In mulling over the themes and main ideas that emerged from the IIR’s Market Research Event in San Di-ego in November, I kept coming back to collaboration.

Now, I’m fully aware that any business undertaking depends on collaboration. But this iteration of the Event - along with the usual stellar lineup of client-side presentations from well-known companies such as Facebook, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Turner Broadcasting System and Dell Computer - had inspiring examples of the following entities working together to achieve real success: retailers and CPG firms; company management and employees; internal researchers and internal marketers; and internal researchers and internal shopper insights personnel.

In separate presentations involving PepsiCo (Canada) and Walmart (Canada) and PepsiCo and Target, speakers talked about how retailers and CPG makers are using research to understand shoppers’ needs and then teaming up to market solutions that directly address those needs. In Canada, for instance, after research from partner SmartRevenue showed that bargain-hunting grocery shoppers have stepped up their use of FSIs (they used to read only the ads of their favorite stores, now they are scouring every one in search of deals) and were seeking savings as well as relief from the stress of meal-planning, Walmart and PepsiCo launched a summer holiday promotion that grouped several products (from PepsiCo and other manufacturers) into one easy-to-buy and inexpensive package. Billed as “a family BBQ for $8,” it was essentially a complete meal that could be prepped with minimal effort and at a good price. Both retailer and product-maker were delighted by the “unprecedented lift” in sales.

Stan Turek of PepsiCo here in the U.S. spoke of how his firm and Target were “incorporating competencies” to meet consumer needs and improve sales. Target’s Senior Manager, Guest Insights Mark Johnson elaborated by showing a diagram that displayed guest insights, marketing, ad agencies and other stakeholders all centered around the consumer, working to understand and solve his or her problems.

For example, some of the ideas for the retailer’s Life’s a Moving Target ad series came out of a large-scale research project which found that moms viewed shopping for basic items like toilet paper and diapers as a chore. In addition, the women also talked about the highs and lows brought on by the unexpected events that add stress to their already-busy days.

Johnson screened a handful of spots from the campaign, some of which showed, with typical Target élan, moms encountering a spate of mini disasters followed by the brand-name products Target offers to help them recover. One ad showed a mom nervously opening a bedroom door after hearing the kind of giggling that usually means the kids are doing something they shouldn’t be, only to find her two sons playing in a mountain of toilet paper, followed by a shot of Cottonelle and finishing with the Target tagline and logo. Other spots in the series have similar brand-specific solutions: Huggies diapers, SunChips, Ziploc storage bags, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Strategic alliance

An ambitious employee-management partnership was the focus of a rousing keynote from Bill Hoffman, se-nior vice president, consumer insights at Best Buy. Hoffman detailed how the company’s VOCE (“voice of the customer through the employee”) program aims to form a strategic alliance between Best Buy workers and management to glean customer insights each day from many of the firm’s 180,000 employees.

Using a simple computer interface, employees enter observations on any relevant or interesting customer comments, concerns or complaints while on the job that day, giving Best Buy what Hoffman called “tactical and actionable” information. For example, after customers expressed concern about the durability of 3D glasses, Best Buy was able to add an extended warranty program within two weeks.

Not only does the VOCE process serve as a clue finder that is local and fast, Hoffman said, it also lets employees know that the company values their input and sees them as a vital link in the insights chain.

Most profitable examples

One of the most fascinating talks I attended - and one of the most profitable examples of the power of collaboration - was delivered by Deb Hartman and Sandra Kelly of 3M. In 2004, three years after Six Sigma was introduced at 3M, an internal survey research company was formed to centralize the research function and to stop rampant (ab)use of the online survey process by various 3M departments. Rather than simply attempting to outlaw the onslaught of rogue surveys being undertaken to fulfill Six Sigma mandates, 3M teams worked to create an internal department that met the users’ needs and also kept costs low by providing “high-quality online marketing research and expertise at an affordable cost.” A team of six contract employees and one 3M manager was assembled to field and handle internal survey requests, the costs of which are then charged back to the internal clients at nominal rates.

So far, it’s been a smashing success. In 2009 alone, the group saved 3M $1.7 million over the cost of using external suppliers for these projects. (Not that outside firms are not helping - Hartman cited Vision Critical, Survey Sampling, e-Rewards and Sawtooth Software as some of vendors they use.) In addition, 3M’s external customers are not being subjected to onerous surveys from well-meaning but ill-trained marketers and internal awareness of and satisfaction with the research process have improved each year.
(I have to say, as a member of a Minneapolis-based company, I was proud to have Minnesota firms like Best Buy, Target, General Mills and 3M doing those of us in flyover country proud at the Event.)

Phil McGee and Suzanne Ona of Campbell Soup Company also delivered a compelling take on collabora-tion, showing how their two departments crossed corporate borders to help refresh many aspects of the company’s venerable soup line. McGee even finished by having an animated bridge form between his shopper insights/category strategies department and Ona’s consumer and customer insights department across a PowerPoint chart detailing the company’s vast corporate structure.

What can happen

In theory, each of the above sets of groups should be able to work in harmony. After all, PepsiCo and Tar-get/Walmart want to sell more products; Best Buy and its employees want to satisfy their customers; 3M wants its internal departments to properly value and use research; and everyone at Campbell Soup Company wants its iconic cans to line our larders. Still, as humans, the urge is often to act in our own self-interest. But these examples show what can happen when seemingly competing bodies put aside smaller individual aims and work together to find common ground.