Prepared by:

Joel Rubinson, President Rubinson Partners, Inc.

“Marketing and research consulting for a brave new world”

E-mail: joelrubinson@gmail.com

Slideshare.net/joelrubinson

Oct 15, 2010

The Future of Consumer Insights

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My role here today

» President of Rubinson Partners, Inc.

» Retained as ARF executive to continue to drive Research Transformation and Shopper Insights

» Former Chief Research Officer at the ARF

Research Transformation Journey

Industry Leader ForumsNew York & San Francisco

Interviews with leaders

Listening Workshop

July 15th, 2008

Research Transformation Super Council

ILF Oct 28, 2010

New blueprint

On July 15th 2008, we began a journey

» 13 industry leaders spent a day at the ARF to discuss “listening”• Advertisers: Procter, Unilever, General Mills• Providers: Nielsen, TNS, Motivequest, Keller-Fay• Media: ESPN, Razorfish, Digitas

» Within 45 minutes, the topic shifted:

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“Research has lost its ability to see the big picture; to hearthe unexpected”

“Surveys are torture for respondents”

“Research needs to inspire; storytelling is key”

“Research used to be discrete events, now there’s a continuousFlow of insights that we can tap into”

Bell Curve of Product Research Spending

CONSUMERFEEDBACKINNOVATION

$$$ ReallocateReal

loca

te $

$$

80%of

Funding

EVALUATION&

TESTING

“Eighty percent of our funding goes into the evaluating and testing area in the middle of the curve and I know that at least 40% is wasted. I would like to see this money redistributed to the front end of the curve, in innovation, and at the end of the curve, responding to consumer feedback.” - Kim Dedeker, P & G

The current landscape

85% of research leaders indicated they are either “neutral” or “dissatisfied” with the impact of marketing research in their company.

P1-Q5a. How satisfied are you with the impact of marketing research throughout your company? 1 to 5 rating scale (1=very dissatisfied)

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Non-believers

» Research Has High Level Champions… • 60 % of those surveyed had C-Suite level advocates for research.

» …But “Skeptics” Throughout• “Skeptics, those who either avoid using research or use it in a discretionary fashion

come from all over the organization:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

C-Suite Marketing Sales RegionHeads

Finance

• Creative• Sales• Unit/Product Heads

• Brand Managers• Channel Managers• Design & Development

• CFO• Company President• Events Marketing

• International Management• Marketing• Operations

P1-Q2a. Who are the most important champions of the marketing research department in your organization? P1-Q2b. Conversely, who are least inclined to use research even when they should? What do they do or who do they turn to instead?

A brand is a belief system, reinforced by a system of behaviors.

Revisualizing research.

Research must move from point A to point B

Marketing Research

Today

Marketing Research Tomorrow

• Visionary leadership• Courage to take a stand• Driving strategy• Demonstrated business impact

• Answers research questions with technical proficiency

• Sometimes discretionary• Inconsistent impact on

strategy

Are we at a “Strategic Inflection Point”, triggering a massive shift in strategy?

» Strategic Inflection Points represent…what happens to a business when a major change takes place in its competitive environment…due to introduction of new technologies…different regulatory environment…simply a change in the customers' values…what is key is that they require a fundamental change in business strategy. Nothing less is sufficient.• Some key warning signs that hint that the

change you are dealing with make a Strategic Inflection Point is when it is clear to you that all of a sudden the company or the entity that you worry about has shifted.

Academy of Management, Annual MeetingAndrew S. Grove

Chairman of the Board, Intel CorporationSan Diego, Calif.August 9, 1998

Why now?

