Preview of 2025: Reasons for optimism

Paul Hudson, founder and chief executive, FlexMR
Our willingness to embrace AI and technology gives me reason for optimism. From conferences, I have sensed a willingness to experiment and use early technologies in a way that hasn’t always been evident in our sector before. Yes, there is scepticism, but there is a willingness to try. In this field of technology, we have to otherwise we will lose out to parallel data industries.

Emma Cooper, chief people officer, System1 Group
I’m most excited about the growing opportunities for human-centric research and creativity, even as technology continues to advance. The key is leveraging technology to amplify what humans do best — collaborating, sharing insights, and crafting meaningful connections.

For example, Coca-Cola’s AI-driven “Holidays are Coming” campaign is a great reminder that while AI plays a significant role, it’s the human creativity behind the scenes that makes such innovations possible. When we look beyond the surface, we see that humans remain at the heart of technological advancements, and that gives me great optimism for the future of our industry.

Danielle Todd, director, The Forge
I’m excited that the year of waiting seems to be over. Following a turbulent time, new opportunities tend to emerge and energies are renewed. We’ve seen that with large projects being signed off and discussions evolving, many clients are looking to come out of the gates strong in 2025, and I’m excited to see that happen.

Tatenda Musesengwa, vice-president of audiences, Savanta, and co-founder, Colour of Research (CORe)
Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but 2025 might be the first year in quite a long time with macroeconomic stability in the UK. If that does prove to be the case, it could have a significant positive impact on businesses everywhere, including our industry.

Kelly Beaver, chief executive officer UK and Ireland, Ipsos
We can be masters of our own destiny, and therefore it’s up to us to redefine the industry and what we can offer. I’m most excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in the data analytics, integration and advisory spaces. With the acquisition of Ipsos Jarmany earlier this year, it’s an area I’ve personally been more closely involved with. I see enormous potential for realising value for our clients by harnessing their existing data alongside primary and third-party data to answer their business challenges.

Amy Cashman, executive managing director of the UK insights division, Kantar
There is some fantastic talent coming into market research and that makes me incredibly excited. Apprenticeships are a big part of this and we’ve championed their value at Kantar for many years as a way to give a wider range of young people a foothold in our world.

We’ve had six new apprentices starting in our insights team over the past 12 months, doing everything from brand research to project management to wider consulting. It’s brilliant to see the variety of roles that are now on offer. I have been very impressed by the younger cohorts coming into our business, particularly the way they are willing to put themselves on platforms and represent our brand.

We’re making ground on getting people from more diverse backgrounds and from different career paths into our sector too, bringing new technology skills especially. That can only be a good thing for market research – making sure we’ve got more and different points of view around the table to ask better questions, challenge our biases and ultimately deliver better answers for our clients.

Jane Frost, chief executive, MRS
Did you see the incredible entries recognised in our MRS Awards this year? There’s plenty to be optimistic about. Our sector is brimming with fabulous talent, ideas and creativity.

Next year I think we’ll be feeling even more confident and more resilient as, hopefully, the jitters surrounding the chancellor’s budget will have subsided. From my conversations with our members, there’s certainly a sense that there’s a big opportunity for market growth in 2025 if we can continue to make the case in the boardroom for research’s impact.

Crawford Hollingworth, global founder, The Behavioural Architects
This is a world of excitement; everyone in our industry is literally in an age of transformation like never before. AI and data science ignite daily breakthroughs; unleashing new ideas, revolutionary products, and unprecedented ways to create value with speed and precision. For our industry, this is both incredibly exciting and incredibly scary.

Ray Poynter, chief research officer, Potentiate
I am seeing people leverage AI to produce faster, cheaper and better results – in particular engaging in deeper analysis leveraging the extra power of AI.

William Ullstein, UK chief executive, YouGov
Generative AI is revolutionising the way businesses think about efficiencies, automation and product roadmaps. Early use cases have largely been focussed on process-driven tasks to help reduce time and costs, but we are moving beyond that now.

The use of AI in qualitative research is enabling researchers to derive meaningful insights from data that was previously underutilised due to its unstructured nature. This could start to break down the barriers between quant and qual research and unlock deeper insights than have ever been possible before.

Fiona Blades, chief experience officer, MESH Experience
Seeing many Insight Leads embracing innovation and looking to make a difference in their organisations, particularly in creating new measurement ecosystems.

Mark James, chief executive, Differentology
While some view AI as a threat, I think the future of the industry lies in creating balance — leveraging technology without losing human connection.

It’s best summed up by a beautiful movie The Wild Robot (I watched recently with my son). Roz (a robot stranded in nature) learns to thrive by developing empathy and collaboration. Roz’s journey reflects the industry’s challenge: using AI for speed and efficiency while relying on human insight for emotions and nuance. Like Roz, businesses that thrive will embrace technology, but also show kindness, adaptability and purpose in a rapidly (and hugely exiting) changing world.

Wez Eathorne, head of brand and communications research, Opinium
The fact that AI will change the industry is inevitable and in equal parts exciting and concerning. It will be fascinating to see how we as an industry navigate this new technological revolution. Will it make the industry more efficient, accurate and insightful, or will it make us lazier and intellectually incurious?

Ben Shimshon, chief executive and founding partner, Thinks Insight & Strategy
Research is a fundamentally optimistic pursuit. The core belief – that with the right information and thinking, you can address challenges and navigate uncertainty – has ‘better’ baked in. Look ahead > Spot the opportunities (and risks) > Gather data > Make a plan.

Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director, GfK
I am hopeful consumers will become more positive. For instance, a key measure in our Consumer Confidence Barometer is whether now is the right time to make a major purchase, and this is currently sitting at a level similar to early 2022 before the cost-of-living crisis kicked in. If consumer confidence continues to improve this will support sales, especially as in 2025 a lot of products purchased during the 2020 lockdown will need to be replaced.

Nick Baker, global chief research officer, Savanta
Opportunities for greater focus on impact. To focus efforts on unlocking the ‘why’ & the ‘what to do about it’, not so much time and effort on simply the ‘what’. Automation, AI and other tech developments are enablers for the industry to drive value from our curation, use and understanding of data to drive decision-making. We must embrace how these changes transform the ‘what’ we do and reduce the time and energy on creating the simplistic data reportage of ‘what’ in our primary research work.

Research Live’s end-of-year series explores the key trends and themes defining the market research sector as we head into 2025.