5 Responses to “Community Insights”

1. Leonard Murphy says:

   January 13, 2010 at 11:05 am

   Hi Robert,

   Here is what I told Bob Lederer when asked the same question: “MR companies will embrace Social Media monitoring as a viable directional tool, similar to bulletin board studies. Companies like peanut Labs, DMS, and Toluna will lead the charge in adapting the social media model for online sample; the movement towards MROC will become a macro trend that sample providers will have to embrace. Traditional access panels will become increasingly unreliable, commoditized, and ultimately unviable if they ignore the value proposition of social media and online communities. On a related note, Mobile data collection, driven by the convergence of mobile web on a multitude of devices, will explode as we go to where consumers are, vs. where we want them to be. This will impact research design, resulting in more highly targeted, much shorter, more engaging surveys and will do more for re-engaging respondents than anything else our industry has tried.

   MR firms will begin the shift to being “fact-based” consultancies, incorporating the best elements of strategic insight delivery and management consulting. We will sell insights and strategy instead of just data, or the process of data collection. Firms that choose to remain positioned as they always have been will become commoditized, marginalized, and eventually will fill only very niche roles as specialized service providers.”

   I know that we share the same view on the evolution of research firms into business consultancies and you have done a fantastic job of delving even deeper into that scenario.

   As far as 2019 goes, I think the pace of technology adoption will impact that more than anything else. While I don’t have a concrete vision that far in the future, what I believe is that research will be primarily conducted via social networks or virtual communities, and the primary technology will be mobile. We will talk to respondents in real time where ever they are via advanced telecommunication systems, and might rely more upon crowd-sourcing as our primary sampling method. I also believe will not be limited to bland scale questions; the devices used may enable us to collect neurological and biometric data simultaneously, and will be incorporated into vast profiling databas4es to enable the most comprehensive view of consumer attitudes, past behavior, thoughts, and feelings in our history. Analysis will take on whole new dimensions as these data sets expand in scope and complexity, and our job will be to predict future trends rather than understand past experience.
2. Ian Lewis says:

   January 14, 2010 at 3:59 pm

   Research Transformation will become a major priority for MR/Consumer Insight departments in this decade. The slow, jobless recovery will initially make many MR heads reluctant to embrace calls for transformational changes both in how they work and in the tools they employ. The MR function of the future is one that listens for the unexpected, embraces disruptive change, uses storytelling to create an emotional connection with decision-makers and integrates MR firms as part of a holistic sourcing model. Its senior staff consists of consultants who are integral to the company’s decision processes and who drive impact from consumer and market insights.

   This transformational journey is just beginning; the need has been recognized by organizations such as the ARF and MREB, by consulting companies such as BCG and Cambiar, and by individuals at major companies such as Coca Cola, P&G, Unilever, Colgate and J&J. ARF has formed a “Super-Council” to activate Research Transformation that will be led by leading client researchers. Look for this to take hold over the next year and continue through the decade. It will impact client researchers, research firms, and it must also be reflected in education and training for tomorrow’s researchers.
3. Maritza DiSciullo says:

   January 22, 2010 at 1:19 pm

   I wonder (and perhaps “fear”?) what impact the shift towards Social Media as a tool in marketing research will have on business decisions will be made. And further, what impact will it then end up having on the legitimacy of our industry overall. It seems to me that researchers are still undisciplined when it comes to learning how to use the data collected, and how to use it responsibily.

   In many ways, it reminds me of when online research first became widely used. It was so cheap and easy to do, that the power of it often ended up in overeager, inexperienced hands. As an industry, I think we need to develop standards to draw clear lines around social media as qualitative or quantitative, observational or participatory. We need to develop guidelines for clients to help them determine when and where this is an appropriate tool. And to help clients to understand that the bulletin board postings of a handful of people is NOT necessarily a substitute for serious scientific research.
4. Matt Foley says:

   February 2, 2010 at 12:45 pm

   I come from a bit of a biased standpoint here, but I truly believe that private online communities are the future of market research. However, I think they may not resemble what we think of as a “MROC” today, as the tools are likely to evolve quite a bit over the next few years… For example, mobile tools are only starting to become readily available, and will likely see a big boost in the next few years as smartphones gain widespread acceptance and use.

   The macro trends driving this are the sheer number of conversations around product and brands happening online, as well as the genuine connections that people are making in various social networks and online communities. I won’t harp on this too much, since the topic of social media is all the rage these days and most people know what is driving interest in that space…

   As for 2019, it’s anyone’s guess. I would guess most serious research will be done online, and I would also venture a guess that game-like environments (e.g., virtual worlds) will have at least a small role in the way we conduct research. A few years back Second Life was all the rage, followed by a quick backlash against the approach. However, with more and more consumers (and businesses – see IBM as an example) seeking entertainment and social networking opportunities in virtual environments, it’s likely that marketing and research will tread down this path eventually (sans the hype next time). This is what seems to be happening with social media now, as primary research methods are adapting to changes in the social media landscape. I, for one, welcome the chance to play virtual games alongside research participants as a means of “studying” them

   As a final note, I think qualitative research will gain more prominence as people look for research to provide ideas and a true path to innovation, rather than the focus on numbers and metrics that are provided now. Again, this might be bias on my part (given my background is in qualitative research), but I think it could be driven by the fact that social media is inherently about conversations, listening, authenticity, transparency and everything else that goes with the social media landscape. That type of deliverable and experience is hard to achieve by filling in choices on a survey…

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