If lunch is free, is it you on the menu?
I recently received an invitation to participate in an online panel of experts from the field of behavioural sciences, marketing, research - an advisory board. The topic sounded interesting enough - a Fortune 100 Company looking to understand the on-the-go needs of Millenials .
Flattering too - selected to be part of a small group of experts. At my convenience. No travel. No commitment.
Amazing! Except - what were they paying? Nothing. At. All.
Insights for Free?
Is this where insights is heading - companies looking to tap the brains of "experts" worldwide for no fee? Zero-cost mini-crowd-sourcing, so-to-speak?
The implications are scary: no need for any primary research, social media analytics, trend monitoring. No need to pay an expert.
Now, I am not going to participate - but do you imagine they won't fill the panel?
The company commissioning will likely have a wonderful list of CVs gleaned from Linked-in, gain some input into the topic in question - without having to pay for it. What's not to like in agile times with squeezed budgets?
Shockingly, the list of companies apparently using this service looks like as Blue Chip as you can get. Assuming the list was accurate of course.
Marketing our Value
Let's take a step back and compare MR with regulated professions e.g. law or medicine - what would they charge for this kind of service? Or consultancies, with board level access? Likely a high five or six figure sum, assuming a recognized major currency.
We insight professionals need to protect ourselves, look to market ourselves far more vigorously to make sure our voices are heard, valued, that we put some beef behind the concept of quality - sure make it easy, be flexible, responsive, but we have to act. Maybe that even means naming and shaming - I'm still pondering.
The tech world, dis-intermediation options, Big Data - all these are essentially creating a second front where the words quality, expertise and value have little place alongside the 3 Vs. Mssrs. Schumpeter, Christensen - what would you advise or say, I wonder?
Well, time for us to call out tech where it's over-promising, destroying value with little creative potential, ignoring causality, validity, human complexity, irrationality. Maybe we can't be friends with the people programming machines after all - regardless of whether or not we like the idea of a taking a robot dog for an AI walk.
If lunch is free, we need to check we're not on the menu.
Curious, as ever, as to others' views.