Reading Joel Rubinson’s excellent post over at his ARF blog, recalls some futuring I’ve been doing around the likely evolution of the industry.
Rubinson takes a look at the evolution of the ad agency and applies this evolutionary footpath to MR with media buying the analog to the data collection side of the business and creative [...]

Will 50% of the work being done at market research firms today become “unnecessary” in three years?
Marshall Toplansky, President of WiseWindow, explores this question and scans the horizon of market research in a new MRA Alert article. For those MRA members, I highly recommend reading Toplansky’s article titled “Measuring the Future of Market Research.”
Reading [...]

Recently Alastair Gordon has asked “who’ll own MR in 2020?”
By this Gordon means to ask which players will dominate the market research industry.
His thesis is that the answer changes based on the year, but that one probable future is the rise, and ultimate dominance of the sub-contracting firms upon which full-service shops often depend. [...]

Does the term “market research” accurately capture what the industry is doing today?
Is the term advantageous for the industry?
I have written about this before as what I describe as the “linguistic” challenge to the industry.
This is why it was so good to read Andrew Jeavons’ piece in the February edition of Research World (page 11). [...]

Ian Lewis has an exceptionally good piece in March’s Research World.
Ideally, it should be read in tandem with his January Quirk’s piece titled “Ten keys to increasing the impact of research” and with his comments on this website.
Although I highly recommend that you read (and re-read) Ian’s piece in Research World and draw [...]

It is not difficult to see how prediction markets could become another useful tool in the market researcher’s toolkit.
For those interested in prediction markets I strongly recommend David Rothschild’s article in this month’s Public Opinion Quarterly (AAPOR’s publication).
Although Rothschild’s article focuses on “comparing prediction markets, polls and their biases”, the implications of his article stretch [...]

My response to Melissa Pepper’s useful question about futures of the industry.
Some possible (as opposed to probable or preferable) futures:
1. The commoditized part of the business is called “market research” and it loses talent and ages dramatically. The non-commoditized part of the business is called “strategic foresight” (see BCG report), “data-driven consulting”, or “customer community.” [...]

Tom Ewing asks:
“Are the Kids Alright?”
What are they thinking about the future of market research?
Why aren’t we hearing from them?
My take:
I don’t think we’re asking their opinion and I’m not sure the industry is listening.
But, I would add another option somewhat related to “they’re too busy doing amazing stuff.”
“They’re in industries, businesses and functions that [...]

One of the discussion areas in market research is the rise of new market entrants such as consulting firms, MROC suppliers, digital listening firms, DIY research toolmakers, etc.
But, the two that have most interested me are (a) consulting firms like BCG or McKinsey and (b) large digital platforms that could become uber-panel companies of the [...]

I have believed since the late 1990s that there will eventually be a merger of market research with the more future-oriented “strategic foresight”. In fact, you can read my thinking about this here. (See pages 8 and 16.)
A new Boston Consulting Group report supports this thesis.
You can read it all here.
But, I highly [...]