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 [...]

I’ve recently written about the privacy challenges of some “passive” research tools, specifically in the social media space. No sooner had I written this, than ESOMAR’s Research World publishes an article by George Pappachen and Richard Coombe titled “Licence to Peek” on the same issue. As they put it: “…data management and consumer privacy – [...]

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 [...]

Over at Forrester’s groundswell Josh Bernoff details his profiling technique for a market’s social technology behavior. This appears to be a solid profiling technique and useful in understanding where a market is regarding social media. Click here for the chart.

As we close out 2009, the contours of the future of market research are becoming clearer. Looking ahead, here is a quick look at transitions I expect in the coming years: 1. From intrusive, survey based research to passive, observational research utilizing what has been called “listening posts.” 2. From research conducted at arms length [...]