Barwise said that as the clientside research role evolves – changing from ‘head of market research’ to ‘head of consumer insight’ – it requires a greater understanding of the internal decision-making structures and how to sell insights within the organisation.

He said: “[What] a true head of customer insight does better than a head of market research has historically done is to ensure that information – insights – get though to the decision-makers and that they are acted on. That means being better at internal marketing up the line than historically has been the case.”

Barwise added: “The bane of market researchers over the years has been [people] making decisions then commissioning the research to back it up. So we need more assertive, more cunning and more persistent heads of insight to make sure [research] makes a difference.”

Barwise was interviewed at the MRS Annual Conference in London, which took place in March. The full interview is below.

• Patrick Barwise is featured in the launch edition of Impact, the new quarterly magazine from the MRS, out next week. It includes a special report on foresight, profiles of HarperCollins, McDonald’s and Yeo Valley and an interview with big data’s big daddy Doug Cutting, the co-developer of Hadoop. Follow Impact on Facebook and Twitter.