Abstract:

Today the kinds of projects undertaken by research managers are no longer confined to traditional types of research. There are projects bringing together cross-functional teams and consumers to brainstorm ideas or to solve problems; there are specialist modelling requirements, scenario planning projects, commercial objectives which may offer more highly targeted consumer benefits than conventional ATL or BTL support. There is a need to decode the involuntary messages in our corporate communications as well as the voluntary, and to target our consumers in ever more accurate ways. To some, no doubt, this catalogue may seem odd, or even anxious. But to those of you in marketing roles, or who occupy similar positions to my own, it will no doubt be an increasingly familiar range of activities aimed at meeting a variety of new business challenges. New "specialist" suppliers are emerging around the edges of the market research industry who have different skills, and therefore offer a parallax view. In some cases, these specialists may not even see themselves as market researchers. They may be from the academic world, or experts in a particular area of technology. They may be management consultants who turn team building skills to problem solving. The key point, however, is that the cosy partnership between marketing and market research appears to be fragmenting. There is a recognition that research techniques developed for different marketing climates may not always be appropriate for situations we are facing today. The challenge is not just that of speed or scale. The challenge is to achieve quantum leaps and to find breakthrough solutions.