FEATURE2 January 2015

2015 Preview: The buzzwords

As this is the first preview article of 2015: happy new year! Research-live contributors have been offering all sorts of predictions for the year to come. Here we’ll take a look at their thoughts on the buzzwords for 2015.

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Agile response

Responses were fairly varied on this one: while there was overlap, there was little direct agreement. The only word that was mentioned more than once was agility. This was mentioned by Wander Meijer, COO of MROps, as well as Jack Miles, associate director at Northstar:

“The buzz word for 2015 will be agility. The commercial world is picking up speed at increased pace – research needs to seek to match this. This will mean our focus must be on: increased commercial understanding over which we can overlay the most relevant insight approaches; better acquisition of readily available data to assist in 360 degree perspectives; and a more fluid and aggressive approach to insight socialisation. By being better commercialised, more holistic and having a louder voice, insight will have increased value to businesses in the 12 months ahead.”

Data, data, everywhere

There was also, once again, mention of big data, albeit with some caveats:

“Despite what I said about data, I still imagine ‘big data’ will be doing the rounds this year – creating buzz akin to that annoying bluebottle that’s stuck in the window. Elsewhere, I’m also starting to hear phrases like ‘behavioural synthesis’ – which, whilst it sounds nice, looks like it could just be big data 2.0”Andrew Wiseman, MD, ICM

“Information. I say this with tongue in cheek. We’re awash in data, and this trend will continue. I hope that we can say that in 2015, we’re awash in information.”Frederic Charles Petit, founder and chief executive, Toluna

There were some mentions of behavioural economics/ science being a key term for 2015. One of these came from Elissa Moses, EVP of the Ipsos Neuro & Behavioural Science Centre; the other was a mention from Colin Strong, head of industry at GfK, in his naming of context as a word of the year:

“Context: behavioural science has demonstrated how the context in which we make decisions shapes our behaviour. Measuring and understanding this will become critical.”

Honourable mentions

Other predictions for 2015’s buzzword included hyper-digital consumers, fusion, content-driven and good enough research.

“The hyper-digital consumer – the consumer whose first port of call for everything is now a digital device.” Martin Filz, CEO, EMEA, Lightspeed GMI

“Fusion. Again, inspired more by TV and more broad video consumption metrics, as an industry we will have to get comfortable with fusing multiple data sources from panels and first party data to surveys and various other sources. I hope that this can be achieved in a credible, sustainable and scalable way that is worthy of the research industry.” Christian Kurz, vice president, Research and Insights, Viacom International

“Suspect it will still be content-driven, but more that content is central to delivering strategy, not just an experiment or bolt-on, but a scaled and demonstrable driver of business value.”Dan Hagen, chief strategy officer, Carat

“Good enough research: an approach that accepts limitations but embraces the speed and cost efficiencies of fast turnaround research.” Stephen Phillips, CEO, Zappistore

Next up, on Monday January 5, is the final preview article, discussing what success will look like in 2015

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