ResearchTalk » Future of research http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt DATA-DRIVEN INSPIRATION Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:42:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 2006-2007 (ResearchTalk) (ResearchTalk) posts 1440 PRICELESS INSPIRATION FOR FOLKS IN MARKETING, MARKET RESEARCH, PLANNING ADVERTISING ResearchTalk ResearchTalk No no http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt 144 144 Can Crowds Out-analyse Researchers? http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/10/05/can-crowds-out-analyse-researchers/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/10/05/can-crowds-out-analyse-researchers/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:17:32 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/?p=774

That was the intriguing notion being discussed by Annelies Verhaeghe of Insites Consulting at the recent Cloud of Knowing meetup.

As John puts it:

[In the Insites study] bloggers were asked to provide images of what they perceived to be cool at a music festival they were attending. Researchers, marketing experts and 4 different types of crowds were then given the task of evaluating these and providing perceptions of their own. The bloggers then graded these in terms of the insights they generated. The 4 different types of crowd included those who were at the festival and also those who were not. And those who knew the bloggers and those who did not. The result showed that crowds appeared to be a better source of insight. And that the most fruitful crowd was one familiar with the context (ie present at the festival) and unfamiliar with the blogger (at several degrees of separation). A fascinating paper which has given Insites a way to use crowds to increase insight generation (they claim) by 200%!

Watch the video to discover what Annelies found.

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/10/05/can-crowds-out-analyse-researchers/feed/ 1 How Stuff Spreads http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/09/27/how-stuff-spreads/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/09/27/how-stuff-spreads/#comments Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:09:59 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/?p=802

Back in March this year, Herdmeister Mark Earls organised a talk at the RSA involving two of his collaborators (Prof. Mike O’Brien, professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri, and Dr. Alex Bentley, co-director of the Centre for the Co-evolution of Biology and Culture at the University of Durham).

ResearchTalk was there to capture the event so for those who weren’t able to make it, we hope you enjoy this brain food.

Mark Earls:

Prof. Mike O’Brien:

Dr. Alex Bentley:

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2010/09/27/how-stuff-spreads/feed/ 2 The Magic of Facial Cues http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/09/18/the-magic-of-facial-cues/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/09/18/the-magic-of-facial-cues/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:14:42 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/?p=348 David PennJai HaissmanTechCrunch50 in San Francisco is fast becoming one of the premier places to launch a technology startup if you’re looking for exposure, customers or funding.

In fact, one of the companies that presented at the inaugural event a couple years ago just announced that they had been bought for a considerable sum.

So we were watching the live stream of this year’s event when the startup Affective Interfaces started to pique our interest.

Based on the work of facial coding expert Paul Ekman (recently popularised in the hit TV series Lie to Me), AI has built a system that monitors facial expressions in real time and on a mass scale (via webcams). They claim the system provides a much more accurate and sensitive indication of, among other things, an ads. likelihood of success.

The presentation didn’t go as well as it could have done – the presenter spent too much time talking and not enough time showing ‘compelling’ videos. But then, in a scene reminiscent of Dragon’s Den, a couple of judges on the expert panel started to recognise the potential. Those enlightened judges were publishing entrepreneur Tim O’Reilly and senior Google exec Bradley Horowitz.

But while these judges know tech, they’re not experts in human behaviour. So we decided to get Jai Haissman, AI’s founder and CEO, to chat with Conquest Research’s David Penn, someone who knows a thing or two about the reliability of interpreting emotions and non-verbal cues. This is a pretty geeky podcast, but we hope you find it stimulating nonetheless.

Affective Interfaces is keen to reach out to potential partners, customers and funders (they’re self-funded). We regard them as an exciting addition to the world of new research and so encourage you to engage with them (as you’ll hear in the podcast they’ve already had a good amount of interest from the event).

VCs and corporate M&A folk: this could become a very special company.

 STARRING 

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

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/09/18/the-magic-of-facial-cues/feed/ 3 31:20 TechCrunch50 in San Francisco is fast becoming one of the premier places to launch a technology startup if you're looking for exposure, customers or funding. ... TechCrunch50 in San Francisco is fast becoming one of the premier places to launch a technology startup if you're looking for exposure, customers or funding. In fact, one of the companies that presented at the inaugural event a couple years ago just announced that they had been bought for a considerable sum. So we were watching the live stream of this year's event when the startup Affective Interfaces started to pique our interest. Based on the work of facial coding expert Paul Ekman (recently popularised in the hit TV series Lie to Me), AI has built a system that monitors facial expressions in real time and on a mass scale (via webcams). They claim the system provides a much more accurate and sensitive indication of, among other things, an ads. likelihood of success. The presentation didn't go as well as it could have done - the presenter spent too much time talking and not enough time showing 'compelling' videos. But then, in a scene reminiscent of Dragon's Den, a couple of judges on the expert panel started to recognise the potential. Those enlightened judges were publishing entrepreneur Tim O'Reilly and senior Google exec Bradley Horowitz. But while these judges know tech, they're not experts in human behaviour. So we decided to get Jai Haissman, AI's founder and CEO, to chat with Conquest Research's David Penn, someone who knows a thing or two about the reliability of interpreting emotions and non-verbal cues. This is a pretty geeky podcast, but we hope you find it stimulating nonetheless. Affective Interfaces is keen to reach out to potential partners, customers and funders (they're self-funded). We regard them as an exciting addition to the world of new research and so encourage you to engage with them (as you'll hear in the podcast they've already had a good amount of interest from the event). VCs and corporate MA folk: this could become a very special company. #160;STARRING#160; Jai Haissman, founder and CEO, Affective Interfaces David Penn, MD, Conquest Research Thanks#160;to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones in the outro Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Emotions,,Future,of,research,,Innovation no No The Listening Posts http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/05/27/the-meme-hunters/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/05/27/the-meme-hunters/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 18:36:50 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/?p=253 image courtesy of wordle.org

Research World magazineOur article in the Apr ‘09 edition of ESOMAR’s Research World. Grab your copy here.

Memes aren’t merely some abstract academic idea. They are real. And they’re becoming big business.

It’s arguably the next big thing in research. Or, perhaps, the next really big thing.

It’s the emergence of what Suresh Vittal, principal analyst at Forrester, calls the ‘listening platform’, something he defines in his recent report as: “A technology and analytics infrastructure that mines a wide variety of traditional, online, and social sources to extract and deliver insights that shape a firm’s marketing strategy.”

In a market dominated by firms that aren’t from the mainstream research community, Vittal anoints Nielsen BuzzMetrics and TNS Cymfony as the leaders in “a pack of strong performers.”

Big opportunity
“It’s not a $25m market opportunity or we wouldn’t be in it, it’s definitely in the billions…in five years,” says Jim Nail, chief strategy & marketing officer, TNS Cymfony.

A couple of years ago TNS bought Cymfony, a company with roots in PR measurement. “PR in the US is a $45bn market and measurement is 5-10% of that,” says Nail to underpin the opportunity.

In trademark ebullient style, Pete Blackshaw, EVP, Nielsen Online declares: “I kind of see this as the new centre of marketing.”

Then again, he would say that. Blackshaw realised the power of consumer-generated and social media years before others and co-founded BuzzMetrics to capitalise on this. BuzzMetrics is now the cornerstone of Nielsen’s listening platform strategy.

Forrester’s Vittal says the market is too nascent to quantify the opportunity. He estimates that 1500-2000 companies have made the decision to use a listening platform and that another 10-15% of Fortune 1000 firms are actively looking into it: “There is a recognition that your customers are talking all around you and if you want to react to their discussion and maintain a listening strategy you have to listen.”

But he believes the opportunity will end up being much larger: “This [market] is very similar to the business intelligence market…practically every company under the sun will need listening tools…it’s a very broad platform: the CEO uses it, the CFO uses it…”

The catalyst for growth has of course been the rapid rise in social media and user-generated content. Vittal says that the pharma, CPG and travel sectors are particularly focused on using these platforms, and it’s a particular boon for pharma who: “…traditionally had limited access to their end consumers because of regulation, business model etc.”

Uses
The range of applications for these listening platforms is as diverse as for research in general.

At first the aim of these tools was simply to understand what was being said about brands online and then summarise through metrics. Metrics, Vittal says, such as the level of buzz or positive/negative sentiment, share of discussion, tone of voice, impressions, share of mentions, etc. While mostly quantitative, sentiment measurement tends to be managed qualitatively because it has proved problematic to automate.

But as the market has developed, so the applications have grown in sophistication: “Some of our best early traction revolved around almost extended notions of a customer satisfaction/loyalty service (e.g. Toyota)…this was almost like an extension of their Six Sigma thinking around quality…it’s almost, boy, I want to re-engineer my whole CRM operation to be much more in sync with a lot of these social media realities,” says Blackshaw.

As a result, he now talks of a shift away from quality strategy Six Sigma, towards what he calls ‘six signals of listening’.

The market does not seem to have evolved any particular killer application yet. Defensive branding was thought to be a candidate, says Nail: “But no one has found a way of predicting which issues will go nuclear on you.” Moreover, when things do go ‘nuclear’, there’s less time between chatter and when it goes nuclear making it difficult if not impossible to intervene fast enough (that said, daily updates can be used to monitor the impact of defensive initiatives).

Performance
Forrester tested a number of listening platforms by asking each vendor to monitor chatter around the ‘Forrester’ brand. Although admittedly not a consumer brand, it was nevertheless one that Vittal could expertly assess.

Both Nielsen BuzzMetrics and TNS Cymfony scored well on the comprehensiveness of their coverage of data sources, i.e. general and trade publications, forums, social networks, etc. If you want to know everything being said about you, comprehensiveness is clearly important. The strong media (measurement) heritage of both firms has clearly benefited them.

