TMRE 2019 Recap: Disrupt or Die! Reinventing Market Research with Suzy
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Last month, Suzy journeyed to Las Vegas to participate in The Market Research Event, an annual conference where the best and brightest in the industry gather to share insights (literally!), and learn about up-and-coming trends in market research. While our sales and marketing teams had a lot of fun getting to know all kinds of researchers, developers, and insights leaders from all over the business world, the real highlight of the conference was our panel, “Disrupt or Die: Reinventing Market Research.”
Led by Suzy Chief Client Officer Sofia Hernandez, our panelists of the industry’s most impressive senior leaders included:
Kim Spaid, who leads consumers insights for joint ventures at Kraft Heinz Insights, with a focus on communication and innovation.
Ally Sigmon, a Consumer Insights Manager at Chipotle. While her team is small (she introduced herself as 50% of the department!), they work on everything from menu pipeline innovation to brand-health tracking, cultural insights, and much more.
Angela Smith, the Consumer Insights Manager for Talking Rain (the beverage brand behind Sparkling Ice), who until recently was solely responsible for everything related to insights, and even machine learning and consumer engagement. (She now represents 50% of her team too!
Jeff Zaremski, who leads all different aspects of the consumer insights division on Dunkin’ Brands, but primarily hones in on branding and advertising support for the company’s various digital loyalty teams.
Here’s just a quick run-down of some of the advice and knowledge they shared about their roles in the insight industry have changed and grown over time, and what they’ve done to adapt:
On the Voice of the Consumer
Knowing what your target audience wants has always been an integral aspect of business, from developing product ideas to producing marketing strategy. However, these days it’s more important than ever, because there are even more avenues through which to understand and communicate with your consumer. “There's more transparency, so they demand more,” said Kim Spaid. “We used to communicate just to them. Now there's a two way communication. So I think that's been a key thing.”
“Our consumers haven't necessarily changed, but we are changing [in] what we're learning about them,” said Angela Smith. “We're going beyond their attitudes and going into behaviors, but also just prying into their motivations a little bit deeper. And so we're understanding maybe micro-targeting consumers and finding new pathways to connect with them.”
On the Democratization of Insights
In an environment where the consumer’s voice is so prevalent, who makes sure that this voice is always being heard? “Owning” the customer can often begin with the market research team, but many of the experts on our panel also believe that it should spread throughout your entire organization.
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“Ultimately, everyone should have a stake in the consumer. And so I'd see that as part of my role is to make sure that everyone in the organization, whether it be somebody on our supply chain team to that crew member in the store should have a better understanding of their consumer.” said Ally Sigmon. “And the reality is, we're getting hit with data from all sides. So my place is to play a part of that consumer journey there.”
“[You should be] evangelizing insights within the organization so everybody's talking about it and thinking about It,” said Angela Smith. “I think that's really important for an organization, that teams talk to each other and they socialize with each other, too.”
On Doing More With Less
It’s no secret that many companies are adapting to become leaner, and researchers are being asked to do more work with fewer resources. That results in a lot of ruthless prioritization across all parts of the industry. “There are times when I had to be okay being a C student and not being an A student, because it was what was right for that project,“ Ally Sigmon admitted.
“No one has time to get into the weeds with things, but they really shouldn't be in the weeds,” added Kim Spaid. “I think there's more trust in what we [as researchers] do. And where there does need to be focus or there does need to be some fancy report for impact, that's where we spend our time.
On Research as Thought Leadership
When it comes to disseminating research throughout an organization, Jeff Zaremski has found success in telling his team to “pretend we're not researchers anymore.” and move away from “overwhelming stakeholders with methodologies that they just don't care about.”
“A lot of the work that we put out to the organization now isn't just, ‘Here, take [this data] and go make a choice,’” he added. “We're at the table driving those choices and decisions that are getting made with our partners.”
The ultimate question market researchers should ask themselves, according to Kim Spaid, is this: “Are we influencing the business? Because we can be strategic all we want, or we can have recommendations. But if the research dies, and we don't use ourselves and our research as a tool to influence a business decision, then ultimately, none of it's effective.”
Watch the Full Panel
Want to hear more from our panel of experts? Check out a full recording of our first session below.
If you’re going to next year’s TMRE in San Antonio, make sure to keep an eye out for Suzy — we’ll definitely be back with more awesome insights to share!
These quotes have been condensed for clarity and length.
