2022 business impact of the year – global: Kantar Consulting & Fáilte Ireland

The tourism industry is a significant sector within the Irish economy, and Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, has an important role to play in supporting the industry’s long-term growth. 

The domestic tourism industry, in particular, has been at the forefront of the pandemic, with people’s needs, aspirations and behaviours changing. Fáilte Ireland had a challenge to identify the role of domestic travel both currently and in the future. It wanted to understand what is fundamentally driving travel behaviour and identify the priority segments for growth. 

Fáilte Ireland’s existing current segmentation was based on traditional demographics, so the organisation wanted to develop a new way of targeting different travel occasions and motivations. It first carried out a study using qualitative research and artificial intelligence based visual analytics, generating insights to inform the development of a framework.

Fáilte Ireland then worked with Kantar to create a motivations-based framework offering an understanding of Irish domestic consumers that could be embedded and activated across the organisation.

Rather than focusing on typologies, the framework takes into consideration context alongside underlying needs and motivations. The project lasted six months, from market landscaping and fieldwork to advanced modelling and framework creation.

The motivations framework clearly defines segments and informs where and how to reach domestic tourists, the experiences they seek, and how they can be effectively targeted, to excite, inspire and communicate. Kantar Consulting and Fáilte Ireland used visual data profiles, including playbooks and videos, to share the framework across the business.

Fáilte Ireland has applied learnings from the framework to its strategic plans. The organisation is using the framework in a number of ways, including: 

• developing new concepts for attractions
• creating new marketing and digital materials 
• changing the way it approaches product marketing. 

Jill De Azevedo, head of consumer planning & insights at Fáilte Ireland, said: "The consumer insights team at Fáilte Ireland strives to bring new and innovative research tools to the organisation, while at the same time providing outstanding insights that are relevant and actionable.

"In 2019, the consumer insights division was put in place and has had great success in delivering on their mandate and vision. Part of that has been identifying and working closely with our strategic research partner Kantar. The motivations framework was a joint effort and not only cements this partnership, but has embedded the role and skill set consumer insights bring to Fáilte Ireland."

The Research Live business impact of the year categories at the MRS Awards recognise clients or organisations that use research to make a real and lasting impact on their business and operations. Two awards are given for work inside and outside the UK. The 2022 award for business impact of the year – UK went to Shell and Strat7 Incite.

The full list of MRS Awards winners can be found here.