Data Gurus Podcast | Insights on Business Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Market Research & Data Collection

For today’s episode, Senior Business Consultant at Southwest Airlines Isaac Muñoz sits with Sima Vasa. They talk about marrying research and insights and why research is not just an optional element but should be deeply integrated into the marketing process.

Isaac Muñoz - Insights at Southwest Airlines

Isaac is part of the Customer Insights of the Marketing Team at Southwest Airlines. His job involves doing primary research and then coming back to the company as a consultant. He and his team have been in this role for ten years.

This innovative move evolved their function from not just being research but being more consultative as well. It helped raise understanding business issues and linking research results to driving actionable decisions.

“One of our missions is to make sure that everything we do is representative of the customer, everything that we do is received well by the customer.” - Isaac Muñoz

Realizing a Mission

In order to be able to achieve their goals, they have taken the approach of doing research that involves reaching out to customers. They get to know what they have to say, what customers like and don't like. And then they evaluate the data they get.

By doing all these, they are able to go back to the company with tactics that they can launch. As a result, they become better received by their customers.

Challenges Along the Way

Like other researchers, Isaac and his team encounter challenges related to understanding the consumers and customers. The need to spread different channels into different touch points is one of these.

And while this is no news, the customer journey is unique to everyone and should therefore always be taken into account.

“One of the challenges is trying to understand how each touch point plays a role and trying to see the influence that marketing and people play a role, especially in today's environment.” - Isaac Muñoz

Quick links to connect with Isaac Muñoz:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

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Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

On today’s episode, Kris Hull and Chris Murphy of Kantar North America joins Sima Vasa. Together, they talk about marketing metric audit protocols, finding the balance between short-term and long-term tracking, and so much more.

Kris Hull and Chris Murphy - MASB Accreditation

In a recent press release, the market research agency announced its accreditation for the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB). Chris Murphy, Chief Client Officer, says that they perform the marketing metric audit protocols for third party audits.

This accreditation certifies the offers they provide their clients’ methodology as the right metric to look to financial performance. Chris underscores the importance of performing rigorous third party audit as part of their core equity assessment tool.

“We struggle industrially to gain alignment just on the principles of brand growth and measurement.” - Chris Murphy

Short-term and Long-term Tracking

Kris Hull, Senior Vice President, shares one of the things they found out in going through their internal process for research and development. When researchers stay at an aggregated level of looking at data on general equity and sales trends, a lot of noise gets in the way. This makes it difficult to find strong direct relationships about how people perceive and buy a brand.

Finding the Balance

Researchers need to look at sales as a combination of both long-term and short-term based trends to gain more insights. This practice enabled Kris and his team to see how short-term sales are often influenced by promotional and media activity. This activity then drives unaided awareness or some traditional funnel matrix giving good sense of what moves and how people respond to a strategy.

Meanwhile, power of attraction along with other trends, have stronger relationships with long-term sales trends.

“A brand can take a very balanced view of how to drive what they need to do now and what they need to do.” - Kris Hull

Quick links to connect with Kris Hull and Chris Murphy:

Kantar - Twitter

Kantar Millward Brown - Twitter

Marketing Accountability Standards Board - Twitter

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

On today's episode, President of The Opinion Economy Ted Waz sits with Sima Vasa to talk about the rising distributed ledger and blockchain technology. They also touch on how it will affect the way we collect consumer data and the market research sphere as a whole.

Ted Waz - On The Opinion Economy

The Opinion Economy is a distributed ledger, blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) company. They focus on unifying conversations between consumers and those who would like to purchase these data.

Consumers are the people who display behaviors and express opinions. The latter group can comprise of marketing companies, aggregations, or brands.

Opportunities in Market Research

Ted got exposed to consumer data and market research through his firsthand experience as part of and working with investors groups. During a convention, he met and got into discussions with incredible people. He promptly realized the energy and great technology in the sphere.

People guided him around the space. Then he decided to spend a little more of his time and money to invest in it, stirring up a lot of good commotion in the sphere. He believes that market research is bound to do something phenomenal over the next couple of years.