Both gather content through so-called online aggregators that, Nail says, have some room for improvement: “We found so far that while there is some overlap, nobody has everything.”

Blackshaw says that Nielsen has an additional data advantage, namely the ability to integrate internal Nielsen data such as purchase data. The data modelling possibilities are mouth-watering.

The next stage in the workflow is natural language processing or text-mining to understand meaning.

Language is one of the big issues here. Cymfony only deals with English content, although Nail states that overcoming this is a priority. And even though BuzzMetrics operates a multi-lingual service, Blackshaw says there is still room for improvement to better understand meaning and context: “I have a hunch that there is something in the airwaves of conversation on some of these strategic groups – such as Spanish – that might be untapped.”

A particular issue with all platforms that Vittal assessed is that of sentiment analysis, namely the ability to establish whether chatter is positive, negative or neutral towards a brand. Vittal found that most systems reported a high level of neutrals (i.e. algorithms failed), requiring manual intervention and thereby compromising scalability.

It is not clear whether an automated solution is possible here. Language is remarkably ambiguous and full of irony, and computers have a hard time dealing with that.

Both systems perform well on analytics. One reason is the availability of an in-house online metrics facility to help weight the data (to correctly represent for each media type). Note, for example, how TNS bought online metrics firm Compete.com soon after the Cymfony acquisition, and the fact that Nielsen Online houses the BuzzMetrics and NetRatings units – there is direct synergy.

A slight bone of contention for Nail is that Vittal rated BuzzMetrics higher for its ability to deliver insights, with Vittal saying they did “a lot of brand association diagrams“ and managed to synthesise everything well.

Nail says he hears the opposite from clients, particularly those who have recently switched from Nielsen: “We’ve taken probably half a dozen Nielsen clients in the past year or so. What we hear from them is that they [Nielsen] give them a hundred slide PowerPoint deck with lots of charts but no insight.”

Nail admits to being “friendly rivals” with Blackshaw, and concedes that Nielsen is slightly ahead in some areas: “We are catching up with them now in terms of creating vertical experts in our analyst teams, ” says Nail. Current verticals include financial services, CPG, consumer technology, enterprise technology, retail and healthcare/pharma.

Nielsen is always looking to improve its insight capability, says Blackshaw. His team distributes a regular collection of analysis and commentary to clients over and above dashboard and PowerPoint deliverables. These include threat trackers, issue briefs and outreach videos: “The way you construct knowledge share within your client is also really important, e.g. how do you convince legal to approve this? We’re starting a program…an advocacy round-table, client-only conversation [to promote effective knowledge share].”

Iteration
Listening platforms are clearly in their infancy. Vittal reckons they are only 20% of what they could become and has a laundry list of suggestions.

One of these is pricing. Current pricing and sales strategy suggests that the leading players are focused on the enterprise market. But Vittal would like value-for-money solutions aimed at small and medium businesses. The same strategy that drove Google’s meteoric rise in revenues. Blackshaw admits to pricing pressure due to competition and the availability of alternative approaches.

Another suggestion is to go beyond online sources of data: “The emphasis seems to be online because of the quantity of conversations happening here…but it’s not purely online,” a reference to, among other things, customer service conversations by phone. “Eventually it will be across all touch points – anywhere where there is a conversation happening,” says Vittal.

Another recommendation, along the lines of what BuzzMetrics is already doing, is to integrate more data such as sales, awareness etc. to help clients make more effective RoI decisions. This should be easier for Cymfony to accomplish now that it is part of the much larger WPP group.

Ultimately, Vittal, Nail and Blackshaw all agree on the aspiration to deliver reporting with a clear ‘call to action’. Much of this will require a more strategic, consultative approach.

Privacy is a hot topic that is only mentioned by Nail. Although not a particular issue now, this is something the vendors need to be mindful of as consumers start to think through the implications of putting their lives and thoughts online, as happened during the recent controversial u-turn from Facebook when adapting its terms and conditions. Pressure for greater privacy and/or more weary users could limit the coverage of listening platforms.

Big elephant
Although two of the largest research companies in the world lead in these systems, that in no way implies that they are universally welcomed by those who focus on traditional modes of research.

Client research and insight teams will, no doubt, be weary of using these systems for core studies such as customer satisfaction and loyalty given the issues around representativity and response bias.

But Cymfony’s Nail says that there is a growing acceptance of their value: “There’s going to be greater acceptance of using social media as a data source to mine for consumer insights…We’re starting to see money come out of focus groups, surveys and other kinds of market research tools, invested with us either as a substitute or increasingly as a part of a market research project.”

And such ‘opened up’ thinking is supported by key clients: “P&G’s Kim Dedeker – she’s certainly been a lighting rod with her statement that market research as we know it will be on life support by 2012,” says Nail based on her comments in the ongoing ARF transforming research initiative.

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2009/05/27/the-meme-hunters/feed/ 0 Patrick Barwise – Building the ‘Simply Better’ Biz http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/05/02/patrick-barwise-building-the-simply-better-biz/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/05/02/patrick-barwise-building-the-simply-better-biz/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 09:44:37 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/05/02/patrick-barwise-building-the-simply-better-biz/ The fact that companies like Toyota and Tesco and Proctor & Gamble in many of its categories have shown that you can in fact keep improving delivery on the basics, shows that it’s not just a commodity…
(Patrick Barwise)

Simply Better bookProf. Patrick BarwiseThe renowned marketing Professor Patrick Barwise is a relatively rare animal, an academic with commercial instinct and pragmatism. Here he talks to Michael Warren about the ramifications of his two most recent books, ‘Simply Better’ (which won the American Marketing Association’s 2005 prize for the best recent book in marketing), and one that he is currently writing with the working title: ‘Customer Insights – Beyond Market Research’. His ability to cut through marketing myths, hype and meaningless jargon using solid reasoning reinforces his position as one of the industry’s most valued thought-leaders

Listen to other podcasts featuring Patrick

 STARRING 


Timeline [16m21s]
00m00s Intro.
01m18s Why the basis for ‘Simply Better’ is controversial.
02m35s Differentiation that matters.
03m53s Is ‘Simply Better’ now the received wisdom?
04m44s The objectors – Rees and Trout.
06m24s Customers rarely bother to compare all the competing brands, or use all the information available (the lack of economic rationality).
08m32s Beyond ‘thinking outside the box’.
10m33s Paddy’s new book: ‘Customer Insights – Beyond Market Research’.
13m42s Does the new approach mean greater cost?
14m23s Is ‘Insight’ puffery or something that has substance?

Notable Mentions
American Marketing Association.
Behavioural economics.
Harvard Business School Press.
Harvard Business School.
Insight.
Marks and Spencer.
Peter Drucker.
Proctor & Gamble.
Rational economics.
Research Now.
Sean Meehan.
Tesco.
Toyota.
USP.

“Differentiate or Die”, by Jack Trout and Richard Rees.

Quotes
“…the basics are what really matter to customers…and in most markets you can differentiate on the basics…” (Barwise).

“One reason the book has done well is by the time the dust has settled, people realise it’s in fact an optimistic book, a very positive book.” (Barwise).

“The rational economic model is a deliberately over simplified model. I think the trouble is that some economists don’t realise how grotesque and over simplified it is.” (Barwise).

“Very little which is sensible is completely new.” (Barwise).

“Customer complaints, everyone knows, should be a source of insight and improvement but most companies are not sufficiently exploiting that.” (Barwise).

“There’s huge importance in talking to customers directly, having senior managers spending time with customers.” (Barwise).

“…a customer insight in itself achieves nothing unless it is acted on by the people with the power to act, so that it leads to an improved product or service or whatever.” (Barwise).

“Most market researchers know the saying that managers often use research as a drunk uses a lamp post, for support not illumination!” (Barwise).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Thanks to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the intro and outro.

Series:MarketingTalk

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/05/02/patrick-barwise-building-the-simply-better-biz/feed/ 0 16:21 The fact that companies like Toyota and Tesco and Proctor Gamble in many of its categories have shown that you can in fact keep ... The fact that companies like Toyota and Tesco and Proctor Gamble in many of its categories have shown that you can in fact keep improving delivery on the basics, shows that it's not just a commodity... (Patrick Barwise) The renowned marketing Professor Patrick Barwise is a relatively rare animal, an academic with commercial instinct and pragmatism. Here he talks to Michael Warren about the ramifications of his two most recent books, 'Simply Better' (which won the American Marketing Association's 2005 prize for the best recent book in marketing), and one that he is currently writing with the working title: 'Customer Insights - Beyond Market Research'. His ability to cut through marketing myths, hype and meaningless jargon using solid reasoning reinforces his position as one of the industry's most valued thought-leaders Listen to other podcasts featuring Patrick #160;STARRING#160; Prof. Patrick Barwise, LBS, and co-author, Simply Better Michael Warren, research consultant Timeline [16m21s] 00m00s Intro. 01m18s Why the basis for 'Simply Better' is controversial. 02m35s Differentiation that matters. 03m53s Is 'Simply Better' now the received wisdom? 04m44s The objectors - Rees and Trout. 06m24s Customers rarely bother to compare all the competing brands, or use all the information available (the lack of economic rationality). 08m32s Beyond 'thinking outside the box'. 10m33s Paddy's new book: 'Customer Insights - Beyond Market Research'. 13m42s Does the new approach mean greater cost? 14m23s Is 'Insight' puffery or something that has substance? Notable Mentions American Marketing Association. Behavioural economics. Harvard Business School Press. Harvard Business School. Insight. Marks and Spencer. Peter Drucker. Proctor Gamble. Rational economics. Research Now. Sean Meehan. Tesco. Toyota. USP. "Differentiate or Die", by Jack Trout and Richard Rees. Quotes "...the basics are what really matter to customers...and in most markets you can differentiate on the basics..." (Barwise). "One reason the book has done well is by the time the dust has settled, people realise it's in fact an optimistic book, a very positive book." (Barwise). "The rational economic model is a deliberately over simplified model. I think the trouble is that some economists don't realise how grotesque and over simplified it is." (Barwise). "Very little which is sensible is completely new." (Barwise). "Customer complaints, everyone knows, should be a source of insight and improvement but most companies are not sufficiently exploiting that." (Barwise). "There's huge importance in talking to customers directly, having senior managers spending time with customers." (Barwise). "...a customer insight in itself achieves nothing unless it is acted on by the people with the power to act, so that it leads to an improved product or service or whatever." (Barwise). "Most market researchers know the saying that managers often use research as a drunk uses a lamp post, for support not illumination!" (Barwise). Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Thanks to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the intro and outro. Series:MarketingTalk Book,reviews,,Branding,,Customer,service,,Future,of,research,,Management no No Catching up with the New Consumer http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/10/catching-up-with-consumers/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/10/catching-up-with-consumers/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:02:08 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/10/catching-up-with-consumers/ WIN '07 Panel, photo courtesy of Patrice Bondurand

