The face of Market Research is changing - but is the Reality?
We all read a lot about market research needing to change - move from being data-deliverers to insights consultants.
Many companies are reacting to it, in numerous ways:
Engaging Management Consultants to lead MR functions
Merging Insights with something else - eg Strategy
Shifting the focus to Analytics
Any repositioning exercise - which is effectively what we're going through - has an immense time lag.
Perceptions invariably don't change as quickly in real life as we like to think - ask any retailer that has to re-brand after an acquisition whether changing the signage outside the shop actually impacts much. Same staff, same products, same pricing, same experience - just different name.
Is this what we're essentially going through - everyone is looking for that ideal combination of analytics and inspiration and finding it a "tough call"?
Here's my take:
1. Management consultancy (MC) and Market Research (MR) are different Beasts
If you know people who work in one of the large consultancies and compare them with researchers you know, what similarities strike you? Short list, perhaps.
Now write down the differences. A4 sheet not enough?
My sense is that Management is struggling to find enough people who have sufficient data skills and the ability to present with engagement and authority, and are erring if in doubt on the side of presentational ability.
2. Narratives without substance are.....Fiction
Market research presentations have a lousy reputation - too much data, statistics, unclear recommendations.
True - but replace that with a "visualised narrative" with at times a tenuous link to the detail, what do you have? Conviction politics? Certainty?
MR is all about shades of grey. Not a bad colour if you know how to front it up, managing complexity with adroitness and an appreciation of subtlety. MR isn't manichean - it's about ambiguity, human nature. We need to embrace that positively. And no, that is NOT the exclusive realm of quallies - we all need to get our heads round it.
3. Gaps are Opportunities
Yes, you read that right - a horrible cliche.
I seriously believe there is a skill-set gap right now - between what Insights Pros need to deliver on, and the number of available staff capable of actually delivering.
It's a skills shortage.
We need to manage this carefully, ensure that the people who decide on our fate - Finance, Marketing General Management - see MR movement, ambition, change, and not open the door further to the wonder-pill of data scientists. The same people interestingly who failed to predict the defeat of Brasil by Germany in the recent Football World Cup - something I didn't read much about in the press.
Market research is NOT a luxury - but the danger is we tread that path, MR is increasingly seen as an unwieldy "nice to have" rather than a strategic necessity.
What did you today that
a) gave you job satisfaction and
b) made someone who influences your destiny believe you are delivering something strategically valuable?
It's a tough question, but one we need to address beyond operational efficiency.
Curious, as ever, as to others' views.