“The more I discovered, the more opportunity I saw.” - Ted Waz

Distributed Ledger and BaaS Technology in MRx

To some, the incredible pivot point around consumer data when coupled with new innovations from blockchain may seem to negatively affect data collection. But this is far from the truth. Distributed ledger and BaaS technology connects to all sorts of digital interfaces.

For this sole reason, present methods of collecting online or mobile data won’t be going away. In fact, these new technologies will only leverage collection of consumer data.

“We're the piping between the consumers and those who to purchase consumer data through a whole host of digital services.” - Ted Waz

Quick links to connect with Ted Waz:

The Opinion Economy

Twitter

LinkedIn

Venture Nashville Connections - Article

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Ben Smithee is the CEO of The Smithee Group, a digital marketing agency based in New York City. On this episode, he sits with Sima Vasa to talk about what they do, how they do it, and how millennial research has affected the marketing sphere.

“I think there’s a new shift… marketing in the moment and not for the moment.” - Ben Smithee

Ben Smithee - The Smithee Group’s Pedigree

His full-service digital marketing agency focuses a lot on small-medium businesses but still serve large enterprise companies with intelligence and insights work. They work with luxury brands—the jewelry industry—, which as Ben says, is every marketer’s dream.

Their background is founded on research and analytics. With this history, they are able to take their learnings and understanding of how consumer behavior works and apply them in what they do.

Research-based Execution

Ben started his company with a big emphasis on execution and not just research. Of course, the two should go together. Effective decisions are made based on facts and figures instead of gut instinct and sometimes, politics.

“I would suggest any marketer… start in research because the fundamentals in learning: consumer insights, consumer behavior, solid research skills… it makes you so much more effective and efficient as a marketer.” - Ben Smithee

Assessments: Crux of Marketing

All of The Smithee Group’s endeavors begin with digital brand assessment. Before they launch any marketing campaign, they must first look at where the brand is and where it could potentially be. This also comes with understanding audience segmentation.

Back in the day, these assessments entail diving into and tweaking things targeting focus groups. But at present, marketers can run these tests and repeat and learn from them live on the field. This shift has come from knowing customer behavior and having the background necessary to make informed decisions.

“That's what I'm thankful for some of the background in millennial research which obviously led us to digital… and being that trusted partner.” - Ben Smithee

Quick links to connect with Ben Smithee:

Website - The Smithee Group

Twitter - The Smithee Group

Website - Ben Smithee

Twitter - Ben Smithee

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

On this episode, Anese Cavanaugh, CEO of Active Choices, Inc., joins Sima Vasa to talk culture and leadership. Devoted to helping people show up, Anese is an author and is the leading voice on intention, energy and presence. Today she brings to us the story behind her famous IEP Method.

“I believe that we each create the culture that we are a part of.” - Anese Cavanaugh

Anese Cavanaugh - Contagious Culture

After doing work with business leaders and organizations for 15-16 years, Anese wrote the book Contagious Culture. She discovered two myths that every business leader and organization believe in.

“One was that leadership was about what we do… The second myth was that culture was created by everybody around us.” - Anese Cavanaugh

What people didn’t realize, however, is that leadership is about who we be, how we show up, our energy, intentions and presence. Culture, on the other hand, isn’t something created by everybody else but by each and everyone that is part of it.

Leadership and Culture Combined

When we add leadership and culture together, it gets easier to realize how we’re the ones creating and defining both and that we are actually contagious. This is the very foundation of the book that she wrote.

Intentional Energetic Presence

Anese authored her book to give people as many tools and resources around the IEP Method, which helps people show up better and also to lend that into leadership and cultural optimization.

IEP is something that people bring to every single room, every single interaction that they have and everything that they do. It’s what happens when they show up for themselves and for others.

“It’s a choice. So the more intentional I can be with that, the better able I am to create more of a pleasurable impact and more of my intended impact in leadership.” - Anese Cavanaugh

Quick links to connect with Anese Cavanaugh:

Website - Anese Cavanaugh

IEP Live Two-Day Event 

Twitter - Anese Cavanaugh

Twitter - IEP Method

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Steve Koenig is the Vice President of Research at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a US trade association for all consumer tech. Today he joins Sima Vasa to talk about the future of society with the continued rise of consumer tech, automation and AI.

