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While Quirk’s bimonthly Twitter polls are not a scientific way to learn about marketing researchers, we love the way they spark new ideas and help us engage with our readers. One question we posed in May got me thinking about the diverse backgrounds of the marketing researchers I’ve worked with.



Of the 26 Twitter accounts that responded to our question, “How did you get into the MR industry?” 96 percent selected, “Happily fell into it” and 4 percent selected, “Studied hard to get here.”

In addition to poll responses, we received several replies from followers who wanted to share a bit more about their personal experiences:

“1st job out of college, I noticed my employer had only 50% name recognition in a relatively small market. I wanted to know why.” @hughsboo 

“I needed projects to fill my time, and the current survey programmer needed help. I’ve been learning so much in #mrx since then!” @zontziry 

“Armed with statistics and engineering qualifications I grabbed an industry analyst role at an agency specializing building materials.” @MikeBeder

“My degrees were strangely relevant and I just scooted in!” @LoveStats   

While there is no doubt in my mind that most marketing researchers studied hard regardless of having a traditional or non-traditional path to the industry, I began to think about the many ways this industry benefits from the varied backgrounds.

Several of my interviews with client-side marketing researchers for Quirk’s Marketing Research Review’s Before You Go series, “10 minutes with a corporate researcher” – a Q&A-style conversation between Quirk’s and client-side marketing researchers – discussed unique educational paths to MR. From psychology backgrounds that prompt the researcher to continue looking for the why behind data, to the former chemistry major who finds ways to use the world as her laboratory, the Q&A tidbits highlight a variety of skill sets:

“Psychology really lays the underpinnings of successful marketing research. Certainly, the field is moving in that direction in terms of integration of neuroscience, response latency, emotion and sentiment recognition, etc. But beyond those, for any given project, we navigate and design research that has to consider the way people think, take in stimuli, make decisions and even how they react to research design itself. A foundation in psychology has been an incredible asset.” Lauren DeRaleau, Groupon

“I spent most of my psychology studies doing research and my psych degree has influenced my marketing research career in two key ways. First, it has driven me to be a stickler for rigor and quality in methodologies and data. Second, it has fomented my passion to understand the whys – psychology – behind the data.” Irene Voisin, Groupon

“Moving client-side after over 15 years in the agency world has been extremely refreshing although it was a huge shift for me. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about working in only one industry. However, my current work at Voya spans across many categories …

“At first, one of the biggest challenges in making the transition to the client side was the volume of internal meetings … now I know why my old clients were so busy!” Kerry Sette, Voya Financial

“As a junior in college majoring in chemistry at Loyola University Chicago, I thought chemistry graduates only worked in the lab. That summer, I had a job at a major personal care company in Chicago. I worked in the Product Integrity Lab and spent so much time doing titrations, more so than my college lab work, that I knew then I did not want to be a lab chemist. It just wasn’t for me – I liked interacting with people too much, which is limited when you work in the lab. You can’t talk to machines. Some people loved it, I didn’t! During that summer, I met many chemistry graduates who worked in the consumer side of the business and loved what they were doing. I formed great connections, and that networking opportunity turned into a passion for consumers.

“The world is my laboratory. Listening, observing and being in-the-moment with consumers is such an adrenaline rush. There’s never a dull moment talking with consumers – you just never know what you’re going to get!” Cindy Dumlao, Wrigley 

And even if you come from a more traditional background, your professional development may be positively affected by your interests outside of marketing research. Jenny Crowley, associate brand manager, touched on how her personal interest in improvisational comedy plays a role at Organic Valley:

“Organic Valley is a farmer-owned co-op and cooperation is central to everything that we do. Everyone’s voice is important when making decisions. That commitment to collaboration and teamwork echoes the ‘yes and…’ teachings of improv, which is one of the reasons that I was attracted to the culture of Organic Valley. Improv has also taught me to have an open mind, stay present and actively listen, which I think are key to being a good marketing researcher.”  

Creativity in MR 

For a discipline that is so often stereotyped as being dry and numbers-obsessed, examples like the above are proof that creativity can flourish in the insights realm. And as the world changes so rapidly around us, finding new ways of doing things is essential and who is better equipped to expand the idea of what is possible than those with fresh perspectives?