Yvonne Campos on Trends Impacting Market Research

Trends Impacting Market Research

• Current Trends– Data is Dead– The Ways We Communicate & Connect Have Evolved– Traditional Advertising is Crumbling– Emergence of Web 3.0

• Impact On Research– Embracing New Tools

• Listening• Asking Questions• Observing Behavior• Identifying Motivations/Anticipating Needs

• Moving Forward: Campos & CivicScience

• Key Takeaways

Agenda

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Current Trends

• Current economic situation has led to loss of jobs and income• Traditional data models are unraveling, and our basic assumptions

are no longer true:

People will be employed

and live their lives in an upward trajectory.

• Researchers must accept this reality and adapt to emerging forms of data collection and analysis

Current Trends: The Death of Data

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Current Trends: The Ways We Communicate & Connect Have Evolved

• 1970s…phone (landline) and fax • 1980s...phone (landline), fax and

cell phones• 1990s...phone (landline), fax, cell

phones, the internet and email• 2000s…smart phone and

internet

Credit: 5

• Today there are

― 1.6 billion online― 4.4 billion mobile phone subscribers

• There will be

― 5.8 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by 2013

Credit: Internet World Stats 6/09, Portio Research 8/09

Current Trends: The Ways We Communicate & Connect Have Evolved

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• Chat Rooms

• Blogs

• Instant Messaging

• Text Messaging & Multi-media Messaging Services

• Smart phones

Current Trends: The Ways We Communicate & Connect Have Evolved

• Social Networking sites

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Photo & video-sharing sites

• Flickr

• YouTube

• Online Communities and Forums

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There is a Powerful Shift in Purchase Behavior:

The Consumer is the New Marketer

Customized Individualized Recommendations

Current Trends: The Ways We Communicate & Connect Have Evolved

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Current Trends: Traditional Advertising is Crumbling

• Traditional advertising as a one-way communication from an untrusted source has little/no credibility and is not perceived as “authentic”

• Reviews are the “new” advertising and have tremendous impact on purchase decisions - offer more credibility

– Peer Reviews: posted/written by personal acquaintances or “twinsumers”

– Expert Reviews: posted/written by field experts that are unpaid

– Influencer Reviews: posted/written by people admired by consumers

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Current Trends: Traditional Advertising is Crumbling

Word of Mouth is the Most Trusted Source

• Marriage of artificial and human intelligence (semantic web)

• Computers becoming more intuitive and categorizing information with “meaning”

• Virtual shopping/virtual lifestyles

• Ever-present Web/constantly updated information in real time

Current Trends: Emergence of Web 3.0

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The Impact on Research

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

• Since communication methods are constantly evolving, so must researchers– Embracing the benefits while understanding the concerns of

Social Media is crucialPros:

• Data collection in real time• Democratization of content• More focus on context • Data leaves a trail• Preferred communication channels for younger

age groups• Opportunity for market research to be more

widely accepted and appreciated by the masses

• Behavioral psychographic longitudinal profiling

Cons: • Managing large amounts of

data/content• Need for controls to ensure proper

collection and analysis• Authenticity of respondents/samples• Must remain constantly abreast of

new technology

13Credit: Alert! July 2009

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

• While what we as researchers do remains the same, how we do it has changed and will continue to advance

– Listening– Asking Questions– Observing Behavior– Identifying Motivations– Anticipating Needs

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Listening = Monitoring

• From periodic studies to research in real time/all the time

– Identify trends, opinions, issues– Constant learning about target audience– Enables addressing suggestions and concerns immediately

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Tools

• Blog search tools • Blog results aggregators• Community, forum discussion and review site monitoring• Twitter monitoring • Multi-platform monitoring• Subscription-based all-platform monitoring/aggregators

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Asking questions = Engaging in Conversations

• From moment-in-time surveys to engagement

– Creating forums for open conversations– Using widgets to gain insight– Building relationships to garner deeper knowledge– Reaching respondents anywhere (mobile research)– Real-time conversations between client & consumer,

researcher and respondent

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Tools

• Chat rooms and communities - participation, creation• Brand micro-sites and “private label” social applications, tool usage, subscription-based community-building tools• Wikis• Web-based

- Widgets- Online communities- Intelligent / fun / interactive polls and surveys

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Observing Behavior

• From one way mirrors to multi-media conversations

– Allowing consumers to be creative while sharing rich, multi-dimensional feedback-incorporating music, video, images and animation

– Reaching respondents in their world using their tools

– Allow clients to “view” online real-timebehavior

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Tools

• Mobile livecasting• Lifecasting • Photos, videos• Music• Game sharing, games on social networks• Social shopping• GPS-based apps

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Identifying motivations & anticipating needs

• Expert analysis is still the only way to learn and form actionable understandings of the consumer and marketplace

• The reality will be more “data” than we know what to do with

• Need for new algorithms, language analytics and data interpretations

• Need for innovative teams: research leaders, savvy thinkers, sociologists, psychologists, designers, pop culture specialists, etc.

Impact on Research: Embracing New Tools

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Moving Forward: Campos & CivicScience

Moving Forward: Campos & CivicScience

Software Company Panel Company

Automated Insights• “Smarter” way to gather data

• More psychographic insight into your consumer• Know your panel

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Research Expertise

Building Insight: Campos & CivicScience

Intelligent Web Polls& Widgets

Social Media Applications

Online Custom Panels27

Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

1. Purchase behavior/decision making has shifted to a new powerful peer-to-peer model

2. Researchers need to “plug in” to the conversations (researching in real time)

3. Experience & understanding of research fundamentals can not be replaced by technology

4. Convergence of mobile/smart phones & internet will lead to mobile research

5. Clients need to listen to the Voice of the Consumer on an ongoing basis/in real time and have this process hardwired into the business

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Key Takeaways

6. Consumer and communication methods are changing rapidly; annual research projects will no longer reflect the consumers

7. Research will become more creative & imaginative, embracing multi-media learning and expanding teams to go beyond traditional researchers

8. Concerns about data quality will continue, but can be addressed in research models

9. Better and smarter analytical and data tools will allow for more efficient, effective research findings

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Thank You

Credits: Eva Rebek, Chris Maher, Shelley Shaw