I recently was reviewing this scenario-planning workshop, not realizing it was run by Carol Shea, of Olivetree Insights. Seeing it, I reached out to her to discuss the importance and relevance of scenario planning for researchers right now. Carol and I have often talked at conferences, and I always learn something from her: she has […]
Professional marketing researchers are in an interesting predicament. We’ve been conditioned to exercise methodological and analytical rigor. We pride ourselves on an ability to dive deeply into data and find nuance beyond basic descriptive statistics. As such, the best of us draw out deep insights that may not be intuitive and often lend themselves to […]
In an earlier post I asked whether market researchers were afraid of business consulting. I think many are, but I also think that adding the skills and acquiring the confidence to effectively consult to businesses aren’t easy things to do. The easiest way to bring this to life is through example; a recent project managed by […]
I can still recall my frustration in receiving countless emails and voicemails during my years as a client-side marketing researcher in the sports, media and leisure industries. The pitches all took on a familiar and uninformed tone. They thought that our company sounded really cool…and they were a “great” marketing research company that could deploy […]
I have decided there is a new phobia in market research land; “consilatiophobia”. This means fear of consulting. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but I am beginning to think that naming the problem might be a necessary step to some more serious discussion about the problem. I started thinking about this after a […]