Perspectives on the MRX Industry + Running for President of ESOMAR Council with Kristin Luck | Ep. 124

Sima Vasa is excited to welcome Kristin Luck once again as her guest! Kristin is the founder and managing partner of Scalehouse Consulting, and Kristi and I are both advisors at Oberon Securities, on the investment banking side.

Where the industry is, as related to the impact of Covid

The abrupt impact of the pandemic on the overall economy brought the industry to a near standstill last spring. It is unlikely to return to its 2019 turnover levels until 2022.

ESOMAR

Although ESOMAR initially predicted a downturn in research revenues of up to 30%, we still ended up with a stronger third and fourth quarter than predicted, particularly with tech and digital businesses.

The digital side of the industry

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the digital side of the industry regarding its accuracy, approach, and basis in terms of true research methodology.

A revolution

The pandemic is accelerating a revolution in the research space. So there were many naysayers about many of the digital technologies, particularly on the qualitative side of the business, going into 2020. When the pandemic hit, it started to fuel the tech revolution and acted as an accelerator to the dynamic shifts that we were already seeing with the digital technology segments and the established market research segments.

Masking the effects of the pandemic

The performance of the tech and digitally-enabled segments masked the effect that the pandemic had on the established part of the industry. The established part experienced a downturn of 15% last year, in contrast to the 9% growth expected across the digital and tech-enabled segment.

Face-to-face qualitative

Kristin does not think that face-to-face qualitative is dead. She feels that there is value in face-to-face contact with respondents. And in many cases, qualitative research can be conducted in a digital format and still produce quality results.

Migration to more digital techniques 

We will see a substantial and permanent migration to more digital techniques. And there will be a combination of methodologies that will integrate both types of tech and digital.

Blockchain

Most of the companies that started in the blockchain space have pivoted. Although blockchain as a technology still has value, many businesses that were focused on being blockchain-only companies realize that they need to have products that deliver value other than the blockchain platform. Although blockchain is a means to the end and can enhance a portfolio of products and solutions, it is not the end to the product.

An ESOMAR member

Kristin has been an ESOMAR member for almost eleven years, and she has been on the board called ESOMAR Council for the last six years. For the past two years, she was Vice-President.

ESOMAR

ESOMAR is a little different from some of the local and regional associations in that they are truly a global association. They look at everything from privacy to data ethics and sound research methods around the globe. And they give those a global perspective.

A global perspective

Kristin has been involved with ESOMAR for a long time because having that global perspective has been invaluable to her career and the businesses she has developed. Getting some insight into how research gets conducted in other regions gives Americans a broader look at opportunities for researching new and different ways.

How ESOMAR differs from other industry associations

The overall global look is what sets ESOMAR apart from other industry associations. ESOMAR focused on keeping track of the lobbying for privacy and data ethics all around the world.

The structure of ESOMAR