Greenbook Announces the GRIT Most Innovative Suppliers by Service Area

This past October, Greenbook announced the 2023 GRIT Top 50 Most Innovative Suppliers list, and now we present the supplier “most innovative” lists for full service research, field services, qualitative research, strategic consulting, technology, and data and analytics services. Across these six categories, fifty-five different suppliers are honored, and congratulations to each of them!

These lists are the result of what insights professionals told us in the GRIT survey. Participants could name up to six companies who they felt are innovative with respect to insights, analytics, or research, and the survey did not prompt them with specific names.  For each company named, the participant was asked which of the six service areas best describes it, and they could only choose one.

For example, if two participants know Supplier A for full service research and for qualitative, one participant might have chosen “full service” as most descriptive while the other may have chosen “qualitative.” Perhaps the former engaged with the supplier for a complete project while the latter worked with one of their moderators, or maybe one of them has more intimate knowledge of the supplier than the other.

Therefore, a supplier may appear on more than one list if enough insights professionals associate them with being innovative in different service categories. Because each participant could only select one service area for each company, a company that appears on multiple lists would be more likely to be ranked higher in the GRIT 50.

If a supplier ranks highly on the GRIT 50 but tends to be mentioned on fewer lists, it could mean that they have a stronger identify around a single or few service areas. It doesn’t mean that they are not considered innovative in other types of services; it only means that the industry identifies them more strongly with a particular type of service.

However, it seems that service area diversity is characteristic of the suppliers who are considered to be the most innovative. Of the top twenty-five suppliers in the GRIT 50, only two of them do not appear on multiple service area lists: Hotspex, only appears on the full service research list (fifth), as does Reach3 Insights (eighth). It does not mean that they are not considered innovative outside of full service research, only that many insights professionals tend to see them through that lens.

Two of the suppliers who appear on multiple lists are not in the top twenty-five of the GRIT 50: Echo Market Research (thirty-second) and Yabble (twenty-ninth). Echo is among the most innovative full service research (seventeenth) and field services (tenth) suppliers, and Yabble is among the most innovative technology (fourteenth) and data and analytics providers (thirteenth). We can only speculate, but perhaps these anomalies are in a good position to move up in the GRIT 50 based on this characteristic they share with the top ranked suppliers.

SUPPLIERS AMONG THE GRIT MOST INNOVATIVE IN MULTIPLE CATEGORIES (RANK POSITION)
	GRIT 50	Full Service	Field Services	Qualitative Research	Strategic Consulting	Technology	Data & Analytics
Ipsos	1	1	7	5	8		7
Kantar*	2	2	7	4	9		4
SKIM	3	3			5		5
NIQ	4	4					2
Shapiro+Raj	5	14			1
Behaviorally	6	6			2		14
Qualtrics	6	24				1	10
Dig Insights	8	7				9	14
Recollective	8			3		2
quantilope	10	17				3
NAILBITER	12	16					1
QualSights	13			1		4
The Logit Group	14	21	1
Zappi	15					5	11
Toluna	16	10	4
Black Swan Data	17					16	3
Dynata	18	17	2				8
Voxpopme	20			2		10
TRC Insights	21	9			5
SurveyMonkey	22					7	11
PureSpectrum	23		4			23
Sago	24	21	3
1Q	25					21	6
Echo Market Research	32	17	10
Yabble	34					14	13
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

Two suppliers are mentioned on every list except technology, Ipsos and Kantar, and these two also happen to be first and second on the GRIT 50. Five suppliers are mentioned on three lists: SKIM, Behaviorally, Qualtrics, Dig Insights, and Dynata.

Each of these appear on the full service research and data and analytics lists. SKIM and Behaviorally, third and tied for sixth in the GRIT 50, are also on the strategic consulting list. Qualtrics and Dig Insights, tied for sixth and eighth in the GRIT 50, respectively, are also on the technology list. Dynata, eighteenth in the GRIT 50, is also on the field services list.

Eighteen other suppliers appear on two lists. Of these, half are on the full service research list, and four of these are also on the field services list. Among the other five, two are on the strategic consulting list, two are on the data and analytics list, and one is on the technology list.

