On this episode of Now that’s Significant, a Market Research Podcast, we were joined by Professor Michael Brereton, a leader in the global marketing research industry. Michael retired from Maritz Research after eleven years as its President and CEO, then subsequently joined the faculty of Michigan State University’s Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. He is an Executive in Residence and teaches Marketing Strategy in the Master of Science in Marketing Research Program.

We dived into Michael's rich commercial/academic experience to discuss what skillsets are required by tomorrow's leaders of the insights industry.

We talked about how tomorrow’s leaders in the insights space need different skills in order to serve their organizations with meaningful market and consumer intelligence. 

We looked at how the double-digit growth the insights and analytics market experienced in 2021, which included examining the differences between traditional processes and ResTech. Digital data analytics in its current trajectory could soon be the largest aspect of our industry.

Michael shared six trends that he’s identified concerning the response to change our sector is facing.

We discussed how one of the overarching themes arising from these trends is the decentralization of insights, decision makers having the ability to dive into the data if they want.

We covered the hard and soft skills that Michael has seen as being particularly desirable when it comes to recruitment, which then flowed into what roles of the future could look like too.

Finally, we looked at the different skill sets that are required by insights professionals of the future, and how Michigan State University is helping its students prepare for whatever tomorrow brings.

Master’s in Marketing Research – Eli Broad College of Business | Michigan State University (msu.edu)

Enjoy the show