How can market researchers avoid being “hopelessly local” and “mindlessly global”?  Eileen Campbell, CEO of Millward Brown, provided some guidance in her keynote presentation at CASRO’s International Research Conference, May 5-6 at the Westin Times Square in New York.

With humorous recounts of personal experiences accompanied by video clips and music, Campbell provided insights on how research corporations build and maintain integrated international programs. Strong commitment, she noted, must come from all employees. “Your staff will be making calls at all hours of the day and night, they’ll be struggling to decipher e-mails. You need to be there to back your staff,” Campbell said. “Your staff needs to do their homework. They must show respect and interest in the countries they work in. They need to do their own research, including reading the local papers.”
Engaging companies in foreign lands is a risk not to be taken lightly, Campbell cautioned. “Before you contract with an outside agency you owe it to yourself and your clients to get on a plane and meet them in person,” she advised. And before considering significant partnerships with outside vendors, “date before you get married,” she said, by engaging in licensing agreements or joint ventures before locking into any long-term deals.

Other conference highlights included a panel of international market research industry association leaders moderated by CASRO President Diane Bowers. Despite a surging economy, such issues as literacy rates, low usage of landline phones and the Internet require thoughtful preparation in study design in Brazil, according to Waldyr Pilli, President of ABEP (Brazil).
Being among the most culturally diverse nations in the world, coupled with a bilingual history, makes Canada uniquely prepared to handle global research projects, noted Don Ambrose of MRIA (Canada).

Erich Wiegand of the Association of German Market and Social Research Institutes noted that German regulations treat market researchers in much the same way as direct marketers, a challenging environment indeed. AMAI has made significant strides in recent years to transform the Mexican market research industry into a growing and more sophisticated business sector, according to Alejandro Garnica Andrade, Director General.

ESOMAR Director General Véronique Jeannin provided many interesting statistics on the market research industry worldwide.

There is vast opportunity for the market research industry, but executives need to wake up to the fast-moving currents that threaten to capsize its core business, warned Yoram (Jerry) Wind, The Lauder Professor, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

Real consumer behavior data is available that’s much better than what MR surveys can capture, Dr. Wind noted. He said most business leaders are too focused on selling their company’s products or services and are not noticing the market shifts that threaten them – “the gorilla that will come in the room and eat your lunch.”

Instead of being focused on pushing your company’s specific technology or service, leaders should instead work with clients at the executive level to provide solutions, according to Dr. Wind. He also noted that MR companies should not be benchmarking against their peers, but comparing their companies to global leaders like Google. In terms of innovation, companies need to look beyond their R&D department. People further away from an industry have a better chance of solving problems and providing innovations for that business sector, Wind noted. The trend toward “open innovation”, in which networks of experts are tapped for ideas, is one to note, he said. To underscore the point, he observed that 30% of Procter & Gamble’s new products are developed outside their company and P&G expects that rate to rise to 50% by 2010.

Some of the issues Dr. Wind brought up surfaced again in a lively panel moderated by Mike Cooke, Global Director: Online COE, GfK NOP, which featured Jim Follett, CEO, Survey Sampling International, L.L.C., Rahul Sahgal, President & CEO, Annik Technology Services and Andrew Vincent, CEO, Waves Research & Consulting.

There are tremendous opportunities in ethnography and other visual modalities in developing nations, Cooke stated, noting that with just 14% penetration, Asia accounts for 40% of worldwide internet usage. He noted the importance of creativity and flexibility in successfully completing complex global projects, often done more affordably and effectively via the creation of such platforms as online communities as opposed to more conventional methods.

Other sessions featured Duane Berlin, Principal, Lev & Berlin, P.C., CASRO General Counsel and Daniel Cooper, Partner, Covington & Burling, LLP, who both provided important information on the legal and regulatory issues that market researchers may encounter when conducting global projects in “Inside the Lines: Staying Legal Across Any Border”.

Reginald Baker, COO, Marketing Strategies International, discussed the benefits, challenges and drawbacks of pursuing ISO 20252 certification. Erich Wiegand (ADM) provided a status report on ISO adoption internationally. Companies in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Spain have been the most active, while the U.S. and Germany are among the countries lagging behind, he said.

Jacqueline Brown, Client Services Director, Hansa|GCR provided tips and techniques to use when reporting to clients on projects involving various data collection methodologies in multi-country studies.
Powerful photos and engaging tales from extraordinary journeys into combat zones in Iraq and elsewhere from Gallup’s Neli Esipova and Richard Burkholder made for a most captivating closing session: “Research in the Combat Zone: Balancing the Need to Know with Caution”.

Thanks to Roseanne Luth, CEO, Luth Research, who served as Conference Chair. We also appreciate the support of our exhibitors and sponsors, including Survey Sampling International, L.L.C., which sponsored Tuesday’s lunch.

 

Eileen Campbell, CEO of Millward Brown		Jerry Wind, Wharton School of Business		Reginald Baker, COO, Marketing Strategies International (left) and Erich Wiegand (ADM).