Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote session was easily the best one. Sessions that played music or showed videos were more enjoyable than those that didn’t. The glow sticks were too much.
There are some obvious facts about TMRE 2017. And then there are the common truths that spanned the entire conference—Day 1 to Day 3, opening keynote to closing cocktail—that are the real insights to our industry today. Here’s our take on the key learnings from TMRE 2017:
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Consumers are continuing to demand more authenticity from brands. More than ever, people are looking for authenticity in a company’s purpose, its marketing, and its corporate citizenship. This desire is forcing companies to be more thoughtful in how it communicates, produces, and ultimately, wins over consumers. But really, the ultimate win is for people, and we couldn’t be happier about that.
Technology is not just running our daily lives; it’s shaping who we are as people. Especially the next generation. Gen Z’s attention span is now that of a goldfish—a whopping 8 seconds—and they profess to juggle five devices at a time, on average. Our hypothesis: the brands that are going to stand out with this generation are the ones who will break the technology mold, rather than conform to it.
There is a disconnect between the deliverables that our client partners are asking for and the deliverables that they need to provide to their executive teams. Insights professionals keep asking for hundred-page decks that include every measure by every subgroup, while executives want a one-page story of what they need to know and only what they need to know. We’re on board with the executives, and we can help you be, too.
All of us market research firms are more or less doing the same thing; differentiation comes from something beyond methodology capabilities. Just like consumers are demanding more of brands, clients are demanding more of market research firms. As they should. We have our thoughts on what those differentiating factors can be, and we’re even more encouraged than ever to make our belief in those factors loud, clear, and palpable.
The most interesting voices in our industry are the ones saying something new and different. Because we’re all more or less doing the same thing, we’re also all saying the same things. If you think whatever you have to say about empathy, storytelling, or design is original and inspiring, check with an industry colleague first. Today’s challenge is to say something new; mark our words: we’re up for it.
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On a global scale, none of this stuff is changing any time soon; on an individual level, nothing is stopping you from calling for change within your organization. We’ll be keeping our eye on these findings in the coming months, seeing who’s following the trends and who’s disrupting them. And we promise to do a little of our own disruption, too. Or maybe a lot.