Joaquim for Council: the importance of being Earnest

This is an election statement by Joaquim Bretcha, candidate for ESOMAR Council 2017-2018. 

ESOMAR Elections. The importance of being Earnest

Dear ESOMAR colleague,

“The importance of being Earnest, a trivial comedy for serious people” is probably my favourite play by Oscar Wilde. It first came to my attention by one of my English teachers many years ago. What firstly was a student’s exercise very soon became enjoyment. A fast and hilarious reading set this title on my mind. And what a title! I always wanted to use it for a personal purpose.

For those non native English speakers, earnest means “serious, formal”. As an adjective, according to Google translate, it can be interpreted as “resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction”. As a noun, “a thing intended or regarded as a sign or promise of what is to come”.

ESOMAR Council elections are earnest. It is the moment in which the association chooses its President, Vice President and 8 Council members, the team that has to draw its strategic lines as well as guarantee its good management and relevance.

Next 10th October the election process will start. Indeed, on this occasion, it will run in parallel with another key milestone: the referendum to approve our new Code. The Code that updates the mission of ESOMAR, fully needed to face the new Market Research landscape.

These two outstanding events are important for ESOMAR as organization and us, the professionals and corporations, its members. It is our responsibility to participate and raise our voice.

On my turn, I present my candidacy to be one of the 8 Council members on this new term. Below, you can find my “earnest” proposal and on this link,(http://joaquimbretcha.com/) you can see that I do not take myself that seriously.

All the best

Joaquim

PROPOSAL
http://joaquimbretcha.com/

It should be agreed that we are not living an era of change but a change of era; a new era driven by digitization. Still at its initial phase, digitization has already transformed our societies and, therefore, our industry.

The need of understanding people’s opinions, desires and behaviours in their different roles is higher than ever. At the same time, it’s becoming more and more complex. The consumer/citizen comprehension requires a more holistic approach and the good command of new sets of data. Likewise, the means to collect this data evolve at a very fast pace propelled by technology evolution.

This context sets many challenges to our industry, consequently to ESOMAR as one of its key players. The core one, from my perspective, is to show the value and self-worth of Market Research. And more concretely, we need to:

– Help our current members to successfully adapt to this new context by delivering the most appropriate information and education programs, providing the most useful tools and creating excellent networking opportunities.

– Get bigger, get more members from the broad MR landscape, becoming relevant to everyone involved with data-driven marketing strategies. The new ICC/ESOMAR International Code opens our scope and allows us to embrace all related activities.

– Keep being the advocate of the Industry in front of the international and national legislators helping the other worldwide associations in all the industry’s auto-regulation initiatives.

– Support the Youth; promote the attractiveness of our sector.

– We are global and diverse. It is important to seize the different stages of the industry’s according to the different countries’ evolution. I believe that one of the main roles of ESOMAR is to facilitate the convenient spread of best practices and help the least developed countries upgrade their status.

– We are local. The real activity takes place at a local level. A relevant presence in each and every country is key as it is the role of our National Representatives.
These are, in brief, my main beliefs of the role of ESOMAR and the direction we should keep taking. In fact, these are the essential guidelines the current Council has undertaken in the last 2 years. I totally embrace them and would love to continue promoting them in the next term. On this occasion, I bring my international experience reinforced with a much better knowledge of the association and its members.

PS. I want to thank the public support of:

– Julia Helena Carrillo. Country Manager Ipsos Ecuador.
– Jérôme Sopocko. Founder Askia. United Kingdom.
– Jean Michel Lelievre. CEO and Founder Interlink. France.
– Macarena Estévez. CEO and Founder Conento. Spain.
– Susana Marquis. Directora Susana Marquis. La investigación que inspira.
– Joachim Ritter. Head of Market Analytics Roche. Germany.
– Shinichi Hosokawa. CEO GMO Research. Japan.
– Martin Oxley. Managing Director Buzzback Europe. United Kingdom.