Many clients don’t even realise there’s a problem
(Fred John)

 WIN ‘07  Recorded during a world leader meeting, our panel discusses ways to shift MR from a profession that uses closed, carefully controlled methods of data collection to one that cedes control and spends more time listening to people as they air views naturally, and so become more attuned to the new world of consumer self-expression and empowerment

 STARRING 

Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN ‘07 event

ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses


Timeline [15m41s]
00m00s Intro.
00m40s The curse of declining participation rates.
01m13s Who should be solving the issue?
01m52s Do clients recognise that this is an issue for them?
02m28s Client purchasing managers need educating.
04m02s Consumer behaviour is changing and this is affecting more than just MR.
05m30s Clients are not interested in methodological issues.
07m35s Solutions: client education; become respondent-focused; ceding control.
10m12s What’s involved in giving up power and control?
11m09s Overcoming vested interests.
11m58s Web 2.0 and the importance of community-building.
12m49s Will more corporates engage with consumers via blogs?
13m10s Is it time to expand MR’s catchment?
14m12s Final thoughts.

Notable Mentions
Access panels.
Blogs.
Bulletin boards.
CMOR.
Dell.
Forums.
Kim Dedeker (P&G).
Microsoft.
MySpace.
Respondent Participation Summit 2006.
Second Life.

Quotes
“This problem has been developing over 30 or 40 years, and us trying to redirect a river on a short term is not a good idea…it’s a long term project.” (Larry Brownell).

“If research is going to elevate this and its status within the corporate world then it has got to be ‘you have got to be able to bet your job on this.’” (Larry Brownell).

“…there’s a shift from boxed approaches to open approaches…people want more freedom of expression…[MR] tools development should go in the direction of listening tools rather than questioning tools.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The challenge is to let go of that feeling of power…I don’t like to be put behind the mirror as a consumer, I like to look people in the eye, to be listened to.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The way access panels are built now do not comply with the rules of community building: you are not the architect, it’s the community itself that defines the rules.” (Philip De Wulf).

“The industry is evolving faster than the profession.” (Fred John).

“You constantly have to reinvent your own existence.” (Frits Spangenberg).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Thanks to Anna Alu, ESOMAR, for her help in producing this podcast, and to Diane Bowers, CASRO President, and Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for their dulcet tones in the intro and outro. Photos courtesy of Patrice Bondurand

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:WIN07

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/10/catching-up-with-consumers/feed/ 0 15:41 Many clients don't even realise there's a problem (Fred John) #160;WIN '07#160;#160;Recorded during a world leader meeting, our panel discusses ways to shift MR from a profession ... Many clients don't even realise there's a problem (Fred John) #160;WIN '07#160;#160;Recorded during a world leader meeting, our panel discusses ways to shift MR from a profession that uses closed, carefully controlled methods of data collection to one that cedes control and spends more time listening to people as they air views naturally, and so become more attuned to the new world of consumer self-expression and empowerment #160;STARRING#160; C. Frederic John, Research Leader, MasterCard Frits Spangenberg, ESOMAR President and founder, Motivaction Larry Brownell, Executive Director, MRA Philip De Wulf, co-founder and partner, The Mission House Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN '07 event ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses Timeline [15m41s] 00m00s Intro. 00m40s The curse of declining participation rates. 01m13s Who should be solving the issue? 01m52s Do clients recognise that this is an issue for them? 02m28s Client purchasing managers need educating. 04m02s Consumer behaviour is changing and this is affecting more than just MR. 05m30s Clients are not interested in methodological issues. 07m35s Solutions: client education; become respondent-focused; ceding control. 10m12s What's involved in giving up power and control? 11m09s Overcoming vested interests. 11m58s Web 2.0 and the importance of community-building. 12m49s Will more corporates engage with consumers via blogs? 13m10s Is it time to expand MR's catchment? 14m12s Final thoughts. Notable Mentions Access panels. Blogs. Bulletin boards. CMOR. Dell. Forums. Kim Dedeker (PG). Microsoft. MySpace. Respondent Participation Summit 2006. Second Life. Quotes "This problem has been developing over 30 or 40 years, and us trying to redirect a river on a short term is not a good idea...it's a long term project." (Larry Brownell). "If research is going to elevate this and its status within the corporate world then it has got to be 'you have got to be able to bet your job on this.'" (Larry Brownell). "...there's a shift from boxed approaches to open approaches...people want more freedom of expression...[MR] tools development should go in the direction of listening tools rather than questioning tools." (Philip De Wulf). "The challenge is to let go of that feeling of power...I don't like to be put behind the mirror as a consumer, I like to look people in the eye, to be listened to." (Philip De Wulf). "The way access panels are built now do not comply with the rules of community building: you are not the architect, it's the community itself that defines the rules." (Philip De Wulf). "The industry is evolving faster than the profession." (Fred John). "You constantly have to reinvent your own existence." (Frits Spangenberg). Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Thanks to Anna Alu, ESOMAR, for her help in producing this podcast, and to Diane Bowers, CASRO President, and Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for their dulcet tones in the intro and outro. Photos courtesy of Patrice Bondurand Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:WIN07 ESOMAR,other,,Future,of,research,,Research,2.0,,Social,media,,Techniques no No Embracing the New Competition http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/04/embracing-the-new-competition/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/04/embracing-the-new-competition/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:16:35 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/04/embracing-the-new-competition/ If the industry doesn’t have an image of being dynamic, of being creative, of moving with the times, then it won’t be able to recruit the right people and it will find that it becomes devalued over time
(Mark Whiting)

Mark Whiting, Moët HennessyTony Cowling, TNS WIN ‘07  Recorded during a world leader meeting, Tony Cowling and Mark Whiting talk about the need to focus on the competition outside the traditional MR sector as a way to leverage growth, maintain relevance and inspire users

Listen to other podcasts featuring Mark

 STARRING 

Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN ‘07 event

ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses


Timeline [12m00s]
00m00s Intro.
00m29s MR is barely growing.
01m08s Clientside shifts.
01m39s Should the definition of a MR firm be expanded?
02m22s New sources of business intelligence and inspiration (data mining, neuroscience, philosophers, art experts).
03m54s Conventional research is not sufficiently inspiring.
05m09s Researchers needs to become more specialist.
06m15s A fundamental shift in the way researchers are hired and trained.
06m46s Consumers and marketing have changed.
07m31s Redefining MR by clientside spend.
08m32s The need for innovation and entrepreneurism.
09m30s Can researchers really inspire?
10m28s The debate has started…

Notable Mentions
Co-creation.
Competition.
comScore.
Data mining.
dunnhumby.
Experian.
Forums.
Industry growth.
Innovation.
Neuroscience.
Tesco Clubcard.
User generated content.

Quotes
“We have to understand why companies like Moët Hennessy are changing their spend because they’re telling us ‘I want new sorts of information and I can get it elsewhere’.” (Tony Cowling).

“We thought the best people to help us on competitive intelligence were journalists…” (Mark Whiting).

“It’s just that it’s very very hard now when you’re an internal researcher to constantly create interest in market information data. The marketing teams are very busy. They don’t necessarily want to give up precious time within their day to come and listen to information that isn’t immediately relevant or inspiring.” (Mark Whiting).

“If something becomes less valuable and easier and cheaper then your other skills have to become more important.” (Tony Cowling).

“One of the challenges for marketers…is that we need to be there listening to consumers. We can’t just rely on a passive interviewing technique now, we need very much to be treating the consumers as partners. So, co-creating new products, co-creating new ideas, and have a much closer relationship with them.” (Mark Whiting).

