Tom H. C. Anderson - Next Gen Market Research

Bob Lederer and RFL Communications just released their annual predictions issue in their Research Business Report. It’s one of my favorite issues, and this year there seemed to be more predictions than ever, 62 in total!

Everyone who participates seems to answer slightly differently, some take a ’stricter’ definition of what they expect in the coming year, others like myself tend to take a slightly broader view in terms what we think are important issues that firms will work towards the coming year (whether or not it is actually something that we think will be accomplished within 2010).

My predictions for 2010 are:

Two concurrent trends, increases in data sources and market research-commoditization, will continue to have an impact on the market research industry. As many market researchers attempt to position themselves higher up the value chain the need to go beyond the traditional (focus groups and surveys) will continue to become even more important.

With virtually no barriers to entry, even on global projects, clients who previously looked to larger MR firms to help them innovate in the area of methodology are realizing what Bill Gates has known for a while. Innovation is far more likely to come from new, more agile, smaller firms than from large suppliers who have focused on streamlining and offshoring business processes.

The successful next gen market researcher, whether on the client or supplier side, will need to understand, now more than ever, that market research is only effective if it helps drive bottom line results. This means leveraging best available sources of information regardless of source, to gain a competitive advantage. Quality surveys and focus group research will no longer be a key differentiator, rather simply an entry cost. The next gen researcher is a data miner, text miner, new media expert, a management consultant and most importantly, an information innovator.

Each year when asked to write the prediction for RFL’s Research Business Report I tell myself I should look up what I wrote the year before, yet I never seem to do so. Today I actually was able to find my prediction from last year (for 2009) below.

Marketers will continue to try to understand how to best leverage web 2.0, and Text Analytics will increase in importance as the best way to gain insights around this opportunity. Concepts such as “Long Tail” and “Six Sigma” will continue to wane in popularity while the renewed interest in classical issues such as Customer Satisfaction/Retention and Segmentation will continue to draw increased attention from marketers tired of these cute buzz words. This will represent an opportunity for supplier side companies who can prove that they can leverage new technologies for insights in these traditional areas.

Geographically China will continue to be viewed as the foreign market representing the greatest opportunity. Demographically most marketers will focus on Boomers, women, and Hispanic/Latinos, in that order. A competitive opportunity may exist for marketers willing to also invest in a younger demographic.

Curious to hear your predictions and whether or not you agree with mine?

If you’re interested here is the complete list of researchers who contributed to the 2010 predictions issue:
Rick Abens, President, ForeSight ROI, Inc.
Cathy Allin, President, Directions Insight
Don Ambrose, Chairman, Consumer ContactResearchbyNet
Tom H. C. Anderson, Manaing Partner, Anderson Analytics
Scott Arnold, CEO, MarketTools
Mike Brochu, President & CEO, GMI
Doug Brooks, SVP, IRI Modeling & Analytic Services
Randy Brooks, President, Directions Research
Don Buzzone, President, Bruzzone Research
Jim Bryson, President, 20/20 Research, Inc.
Ben Ceasare, CEO, Invoke Solutions
Michael P. Connors, Chairman & CEO, Information Services Group, inc.
Caren Courtright, Director of Research, Slack Barshinger
KK Davey, EVP, IRI Consulting & Innovation
Jen Drolet, VP Client and Moderating Services, iModerate
Linda Dupree, EVP Sales & Marketing, InnerScope Research
Susan Frede, VP, TNS/Lightspeed Research
Sunil (Sunny) Garga, Founder, Mphasize, LLC
Steven Gittelman, President, Mktg, inc.
Andrew Green, CMO, Ipsos MediaCT
Andrew Greenville, CRO, Vison Critical
Eric Grosgogeat, CEO, FocusVision Worldwide
David Haynes, CEO, Western Wats
Heena Jethwa, Senoior Product Marketing Manager, SPSS, an IBM Company
Jeffrey Henning, VP of Strategy & Founder, Vovici
John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer
David Keefe, SVP Client Marketing, Greenfield Consulting Group
Keith Price, President, Toluna NA
Paul Kirch, President, ActusMR, Inc.
Simon Kooyman, CEO, Knowledge Networks
Jon Last, President, Sports & Leisure Group
Ian Lewis, Director, Cambiar
Joan M. Lewis, Global Consumer & Market Knowledge Officer, P&G
Bill Lipner, CEO, InsightExpress
Kathi Love, CEO, Mediamark Research & Intelligence
Kristin Luck, President, Decipher, inc.
David Lundahl, President InsightsNow
Bernie Malinoff, President, element54
Chuck Miller, President, DMS Insights (AOL)
Robert Moran, EVP, StrategyOne
Howard R. Moskowitz, Ph.D., President, Moskowitz Jacobs, Inc.
Leonard Murphy, President, Rockhopper Research, Inc.
Mary Ann Packo, CEO, Millward Brown North America
Charles Pearson, Co-Founder & MD, EasyInSites
Annie Pettit, Ph.D., President, Annie Pettit Consulting
Robert Philpott, Global CEO, Synovate
Jean Robinson, President, Dynamic Logic
Beth Rounds, Marketing Practice Leader, Cambiar, LLC
Joel Rubinson, CRO, The ARF
David Sackman, CEO, Lieberman Research Worldwide
Steve Schl3esinger, CEO, Schlesinger Associates
Laura Schneck, Principal, International Insights, Inc.
Jason Smith, President of Product Innovation, Vision Critical
George Terhanian, Ph.D., President-Global Solutions, Harris Interactive
Robert Tomei, President, IRI Consumer & Shopper Insights
John Williamson, CEO, QualVu
Fiona Blades, Chief Experience Officer, MESH Planning
Ray Poynter, Director, Virtual Surveys
Nigel Spencer, Head of Marketing Insight, Aviva UK general Insurance
Carlos José Fonseca, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, MasterCard International

Big thanks to Bob Lederer for putting all these together for us! Already looking forward to 2011

@TomHCAnderson

PS. Any industry executive interested in reading the 2009 RBR predictions issue can get one free from RFL by emailing their request to info@rflonline.com

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