Kantar's Profiles Blog

The role of marketers in today’s global, complex organizations is changing. Adapting to technology platforms, expanding client needs and diversified user preferences can pull marketers to alter, modify and adjust directions with regular occurrence. From relationship marketing to automation, marketers need to look beyond the usual brand channels to reach their audiences effectively.

Today, 22% of the world’s total population uses Facebook and LinkedIn boasts more than 450 million user profiles, but moreover, almost 80% of time spent on social media platforms happens on mobile. Marketers need to be able and willing to track the changing behaviours and demographics to optimise opportunities with their audiences. As we start a new year, I, as a marketer working in market research, took a look at some of the marketing trends that will likely influence the requirements of our industry over the next 12 months.

It’s been said for years that now is the time for mobile research, but we never seem to make the progress we want or need to make. But, now is really the time for mobile in market research. Why? Because we need to communicate with consumers/panelists in the way that they communicate, and the best way to accomplish this is by going mobile.

2016 marked an amazing year; I had the pleasure of meeting, re-connecting and working across many different countries and cultures. My experience revealed that having local market knowledge facilitates greater business-wide alignment on key goals. From Singapore to India; Australia to Hong Kong, each location showcased a distinctive, colourful culture. However, even through all this uniqueness, I encountered a common need: a deeper understanding of consumers. One can see why local brands are so successful in many cases, while global brands are constantly challenged in gaining significant market share.

I recently had the opportunity to lecture at a class of students in the Masters of Market Research program at the University of Texas Arlington. Despite working for years in an industry where I live and breathe sampling every day, I looked back at my old textbook to see what it said about sampling. I noticed a scribbled note I had taken years ago: “No one thinks about sampling, until it goes wrong!!”

Video is gaining as a way to communicate and consume media and now, we will see increased usage of video in research. The qualitative and quantitative worlds are coming much closer together, within five years the differentiation will no longer be meaningful. New tools to manage video content will enable video processing much like other data types; open ended questions will gain importance as a way to glean insights from respondents. 

Technology is now part of our everyday lives- in how we communicate with friends, family, colleagues, how we function in all facets. But how can we leverage technology to gain deeper insights and benefit users of market research?

One thing mobile has taught us beyond a doubt: consumers are in control. The information they need to make decisions is now at their fingertips. They are more loyal to their own needs than to any particular brand. And consumers want to move onto the ‘next thing’ seconds after engaging. Never has it been more difficult for marketers to target consumers. Mobile created and enables this behavior, but only one in five surveys is 100% mobile compatible today. To truly ‘meet them in the moment’ their survey “experience has to be fast and frictionless.”

What seems to be a perpetual U.S. election campaign trail will come to an end on Tuesday, and America will have a new president. In the far reaches of the southern hemisphere hovers Australia, poised to receive news from the outside world as a reminder that we are part of it. What is our perception of the U.S. election? Does our interest in it exceed our belief that it will actually have an impact on us? In a year of controversial political changes (Brexit, anyone?), are Australians anxiously anticipating another shock result? A recent poll run by Lightspeed aims to find out.

In Debunking Weighting Misperceptions, our first post in the weighting data mini-series, we reviewed the benefits of weighting and debunked misconceptions. Now, we review how to appropriately weight and evaluate the weighting scheme.

With the presidential election in the United States in full swing there has been a lot of talk about the validity of political polls. This includes discussion on how to appropriately weight data. In this mini-series, we unlock the truths behind these weighting myths and misconceptions.