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Article round-up. Want to explore the world of change in market research?

This month’s edition of weseethrough headlines offers fascinating insights into the world of market research and consumer insight. Read on for the latest news, and keep yourself up to date with the headlines that matter.

Read on to discover more.


MRS Awards 2016 celebrates research’s ability to drive innovation, inspire change and deliver results

The MRS Awards 2016 were hosted at Supernova London on December 5th. As winners of the 2015 MRS Award for Innovation in Research Methodology, we were keenly awaiting the results. The awards are a celebration of the power of research to drive innovation, and there were winners across a number sectors. The 2016 MRS Award for Innovation in Research Methodology went to Conquest – a customer research agency. MRS President’s Medal was awarded to Africa’s Voices, whilst the MRS Grand Prix for Greatest Impact was awarded to Kantar TNS and the Scottish Government. The Book of the Night is available to download to catch up on what the judges had to say about the winners.


Big Data in Market Research: Why More Data Does Not Automatically Mean Better Information

Volker Bosch – Head of Marketing & Data Sciences at Gfk – wrote an article on the realistic expectations of big data, and its uses for market research purposes. Volker suggests that big data business models will continue to play a central role in the value chain, as it can be logged electronically making it measurable on a large scale. Big data does not need to be processed by slow, limited-capacity, mistake-prone human brains like traditional market research methods, which therefore creates economies of scale. The larger amount of data enables a finer granularity which can be described with statistical validity. However, Volker highlights three challenges which must be overcome with big data and market research:

  • Challenge 1: Big Data is (Almost Always) not Representative – Massive amounts of data do not necessarily result in good data, and more does not automatically mean better.
  • Challenge 2: Big Data is (Almost Always) Flawed – Big data must be processed with very complex, and therefore error-prone software, and measurement issues may arise. As technology updates and errors occur, the network-centric measurement approach can be compromised.
  • Challenge 3: Big Data (Almost Always) Lacks Important Variables – Despite the sometimes overwhelming amount of data in terms of observed units, the number of measured variables is low or important variables are missing.

We recommend you read this thoroughly interesting article to help develop a full understanding of big data, and its potential pitfalls in the long-term.


Election Lessons: Interview with Andy Hasselwander on his analysis of multicultural consumer segments in the U.S. elections

Andy Hasselwander, head of Latinum Network’s Gen Y-Z product team, talked to Ad Age on how the emotions of fear, anger and the desire for change influenced the presidential election in the U.S. Mr. Hasselwander proposes that “rural white” should be included in cultural marketing, and that market researchers should treat the segment in the same way as Latinos or Hispanics. He explains that the rural/urban divide was identified by Donald Trump, and effectively targeted during his campaign. Mr. Hasselwander suggests that Trump is a great qualitative market researcher. If you’re fascinated with U.S. politics, or simply would like to understand how Donald Trump used what we call in consumer market research as “breakthrough insights” to success in the elections, then we highly recommend reading this interview in Ad Age.


New Special Issue of SURVEY Magazine is available to read

The newest edition of SURVEY Magazine is now available to read. This special issue includes an interview with Dyna Boen and Craig Stevens from UBMobile, as they discuss the importance of mobile research. They have recently teamed up to develop one of the most comprehensive “Mobile First” Engagement Apps. It is imperative to the market research process that we meet a representative target audience on their terms; and this is increasingly meaning to reach them via their “always-on, every-present” mobile device. The interview in SURVEY magazine offers a detailed overview of how the market research process must evolve to align with how and where consumers are spending their time.


“MRS Report: Towards an insight driven organisation” offers a comprehensive update on the market research industry

The new MRS Report titled, “Towards an insight driven organisation” has been released by the Market Research Society. The report includes the self-assessment survey ‘Are You Insight Driven?’ which was completed by 109 client side organisations, which reveals that client side insight teams who are have the greatest impact on their businesses are most likely to be:

  • Integrating research data with other sources.
  • Ensuring customer metrics are part of the key KPIs for their organisation.
  • Working in an effective partnership model with their suppliers.

Research teams are still struggling to take the initiative – the project showed that only 17% of researchers who took part claim that they proactively champion the customer voice.

Research is still a valued partner – the project showed that 44% claim to be building credibility as a valued voice in the business.

Integration is key – those clients who work with supplied in a strategic partnership or portfolio arrangement are far more likely to have a stronger impact on an organisation; 78% claimed to influence an organisation on customer impact compared to 29% who don’t work with suppliers. 16% of clients claim to have developed strategic partnerships with key suppliers.


Winner of the 2015 MRS Award for Innovation in Research Methodology, weseethrough is a technology-driven market research & ethnographic research company that helps global organisations to better understand their consumers’ actual behaviour, rather than reported or claimed. Learn more about us here.

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