Abstract:

For quite some time now, marketing researchers found themselves at a distance from the TRUE decision making level of marketing contexts. Now, as the marketing environment becomes increasingly complex, it is evident that the role of the marketing research agency must adapt in order to establish and maintain a strong presence. This paper treats the subject of the changing role of research agencies by providing an example of an extreme situation where marketing research agencies were not only isolated, but were actually excluded from the decision making level of the marketing context: The Fashion Market. By discussing this extreme case, we seek to demonstrate that marketing researchers should not hesitate to change an established structure or method if this will enable them to adapt to a market and aid the decision makers in developing marketing strategy. The focus of the paper is the discussion of the creation and implementation of an Annual Trend Survey in the fashion market, as well as the insight, into the attitudes of women in the area that this survey provided in the years 1993 to 1995.