“We are short of people in the analytics and interpretation area simply because it’s become more important…” (Tony Cowling).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Thanks to Anna Alu, ESOMAR, for her help in producing this podcast, and to Diane Bowers, CASRO President, and Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for their dulcet tones in the intro and outro

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:WIN07
Series:Leadership

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/04/04/embracing-the-new-competition/feed/ 0 12:00 If the industry doesn't have an image of being dynamic, of being creative, of moving with the times, then it won't be able to recruit ... If the industry doesn't have an image of being dynamic, of being creative, of moving with the times, then it won't be able to recruit the right people and it will find that it becomes devalued over time (Mark Whiting) #160;WIN '07#160;#160;Recorded during a world leader meeting, Tony Cowling and Mark Whiting talk about the need to focus on the competition outside the traditional MR sector as a way to leverage growth, maintain relevance and inspire users Listen to other podcasts featuring Mark #160;STARRING#160; Tony Cowling, President, TNS Mark Whiting, Head of Marketing Intelligence, MoAtilde;laquo;t Hennessy Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN '07 event ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses Timeline [12m00s] 00m00s Intro. 00m29s MR is barely growing. 01m08s Clientside shifts. 01m39s Should the definition of a MR firm be expanded? 02m22s New sources of business intelligence and inspiration (data mining, neuroscience, philosophers, art experts). 03m54s Conventional research is not sufficiently inspiring. 05m09s Researchers needs to become more specialist. 06m15s A fundamental shift in the way researchers are hired and trained. 06m46s Consumers and marketing have changed. 07m31s Redefining MR by clientside spend. 08m32s The need for innovation and entrepreneurism. 09m30s Can researchers really inspire? 10m28s The debate has started... Notable Mentions Co-creation. Competition. comScore. Data mining. dunnhumby. Experian. Forums. Industry growth. Innovation. Neuroscience. Tesco Clubcard. User generated content. Quotes "We have to understand why companies like MoAtilde;laquo;t Hennessy are changing their spend because they're telling us 'I want new sorts of information and I can get it elsewhere'." (Tony Cowling). "We thought the best people to help us on competitive intelligence were journalists..." (Mark Whiting). "It's just that it's very very hard now when you're an internal researcher to constantly create interest in market information data. The marketing teams are very busy. They don't necessarily want to give up precious time within their day to come and listen to information that isn't immediately relevant or inspiring." (Mark Whiting). "If something becomes less valuable and easier and cheaper then your other skills have to become more important." (Tony Cowling). "One of the challenges for marketers...is that we need to be there listening to consumers. We can't just rely on a passive interviewing technique now, we need very much to be treating the consumers as partners. So, co-creating new products, co-creating new ideas, and have a much closer relationship with them." (Mark Whiting). "We are short of people in the analytics and interpretation area simply because it's become more important..." (Tony Cowling). Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Thanks to Anna Alu, ESOMAR, for her help in producing this podcast, and to Diane Bowers, CASRO President, and Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for their dulcet tones in the intro and outro Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:WIN07 Series:Leadership ESOMAR,other,,Entrepreneurism,,Future,of,research,,Leadership no No Andy Dexter: Rethinking the Research Biz http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/03/01/andy-dexter-rethinking-the-research-biz/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/03/01/andy-dexter-rethinking-the-research-biz/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:15:35 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/03/01/andy-dexter-rethinking-the-research-biz/ Once you go down a road strategically, you end up in a what you may call a path dependent position…from which it’s very difficult to turn back
(Andy Dexter)

Steve Wills, Customer Insight SolutionsAndy Dexter, Truth Consulting 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 

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

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/03/01/andy-dexter-rethinking-the-research-biz/feed/ 0 15:29 Once you go down a road strategically, you end up in a what you may call a path dependent position...from which it's very difficult to ... Once you go down a road strategically, you end up in a what you may call a path dependent position...from which it's very difficult to turn back (Andy Dexter) #160;BIG Conference#160;#160;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 #160;STARRING#160; 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#160;to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the intro and outro Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Series:Events Series:BIG07 Series:Leadership B2B,,BIG,,Financial,,Future,of,research,,Management,,Talent no No Mark Earls: The ‘We’ is Mightier than the ‘I’ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/02/13/mark-earls-the-we-is-mightier-than-the-i/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/02/13/mark-earls-the-we-is-mightier-than-the-i/#comments Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:06:39 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/02/13/mark-earls-the-we-is-mightier-than-the-i/ The assumption is that by-and-large, individuals make decisions on their own. My Herd point-of-view is that people influence each other, often without realising it

Herd bookMark Earls, Herd ConsultingMark Earls’ latest contribution to life, the universe and everything is gaining traction. His new book rethinks how people make decisions and discovers as a result that much of current research practice is fundamentally flawed in its assumptions and interpretation of consumer behaviour. Quite fitting for this self-styled ‘Contrarian’. The book provides psychology underpinning for many recent phenomena such as social networking, engagement, conversations, ethnography, blogging and predictive markets by showing how we act as groups and not individually. Part of our monthly column for ESOMAR’s Research World magazine

 STARRING 


TIMELINE [17m19s]
00m00s Intro.
00m42s Why current research practices are wrong.
02m09s The industry is improving, but not enough.
03m21s The value of ethnography and predictive markets techniques.
03m57s ‘Herd’ questions the assumptions made in traditional research.
04m31s Improving opinion polling predictability.
05m10s Does ‘Herd’ have implications for all types of research?
05m29s Do social networking tools play a role in ‘Herd’?
06m48s The benefits of meme trackers.
07m10s Would ‘Herd’ have predicted the eventual success of SMS?
08m09s P&G Tremor panels.
08m58s Persuading others to adopt ‘Herd’ thinking.
09m35s Is Tesco a ‘Herd’ brand?
10m28s Co-creation, software beta testing and the open source movement.
11m34s Consumers co-creating ads.
12m10s Other brands that follow the ‘Herd’ philosophy.
13m03s Progressive research agencies.
14m17s Summarising the ‘model’.
15m25s Inspiration for writing the book.

Notable Mentions
Acacia Avenue.
American positivism.
Andrew Ehrenberg (Prof).
Blogs.
Bob Worcester (Sir).
BrainJuicer.
Co-creation.
David Goetz.
Digg.com.
Dodge.
Dove.
dunnhumby.
Ethnography.
Fiona Blades.
Gerald (Jerry) Zaltman: “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market”.
Hall and Partners.
Harvard Business School.
Influence maps.
James Surowiecki.
Jeff Goldblum.
John Kearon.
MESH Planning.
Mike Hall.
MRS.
MySpace.
NHS.
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M).
OLR (Opinion Leader Research).
Open source.
P&G Tremor panels.
Predictive markets.
Social networking.
Spring Research.
Stephen Phillips.
TechMeme.com.
Tesco.
The Big Chill.
Tom Daly.
Unilever.
Wardle Mclean.
Wendy Gordon.
Wikis.
YouTube.

Quotes
“Post rationalisation is more important than sex.” (Jeff Goldblum).

“Individuals are really poor witnesses to the richness of their own lives.”

“We (MR practitioners) are still very bad at predicting.”

“I know that when an idea is interesting it creates energy … whereas most of our methodologies don’t look at that as an indicator.”

“The future may be much more two-way.” (in reference to P&G Tremor panels).

“This is perhaps one of the hardest things for business and market research to understand, consumers frankly tolerate us.”

“It’s never been harder to do marketing … we are at an inflexion point.”

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/02/13/mark-earls-the-we-is-mightier-than-the-i/feed/ 0 Prof. Richard Scase, Global Remix http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/13/prof-richard-scase-global-remix/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/13/prof-richard-scase-global-remix/#comments Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:38:07 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/13/emre-2-prof-richard-scace-global-remix/ “China will account for 25-30% of world trade in 20 years time”

Global Remix bookProf. Richard ScaseWe all know about the surging economies in India and China and how they stand to become the largest within decades. But in this conversation with the passionate and authoritative Prof. Richard Scase, we hear how this and other global issues such as climate change and energy shortages, will affect everyone in both a personal and professional capacity. It’s not a pretty picture, but then again we need leading forcasters like Richard to get us all to act before it’s too late

 STARRING 

Recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006

TIMELINE [15m19s]
00m00s Intro.
00m45s The seismic shifts in the global economy.
02m37s China and India will soon become the main global spenders.
03m30s What should companies be doing?
04m47s Global demographic shifts.
05m12s China and India as centres for research and entrepreneurship.
07m31s The implications of global shifts on the person in the street.
09m33s “Energy prices will treble in the next 5-10 years”.
10m05s Are China and India responding to the challenge of climate change?
10m59s How should governments respond?
12m14s Will we solve the issue of energy shortage before oil and gas run out?
13m42s Richard’s background.

Notable Mentions
Capital Radio.
China.
Energy shortages.
Global warming.
IBM.
India.
Inflation.
Kyoto Protocol.
Microsoft.
Nelson Croom.
Novartis.
P&G.
Unilever.
USA.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:EMRE06 Series:Events

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/13/prof-richard-scase-global-remix/feed/ 0 15:19 "China will account for 25-30% of world trade in 20 years time" We all know about the surging economies in India and China and how they ... "China will account for 25-30% of world trade in 20 years time" We all know about the surging economies in India and China and how they stand to become the largest within decades. But in this conversation with the passionate and authoritative Prof. Richard Scase, we hear how this and other global issues such as climate change and energy shortages, will affect everyone in both a personal and professional capacity. It's not a pretty picture, but then again we need leading forcasters like Richard to get us all to act before it's too late #160;STARRING#160; Prof. Richard Scase, Academic, Entrepreneur, and Author, Global Remix Recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006 TIMELINE [15m19s] 00m00s Intro. 00m45s The seismic shifts in the global economy. 02m37s China and India will soon become the main global spenders. 03m30s What should companies be doing? 04m47s Global demographic shifts. 05m12s China and India as centres for research and entrepreneurship. 07m31s The implications of global shifts on the person in the street. 09m33s "Energy prices will treble in the next 5-10 years". 10m05s Are China and India responding to the challenge of climate change? 10m59s How should governments respond? 12m14s Will we solve the issue of energy shortage before oil and gas run out? 13m42s Richard's background. Notable Mentions Capital Radio. China. Energy shortages. Global warming. IBM. India. Inflation. Kyoto Protocol. Microsoft. Nelson Croom. Novartis. PG. Unilever. USA. Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Series:MarketingTalk Series:EMRE06 Series:Events Book,reviews,,EMRE,,Entrepreneurism,,Forecasting,,Future,of,research,,Management,,Sustainability no No The Future of Online http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/12/juice-cast-the-future-of-online/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/12/juice-cast-the-future-of-online/#comments Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:54:05 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/12/juice-cast-the-future-of-online/ Online gang

 Sponsored by BrainJuicer

This high level panel representing some particularly successful players in the lucrative online research space discuss the next phase of the industry’s development. They talk about innovation, Research 2.0, mobile research, and shifts in industry leadership

 STARRING 

This JuiceCast has been produced by ResearchTalk for BrainJuicer. BrainJuicer’s Chief Juicer, John Kearon, has kindly allowed us to host the podcast as a service to the community, to stimulate debate and innovation

Timeline [19m15s]
00m00s Introduction.
00m40s The opportunity for growth.
03m32s The emergence of Research 2.0 and community.
04m36s Where’s the innovation?
06m54s Opportunities for medium-sized agencies.
07m47s Winning brands and business models in 5 years time.
09m42s Facing the prospect of maturity.
11m07s Shifting clients towards using innovative mid-sized players.
13m01s The temptation to use traditional methodologies.
15m33s Opportunities for using mobiles in research.
16m19s Will online field & tab steal significant business from full-service?

