Now that's Significant

This episode of Now that's Significant is a partnership between the Research Association of New Zealand and Infotools, filmed to coincide and celebrate the ESOMAR International Market Research Day.

Geoff Lowe, Maria Tyrrell, and Murray Campbell discuss what the world would be like without market research, and in the process show the value and role it plays in our daily lives.

This episode uses the 3 of the 17 United Nations Sustainability goals, and explores how market research applies to each one.

Enjoy the show

This episode explores the topic of BI tools, and how they're not fit for purpose for extracting material business value out of market research data.

Host and guest, Michael Howard looks into the role of BI tools, and compares them with the external equivalent CI tools.

The episode covers:

> BI tools are an incredible asset to an organization and can deliver all sorts of insights that can help an organization, but, they simply can’t easily deliver the same kind of value to insights professionals that a fit-for-purpose consumer intelligence tool can.

> We dived into BI tools, exploring their rise and use in the business world, which included five reasons why BI tools aren’t fit-for-purpose for market research data.

> We touched on the workaround that broke the metaphorical camel’s back, digging into reasons why workarounds aren’t always the solution for market researchers.

> We looked at consumer intelligence tools and how they’re focused primarily on the consumer, the customer, the user. This covered CI tools being valuable in storing and processing data in a way that respects the statistical nuances of consumer and market research data.

> And we finished with the need to focus on desired outcomes then working backwards to see what path is best for your insights function to take.

Enjoy the show.

Bob Lederer, founder of RFL Communications and Chief Mentor and Partner at RSB Insights and Analytics, joins us on Now that's Significant to reflect on the journey the insights sector has undertaken so far, delving into his substantial experience in the industry.

In this episode, we cover:

> How market research and insights teams are exposed to far too many 'innovative' tech tools that aren’t put through adequate testing before being released into ways of working.

> A brief history tour of how the industry got to where we are, revisiting some important milestones along the way, such as the early adoption of the internet, which birthed online research, initial usage of mobile phones in market research.

> Innovation in and around the Millennium Bug, including what initially drove the major uptake of online research, plus the genesis of online communities.

> The positive and negative impact of VC and PE on innovation in the market research space.

> And some crystal ball time looking into the future of innovation within the sector.

Enjoy the show

This episode features Sabrina Trinquetel , U.K. Sales Director at Measure Protocol, a behavioural data collection organization. Sabrina, an insight and sales professional with a passion for great research, has held leadership roles at some of the top market research companies in the world over the past 10 years, and is committed to bettering the industry while also focusing on growth initiatives for Measure. She is co-chair of the Market Research Society’s Pride group and co-hosts its OUTsights podcast. She also sits on the MRS’s DI&E Council and Representation in Research steering group. 

In this episode, we discuss:

> How data quality is so much more than just the quality of our data, as it requires a concerted effort not just in how we’re collecting the respondent data, but also who is collecting, analyzing, and distributing the insights too.

> We discussed the need to be cognizant of data privacy, as the lack of it being front and centre in our efforts will lead to an erosion of trust with respondents, the market, etc.. In turn, our research won’t result in much except a loss of reputation within the organization.

> We explored privacy-first design, how organizations are achieving this, and what results they are realizing by doing so.

> We talked about the need to be a truly diverse, equal, and inclusive business. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because our insights are going to be far more effective and representative of the world.

> And finally, we undertook a little thought experiment to see the difference between organizations who truly embrace DEI and those two continue doing market research as we’ve always done it.

Enjoy the show.

In this episode, co-hosts Geoff Lowe and Horst Feldhaeuser pool their collective experiences and discuss what makes a good market research conference submission.

The episode explores submissions that tie into conference themes, avoiding anything remotely salesy, how to be concise but not too concise, presenting novel ideas that others can run with, and what makes the best case studies stand out.

Ultimately, the discussion covers off the importance of ROI, elusive as it may seem.

Enjoy the show.

Insights professionals aren't immune to the pressures we've faced over the last couple of years. And no-one knows this more so than Kristin Luck, the current Chair of ESOMAR and co-founder of ScaleHouse Consulting.

Kristin joins Infotool's Director and Head of Sales Geoff Lowe on the show to discuss this poignant issue that the industry is facing.

The episode covers how we can get burnt out by doing things we really love, not just those laborious things we don’t. Historic expectations of busyness formed bad habits, and left us with a form of guilt if we don’t keep up our productivity levels.

Burnout is not a unique thing to executives, it’s researchers too, which Quirks recently picked up on. James Pickles has been talking publicly about his burnout, and we need to be more vocal about this issue, as it can destroy lives.

The tension between working hard early on in your career to get ahead vs finding a balance in your life. And this is about prioritizing what’s important to you. Be mindful about what you say yes to is a no to something else.

Some organizations are starting to work on wellness initiatives, being truly people-first. We need to have more Sue Embrey days, where we have relaxing workdays…

Be intentional on how you want to map out your career, put boundaries in place that ensure you can achieve your priorities, what’s important to you.

Enjoy the show.

In this episode of Now that's Significant, Jeremy Antoniuk joins us to discuss the sample quality issues that the insights industry is facing, the moment it's been accelerated by the pandemic.

We discuss careless respondents, reckless respondents, individual gamers, and professional gaming organizations who are all contributing to that the drop in quality that we have experienced quite sharply over the last couple of years.

We look into what's at stake if organizations fail to address these quality issues.

Jeremy talks about some of the driving reasons behind Rep Data and how it's helping raise the bar of sample quality and therefore the insight quality that rolls out from such collections and obviously the outcomes that come from those.

We touch on the macro and micro changes that need to be made from both industry and individual level, so insights can once again be that light bulb moment rather than that dull glow in the background that it has come

Finally, we cover about the idea of that market maker, the unbiased sourcing, rigorous quality controls being able to add value at scale, mutual value to both buyers and suppliers.

This episode we hear from Lilah Raynor, CEO and Founder of Logica Research, who dives into:

• The role of research in understanding the financial needs and consumer behavior, especially in the face of such unprecedented change.
• How research is also able to dramatically improve the financial wellbeing and therefore the lives of people, when organisations put such research to use - rather than simply leave it in a PowerPoint presentation collecting dust.
• The Future of Money study, which has helped track those said changes, and also the launch of the insights kit, which will let people analyze the findings themselves.
• And some of the tangible outcomes of the work Logica are doing, as well as the pro-bono work that Lilah and her team carry out.

Enjoy the episode.

Laura Beavin-Yates discusses Agile neuroscience and its vital role moving forward in the insights space, including its multiplying effect when used in conjunction with traditional methodologies.

We cover the role of academia in the commercial sphere, as we saw with the likes of Immersion.

We touch on the kinds of insights that have been uncovered using neuroscience

And finally, we look into the crystal ball to see what the future may hold for neuromarketing.   

Enjoy the show.

Simon Chadwick joins us on Now that's Significant to share his experience in how organizations need to realize that technology itself will not magically improve the level or value that an insights team offers.

Simon discusses the disconnect of the technology dream sold by vendors and the reality facing insights teams, which is fundamentally caused by vendor's superficial understanding of market researchers. This also includes potential ulterior motives that arise from private equity and venture capital funding, and what this means for the long term.

The episode covers key challenges facing insights teams, including:

o   Increased strategic relevance

o   Need for real time information

o   Greater experimentation

Finally, and most importantly, Simon explores what it looks like when market insights functions get their tech investments right, and the value and outcomes they can achieve as a result – which isn’t a dream at all.

Enjoy the show.