Although full service research/field services is the most common tandem, it is by no means the only one involving full service research. It is not clear whether recognition in the second service area reflects the salience of services that are offered independently of full service research or whether one service area simply stands out more than full service research for some segments.

For the other half of those who made two lists, all of them are on the most innovative list for technology. Five of them are also on the data and analytics list, three are on the qualitative research list, and one is on the field services list. The three who also made the qualitative research list are also in the top twenty on the GRIT 50: Recollective (eighth), Qualsights (thirteenth), and Voxpopme (twentieth). The ones who are not on the qualitative research list rank from fifteenth (Zappi) to thirty-fourth (Yabble).

There seems to be some correlation between the number of lists a supplier appears on and their overall ranking. There also appear to be patterns regarding when a supplier stands out for innovation in a full service research or technology context and the other services for which they stand out. We are not going to over-analyze them, but the reader may want to reflect on these patterns and think about whether they have any implications for how service clusters evolve.

It seems clear that when the largest suppliers appear on multiple lists, it probably reflects their diversification and ability to serve different segments. Smaller suppliers, however may want to make sure that being recognized in multiple areas reflects their own strategic choices for positioning rather than an inconsistent approach to the market.

Finally, here are the most innovative supplier lists for full service research, field services, qualitative research, strategic consulting, technology, and data and analytics.

2023 GRIT Top 25 Most Innovative Full Service Research Suppliers
Rank	Supplier
1	Ipsos
2	Kantar*
3	SKIM
4	NIQ (Formerly Nielsen and GfK)*
5	Hotspex
6	Behaviorally
7	Dig Insights
8	Reach3 Insights (Formerly Reid Campbell Group)
9	TRC Insights
10	Toluna
11	Big Village
12	Research Strategy Group (RSG)
13	C+R Research
14	Shapiro+Raj
15	EyeSee
16	NAILBITER
17	Dynata
17	Echo Market Research
17	Material
17	quantilope
21	Escalent
21	Sago (Formerly Schlesinger & Associates)
21	The Logit Group
24	Qualtrics
24	System 1 Group
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

 

2023 GRIT Top 10 Most Innovative Field Services Suppliers
Rank	Supplier
1	The Logit Group
2	Dynata
3	Sago (Formerly Schlesinger & Associates)
4	PureSpectrum
4	Toluna
6	Prodege
7	Ipsos
7	Kantar*
9	Cint
10	Echo Market Research
10	NewtonX
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

 

2023 GRIT Top 5 Most Innovative Qualitative Research Suppliers
Rank	Supplier
1	QualSights
2	Voxpopme
3	Recollective
4	Kantar*
5	Ipsos
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

 

2023 GRIT Top 10 Most Innovative Strategic Consultancies
Rank	Supplier
1	Shapiro+Raj
2	Behaviorally
3	FactWorks
4	McKinsey & Co.
5	SKIM
5	TRC Insights
7	Boston Consulting Group
8	Ipsos
9	Kantar*
10	Quantum Consumer Solutions
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

 

2023 GRIT Top 25 Most Innovative Technology Suppliers
Rank	Supplier
1	Qualtrics
2	Recollective
3	quantilope
4	QualSights
5	Zappi
6	Rival Technologies (Formerly Reid Campbell Group)
7	SurveyMonkey (Formerly Momentive)
8	Highlight
9	Dig Insights
10	Forsta
10	Voxpopme
12	Nexxt Intelligence
13	Remesh
14	Canvs.ai
14	Yabble
16	Black Swan Data
17	Fuel Cycle
18	Miro
18	My-Take
18	Suzy
21	1Q
22	Figma
23	PureSpectrum
23	AYTM
24	Medallia
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023

 

2023 GRIT Top 15 Most Innovative Data & Analytics Suppliers
Rank	Supplier
1	NAILBITER
2	NIQ (Formerly Nielsen and GfK)
3	Black Swan Data
4	Kantar*
5	SKIM
6	1Q
7	Ipsos
8	Dynata
9	Circana (Formerly IRI and NPD)
10	Qualtrics
11	Zappi
11	SurveyMonkey (Formerly Momentive)
13	Yabble
14	Behaviorally
14	Dig Insights
*Includes all sub-brands, divisions, acquisitions, and branded products through July 2023