As a longtime observer of this industry, I kind of feel bad for client-side researchers. They’re out there, doing their work, digging up insights, helping guide organizational decision-making – often with very little help or budget – and then some wiseacre comes along and tells them they need to reinvent themselves, lest they go the way of the dinosaurs.
In my early years here at Quirk’s, the arrival of the internet disrupted everything but there really weren’t wide calls from all corners for researchers to cast off legacy methodologies like focus groups or telephone interviewing or else risk obsolescence. (Maybe those voices were there but not everyone heard them because we didn’t all have lightning-fast web access and blogs and LinkedIn to spread them around!)
Things were pretty quiet for a while and then big data arrived and threatened to replace marketing research and marketing researchers – setting off a torrent of “evolve or die” exhortations at conferences and online. (Remember when you were all urged to learn coding so you could keep pace with the data jockeys?) The reports of research’s demise were greatly exaggerated…until AI came along and stirred up a bunch of existential angst for insights professionals.
As was eventually the case with big data after some of the hysteria died down, many in the industry are now viewing AI as another tool in the toolbox, or a kind of all-knowing personal assistant, rather than a relentless monster like Jason Voorhees or Leatherface who won’t stop until the last human insight worker has been hunted down.
But at our April Quirk’s Event in Chicago, I couldn’t help but notice a reemergence of voices suggesting the need for researchers to act – not necessarily to reinvent themselves but to play offense rather than defense. That is, be active, stay alert and take the lead.
In a session with aytm, Tina Tonielli, insights and analytics lead at Haleon, said she had seen more changes in the last two years of her career than in the first 20. She urged researchers to cultivate a growth mind-set, one that’s characterized by having an insatiable curiosity, being willing to lead change and not being satisfied with how things have always been done.
As part of his talk in Chicago, James Wycherley of the Insight Management Academy also offered calls to action, defining tomorrow’s corporate insight professional as someone who is a growth consultant, a knowledge farmer (rather than just a data hunter) and an insight influencer. Researchers need to be “students of their own business,” versed in how the company makes its money, where it sits in its industry and what its competitive landscape is like. Having these contexts lets you add strategic heft when you deliver the insights you’ve uncovered to your internal audiences.
Mind-sets were also a topic covered by Mondelez SVP and Global Chief of Insights and Analytics Pam Forbus as she outlined the shifts in thinking that are necessary for researchers who want to gain and retain a seat at the C-suite table. Along with asking “How do I have impact?” (by understanding the factors that give you executive presence, by getting politically savvy and by learning the language of the C-suite), you need to ask “Who do I serve?” (insights and analytics can serve the entire company, not just marketing) and “What is my role?” (you can share the facts about the insights your team has generated but then also share your point of view). She also stressed the need for researchers to invest in their skills and find ways to “always contribute outside your job description.”
The good news is, not everything has to change in this AI-crazy world. A panel of researchers from powerhouse brands including Major League Baseball, Daisy Brand, PepsiCo, Kraft-Heinz and Haagen-Dazs made a compelling case for the enduring value of qualitative research, citing example after example to moderator Ron Raskin, CEO of Insights in Marketing, of the impact and necessity of human-based and -generated insights.
As it was when I started here, one of the superpowers of the marketing researcher is the connection they have to consumers. While digital and technological obstacles may arise to interrupt or dilute that bond – in the process spurring insights gatherers to reevaluate how they do their jobs – the core mission of translating customers’ needs and opinions for their organizations will endure.