By Tim Macer
Does market research have an innovation problem? And, if so, what can it do about it? These were questions I asked of four leading thinkers and practitioners in innovation: a major buyer of research, a provider of consumer insight away from conventional market research, a market researcher who advises companies on innovation and an ex-research-buyer-turned MR technology innovator. There is remarkable consistency in the views they express. The industry’s caution is not necessarily seen as a negative – but how market research fares as technology drives innovation is where views start to differ.
Andrew Geoghegan is global head consumer planning at Diageo. As the world’s largest premium alcoholic beverages company – and the name behind major brands such as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Guinness – Diageo is a significant research buyer. Though Geoghegan started out as a researcher in a big research company, his career has subsequently revolved around innovation in consumer products and, now, a senior role in consumer marketing.
Compared with other sectors, Geoghegan considers market research not to be known for innovation. He says: “I think it has been slow to incorporate new thinking from psychology and neuroscience, and it’s probably slower than other segments in embracing and really facing into changes in technology.”
He contrasts this with the consumer-focused sector in which he now works. “We are very aware of how technology is affecting the way our consumers interface with our brands and our media,” he says, which has led to fundamental changes in how the business operates. “I think the paradigms around research collection, design and analysis are pretty fixed. There is some innovation, but it tends to be in pockets, and it is iterative rather than transformational.”
Partners
He says the big research customers are “crying out” for innovation. “I would love for the research industry to partner with clients like us [to innovate], because there is a loss of faith in a lot of the methods out there. You hear people say research is about risk management rather than inspiring better thinking and better ideas.”
Asked if research clients are discouraging innovation with their focus on “quicker and cheaper”, Geoghegan responds: “The research industry needs to understand the world we are living in. Agencies would be naïve to think we are not looking for innovation in efficiency and quality, but I think its an ‘and/and’ conversation.”
With consumer brands, he says innovation is often achieved through “premiumisation” which creates new opportunities. It also forces increased commoditisation in the core products, which drives innovation around efficiency. He contends that the commoditisation is taking place in research without the accompanying premiumisation and that agencies are failing to realise that “money is always found” if a company presents something that can bring new insights as well as efficiency, such as “something that provides quality research in a responsible way – because responsibility is, as you would expect from an alcohol company, our mantra.”
Geoghegan exhorts research companies to practice what they preach, get closer to their customers and take a more holistic, less project-driven view. He thinks the focus on process can act as a barrier, and the only conversations he has with many research providers at his level are when things go wrong.
“It’s a small handful of agencies that seeks to have a longer term strategic relationship with me,” he reports. “Innovation is all about cultural change, and empowering people to see that change is a core part of what they are there to do – rather than seeing themselves as people who are part of a process.”
The culture
Stan Knoops is global head of insight International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., a major provider of fragrances used in consumer products, and another user of research. His background is in food science and consumer behaviour, and his career within companies in the fmcg sector has largely been about bringing consumers into the product innovation cycle. As an occasional buyer of market research, he is equally critical of market research’s track record on innovation.
“For me, innovation is really important, and that is how we differentiate ourselves. I do not think there is a culture of innovation in the market research sector. It is, in my opinion, very traditional. There are some pockets of innovation, but in the last 20 years, maybe the biggest things that made an impact are communities and mobile technology.”
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