Editor’s note: Wilton Brands is the winner of the 2023 Best Client-Side Team award, a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. The winners of the awards were announced during a virtual celebration on November 14. To learn more about the awards go to www.quirksaward.com.

Wilton is a true consumer-centric organization, and uses its understanding of the consumer as a differentiator in the market. The Insights and Analytics Team (I&A) at Wilton has provided outstanding contributions to the success of the company. The team provides  

The team is also a key input into brand, product, sales and strategic initiatives. From leading ideation sessions that ignite innovation creation to using Bayesian statistics to create world class predictive models, this team brings the consumer and maker to the forefront, which in turn drives strategy and direction at Wilton Brands. 

The I&A team answered a few questions about what makes their team great.  

The majority of our research studies are conducted in house without outside vendors, which means our team must work together to balance project work across differing roles and skill sets. Our passion for the subject matter has led to a truly collaborative working environment that utilizes our team’s individual expertise.  

When a research need is made known to our team, we initiate a collaborative process that begins with a research brief completed by those who commissioned the work. All consumer insights team members are included in the initial stages of a research project which allows us to tap into differing skill sets and category expertise. During this discussion we debate methodology, discuss any historical data and share learnings from past projects as we prepare for the project kick-off and assignment. 

The main tasks of the project are completed individually, but not without the option to gather feedback from our differ...