• Role of emotion and low attention processing

• Heuristics for simple decision-making

• People as social creatures

• Social media• Biometrics• Massive behavioral datasets

• Marketing concepts forever changed which changes all of the questions

Competing voices for consumer insights…

Digital, shopper analytics

Planners, consultants

Listening to blogosphere

Also:• Customer

care• Retail• Own

instincts

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Lose relevance, lose leadership

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» video

Research transformation leadership

Donna Goldfarb VP Consumer and Marketing Insights, Americas, Unilever

Susan Wagner VP Global Strategic Insights, Johnson & Johnson Group of

Consumer Co

The ARF Research Transformation Super-Council: Leaders

Decision-making processes/metrics:Gayle Fuguitt (General Mills)John Forsyth (McKinsey)Jim Thompson (IPSOS) 

Consumer-led strategies:Gloria Cox (The Cambridge Group)Jennifer Nelson (Johnson & Johnson)Todd Cunningham (MTV Networks)Walker Smith (The Futures Group) 

Engagement and talent:Amelia Strobel (Kraft)Ian Lewis (Cambiar)Kim Dedeker (Kantar)Richard Thorogood (Colgate-Palmolive) 

Co-Chairs:Donna Goldfarb (Unilever), Susan Wagner (Johnson & Johnson), Joel Rubinson (ARF)

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The following research and insights leaders have committed to leading the creation of the research transformation blueprint via the ARF:

Future Forecast: Trends That Will Impact Marketing» Technology/digitalization

• Privacy

» Changing economic power balance (driven by ascent of China followed by India)

» More connected, more empowered consumers

» "Media makeover" - includes media brands becoming multimedia brands, 360 media planning & measurement, geosynchronous targeting

» Glocalization

» The challenges for developed markets• Aging populations, Healthcare, Pensions, Government Budget Crises

» The multicultural world

» Sustainability

2020 Vision: Trends that will Impact Marketing

The future

Digitalization: Integration of digital technologies into everyday life by the digitization of everything that can be digitized.

• Clouds

• Mobile

• Social

• Real time information and marketing fuse together

Technology/Digitalization

Technology/Digitalization

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A digital river of information

• fed by numerous tributaries• Reflecting changing societal values, lifestyle trends, and

brand engagement• Mostly naturally occurring, on-going 24/7• Some tributaries are “man-made” and proprietary like a

brand tracker

• Start research with river rather than projects

Changing Economic Power Balance

Percentage of World GDP, Projections

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2000 2010 2020 2030

Year

Per

cen

tag

e USA

EU

China

India

Source: PriceWaterHouseCoopers January 2010 Forecast

The Challenges for Developed Markets

• Between 2010 and 2050, U.S. population projected to grow from 310 million to 439 million (increase of 42%).

• One in five US residents will be aged 65 and older in 2030.

Aging Populations, Healthcare, Pensions, Government Budget Crises

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Glocalization

» The dilemma is how to manage brands globally while activating them locally

» Culturally relevant

» Reflect local retailer practices and footprints• Frienemy relationship between manufacturers and retailers

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Our mission

» “Inspiring better business futures by listening, learning, and translating humans and markets to bring them to life, in order to anticipate and give knowledge to the enterprise.”

Learning organizations always have their ear(s) to the ground. They are open minded, and their doors are open to new thinking, new trends, and new ideas. They intentionally seek out “newness” and find ways to democratize what is new, make it understood and acceptable, and make it available.

The people they seek to connect with are their icons.

Learning organizations:

People on their terms

Transforming your organization

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Marketing Research Creed

» Understand the business. Create value from insights by getting to the “now what” and be accountable for the business result

» Be a thought leader. You must shape thinking not just validate. Tell the marketing team something they didn’t know. Prove your point and show the way. You must be a courageous risk-taker.

» Bring the human into all marketing decision-making. Be the voice that connects the brand and consumer.

» Be charismatic. Infuse with theatre to be heard and to become unforgettable

» Be future focused. If you prove your foresight, research will be viewed as an investment rather than an expense which is critical.

» Stay grounded. Our professional standards, principles, and processes for generating grounded insights set us apart

» Become an agent of change. Embrace new marketing ideas, new research tools, and become an effective activist for cultural change in the organization.

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The path forward

• The vision of where we want to be communicated at the Oct 28, 2010 one day ARF conference in NY

• Metrics of the transformed organization (end of year)

• Insights framework (Nov)

• C-suite interviews (Nov)

• 2020 vision (big changes, digitalization, the river) (Dec)

• Engagement and talent; buyer implications, supplier implications, talent implications (Dec)

• Roadblocks and strategies for circumventing (Nov-Dec)

• Reanalysis of Ogilvy winners

• JAR article

• Synthesis into white papers: first quarter 2011, timed for Rethink