“I think it’s safe to say, in 2018, that technology is a mainstay of our society, whether its for work, business, or personal use. That dynamic is only going to just intensify.” - Steve Koenig

Steve Koenig - Working at CTA

Today, consumer tech is everything from an iPhone to a Mercedes Benz. CTA’s membership constituency reflects this. They have members like software developers, retailers, and anybody making or selling consumer tech in the US market.

They are best known for their trade show CES® - The Global Stage for Innovation, which is held in Las Vegas every January and in Shanghai every June. The show draws thousands of people eager to hear the latest and see the greatest technology coming into the market. In fact, this past January alone, over 180 thousand trade professionals from over 150 countries came to the world’s largest tech event.

The Dominance of Smartphone

The smartphone continues to gain dominance in our day-to-day lives along with the rise of other smart devices like personal fitness trackers.

The smartphone itself is the anchor for a lot of endeavors like checking email, gaming and accessing various apps. And of course, there is the occasional phone call.

“The smartphone—that remains to be the center of the consumer tech universe.” - Steve Koenig

Internet of Things

A robust connectivity rose the past couple of years. However, a sad reality has also become more obvious with the fast turnout of new technology.

We’re not yet that far into the 21st century and the Internet hasn’t been around for that long. But as a culture and society, we already take for granted the connectivity in the Internet.

Quick links to connect with Steve Koenig:

Consumer Technology Association

LinkedIn

Twitter

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Tuomas Syrjänen is Chief AI Officer and Co-Founder of Futurice. Today, he sits with Sima Vasa to talk about emerging data-driven business models. He also discusses the impact of data and AI on culture and practical blockers to data and AI adoption.

"We are in the middle of this kind of digital innovation culture shift where we are talking more about agile organizations." - Tuomas Syrjänen

Tuomas Syrjänen - A Primer on Futurice

Futurice is a 500-employee digital consultation company. They help big corporations determine their direction and undergo digital transformations. Some of their big league clients include BMW, E.ON, and Nordea Bank.

The company has been around for 18 years. Their consulting spans different levels. They build digital services and define how a business compares to other models and in relation to culture.

Growing Digital Marketing Trend

A trend in product creation is rising. From experimentation, people have started to take observation-driven approaches.

"Instead of experimentation we actually observe what goes on in social media, how customers behave... and using data and AI, [we can] directly create products or services that fit customer needs." -  Tuomas Syrjänen

The traditional methods of data collection used to drive research no longer suffice. Customer feedback aids in creating dual value products for not only the use of clients and customers. They also use these products to gain insights on what customers want and how they're actually utilized.

Double Cultural Changes

Two cultural changes in the business sphere are happening at the same time. One is the shift from traditional, top-down corporate culture into a digital innovation culture. And then there's the shift to more data-driven business models.

Together, these will impact a lot of future organizational cultures. And they will affect how decisions are made, how uncertainty is handled, and how individuals can take more initiatives.

Quick links to connect with Tuomas Syrjänen:

Futurice

LinkedIn

Twitter - Tuomas Syrjänen

Twitter - Futurice

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Ryan Barry is the Chief Revenue Officer at Zappi. In today's episode, he sits with Sima Vasa to talk about Zappi's unique approach to innovation, how a culture of instant gratification is shaking up market research, and the exponential growth of the insights industry.

“My worldview of research is it's an industry that should be growing exponentially.” - Ryan Barry

Ryan Barry: A History of Zappi

Zappi started four years ago when their founders realized the problem with research. People had to program surveys or wait a long time in order to gain access to potential insight. Zappi came up with a new platform that rebuilt methodologies designed to help answer specific business questions and took out all the manual process.

Two and a half years ago, they merged with an analytics and data digitization company. They have since been doing research in 37 countries about the globe and some brands.

