New Members Like Nike, Amazon, Sony, Pepsi, Nordstrom, Mindshare and Others Have Joined Industry-Wide Group – Insights on Demand Consortium

ITWP, parent holding-company of Toluna and Harris Interactive Europe, announced significant growth and momentum of the Insights on Demand Consortium it established in January 2018 to reshape the market research industry. Since the consortium’s founding, consumer insights and marketing professionals representing some of the world’s most recognized consumer brands across diverse industries and geographies have joined.

The consortium’s core mission to evolve, refine, and promote new ways of understanding consumers has sparked widespread interest, as market research sits at a critical crossroads. Since its founding, the consortium has grown rapidly to include brands and agencies: Abbott, Amazon, Audible, Clorox, Estee Lauder, GlaxoSmithKline, Heineken, L’Oreal, Masteclass, Mindshare, Mintel, McMillan, Morgan Stanley, Nature’s Way, Nestle, Nike, Nordstrom, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Purina, Royal Bank of Scotland, Schroders, Simmons, Sky, Sony, Tetra Pak, W2O Group, and more.

“As market researchers in today’s fast-moving digital economy, we face a lot of challenges – from measuring the ROI of research to generating actionable insights with data. The concept of Insights on Demand and collaborating with like-minded professionals to navigate the consumer insights landscape together was very compelling. Our hope is to unearth best practices that help move us forward individually and as an entire industry,” said Terence Jacinto, Market Research Manager – Sony Electronics North America – Marketing Strategy & Innovation

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The consortium held its first official meeting on March 1 to establish objectives and share opinions, experiences, and challenges with fellow members. ITWP Group CEO Frederic-Charles Petit presented the vision for the consortium to more than 30 attending members. Mark Uttley, Group Strategy Director at AKQA then presented four core discussion topics that the group will focus on including:

• Agility & Speed: Companies today are increasingly moving towards a fast, iterative test and learn approach. Traditional marketer research is often too slow for today’s market reality. The industry needs to become more agile, iterative and nimble when it comes to consumer insights.
• Big Data & Data Science: There are questions about whether big data and data science will make market research obsolete, or empower a vibrant new era for the industry. There are many important things that the market research industry can learn from the world of big data and what the researcher of the future looks like.
• Market Research vs. Customer Experience: Understanding the holistic customer experience is more important than ever. The market research industry needs to adapt to gathering customer journey data touches many roles and functions in a company, not just research.
• Automation: Research tools are becoming increasingly automated. There are many opportunities for the market research industry to adapt to a world where clients increasingly want automated, on-demand data and insights services, as well as concerns about what the industry will lose with increased automation.

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The group further explored and discussed these topics in depth at the official consortium launch dinner on March 28 in London.

“Every industry eventually faces the disruptive force of innovation, so it’s no surprise – especially in an age of intense technology advancement – that market research is being forced into a rapid rate of change,” said Uttley, adding, “Agility, big data, customer experience, and automation are all major factors driving this change in market research, and it’s exciting to be part of a group that’s committed to exploring ways that we can all adapt to these new market realities.”

Commenting on the consortium’s great momentum, Petit said, “The interest and participation in the consortium have been positively overwhelming so far. Our first meeting was a great success with lots of positive energy and camaraderie amongst members. I see a lot of runway ahead as we work to tackle issues that will help shape the future of consumer insights and market research in a way that benefits the members of this group and the industry at large.”

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