2016 Review: the market research champions

Our panel of research leaders offer their thoughts on which companies and indviduals – both inside and outside the industry – have advanced the cause in 2016, and what work still needs to be done.

"Nate Silver. He is very vocal in reminding us all that numbers don’t simply speak for themselves, and interpreting them still leaves room for human fallibility (and even bias). And building models that reflect uncertainty isn’t a crime; those models merely reflect reality." Jane Bloomfield, head of UK marketing, Kantar Millward Brown.

"Peter York continues to pop up in writing and on TV, and he’s always a welcome figure. His recent stuff about authenticity and Shoreditch has been great. He champions enquiry (as opposed to ‘research projects’) in a way that I think is both old-fashioned and completely modern (and quite scarce)." Matt Lynch, chief strategy officer, Big Sofa. 

"Jane Frost and Finn Raben – the MRS and Esomar keep making a great case for market research," Ray Poynter, managing director, The Future Place. 

"Jane Frost. She has worked tirelessly for the industry and is an authoritative voice in the media at large." Kirsty Fuller, co-founder and CEO, Flamingo Group. 

"Stan Sthanunathan at Unilever. He pushes us all to innovate and evolve – and to aim high. His Harvard Business Review article, Building an Insights Engine, is a must read." Will Galgey, UK CEO, Kantar TNS.

"Wendy Gordon proving herself the ultimate  bricoleur (of theory as well as just methodology)  by writing Mindframes. A little too BE heavy for my tastes but far better than anyone else could even get close to." Peter Totman, qualitative director, Jigsaw Research.

"I have a real soft spot for BrainJuicer. There is often a great deal of angst in the industry about market research and there can be quite a lot of introspection and naval gazing. BrainJuicer has ‘swagger’ and I like the way it positions itself and gets recognition for being really innovative." Julian Highley, global director of customer knowledge, dunnhumby.

...must try harder

"The entire industry needs to do more to champion market research. The public sees polling and research as one and the same so as researchers we must work to highlight the differences between the two, especially when incorrect opinion polls are so prominent in the media." Crispin Beale, CEO, Chime Insight & Engagement Group.

"Honestly no one – I feel that the industry has allowed itself to be defined by its public shop window of (quantitative) political polling – and done too little to showcase other aspects (especially small data)." Deborah Mattinson, founder director, Britain Thinks.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts