Here, Rathjen asks, “When do we stop identifying with Rodney Dangerfield?”

It is well worth a read here.

Key quote:

“I suppose what I am building up to is my own reverse polemic: that it is time to stop being Rodney Dangerfield, time to stop being the downtrodden, overworked partner and insist that both parties respect one another and deliver a more mutually-satisfying process of collecting, disseminating and using information. Marketing research has to be “at the table” not hoping to be; marketing research needs to be on the first string; marketing research needs to be more than the “little woman” who keeps the house clean and the beds made.”

The piece is a response to Kieron Mathews’ equally cutting piece titled “Going beyond the numbers”, in which Mathews chides the industry for not doing more to build its value and gravitas.