation.
28m14s Using ethnography to aid with long term forecasting.
29m08s Making the findings meaningful to client Deutsche Telekom.
30m44s Major decisions that have been taken using the system.
31m33s The risk of killing off good products/ideas.
33m09s The use of early adopters in forecasting.
34m06s Aspects being covered at Congress.
34m36s Validation.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

 STARRING 

• Matthew Higgins, Head of Brand Communications, First Direct
• Andrew Smith, founder, Andrew Smith Research and ICG member (Host)

PODCAST
Service companies are there to provide a service. But do they generally provide good service? Not according to a report from Andrew Smith Research and ResearchNow which shows just how poorly some sectors are treating their customers.

So what does it take to deliver really good service? We speak to Matthew Higgins, the Head of Brand Communications for bank First Direct, and Andrew Smith, co-author of the report.

Matthew talks about the lengths to which First Direct goes to provide the level of customer service it has become renowned for. But is the increase in internet banking diluting the impact of its customer service? Should all customers, irrespective of the value they generate, receive the same level of customer service? And given its brand strength, does First Direct have any aspirations in the area of brand stretching? These are some of the areas covered in this interesting exploration of a truly customer-centric organisation.

Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [25m47s]
00m00s Introduction to Matthew Higgins.
01m23s How First Direct manages to excel on customer service.
03m34s The cost of providing good service.
04m36s It’s more than just people.
06m58s Maintaining differentiation.
08m54s Proposition.
13m29s Key performance measures.
15m07s Segmentation.
19m40s Relationship with HSBC.
22m00s Prospects for brand stretching.
24m26s Thoughts on research.

QUOTES
On staff: “…our people talk to customers as equals on an adult-to-adult basis…its isn’t one of those things where you feel like you are talking to a bank…”

On the cost of providing good customer service: “…this thing about service and profitability, it’s not mutually exclusive.”

On recommendation: “…people like to recommend things that they really trust…and recommendation is extremely important to us…a third of our customers have joined us through recommendation.”

On positioning: “We are first and foremost a service-based organisation, we are not a channel-based organisation.”

On new media: “On the web, through chat rooms, blogging etc.…there is a still a tone of voice, a style of the brand to maintain…”

On the proposition: “Our customers are well aware that we are not number one for price…they are prepared to make a trade-off [between price and customer service].”

On RoI: “First Direct took five years to break into profit…now we are making significant profits.”

On segmentation: “…you have to be very careful in terms of the way you may treat different segments of customers based on the relationship you have built up…”

On segmentation: “It may be that you are very open with your customers and you actually talk to them about the value that they give to you, which would be a very un-bank thing to do…”

On parent HSBC: “…the relation between us is very good…First Direct is seen as the testbed.”

Music Brother Love from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk