Research Showcase 2009
Introduction: Insight. Real, authentic knowledge of what your customers are thinking, feeling, seeing and being influenced by. It’s like a mirage that seems ever further away the more you read what your consumers are Twittering or reporting back to their Facebook communities.
As marketers, you obviously rely on the very best research and insight you can lay your hands on. True, there are some brands that simply don’t require a great deal of research and certainly don’t need to think about paying for it. Brands such as Google and Nike see The Hidden Army article..
Innocent Drinks too, built an entire business on testing its products out in all its markets through sampling, sampling and more sampling. Figuring that spending a year researching every last detail of their business plan would cost them far more than they had, the three entrepreneurs and university friends behind Innocent smoothies preferred a different route. They took tens of bottles at a time into local retailers one day and returned the next day to see if the shop owner wanted more to sell.
The majority of you however, require something more robust in terms of knowing how your next move is going to play out with your customers.
And extracting the truth from your focus groups is incredibly difficult. Coca-Cola talks to consumers every day, mining them for their views on a whole range of issues as well as its potential new products. But the insight it gained from its research wasn’t strong enough to stop it from changing the taste and launching New Coke in 1985 before ditching it again after consumers made their anger known. Even with slashed budgets, the research portion of your spend is one that you compromise on at your peril.
Consequently, the 2009 Market Research Showcase is something of extreme value. With consumers changing the way they talk, communicate and express themselves, the companies listed in this directory are at the forefront of keeping up. They can help you use all the tools, on and offline, to find all the insights you require.
Mark Choueke, editor
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