The GreenBook Research Industry Trends Report For Fall 2011 Is Now Available!

It’s that time again folks! Continuing our strategy of the GreenBook Research Industry Trends (GRIT) study being a bi-annual tracking initiative with different focus areas in each wave, I am very proud to present to you the 2011 Fall Report. This is the 10^th Edition of GRIT and the study has become one of the most important sources of information on trends within the global market research industry.

You can download the report in .pdf format or view it as an interactive magazine by clicking here.

Compared to prior waves of the GRIT study, the Summer 2011 wave is relatively compact. In addition to key issues that have been trended since the initial 2003 study, new questions on research technology, anticipated staffing characteristics and skill sets, and anticipated changes to marketing research methodologies and business models were asked. Specific probes on influential and/or authoritative industry organizations were also included. We investigated spending levels, the overall levels of optimism vs. trepidation, and how the industry perceives and is reacting to change.  Even the moniker “marketing research” itself was a subject of this most recent wave, along with the standard complement of annual GRIT tracking questions.

There has been a lot of debate about whether new technology adoption within market research, especially mobile and social media, is over hyped. Well, I think the latest data from GRIT tells us that although some techniques may be over-hyped when compared to current or planned adoption, that is unarguably NOT the case with mobile, MROCs, social media research, and text analytics.

Another area of exploration in this wave was the level of influence of trade organizations vs. new media platforms. The results of this inquiry are very revealing and indicate that during this time of transition for the industry no clear organizational leader has emerged to help shepherd the industry through the paradigm shift we are clearly in the middle of.

I hope that you’ll join me in heartfelt appreciation for the contributions of our sponsors for this wave: The American Marketing Association, Surveys & Forecasts, Market Research Global Alliance, Decooda, Brand3Sixty, Decipher, OdinText, Next Gen Market Research, iPinion, Netbase, and Anderson Analytics. Their hard work makes GRIT possible.

Again, you can review the report here.

I think you’ll find the report informative, provocative, and useful. Enjoy!