Notable Mentions
BrainJuicer.
Clear Ideas.
Conquest.
Gfk.
GMI.
Hall and Partners.
Harris Interactive.
ICM.
NOP.
Nunwood.
Research 2.0.
SSI.
TNS.
Vodafone.
Web 2.0.

Thanks to RP Cushing Recruitment for furnishing a location for this conversation.

Series:Commissioned Series:JuiceCasts

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/12/12/juice-cast-the-future-of-online/feed/ 4 Weekly Show 11: Focusing on Talent http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/23/weekly-show-11-the-leading-edge/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/23/weekly-show-11-the-leading-edge/#comments Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:50:13 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/23/weekly-show-11-the-leading-edge/ Derek Leddie, The Leading Edge

 GUEST  Poet, mountain climber and entrepreneur Derek Leddie, Founder and Director of innovative research consultancy The Leading Edge

 TOPICS  Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; Will the industry really grow at 11-12%? Bridging the chasm between client needs and research delivery; Skills gap; Genesis of TLE and rationale for selling to Photon Group; EXCLUSIVE: UK office coming soon; Turning insights into assets; Managing talent with some cool benefits

 NOTABLE MENTIONS  Carlton Draught, ESOMAR, Fosters, Frank Small & Associates, Kristin Hickey, Mark Sundquist, Outsell, Photon Group, Stephen Phillips, Toby Hill

Music Brother Love from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:Weekly

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/23/weekly-show-11-the-leading-edge/feed/ 0 27:18 #160;GUEST#160;#160;Poet, mountain climber and entrepreneur Derek Leddie, Founder and Director of innovative research consultancy The Leading Edge #160;TOPICS#160;#160;Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; Will the industry really grow at ... #160;GUEST#160;#160;Poet, mountain climber and entrepreneur Derek Leddie, Founder and Director of innovative research consultancy The Leading Edge #160;TOPICS#160;#160;Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; Will the industry really grow at 11-12%? Bridging the chasm between client needs and research delivery; Skills gap; Genesis of TLE and rationale for selling to Photon Group; EXCLUSIVE: UK office coming soon; Turning insights into assets; Managing talent with some cool benefits #160;NOTABLE MENTIONS#160;#160;Carlton Draught, ESOMAR, Fosters, Frank Small Associates, Kristin Hickey, Mark Sundquist, Outsell, Photon Group, Stephen Phillips, Toby Hill Music#160;Brother Love from the PMN Series:MarketingTalk Series:Weekly Entrepreneurism,,Future,of,research,,MA,,Management,,Skills,,Talent,,Weekly,Show no No Dan O’Donoghue, Publicis http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/08/dan-odonoghue-publicis/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/08/dan-odonoghue-publicis/#comments Sun, 08 Oct 2006 14:12:54 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/08/dan-odonoghue-publicis/ “When you’re in a revolution there are only two sides…and the side that wins is the one going forward…buying into the modern world”

Sponsored by MrWeb

Dan O'Donoghue, PublicisIn this thought-provoking chat, Dan O’Donoghue tells Olaf Willoughby why the end of advertising agencies is nigh, why planners should return to their roots as consumer champions, and why researchers shouldn’t expect guidance from ad. agencies during this time of media flux

 STARRING 

  • Dan O’Donoghue, Worldwide Strategic Planning Director, Publicis, and author, “Born in 1842 – A History of Advertising”
  • Olaf Willoughby, The Willoughby Partnership (Host)


PODCAST
Dan O’Donoghue has an impressive track record.

He helped to change Ogilvy’s research department into a planning department back when Spaghetti Bolognaise was an exotic dish.

In 1983, at ad. agency McCormicks, he renamed the account planning department to ‘Strategic Planning’ so the French could understand what it did, and also developed a way of using research to improve the input to creative rather than correct the output.

In 1990 he became joint Chief Executive of Publicis and was the planner on the famous, or infamous, “Papa? Nicole?” Campaign for the Renault Clio.

TIMELINE [31m13s]
00m00s Intro.
02m54s Born in 1842, a history of advertising.
03m25s A shift from advertising to communications.
03m53s Changes within the planning and creative functions.
06m57s Stimulation through creativity.
09m29s Implications for the research industry.
11m59s Is the research industry too risk averse?
13m54s A culture of conservatism.
15m23s Breaking through the conservatism.
17m01s The trend towards consumer insight planners within clients.
17m44s The story behind renaming ‘Account Planning’ to ‘Strategic Planning’.
19m34s Why Dr. Bob Cook, Firefish, won the 2006 AQR P R-S award.
22m27s The future of measurement.
26m39s Challenging traditional research methodologies.
28m52s Panels – “the underbelly of the research business”.
29m28s Final thoughts.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
AQR.
ASA.
BBH.
BMP.
Dr. Bob Cook.
Firefish.
Google.
John Hegarty.
Millward Brown.
MRS.
P&G.
Prosper Riley-Smith Effectiveness Award.
Simon Lidington.
Tremor panels.
Video diary.
WPP.

QUOTES
On the online ad. revolution: “We’re going to see the end of advertising agencies in the next few years. We’re all going to start calling ourselves communications agencies.”

On the implications for the planning function:
“Planning is a bit under pressure…planning is gradually morphing to be much more central to managing the communications process…”

“My problem with planning recently is it’s been pushed much more to justification of what agencies do rather than the old notion that they were the voice of the consumer or the voice of effectiveness.”

On the implications for creatives and planners: “…the digital area is one where the creative people have to really know what happens…and the planners equally are having to become a lot more creatively inspired or inspiring…”

On ad. agency structure: “My personal opinion is that in the future there are only going to be two departments – service and production.”

On creativity: “…[ad.] agencies have got to focus on stimulating the targets rather than stimulating themselves.”

On the way research is handling the changes: “…we’re in a revolution, not an evolution… things are happening so fast…and so the research industry is in a bit of a quandary I think as to what it should do and following us at the moment isn’t the right answer.”

On the increasing complex ad. market: “I’m on the ASA council and one of the worries we have is that regulating the [ad.] industry used to be easy, but when things are on the internet and they’re put into TV programmes, how are we going to regulate that?”

On the conservatism in research: “…the research industry is like the Young Conservatives, always having discos with buffets.”

On breaking the conservatism:
“When you’re in revolution there are only two sides, the side that wins and the side that loses. And the side that wins is the one going forward…buying into the modern world.”

“I was pleased to see Simon Lidington getting appointed head [of the MRS], because he is an innovative thinker…”

“The one thing the research industry and advertising industry has really understood much better than clients is how important research really is…research within the clients hasn’t had the profile and importance.”

Music courtesy of: Theatrimus and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to MrWeb for sponsoring this podcast.

