As many of the readers of FOI know, I joined 38 other authors in writing the book “Leading Edge Marketing Research; 21st Century Tools and Practices”. Writing what became titled “The Futures of Marketing Research” and designated the epilogue was a labor of love. In this epilogue I developed 22 potential futures for the research [...]

While walking the convention floor this week at The Market Research Event I had the pleasure of talking with folks at Clarabridge and Nunwood. Both offer knowledge management archiving services that are accessed by a custom-built interface. Nunwood’s “Fizz” is a good example. Historically market research has been defined by data scarcity. The market research [...]

Here ate The Market Research Event attendees are streaming in for the EXPLOR awards. We’ve had some great presentations from the nominees today.

Last night’s keynote address was given by Michael Tchong of Ubercool, Inc. As one might expect, the speech was heavily future and trends focused. So much of what he discussed (especially America’s hyperfocus on the future and “future tense”) was reminiscent of David Brooks’ book “On Paradise Drive.” Although the audience was treated to a [...]

How does an organization like the BBC shorten the feedback loop across the global population that accesses its journalistic content? The answer? One very large MROC. In what was easily the most interesting nuts and bolts presentation of the day, the folks in room 306A were treated to an in-depth view of the 15,000+ BBC [...]

Here at The Market Research Event in San Diego we hear the word “insight” frequently. We hear this at every market research conference. But, how do we define an “insight” and how do we segment insights? After all, insights come in a number of flavors. Interestingly, when you ask market researchers to define an insight [...]

Dawn Lacallade at ComBlu gives those venturing into the insights community (MROC) space a helpful tip. Instead of utilizing a massive intake survey to screen MROC participants and build rigorous demographic profiles, utilize a small intake survey and then add additional demographic questions after the community is launched. This can be done with brief, one [...]

Tom LaForge at Coca-Cola presented his thinking on macro-forces shaping our world (what Smith and Raspin in their book “Creating Market Insight” call “remote environment factors”) and Coca-Cola’s strategy. It was all strategic foresight. Tom, with his focus on the trends driving our futures, represents one aspect of where I believe market research is headed. [...]

Here in San Diego at The Market Research Event there are five (5) symposia today and one is on “Culture & Trends.” I’m particularly looking forward to Saatchi & Saatchi’s presentation on the evolution of wellness and Coca-Cola’s presentation on “how macroforces are reshaping relationships, roles and the very idea of ‘consumer.’” With all this [...]

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 [...]