Categories
January 30, 2019
Results of the recent GRIT Report & industry news point to new era of research business models.
0
In his “Final Thoughts” section in the recently released Q3Q4 2018 GRIT Report, Gregg Archibald concluded:
“For years, people have been saying that our industry is changing. This edition of the GRIT confirms that the change is here, but incomplete. There is a clear bifurcation in what makes up marketing research. The first has to do with data and the second has to do with consulting.
From the data perspective, this is about using tools that can help us gather traditional types of data in more efficient ways, gather new types of data, more effective analysis of data, and new ways to communicate that data to deliver impact. … The expectations of technology-driven research will be table stakes for all projects and all relationships.
The other side of the bifurcation is our ability to be consultative to our clients – be they internal clients or external. … my definition is the ability to provide very actionable recommendations about what the business should do – and not just recommendations based on the results of a single study. “
In many ways, the bifurcation that Gregg talks about has been literal: in their struggle to move beyond “traditional” market research, many companies and individuals have tended to focus on the technology/data side, and some on the consulting side. As Gregg notes, changes have not been as advanced on the consulting side.
What we are starting to see though, is evidence of companies trying to bridge that bifurcation, using technology to bring advances to the data side, while at the same time, using those advances to bring new consultative capabilities to the market. In some sense, this model reconceptualizes the “full-service” model of traditional market research companies, into what we can call “full-stack” research, to borrow the term from computer science. According to Wikipedia, “a solution stack or software stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to create a complete platform such that no additional software is needed to support applications.” A “full-stack” market research company assembles all types of data and analytic capabilities (both for traditional survey as well as various kinds of digital, observational, purchase and social data) through automated processes into a complete, efficient platform, and provides consulting capability on top of that.
Two examples in the news this past week show how major companies are developing this full-stack capability:
In both of the above cases, these companies will be bringing comprehensive, integrated, technology-driven capabilities to clients – the full stack. While the news about Dynata and Kantar brings this trend into focus, we need to recognize that other companies are moving towards full-stack too. These are companies like Kantar that started out as “traditional” full-service research firms – an LRW comes to mind – but there are big Consulting companies moving into the space from a different direction, like McKinsey Periscope.
Looking at the M&A movements of companies like GfK, Nielsen, Ipsos and the recent Qualtrics/SAP deal as well as the Salesforce/SurveyMonkey partnership clearly indicate that this move towards owning as much of the data value chain as possible via technology-led platforms is the dominant trend in the industry right now. Some companies are leading with consulting, some with SaaS and others with data services as the “tip of the spear” for their positioning, but what they all have in common is a shift towards a fundamental change in how they collect, analyze and use data to drive business efficiencies and impact. That is the core of the full stack model in our sector.
The emergence of full-stack brings together several disparate strands we have been seeing in GRIT into a cohesive whole, and represents a muscular future for a re-defined industry. Market researchers on the supplier side need to be asking themselves how their companies can evolve (quickly) into this new model, or can they survive somehow providing independent parts that can plug into someone’s stack? Market research buyers need to be asking if they want to build their own stack, or if they want to use an agency-type model and “buy” into that provided by a full-stack company?
The answers to those questions will largely dictate how these movements by a few large players impact the entire market. However, make no mistake, the shift we have been watching take shape for several years is now playing out in quite dramatic fashion and we are now in the midst of a full-blown sea change that all stakeholders in the insights and analytics space must adapt to quickly.
The famous Chinese curse is “may you live in interesting times.” The future is looking more interesting than it has in quite some time. Hang on.
Disclaimer
The views, opinions, data, and methodologies expressed above are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official policies, positions, or beliefs of Greenbook.
Comments
Comments are moderated to ensure respect towards the author and to prevent spam or self-promotion. Your comment may be edited, rejected, or approved based on these criteria. By commenting, you accept these terms and take responsibility for your contributions.
More from Lenny Murphy
A piece by our editors, Lenny and Larry, on the rise of Microbrands and how their growth will change market research.
Top in Quantitative Research
Why are we still measuring brand loyalty? It isn’t something that naturally comes up with consumers, who rarely think about brand first, if at all. Ma...
Sign Up for
Updates
Get what matters, straight to your inbox.
Curated by top Insight Market experts.
67k+ subscribers