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Sponsored

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/08/dan-odonoghue-publicis/feed/ 0 31:14 "When you're in a revolution there are only two sides...and the side that wins is the one going forward...buying into the modern world" Sponsored by#160;In this ... "When you're in a revolution there are only two sides...and the side that wins is the one going forward...buying into the modern world" Sponsored by#160;In this thought-provoking chat, Dan O'Donoghue tells Olaf Willoughby why the end of advertising agencies is nigh, why planners should return to their roots as consumer champions, and why researchers shouldn't expect guidance from ad. agencies during this time of media flux #160;STARRING#160; Dan O'Donoghue, Worldwide Strategic Planning Director, Publicis, and author, "Born in 1842 - A History of Advertising" Olaf Willoughby, The Willoughby Partnership (Host) PODCAST Dan O'Donoghue has an impressive track record. He helped to change Ogilvyacirc;euro;trade;s research department into a planning department back when Spaghetti Bolognaise was an exotic dish. In 1983, at ad. agency McCormicks, he renamed the account planning department to acirc;euro;tilde;Strategic Planningacirc;euro;trade; so the French could understand what it did, and also developed a way of using research to improve the input to creative rather than correct the output. In 1990 he became joint Chief Executive of Publicis and was the planner on the famous, or infamous, "Papa? Nicole?" Campaign for the Renault Clio. TIMELINE [31m13s] 00m00s Intro. 02m54s Born in 1842, a history of advertising. 03m25s A shift from advertising to communications. 03m53s Changes within the planning and creative functions. 06m57s Stimulation through creativity. 09m29s Implications for the research industry. 11m59s Is the research industry too risk averse? 13m54s A culture of conservatism. 15m23s Breaking through the conservatism. 17m01s The trend towards consumer insight planners within clients. 17m44s The story behind renaming 'Account Planning' to 'Strategic Planning'. 19m34s Why Dr. Bob Cook, Firefish, won the 2006 AQR P R-S award. 22m27s The future of measurement. 26m39s Challenging traditional research methodologies. 28m52s Panels - "the underbelly of the research business". 29m28s Final thoughts. NOTABLE MENTIONS AQR. ASA. BBH. BMP. Dr. Bob Cook. Firefish. Google. John Hegarty. Millward Brown. MRS. PG. Prosper Riley-Smith Effectiveness Award. Simon Lidington. Tremor panels. Video diary. WPP. QUOTES On the online ad. revolution: "We're going to see the end of advertising agencies in the next few years. We're all going to start calling ourselves communications agencies." On the implications for the planning function: "Planning is a bit under pressure...planning is gradually morphing to be much more central to managing the communications process..." "My problem with planning recently is it's been pushed much more to justification of what agencies do rather than the old notion that they were the voice of the consumer or the voice of effectiveness." On the implications for creatives and planners: "...the digital area is one where the creative people have to really know what happens...and the planners equally are having to become a lot more creatively inspired or inspiring..." On ad. agency structure: "My personal opinion is that in the future there are only going to be two departments - service and production." On creativity: "...[ad.] agencies have got to focus on stimulating the targets rather than stimulating themselves." On the way research is handling the changes: "...we're in a revolution, not an evolution... things are happening so fast...and so the research industry is in a bit of a quandary I think as to what it should do and following us at the moment isn't the right answer." On the increasing complex ad. market: "I'm on the ASA council and one of the worries we have is that regulating the [ad.] industry used to be easy, but when things are on the internet and they're put into TV programmes, how are we going to regulate that?" On the conservatism in research: "...the research industry is like the Young Conservatives, always having discos w... Advertising,,Book,reviews,,Creativity,,Future,of,research,,Media,,Social,media no No ESOMAR: Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/esomar-7-congress-live-ian-pearson-bt-futurologist/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/esomar-7-congress-live-ian-pearson-bt-futurologist/#comments Sun, 01 Oct 2006 17:21:52 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/esomar-7-congress-live-ian-pearson-bt-futurologist/ “Part of my job description is to get into trouble…we’re supposed to be thought-leaders.”

Ian Pearson, BT EXCLUSIVE  BT’s Futurologist, Ian Pearson, on the increasing impact of technological change, being a thorn in BT’s side, the growth of podcasting and social media, increasing concerns over privacy, and trends that affect the research industry

 STARRING 

  • Ian Pearson, BT

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS ‘06


TIMELINE [18m44s]
00m00s Synopsis of Ian’s talk at ESOMAR.
03m00s “Be paranoid or die”.
04m09s Being a thorn in BT’s side.
04m39s Ian’s time horizon.
05m00s The security threat posed by memory sticks.
05m15s Accelerating pace of technological change.
06m15s Podcasting and social media.
08m01s Being an anthropologist.
09m42s Privacy concerns and ‘The Stepford Society’.
12m07s Key socio-technological trends.
15m26s Deciding on fads vs. trends.
16m31s Trends affecting the MR industry.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
Akio Morita.
Bill Gates.
Claudia Schiffer.
Google.
Kate Moss.
Memory sticks.
Moore’s Law.
Pac Man.
Podcasting.
RSS.
Second Life.
Sony.
World of Warcraft.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/esomar-7-congress-live-ian-pearson-bt-futurologist/feed/ 0 18:44 "Part of my job description is to get into trouble...we're supposed to be thought-leaders." #160;EXCLUSIVE#160;#160;BT's Futurologist, Ian Pearson, on the increasing impact of technological change, being ... "Part of my job description is to get into trouble...we're supposed to be thought-leaders." #160;EXCLUSIVE#160;#160;BT's Futurologist, Ian Pearson, on the increasing impact of technological change, being a thorn in BT's side, the growth of podcasting and social media, increasing concerns over privacy, and trends that affect the research industry #160;STARRING#160; Ian Pearson, BT Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS '06 TIMELINE [18m44s] 00m00s Synopsis of Ian's talk at ESOMAR. 03m00s "Be paranoid or die". 04m09s Being a thorn in BT's side. 04m39s Ian's time horizon. 05m00s The security threat posed by memory sticks. 05m15s Accelerating pace of technological change. 06m15s Podcasting and social media. 08m01s Being an anthropologist. 09m42s Privacy concerns and 'The Stepford Society'. 12m07s Key socio-technological trends. 15m26s Deciding on fads vs. trends. 16m31s Trends affecting the MR industry. NOTABLE MENTIONS Akio Morita. Bill Gates. Claudia Schiffer. Google. Kate Moss. Memory sticks. Moore's Law. Pac Man. Podcasting. RSS. Second Life. Sony. World of Warcraft. Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Series:MarketingTalk Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06 ESOMAR,Congress,,Future,of,research,,Privacy,,Social,media no No Euro MR Event 1: Re-inventing Research http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/euro-mr-event-1-the-future-of-research/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/euro-mr-event-1-the-future-of-research/#comments Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:21:29 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/euro-mr-event-1-the-future-of-research/ “The board of Tesco still spends one week every year on the shop floor … in order to know what’s going on at the duck level.” (Patrick Barwise)

Click to visit the Euro MR Event website

John Kearon, BrainJuicerIn this, the first preview podcast for the upcoming European MR Event in London, John Kearon of BrainJuicer and his roundtable of marketing and business thought-leaders discuss the future of research.

 STARRING 

Learn more about European Market Research Event in London

THANKS
A huge thanks to John Kearon, his roundtable guests, and to Stefanie McGowan and her team at IIR Conferences for their help in producing these podcasts.

TIMELINE [29m59s]
00m00s Introduction.
01m51s The increasing importance of word of mouth (Ed Keller).
04m21s Combining insight and imagination for marketing effectiveness (Peter Fisk).
07m08s Customers value excellence on the basics (Patrick Barwise).
10m52s The close link between WoM and brand perceptions.
12m33s The role of imagination in marketing.
13m48s The state of market research.
24m21s Elevating the importance of research.
27m15s The perfect MR agency.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
Altavista.
Apple.
British Airways.
Ethnography.
Gfk NOP.
Google.
IKEA.
P&G.
ResearchNow.
Shell.
Social networking.
Starbucks.
Tesco.
Toyota.
Tremor panels.
Word of mouth.

QUOTES
“Most word of mouth – our research suggests 90% – takes place face-to-face.” (Ed Keller).

“Word of mouth is twice as important to consumers today as it was 20 years ago.” (Ed Keller).

“Averages are the worst thing that market research can deliver because no one is average.” (Peter Fisk).

“60% of market research remains unused.” (Peter Fisk).

“If you look closely at the real evidence on consumer behaviour … people very rarely choose a brand because it offers something which none of the other brands offer … people choose the brand they think [best delivers] the category benefit.” (Patrick Barwise).

“Google is not a pioneer, it’s a ’simply better’ company.” (Patrick Barwise).

“If you do the boring things very well then you make a lot of money.” (Patrick Barwise).

“The board of Tesco still spends one week every year on the shop floor … in order to know what’s going on at the duck level.” (Patrick Barwise).

“Research departments in themselves are a distraction for organisations. If we abolished research departments then in some ways we’d be better off.” (Peter Fisk).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:EMRE Series:EMRE06

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/10/01/euro-mr-event-1-the-future-of-research/feed/ 0 29:59 "The board of Tesco still spends one week every year on the shop floor ... in order to know what's going on at the duck ... "The board of Tesco still spends one week every year on the shop floor ... in order to know what's going on at the duck level." (Patrick Barwise) In this, the first preview podcast for the upcoming European MR Event in London, John Kearon of BrainJuicer and his roundtable of marketing and business thought-leaders discuss the future of research. #160;STARRING#160; Ed Keller, The Keller Fay Group, and co-author, The Influentials Prof. Patrick Barwise, LBS, and co-author, Simply Better Peter Fisk, The Foundation, and author, Marketing Genius John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (Host) Learn more about European Market Research Event in London THANKS A huge thanks to John Kearon, his roundtable guests, and to Stefanie McGowan and her team at IIR Conferences for their help in producing these podcasts. TIMELINE [29m59s] 00m00s Introduction. 01m51s The increasing importance of word of mouth (Ed Keller). 04m21s Combining insight and imagination for marketing effectiveness (Peter Fisk). 07m08s Customers value excellence on the basics (Patrick Barwise). 10m52s The close link between WoM and brand perceptions. 12m33s The role of imagination in marketing. 13m48s The state of market research. 24m21s Elevating the importance of research. 27m15s The perfect MR agency. NOTABLE MENTIONS Altavista. Apple. British Airways. Ethnography. Gfk NOP. Google. IKEA. PG. ResearchNow. Shell. Social networking. Starbucks. Tesco. Toyota. Tremor panels. Word of mouth. QUOTES "Most word of mouth - our research suggests 90% - takes place face-to-face." (Ed Keller). "Word of mouth is twice as important to consumers today as it was 20 years ago." (Ed Keller). "Averages are the worst thing that market research can deliver because no one is average." (Peter Fisk). "60% of market research remains unused." (Peter Fisk). "If you look closely at the real evidence on consumer behaviour ... people very rarely choose a brand because it offers something which none of the other brands offer ... people choose the brand they think [best delivers] the category benefit." (Patrick Barwise). "Google is not a pioneer, it's a 'simply better' company." (Patrick Barwise). "If you do the boring things very well then you make a lot of money." (Patrick Barwise). "The board of Tesco still spends one week every year on the shop floor ... in order to know what's going on at the duck level." (Patrick Barwise). "Research departments in themselves are a distraction for organisations. If we abolished research departments then in some ways we'd be better off." (Peter Fisk). Music#160;Theatrimus from the PMN Series:Events Series:EMRE Series:EMRE06 Book,reviews,,EMRE,,Future,of,research no No Simon Lidington, MRS Chair http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/08/24/simon-lidington-mrs-chair/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/08/24/simon-lidington-mrs-chair/#comments Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:30:26 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/08/24/simon-lidington-mrs-chair/ “What binds us going forward? In the past it has largely been primary data collection and I don’t think that’s enough”

 Sponsored by K D Consulting - leaders in quality MR recruitment
Simon Lidington, The Insight ExchangeSimon Lidington is smart, passionate and engaging and so perfect podcast material. He was recently elected to the chair of the MRS and so is arguably one of the most influential players in the $2bn UK research industry. In this podcast, hear his fresh vision, ideas and priorities as he speaks openly with key industry figure Ruth McNeil. He also talks about his other life as the founder of new startup The Insight Exchange

 STARRING 


PODCAST
At the age of 31, Simon Lidington started his first research agency.

