Beyond Insights: Shaping Business Decisions and Strategy with Vijay Raj

What does it take for an insights function to move from generating great research to shaping enterprise strategy? That's the central question explored in this episode of MRII's Insights and Innovators podcast, hosted by Stan Sthanunathan.

Vijay Raj, who recently retired as EVP of Consumer and Market Insights (CMI) at Unilever after a remarkable 25-year career with the company, shares frameworks, career wisdom, and a candid view of where the industry is headed. Having worked across India, Indonesia, Singapore, and London, and having also spent time on the agency side, Vijay brings a rare 360-degree perspective on the insights discipline. Below are five of the most compelling questions from the episode, along with Vijay's responses in his own words edited for brevity and clarity.

What do insights functions need to do to get the status they deserve?

"I almost think of a pyramid of insights. At the base level of the pyramid, you have really wow insights. You then move from insights to action... And then at the top of that pyramid, you've got insights leading to transformative actions.

As insights functions, we tend to be very good at keeping secrets and not letting our insights really be visible. And therefore, I think one of the things that we have to do better is not just do market research, but actually we need to be marketing the research.

When you move from insights to actions, to insights for transformations, that's really where we need to move from having a seat at the table to actually hosting the table. And hosting the party has got the other benefit of really allowing you to be the person who facilitates cross pollination of ideas."

What leadership and influencing skills are required to drive insights to action?

"What really sets apart a wow insight from a great insight is really commercial acumen. A good insight needs to be both operationally feasible and commercially viable. There's no point in having an insight that leads to an idea for which there is no technology today to make it come alive.

When we move to insight to action, I think one of the things that we need to do is to be a solution provider and not just a problem identifier. Can we come up with a couple of thought starters for what modifications to the pack design might actually start to appeal to consumers and shoppers?

When we go to the top level of insights that lead to transformational actions, I think the most critical thing is around having empathy with the stakeholders. Just the ability to look at things through the lens of the stakeholder, because the stakeholder will have different pools and pressures."

What advice would you give to insights professionals at different stages of their career?

"The first thing I would say is to embrace contradictions. Not just embrace contradictions, but dig deeper to resolve those contradictions. A genius insight professional really should have the ability to hold contrarian thought and resolve them.

The second thing is to look at alternative sources of insights. Pop culture, particularly movies, I do believe is a mirror to society and a window into the future... Similarly, people struggle to articulate what they need, but if you just look at their Google search history, it gives a very good indication of exactly what they really need.

The third is to look at the fringes to see what the future could look like. Break dancing was at the fringes three decades ago — now it is an Olympic sport.

The fourth is don't worry about winning the short-term popularity contest. Instead, aim to win the long-term respect contest. Good news travels on a horseback, but bad news needs an insights person to transport it.

And the fifth — display empathy with stakeholders and not sympathy for. Very simple things like the language that we use: 'we lost share' as opposed to 'you lost share.' It just helps to create a sense of bonding with the person and therefore to influence much better.

Looking back, what advice would you give your younger self?

"The first thing I would say is have the curiosity to go behind the obvious. This is all about just unpeeling the onion to get to the true insight. You probably remember the whole thing about the Microsoft report that stated humans have an attention span of eight seconds — less than that of a goldfish. The fact is that there is no scientific basis for that statement. And yet it has become a part of marketing folklore.

Second thing I would say is be aware of your biases. Your viewpoint determines your point of view. We are here to represent the views of people across the spectrum, and my role as an insights person is to ensure that I do not allow my biases to come in the way of how I represent the views of the citizens of the world.

The last thing that I would say is strive for small constant improvements versus striving for huge change in capabilities. If you just improve by 5% every month, at the end of the year you'll be 80% better. If you improve by 10% every month, at the end of the year you'll be three times better.

Will AI replace insights professionals — and how should the function evolve?

"I firstly define AI as being augmented intelligence, which is human intelligence augmented by artificial intelligence. AI will not take away our jobs. If we do not work with AI, then somebody else working with AI will take away our jobs.

There are three dimensions along which [insights] evolution will happen. The first is a bifurcation that will result in silos breaking down and roles merging... The second is we will see the democratization of insights. The role of the insights function will evolve from being a gatekeeper of insights to being a gateway of insightfulness. The third is we will need to move away from understanding what was and what is to actually start to predicting what will be — adding foresight to insights.

I do believe that insights will remain very central to any organization, but the role of insights will continue to evolve and will become far more exciting 20 years down the line than it was when I started my career."

Final Thoughts

Vijay Raj's conversation with Stan Sthanunathan is a masterclass in how the insights function can evolve from a research service into a strategic business driver. Whether you're an agency professional, a brand-side researcher, or a CMO trying to build a more insight-led organization, Vijay's frameworks are immediately actionable.

His vision of insights professionals moving from "gatekeepers of insights" to "gateways of insightfulness" is one of the most compelling reframes of the function's future we've heard — and a fitting capstone to a remarkable career.

Listen to the full episode on the MRII Insights and Innovators podcast.