Voices: the CMB Blog

Client researchers are on the frontlines, fighting to redefine and broaden their role in the corporate decision making process. The rest of us are special forces, support troops, or reinforcements –devoted to helping our clients succeed. As a vendor-side attendee, I was pleased to see that the program lineup at the AMA Research & Strategy Summit last week was geared towards helping client researchers effectively “drive transformation.”  That’s where it happens….cutting edge tools and techniques are only transformational if they reveal new insights that will give corporations a competitive advantage.

For many of the presentations, I was drawn in by the sound advice and specific approaches clients have used with success. The program was well done overall, but I have to say that Abby Mehta of Monster Insights, Tim Ruth of AT&T, Jeff Mercer of Microsoft, Dana Williams and Dorette Warms of Southwest Airlines, and Ian Lewis of Research Impact Consulting were especially helpful for those in a client-side role. Without a doubt, this information would have benefited me in my Bose and Wrangler days.

A recurring theme throughout the presentations: client researchers on the frontline need to get out of the trenches and forge ahead with business knowledge, consulting skills, research expertise, and the ability to synthesize and convey insights with great storytelling skills.  Even with these capabilities, corporate researchers often face fierce opposing forces from long-standing corporate cultures, which may exclude researchers from having a “seat at the table.”  As Jeff Mercer outlined for the audience, client researchers face continued challenges—changing the expectations of their internal partners, breaking old habits, and fitting talent into the new mission.

The focus on client researcher needs not only furthers the support troops’ appreciation of the challenges our clients are tackling, but also benefits the AMA as an organization.  IIR Conferences are known to have a higher ratio of end users.  This not only increases overall attendance, but also allows them to command a premium price.  If AMA can attract more end users and keep their conference fees reasonable, they will fill a sorely needed niche in the market research conference arena.  Budgets are tight and conferences have become a luxury for many corporate researchers – those who would benefit from the information the most. 

I applaud AMA for having a great line-up of speakers – including our clients Christopher Frank and Marilyn Franck, and our partner NetBase – and for focusing content on where ”the rubber meets the road.”

Did you attend? What did you think?

Posted by Cathy Harrison. Cathy is a client services executive at CMB and has a passion for strategic market research, social media, and music.  You can follow Cathy on Twitter at @virtualMR    

You'll also find Cathy at The Market Research Event (TMRE). Are you planning on going to TMRE? CMB is an event sponsor and presenter at the conference. Feel free to use the code: TMRE11CMB when you register  for a discounted price. We hope to see you there. Learn more about the conference here.

I heard great things about the Shopper Insights conference in Chicago a few weeks ago. While I couldn’t attend, others from CMB said the conference had a great vibe, and was filled with excitement and information about the latest trends in the shopping experience. One of the major takeaways was that the combination of customers’ shopping preferences and new technologies continues to drive change in the retail shopping experience.  We’ve seen this first hand in our Consumer Pulse detailing how smartphones are changing the retail experience.

Appropriately enough, and just in time for the conference in Chicago, I read an article in Marketing Daily about Walgreens new “Pick Up Today” service rolling out in Chicago. We have seen this multichannel trend in other retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy and at many grocery stores, but this is the first I have seen for a pharmacy. This really caught my eye as my focus is on the healthcare industry and we recently looked at consumer digital communications trends in the healthcare market.

Walgreens is timing things right - our research shows one-third of consumers are already communicating with their pharmacy digitally (through websites, email, portals, or mobile apps). And it’s not just the young, 36% of those over the age of 50 say they’re communicating with their pharmacy digitally. For now most are simply refilling a prescription or asking a question, but this is another opportunity for a customer touch point. While 31% of consumers say they are currently communicating digitally with their pharmacy, 76% say they expect to communicate digitally with their pharmacy in the future.  

With only 16% of consumers saying they would never communicate digitally with their pharmacy, health insurer, or provider, the trend is clear.  Consumers have certain expectations with regard to digital communications based on what they’ve done in other industries.  It seems like there is a lot of potential here for pharmacies and other healthcare companies (e.g., insurers, providers) and security is really not an issue for consumers even with topics such as prescription drugs and health-related issues. 

So I ask those healthcare companies out there….are you prepared for what consumers expect to be able to do digitally in the future?

Download the CMB Consumer Pulse report sharing the consumers' perspective around digital communications with their healthcare providers. Download the report.

Posted by Amy Modini. Amy is an Account Director for CMB’s Healthcare Practice and enjoys spending time at the beach and trying to keep up with her almost two year old son.

I’ve settled back into my routine at the office, and I've been reflecting on what I got from the recent Shopper Insights Conference in Chicago.  I re-connected with old colleagues, and made new connections; so that makes the conference a success in my mind.  But there were also some definite standouts I want to share:

• A Group Lunch with former P&G CEO A.G. Lafley – I was fortunate enough to be invited to a lunch with A.G. Lafley.  I was struck by his approachability, easy conversation style, and seemingly simple approach to leadership and innovation.  I asked him about timelines for innovation and after a great deal of sincere reflection said we could talk all day on the topic (he didn’t accept my offer to do so)!  We considered the difference between trends, which must be timely, and innovation, which requires experimentation, engineering, design, research, re-engineering, re-designing, etc. Ultimately, innovation isn’t trendy, it’s methodical, collaborative, and it takes time (up to six years for a new Pampers product)!  I saw one as proxy for the other, but now understand how different they are.

• Path to Purchase – There was a lot of insightful discussion of Consumer Insights vs. Shopper Insights.  Same person, different roles.  It reminded me of when a Director at a large corporation said ‘I know beer drinkers really well, but I hardly know anything about shopping for beer’.  This is a great distinction and great focus for the industry.

• Overheard – “I feel like I’m in the 50’s.”   My first reaction was “huh?” But then I considered there might be some truth there.  On one hand, I listened to keynote speakers talk about advancements in neuroscience and its relationship to decision making.  On the other hand, several presenters recommended tried and true methods of research, e.g. virtual reality doesn’t trump ethnography.  As I stood in line to buy a hard copy book and have my charge card run through a manual card imprinter, I thought back to that 50’s comment. CPG and Retail have innovated tremendously, bringing us a steady stream of exciting new products and store formats.  So why is there still lingering doubt about embracing new methods of research?  I think the answer may lie with respect, respect for an industry that is innovative if not trendy.  It’s easy to throw innovation into a mission statement or corporate report, but embedding it into a methodical, engineered, and collaborative process is very hard to achieve.  For every new product out there, and every creative new store design, there is a history of smart people working together to bring it to market.  Innovation is in the wings, together with R&D, but it is not absent.

• Holistic approach for a Win-Win – One of my favorite sessions (besides CMB’s presentation with Electronic Arts!), was presented by Bob Goodpaster from Hershey.  He showed how they are partnering with retailers to bring useable insights to their retail partners, often in the candy department, but also beyond.  Their broad scope, analytic team and collaborative approach were impressive.

Weigh in?  What did you take away?  I’d love to hear from you!

Are you planning on going to TMRE? CMB is an event sponsor and presenter at the conference. Feel free to use the code: TMRE11CMB when you register for a discounted price. We hope to see you there. Learn more about the conference here.

Posted by Kathy Ofsthun.  Kathy is an Account Director at CMB.   She is training for a late summer triathlon and likes to hike in the Green Mountains of Vermont!