Ahead of Their Time

When Zappi first introduced their models, they had mixed reception. Some people thought they didn't need to move faster or had excess budget for the innovation. But the last four years has seen a massive evolution of a couple of key trends.

Technology continued to disrupt everything. Mass media no longer controlled the world and people do. Marketing itself has become an extremely programmatic data-driven industry.

Exponential Growth at the Present

Ryan says that Zappi's growth rate would have been faster if they had started now. A new category rose in recent years. There's a bunch of other companies that are doing similar work, but there's also a need to have more advanced dialogues because the times are changing.

Marketing and business are realizing that if they don't have live data in a programmatic world, there would be a problem.

“We're really at an interesting crossroads as an industry. We're looking at data, people, culture, we're using all of the things to help companies grow.” - Ryan Barry

Quick links to connect with Ryan Barry:

Zappi

LinkedIn

Twitter

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Joel Rubinson, founder of Rubinson Partners, Inc., joins former colleague Sima Vasa today. They talk about how digital analytics can be intercepted with the theory of recency to create great strategies. Joel also discusses targeted advertising, and why surveys are important to improve marketing.

“There’s a need for survey because you can’t learn everything you want from digital exhaust.” - Joel Rubinson

Joel Rubinson - The Persuadables

In order to address the struggle of figuring out fragmentation in advertising, Joel published a white paper titled The Persuadables. Viant and Nielsen Catalian Solutions (NCS) collaborated with Joel in this groundbreaking research.

The study intercepted two analytic frameworks that weren't brought together yet. The consumer dynamics framework used reflected customer loyalty or buying rate towards a particular brand. When intercepted with the theory of recency, they were able to arrive at interesting results.

Intercepting with Recency

Joel had also worked with late Erwin Ephron, father of recency. One lunch, they were playing around with the idea of applications of the theory in the digital context. Suddenly, Joel found himself drawing curves.

Soon, they were able to come up with an idea for media optimization. Erwin passed away before the research could take off, but Joel pursued it. He approached leading digital ad network Viant and got into a partnership with NCS, which had a massive frequent shopper database.

Research to Target

They classified shoppers on two dimensions. They retrieved data on how much customers are currently buying from the brand, and whether or not they're probabilistically close to an upcoming purchase of the category.

Coupled with more techniques, they are able to generate insights helpful in targeting the right segment. This kind of evidence-based research is paramount to creating better advertising strategies.

“Targeting the right segment seems to always pay off. It is a repeatable, winnable strategy. So this should really be a basis for media planning.” - Joel Rubinson

Quick links to connect with Joel Rubinson:

Website - Joel Rubinson

LinkedIn

Twitter

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!

Allie Bohm is the Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge, a non-profit advocacy organization based in Washington DC. Today, she and Sima Vasa discuss the existing privacy and consumer policies in the United States.

Allie Bohm - Policy Work Expert

Prior to Public Knowledge, Allie dedicated most of her time at law school. She also spent 7 years at CLU doing policy work. Now, she is working to help promote the freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works.

Privacy Policies in the USA

In the absence of a privacy law, there are a few things in place. One is the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPP), which the Department of Housing, Education, and Welfare established in the 1960s.

"We need a comprehensive privacy law and we don't have one." - Allie Bohm

FIPP serves as the basis of many discussions on privacy in the industry and in the United States. But, it never became law. There are a number of sector-specific ones instead.

Among which are the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, the Cable Privacy Act, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and the Video Privacy Protection Act. State laws also exist.

Support from the Federal Trade Commission

For anything which doesn't fall under these laws, according to Allie, there is Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. It penalizes unfair, deceptive practices.

"It was not created for the Internet Age but the FTC has been created about using it here." - Allie Bohm

An activity is considered deceptive when its recipient doesn't know about it. For unfairness, there has to be substantial harm and a legally recognizable harm. Also, harm must not be reasonably avoidable.

Quick links to connect with Allie Bohm:

Website - Public Knowledge

LinkedIn

Twitter

Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below!

LinkedIn

Twitter

infinity-2.com

Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don't forget to leave a rating and review!