CASRO Marks 35th Annual Conference with Record Attendance

CASRO celebrated its 35th Annual Conference with record attendance, engaging presentations from expert speakers and a variety of entertaining networking events.

Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes, got things rolling with a compelling talk about current U.S. and global economic conditions and why this is fertile ground for innovation. Comparing current fiscal circumstances to those in the mid 1970s, Karlgaard outlined the many prevailing "headwinds" and "tailwinds" swirling around businesses. He predicts choppy waters and 0-3% domestic growth for the next three years - an environment ripe for innovative companies to excel. Among his key areas of innovation are design - "in an increasingly complex world, good design makes things more coherent for us" - scale, supply chain, rapidity - "speed is margin" - and overall purpose.

Walker Smith, Executive Vice Chairman of The Futures Company, also pointed to "pockets of dynamism" in the current economy. "Our mistake is projecting the consumers' new-found frugality into the future - if we do, we miss opportunities to engage the consumer," he said. "Frugality is a coping mechanism, not an ambition."

(From Left) Richard Day, President, Richard Day Research, Inc.; Paul Donato, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer, The Nielsen Company; Lynnette Cooke, CEO, Kantar Health; and Larry Himmel, Feature Reporter, CBS8 KMFB-TV, San Diego (moderator).

Viewpoints incorporating the founding principles of research, its current dynamics and future challenges and promise were provided by Richard Day, President of Richard Day Research, Lynnette Cooke, CEO of Kantar Health, and Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer of The Nielsen Company (respectively) in a thought-provoking panel discussion. In summation, Kevin Menk, Managing Partner of Strategic Resources Partners, surmised that no single method or approach is right or wrong since the proper technique and rigor is determined by the desired end result. "The passion and attention on the solution of clients' needs must match the fervor we see in the dialogue regarding the various methods of research," he said.

Other sessions delved into emerging methods of synthesizing data across organizations, including social CRM. Deepak Advani, Vice President of Predictive Analytics at IBM Software Group, outlined how the iconic conglomerate has incorporated the operation of SPSS during the year since purchasing the company and what IBM sees for the future of enterprise predictive analytics solutions. Deborah Schultz of Altimeter Group explored the sociology behind social media and what it means for companies.

Attendees enjoyed a getaway from the session room as they donned 3-D glasses to view an out-of-this-world presentation from Scott Lever, Mission Manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project. Many of the challenges faced in space - planning for the unknown, the need for creative thinking and innovative problem solving - resonated with the audience.

Tom Webster, Vice President at Edison Research, provided a comprehensive, objective overview of the various web listening/scraping tools available. It was a perfect lead into a presentation by Converseon CEO/Founder Rob Key, which detailed methods to mine and analyze online conversations, engage consumers and manage brands. Dan McSwain of the FCC recalled his work in social media for the Obama campaign and how it will inform his new job - transforming the FCC's web experience.

Details from a study by Vovici's Jeffrey Henning on what consumers think about market researchers using their online conversations set the stage for a lively Town Hall discussion on social media issues moderated by Jeffrey Resnick, Global Managing Director, ORC, an Infogroup Company.

Discussing forecasting, renowned futurist and Stanford University Professor Paul Saffo explained that it is not about being right, but about knowing the degree of uncertainty present in any projection and being comfortable with that uncertainty. "The future always arrives later than we expect," Saffo noted, adding that innovation breakthroughs occur on the periphery of projections, which he called "the ragged edges of probability". Look for these "wildcards" he implored the audience.

Bringing the conversation back to what is always central in business - the client - we heard new data from Cambiar's Simon Chadwick. Facing drastically fewer resources, clients have been forced to redefine what research is, Chadwick explained. Among the trends: Many clients are starting to offshore major tracking studies and many offshoring companies are also supplying extension teams that provide additional services. He also cited the prevalence and potency of DIY tools. "The fact that SurveyMonkey is adding a panel should scare the daylights out of you," he declared.

Will Neafsey, Manager of Market Research at Ford Motor Company, spoke first-hand about trying to make things work with lower budget and staff. He detailed how his department helped focus the troubled automaker on a more attractive product lineup. Targeting became an option for Ford when market share dropped. It was a defining moment, he said. "When you begin to target segments of the market it means you are sacrificing some customers and that makes marketers and dealers uncomfortable. We needed market research to do it right."

Conference Co-Chairs Roseanne Luth and Dennis Gonier

Also crediting market research with a dramatic turnaround in business was Satjiv Chahil, Senior VP Global Marketing of HP. He detailed how HP built its current majority share of the computer laptop market by targeting youth and women through many inventive advertising social media campaigns.

Special thanks for a valuable and memorable conference to all attendees, our exhibitors and sponsors, and conference co-chairs Dennis E. Gonier, CEO of TARP Worldwide, Inc. and Roseanne Luth, CEO of Luth Research.

Prizes were awarded at dinner, golf, and a 1970s trivia contest.