I just arrived here at the San Diego Bayfront Hilton in anticipation of The Market Research Event 2010. On the flight from Washington I had some time to think and finish reading Rachel Botsman’s new book on “the rise of collaborative consumption.” Botsman paints a sweeping landscape of consumers cooperating in their purchase and use [...]

One of the fascinating things about examining the futures of almost any domain is that weak and strong signals can typically be found for them today. Because of this, those of us who are scanning the horizon tend to compress our view of future time and expect trends we see today to blossom fully (and [...]

We’re hearing the word “foresight” quite a bit today here at the ARF’s Industry Leader Forum. As I’ve noted in a previous post, I think the word is being used in a general way to mean “thinking ahead of the curve” and not in the specific sense used by professionals working in “strategic foresight.” I [...]

Joel Rubinson’s blog recently noted the concept of “mental marketplaces.” As opposed to physical markets for a specific product, “mental marketplaces” are all the companies and brands a consumer associates freely with a particular space. This is exceptionally interesting. So, for example, Rubinson writes that: “The ‘mental marketplace’ changes the rules of competition; your brand [...]

Tom Ewing has an update to his thinking regarding Millennials in MR. There was such a great response to his question (Are the kids alright?) that he revised and extended his remarks. It is worth reading the comments. I maintain that there is plenty of young talent in the industry, but that these talented folks [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita’s new book, The Predictioneer’s Game, is well worth a read. First, it’s simply interesting. The author has been building game theory based prediction markets for the US government and private industry clients for years, and his learnings in this field (especially, multi-player nation state relations modeling) are fascinating. Interestingly, the author [...]

With declining respondent participation rates the entire industry (well, at least some of it) has been thinking about how we lighten the respondent burden. And the fact is that it isn’t really our choice anymore. With most populations migratng from landline to mobile, many surveys are going to get smaller and simpler (quickly!). But, how [...]