Four years later, he bought into and jointly-built Quadrangle, a management consultancy. There he successfully led the research effort to drive the re-positioning of the Skoda brand in the UK (forgive the pun).

In 2004, Simon became the CEO of Research International UK, and at the end of 2005 decided to move onto his next venture, The Insight Exchange.

Shortly after, and in the face of tough competition, he was awarded the chair of the Market Research Society. It’s this challenging role that we discuss with him today.
Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [27m05s]
00m00s Introduction.
02m25s Why did Simon want to be MRS chair?
03m14s Winning the election against Leslie Sopp.
04m14s Is there a conflict in the visions of diversity of unification?
04m48s What should the MRS should stand for?
05m52s “A unique talent” – Richard Ide, ex. Head of Volkswagen Group UK.
06m48s “A research visionary and a rebel” – Nicky Buss, Director of Advertiser Development, ITV.
07m33s “A good listener and very selfless” – Jeremy Hicks, Head of Audi UK.
08m19s The MRS’s mission.
09m41s Is the MRS commercial enough?
09m56s Can the MRS influence industry growth rates?
10m51s Medium-term challenges for MR.
11m40s Engaging those on the periphery of research (data miners, analysts etc.)
12m50s Is the name ‘MR’ limiting the industry vision?
15m45s Simon’s top priorities as MRS chair.
16m58s Specific initiatives to better promote the MR industry.
20m08s Including people on the edge of the industry.
21m42s The role of ‘Research’ magazine.
23m21s The thinking behind Simon’s new venture, The Insight Exchange.
24m49s What his time at Research International contributed to his world view.
25m37s What Simon would like his legacy to be.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
Casro.
CBI.
Christine Hastings (Quadrangle).
David Barr (MRS).
Eamonn Santry (Network Research).
EFAMRO.
ESOMAR.
ESRC (Cultures of Consumption).
Evan Davies (BBC).
Forrester Research.
Dr Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College).
Jeremy Bullmore.
John Gambles (Quadrangle).
Jupiter Research.
Leslie Sopp (Age Concern).
Marc Brenner (Research magazine).
Peter Greenwood (Research magazine).
Quadrangle.
Research International.

Glazer, Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research.

QUOTES
On the level of clientside representation: “I don’t think that we’ve got enough clientside representation and I’m not sure that actually stands us in the best stead…there is a danger of an increasing separation between the agency definition of MR and how clients see it.”

On the MRS’s purpose: “What binds us going forward? In the past it has largely been primary data collection and I don’t think that’s enough.”

On changing the MRS’s focus: “Perhaps the MRS has felt somewhat hampered by being a membership organisation rather than a trade body. Now I see that shifting, although I don’t think we’ll ever be just a trade body.”

On the MRS being more commercial: “I would expect to see a fairly major push on this over the next year or couple of years.”

On becoming an inclusive industry (e.g. including data miners): “I don’t see that behavioural data, no matter how it is collected, is anathema to the MR industry…bringing those things together is a hugely powerful force for businesses…it’s to be celebrated and something that we should actively be pursuing.”

On reaching out to the Jupiter and Forrester Researchs of the world: “There is a fairly active debate within the industry as to whether the MRS should embrace those consultancies. My own personal feeling is that we should.”

On changing the industry name: “I’ve always thought that name changes are to be carefully considered.”

On a key priority: “The MRS is a UK organisation…but the MR industry is global. And I think that we have resisted collaboration with international organisations and I would like to see that change. I have already instituted changes in our policy…I would like to see us play our part on the international stage.”

On specific initiatives to better promote MR: “…the use just of media PR isn’t going to solve the problem…there are a number of things that we have to do to find our way into the minds and hearts of those people who use and apply research…it could be that we need to talk to the CBI.”

On ‘Research’ magazine: “It has been suggested as a possibility that it’s hived off. I’m not sure I would support that.”

On the rationale for his new startup: “The large, global research agencies have done a marvelous job in creating large engines which are about analysis…for smaller companies the opportunities are much more in the humanity of it, the bringing of wisdom, the bringing of ingenuity to a client’s issues…”

Music courtesy of: 2006 Pl@stic Soul and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to K D Consulting for sponsoring this podcast.

Series:Sponsored

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/08/24/simon-lidington-mrs-chair/feed/ 0 27:05 "What binds us going forward? In the past it has largely been primary data collection and I don't think that's enough" #160;Sponsored by#160; Simon Lidington is smart, ... "What binds us going forward? In the past it has largely been primary data collection and I don't think that's enough" #160;Sponsored by#160; Simon Lidington is smart, passionate and engaging and so perfect podcast material. He was recently elected to the chair of the MRS and so is arguably one of the most influential players in the $2bn UK research industry. In this podcast, hear his fresh vision, ideas and priorities as he speaks openly with key industry figure Ruth McNeil. He also talks about his other life as the founder of new startup The Insight Exchange #160;STARRING#160; Simon Lidington, MRS Chair, and CEO and founder, The Insight Exchange Ruth McNeil, co-founder, Response Consulting, and author of Business to Business Market Research (Host) Richard Ide, former Head of Volkswagen UK (Contributor) Nicky Buss, Director of Advertiser Development, ITV (Contributor) Jeremy Hicks, Head of Audi UK (Contributor) PODCAST At the age of 31, Simon Lidington started his first research agency. Four years later, he bought into and jointly-built Quadrangle, a management consultancy. There he successfully led the research effort to drive the re-positioning of the Skoda brand in the UK (forgive the pun). In 2004, Simon became the CEO of Research International UK, and at the end of 2005 decided to move onto his next venture, The Insight Exchange. Shortly after, and in the face of tough competition, he was awarded the chair of the Market Research Society. Itacirc;euro;trade;s this challenging role that we discuss with him today. Please let us know what you think of this podcast. TIMELINE [27m05s] 00m00s Introduction. 02m25s Why did Simon want to be MRS chair? 03m14s Winning the election against Leslie Sopp. 04m14s Is there a conflict in the visions of diversity of unification? 04m48s What should the MRS should stand for? 05m52s "A unique talent" - Richard Ide, ex. Head of Volkswagen Group UK. 06m48s "A research visionary and a rebel" - Nicky Buss, Director of Advertiser Development, ITV. 07m33s "A good listener and very selfless" - Jeremy Hicks, Head of Audi UK. 08m19s The MRS's mission. 09m41s Is the MRS commercial enough? 09m56s Can the MRS influence industry growth rates? 10m51s Medium-term challenges for MR. 11m40s Engaging those on the periphery of research (data miners, analysts etc.) 12m50s Is the name 'MR' limiting the industry vision? 15m45s Simon's top priorities as MRS chair. 16m58s Specific initiatives to better promote the MR industry. 20m08s Including people on the edge of the industry. 21m42s The role of 'Research' magazine. 23m21s The thinking behind Simon's new venture, The Insight Exchange. 24m49s What his time at Research International contributed to his world view. 25m37s What Simon would like his legacy to be. NOTABLE MENTIONS Casro. CBI. Christine Hastings (Quadrangle). David Barr (MRS). Eamonn Santry (Network Research). EFAMRO. ESOMAR. ESRC (Cultures of Consumption). Evan Davies (BBC). Forrester Research. Dr Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College). Jeremy Bullmore. John Gambles (Quadrangle). Jupiter Research. Leslie Sopp (Age Concern). Marc Brenner (Research magazine). Peter Greenwood (Research magazine). Quadrangle. Research International. Glazer, Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. QUOTES On the level of clientside representation: "I don't think that we've got enough clientside representation and I'm not sure that actually stands us in the best stead...there is a danger of an increasing separation between the agency definition of MR and how clients see it." On the MRS's purpose: "What binds us going forward? In the past it has largely been primary data collection and I don't think that's enough." On changing the MRS's focus: "Perhaps the MRS has felt somewhat hampered by being a membership organisation rather than a trade body. Now I see that shifting, although I don't think we'll ever be ju... Future,of,research,,Profile no No Jack Honomichl, Industry Authority http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/07/27/008-jack-honomichl-global-industry-authority/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/07/27/008-jack-honomichl-global-industry-authority/#comments Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:18:40 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/07/27/008-jack-honomichl-global-industry-authority/ “It got so bad that [Dun and Bradstreet] financed the start-up of another publication which they hoped would run Inside Research out of business”

 Sponsored by K D Consulting - leaders in quality MR recruitment
Jack HonomichlYou have a thought: let’s invite on global guru Jack Honomichl. You’re a fledgling podcaster so he’s not going to say ‘yes’. But he does, and he’s actually one of the nicest and most visionary people you can meet. Listen to his frank views on the industry and key players, and hear about the genesis of his must-read Inside Research newsletter and how Dun and Bradstreet tried to derail it. Jack also gives us a sneak peak at the upcoming Global 25 list

 STARRING 

  • Jack Honomichl, Inside Research
  • Michael Warren – michael.c.warren *at* btinternet *dot* com (Host)


PODCAST
Ask the CEOs of research organisations worldwide who they regard as the most authoritative voice in the business of research, and they’ll probably name today’s guest.

