The last 12 - 18 months or so have been pretty bumpy for many in market research, certainly in continental Europe.
Nielsen IQ and Gfk are - it seems - finally being allowed to merge, which is no doubt good news for Private Equity owner Advent. Whether or not the future offering of these two “leaders in global information services” will resemble “market research” remains to be seen.
Qualititative boutique Happy Thinking People - my own ex-company - was acquired by InSites Consulting (now Human8) after 30 + years of independent existence.
Munich-based Innovation consultancy Hyve was bought by IT/ digital transformation specialist Qvest Group 20 years after its founding.
Specialist qual consultancy ISM Global Dynamics sought refuge under the umbrella of Bremen-based agency Bonsai.
SINUS - famous for its proprietary social milieu segmentation study - merged in 2021 with the lesser known agency in Nürnberg, Opinion Research - read more here.
There’s quite a few more - and that’s just limited to the German geographic area.
ARE MR INNOVATORS SAYING GOODBYE?
It’s leaving quite a changed landscape - these are pretty big names - consolidation is happening quickly. Is the energy still there in the industry for re-inventing itself?
Companies that were founded 20 or 30 years ago in the 1990s or early 2000s on the back of strong client demand for more sophsiticated understanding of brands and consumers are now merging - or disappearing.
Founders - often innovators, entrepreneurs - are selling up. Others are retiring.
In theory, larger, potentially stronger organisations emerge. But mergers can defocus companies - talent can walk - and the desire to think strategically or longer-term nudged aside by issues such as margin improvement, hitting newly aggressivy sales targets.
And then there’s the impact on innovation.
How many merging or acquired companies spend time innovating - or have the organisational stability to do so? A lot of people feel too uncertain about their own futures to spend time on more blue-sky stuff - who cares about a pay-back time-frame of say 3 - 5 years if you’re worried about where you will be in a few months time.
Innovation inevitably suffers. Which I think is a concern for companies, but also market research as an industry - without new ideas, thinking, approaches, methods, we lose excitement. And visibility.
INSPIRATION NEEDED ALONGSIDE EFFICIENCIES
Excitement around new approaches is hugely valuable. Just look at what Chat GPT managed to do in terms of awareness raising for AI through it’s generative approach.
In research, there’s lots of avenues that can be explored - beyond AI, with AI.
There’s lots of space to test and prove what the likes ot Copy AI can do for MR content marketing for example. Applied semiotics is a rich area for exploration. Data fusion another.
Or work addressing concerns about replication and validity in the social sciences.
The value of mini-case studies celebrating the role of research in a brand or campaign that seems to be enjoying success, is huge. There’s lots more.
And these sorts of thought-or conversation starters don’t have to be huge efforts, or even that ripe for broad market exposure. Chat bots still disappoint with the most basic questions.
But they are, if intelligently communicated, great for any sales efforts, helping with lead generation. They can - and do as I know from my work at Happy Thinking People - have a pretty clear impact.
They do need management focus and commitment - and maybe a bit of boldness. IT innovators hardly hide their light under a bushel. Nearer to home: Mark Ritson remains very vocal in marketing in the Anglo-sphere - who do we have in MR? John Kearon of Brainjuicer fame showed us how it could be done - but that was over 10 years ago now.
THE VALUE OF CAPTIVATING STORIES
Market research needs energising voices, narratives that engage, provoke maybe, challenge received opinion - to gain attention, but also so that tomorrow’s revenue streams or budgets don’t get deflected towards client-side IT departments.
Innovation is key in the broadest sense - solid R&D outputs are great, but also marketing-based content, thought pieces throwing new light on topical issues based on empirical and original evidence. Things that can happen within weeks not months.
Writing headlines that ChatGPT can’t or doesn’t come up with - getting beyond the skin-deep and cliché’d, and using language in a way that resonates. Human stuff - with an inspirational twist.
Everyone can or even should do it - however small a company or department.
Nothing new perhaps - but endangered. If we don’t front up, then narrative collapse beckons for a fragile industry, and likely a talent drain. And however you define “innovation”, it can be outsourced - see below….
Curious, as ever, as to others’ thoughts.
P.S. I am available for freelance projects - whether it’s interim cover, qual or quant, writing inspiring insights submissions for conference, case studies, one-pagers, or strategy input. I help make insights come alive :)
You can contact me at eappleton90@googlemail.com
(Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash)