Research Past, Present and Future

By Wale Omiyale

Earlier this year, we held a seminar in London focusing on the next 20 years of Market Research. Having seen so much change during our own 20 years in the industry, it made sense that a look ahead by the same timespan would deliver some fascinating food for thought.

So, when Lightspeed’s Jon Puleston predicted the future of MR with a single statement – ‘I have no idea’ – I was stumped. If we can’t predict what’s in store in the 20 short years ahead, how can we possibly foresee the shape of things to come in the next century?

Puleston went on to explain the nature of his statement as a demonstration of the challenges our industry faces in making predictions of any kind, and also made some very bold statements about how he expects things may turn out.

But his comments were a great way of shaking up my own thinking. With the dramatic developments we’ve seen since our foundation in 1996, how can we pin down what technologies will evolve to drive research, or indeed if different ways of working will disrupt the ways things stand today?

Solid foundations for growth

Historians say that to make sense of our present and future, we need to understand our past. So, without delving into a lengthy history lesson, perhaps we can more accurately predict how our industry will evolve if we take a brief step back and look at what has gone before.

Market Research as a practice really came into its own in the 1920s, a result of the boom in radio advertising and sponsorship in the US. In this decade, Daniel Starch, widely referenced as a pioneer of the MR practices we still work with today, developed the theory that advertising had to be remembered and acted upon to be effective.
Wale Omiyale is SVP, market research at Confirmit

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