Jack Honomichl has written about the industry since 1969, including an 18-year column in Advertising Age.

In 1990 he founded Inside Research, a monthly newsletter for senior business executives that the US financial weekly, Barrons, calls the Bible of the research industry.

Jack also compiles the annual Honomichl Top 50 and Top 25 lists, respectively the largest research firms in the US and worldwide.

And he’s even found time to write a few books!

To cap it all, he has been inducted into the MR hall of fame alongside other luminaries such as David Ogilvy and Arthur C. Nielsen Sr.

Few people can match Jack for his clarity of vision and ability to analyse strategic trends. That’s why MR CEOs and the financial community worldwide scramble for his and Larry Gold’s Inside Research newsletter every month. And now you get to understand some of that magic…

Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [42m09s]
00m00s Introduction.
02m24s Why ACNielsen keeps changing hands.
04m14s Jack on takeover activity.

Inside Research
07m17s Why it’s a must-read for CEOs and investors.
08m46s Genesis.
10m52s Larry Gold’s arrival as editor and publisher.
12m26s Rationale for its functional style.
13m43s Exclusives (incl. D&B takeover of ACNielsen).
16m02s Has Jack ever been used?
18m32s Do top executives deserve their pay?
20m55s The value and influence of research.

Honomichl US top 50 & Global top 25
24m16s Jack comments on the latest US top 50.
27m13s Exclusive preview of Global top 25.
28m19s Industry outlook for the next five years.
30m29s Top executives most admire.
31m36s What makes superb management.
32m57s Is there a deterioration in top level management?
34m25s Jack’s outlook for the industry.
35m29s Whether the industry is undervalued and Jack’s ‘imperative’ scale.

Jack
38m28s What motivates Jack.
39m21s The accomplishment that Jack’s most proud of.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
ACNielsen (AC Nielsen, ACN).
Advertising Age.
Aegis.
Arthur C. Nielsen.
Arbitron.
BrainJuicer.
Crain Communications.
David Ogilvy.
Dun and Bradstreet (D&B).
Ipsos.
IRI.
John Kearon.
Robert Maxwell.
Steve Morris.
Synovate.
TNS / Taylor Nelson.
Tony Cowling.

SOME QUOTES (not indicative of the whole podcast)
(IR = Inside Research)

On ACNielsen’s initial sale to Dun and Bradstreet: “I remember when Art Nielsen sold the company to Dun and Bradstreet and he called all the employees together…[he said] don’t worry, nothing will change, that turns out in retrospect to be the most naive statement ever made, there’s been nothing but change.”

On the recent change in ACNielsen ownership: “Once you’re in play you become a football and Nielsen’s kinda in the World Cup, it’s getting kicked all over the place…it’s recently fallen into the hands of a bunch of venture capitalists and they’ll use it for their own get rich quick scheme and then throw the carcass away.”

On takeovers: “In many cases the people who take them over didn’t have the vaguest idea what they were getting into when they bought a research company, they saw some sort of glitter there, some sort of mystique.”

On the rate of takeover activity: “Pardon me for sounding a little jaded but I’ve gotten pretty blasé about all this, I mean when you’ve got a company turning over every nine and a half days, after a while it gets to be a same old kind of a situation.”

On the genesis of IR: “This is an interesting thing. Alfred Kinsey the famous sex reporter…when he first announced to his staff what they were going to do someone said, people won’t tell you about their sexual behaviour, too private, too confidential. He said you’ll be surprised, your biggest problem will be to shut them up…that’s what I found, the industry was just hungry for recognition.”

On Larry Gold: “What Larry writes up about these conferences around the world, it’s like movie reviews. It tells the very stressed executive on the buy-side which ones are worth the time and effort since there are so many of them today.”

On IR’s note-like writing style: “I was conscious of how much excessive verbiage there is, good for effect but short on fact…when you see a newsletter that’s full of pictures and graphs…that’s because they don’t have any content…I choose content…squeeze in as much as we can.”

On IR’s editorial asset: “Many publications are written by people on the outside looking in, like looking into a toy store. We know how the toys are made, who made them, which ones work well, which don’t.”

On IR’s first big exclusive, tracking the takeover of AC Nielsen by Dun and Bradstreet: “…it really infuriated the people at Dun and Bradstreet. It got so bad that they financed the start-up of another publication which they hoped would run IR out of business.”

On executive pay: “In my opinion, one of the great weaknesses of the research industry worldwide is that there is a shortage of really good top executive material. By definition the people who are most able already own their own company and already have equity. You can’t hire them, if you want them you have to buy them.”

On the influence of research: “The market research industry is not much to speak of in terms of revenue. But, the leverage that information has is extraordinary, where you might take a company and change it’s whole course of action.”

On the value of research: “One of my hobbies is espionage…research can be viewed as espionage…in that sense research has been under utilised.”

On making effective use of research: “David Ogilvy has a famous quote…in essence..it’s very easy to show people how to use and buy market research, but very difficult to get them to use it properly.”

On the outlook over the next five years: “I’ve been saying for, I don’t how many years, that it can’t go on [rate of takeover activity], but it does!”

On top executives most admire [in addition to Tony Cowling]: “What they’ve done with IPSOS has been for me extremely intelligent and in the end very productive and one of the reasons is they knew how to manage their acquisitions. Any fool can go out and buy a company…but running it after you get it, and growing it, improving it…that’s another subject and that’s where IPSOS stands alone…and also Steve Morris of Arbitron.”

On successful management: “Some companies have literally managed themselves right into the ground…the organisation eventually is an extension of the personality, the drive and vision of one man or a couple or three people, and if there’s no vision at the top then you just have a bean counter…someone who doesn’t understand the research industry and who’s only interested in money making…it shows up over time.”

On making research more valuable: “A piece of information moves way up on the imperative scale if the CEO says we have to have it.”

Music courtesy of: 2006 Pl@stic Soul and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to K D Consulting for sponsoring this podcast.

Series:Sponsored

]]> http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/07/27/008-jack-honomichl-global-industry-authority/feed/ 0 Steve Wills: Making Better Researchers http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/06/02/steve-wills-making-better-researchers/ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2006/06/02/steve-wills-making-better-researchers/#comments Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:47:09 +0000 ResearchTalk http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/?p=14  Sponsored by K D Consulting - leaders in quality MR recruitment
Steve Wills, Customer Insight SolutionsA sizzling discussion on whether and how the industry needs to change

 STARRING 


PODCAST
Steve Wills is a man on a mission. Along with co-founder Sally Webb at Customer Insight Solutions, Steve believes that research agencies need to do much more if research is to be taken seriously in the boardroom.

And he should know. Steve manages of forum of 20 diverse client organisations where he directly hears about the challenges of using research to drive key business decisions.

In this conversation, he makes an empassioned plea for agency researchers to adjust to the changing paradigm by thinking and behaving more commercially.

But he doesn’t just believe that the obligation rests on researchers. He has some choice words for the Market Research Society (MRS) which he believes needs to become a more active catalyst for change.

Also joining the discussion is Luke Perry, a young researcher at management consultancy RSMI. Luke won a slate of awards at Conference 2005 and holds passionate views on the industry. Luke and I act as counterpoints to challenge Steve’s suggestions.

Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [25m28s]
00m00s The need for change.
02m28s What research users want.
03m14s Building consultative skills.
04m21s Being a credible consultant.
05m50s It’s simpler than it seems.
10m26s The commoditization of research.
12m21s Always a place for commodity suppliers.
15m11s Clients have already started to change.
15m44s Market forces and the Internet are driving change.
18m10s What researchers should do.
19m08s The need for an industry champion.
21m02s The role of the MRS.
22m31s The positive impact on company valuations.
24m32s Is any agency following this approach?

QUOTES
The demand for better research: “The demands made on insight teams are increasing…it’s no longer a prerequisite that you know alot about research…[the job is to] communicate findings within an organisation.”

Agencies need to change: “Most agencies have an aspiration, they want to be advisors…when in actual fact they just are providing data.”

The need to update skills: “If agencies want to carry on doing what they’re doing, and be as successful as they currently are, they are going to have to master these skills.”

On the new manifesto: “Research agencies have got to start looking at how to drive value, rather than how to provide research.”

On talking pounds rather than percentages: “In terms of setting priorities, you do not have to be a financial expert…and CEOs will love you for it.”

On the potential for conflict with management consultancy: “…management consultancy is a different skill…but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have consultative skills…and it certainly doesn’t mean that there isn’t alot of work that management consultants do that we shouldn’t be doing.”

On the need for someone to champion this change: “I would hope that with people like Simon Lidington, now chair of the MRS…he is the sort of person who certainly believes in these things.”

On the role of the MRS: “…but I do think some serious questions do need to be asked of the MRS because of what their role is…the world isn’t about just research any more.”

Music Theatrimus and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to KD Consulting for sponsoring this podcast.

Series:Sponsored

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