Cambiar Consulting

by Ian Lewis, Partner

Think back 10 years.  No broadband; no social media; no smartphones; no 50 inch LED TVs: no DVRs; no e-readers; and Google hadn’t had its IPO.  Now think ahead 10 years.  We don’t know what the “next big things” will be, but we do know that “digitization of everything” will be the mantra.  We know that geomarketing will be huge; that retail environments will be transformed by digital technologies; that smartphone capabilities will be far more advanced; that internet access anywhere will be a given; that privacy will be even more of an issue.

What will this mean for market research?  A few of us are looking into what market research will be ten years from now – as part of a broader ARF initiative on Research Transformation.  The last ten years has seen significant innovation in market research –consumer listening starting to take off (Kodak and Dell now have Chief Listening Officers); mining of clickstream data commonplace; internet access panels commonplace; hosted online communities a significant business; neuroscience/biometrics/eye-tracking getting a lot of attention; virtual shopping, behavioral economics and online ethnographies emergent.

We envision a paradigm shift by 2020, driven by digitalization and advances in computing power and data mining capabilities.  The fundamental premise is that research in 2020 will represent a continuous and organic flow of knowledge.  Today maybe 80% of marketing questions are addressed by conducting a market research project.  In 2020, we think that leading-edge companies (probably led by CPG and tech) will address 80% of marketing issues by “fishing the river” of information.  These companies will have invested heavily in information base development and mining tools, customizing their own river of information that will include both internal and external information (and not just data – ethnographies and videos will all be tributaries flowing into their information river).  And they will likely have self-serve capabilities that enable marketers to get solutions for most of their questions. This threatens to disintermediate the role of today’s market research/consumer insight person.   In our new world, the knowledge exists before the business question is formed.

This is exciting, and pretty scary.  Is it crazy?  I started a discussion on LinkedIn groups; there was quite a lot of support, and some healthy skepticism.  Qualitative researchers pushed back, as did those working on innovation.  Some thought that the river would help define projects with more precision and better focus, but not replace them.  And some were highly skeptical about data mining capabilities applied to listening (have they made the CIA really smart?).  Nobody defended large quantitative research projects.  But if we’re right about the direction and ultimately the paradigm shift, this would have huge implications for the business of research.  How does a major supplier need to evolve?   How do market research/consumer insight functions organize for the new paradigm?  Who owns the river of information in the client company?  What are the competencies needed?  And what should suppliers and insight functions start doing now to harness the power of digitization?

Try thinking ahead ten years – what do you envision for the market research business?  We’d like to hear from you.

Contact Ian Lewis.

by Monica Wood, Partner

In the market research field we don’t often look beyond our external key stakeholders to understand why people behave the way they behave. For example, we are so very good at getting at insights related to consumer behavior and relay why consumers behave the way they do. But how often is it that we take that same level of understanding of human behavior and apply that to running a successful Market Research Organization.  There is much to be learned from an organization’s CEO and CMO and how to relate that to running corporate Market Research and Competitive Intelligence organizations.

What do CEO’s and CMO’s do that Market Research departments don’t do?  I will ask each of you reading this as I am sure you have perspective on this and may like to add your thoughts.

One thing that CEO’s and CMO’s do that most Market Research departments don’t do well is have a relentless pursuit of delivering their numbers. They tend to stop at nothing to make sure that sales and profits are delivered.  Do Market Research departments do the same? Do they promise specific sales objectives will be met and how they will help the company?  Do market research departments drive for cost efficiencies with relentless pursuit like CMO’s and CEO’s do? Do Market Research Departments help identify ways to create topline and bottom line impact voluntarily or only when they are asked?

What about in the area of assessing talent?  CEO’s and CMO’s typically look at talent on a regular basis. They look for talent that can solve business problems and drive results. They look for great people leadership. How much attention do we spend on that in the Market Research arena?  Do we try to develop a research person’s business and leadership skills as much as develop their project management and methods knowledge?

So how do we get a seat at the table and create impact?  Might it be that we need to be as relentless on key business topics as our other C suite executives? Don’t we need to know more about the business and less about the project?  Don’t we need to be true business partners in every sense of the word? In my experience that is the case. The CEO of Novartis and other companies where I ran the Market Research and Competitive Intelligence function expected not only me but my team to deliver business value, not just value understanding any specific market research project.

How do you transform Market Research department from being transitional project managers to being true business thought partners?  Love to hear your thoughts.

My fellow Cambiar business partner, Ian Lewis, and I having created  successful Market Research and Competitive Intelligence functions at such well known companies as Time Inc, ToysRUS, Campbell Soup, Novartis and others.  We have ways to help build world class Market Research and Competitive Intelligence organizations and are here to help you have an impactful seat at the table.

For more information on Cambiar’s Research Impact Practice and Monica Wood.