[GRIT COMMENTARY] Where’s Waldo and The Uncertain Adoption of Market Research Innovations

Upon being asked to comment on the challenges of client-side insight professionals, a quote from one of my recent clients immediately sprang to mind.  He, who will remain anonymous, said about his organization, “We would rather fail conventionally than take a risk on something unconventional.”  This articulates what I believe Aaron Reid would call the Prevention Focus; the emotional emphasis on security and safety, where sometimes they don’t play to win, they play to not lose. Which at first glance may suggest that the client-side is slow to embrace new methods. 

However, we clearly see from this latest edition of the GRIT survey that there is indeed fertile ground for innovation in market research (MR). 70% of client-side professionals see their revenue increasing next year, and over 80% predict their MR budgets will at least hold flat or increase.  While we must acknowledge that humans are prone to overestimating in this situation, we should take some comfort that we have at least a stable market for MR investment.  Importantly, we should also recognize the “soil” in which these advances will grow is a complex ecosystem of innovators and integrators that are necessary to shepherd innovations through the adoption curve.  If we look to the mathematics behind probabilities within complex systems ( P=2^(N(N-1)/2) )** identifying which innovation will go mainstream in such a complex system is exceedingly difficult.  It is a little bit like playing Where’s Waldo; we get overwhelmed by the sheer number of service providers and thousands of potential buyers, all working more than there are daylight hours, and a plethora of “prevention” triggers to navigate.

We may take for granted the hard work, investment, and IPO that drove the awareness and fan base of BrainJuicer, one of the industry’s innovation darlings.  It strikes me as remarkable that only a quarter of corporate researchers report Predictive Markets (one of BrainJuicer’s bread and butter methods) as being in use, while 50% are either unsure or considering.  The innovators among us may be asking “What is taking so long?” when it feels to the iiex community that we have been talking about MR innovations for many years.

The GRIT data suggest to me that there is a reasonable level of satisfaction with the status quo, and that getting more value out of existing data and making it actionable is seen as more critical to client-side professionals than trialing new methods.  MR providers need to keep in mind that no client owes the industry a trial of new methods for the sake of being innovative.  Service providers need to do their part to validate and prove their methods to warrant the effort for the client, knowing that a client-side researcher must invest time, money and reputation equity to try something new; let alone that the innovation must deliver truly better value.

Within each organization, be it client-side or the service provider side, there are a precious few who have the curiosity and courage to develop or introduce new methods and innovations to their organizations. In the ecosystem of this industry, there are two types of organizations; the innovators and the integrators. Both need each other. Not every provider organization has the knowledge or will to reinvent how insights are found; and only a few have the nerves for this type of work. These organizations tend to focus all of their efforts on developing the method or the technology but lack the distribution channels to make the method mainstream.  Enter the integrators; organizations with existing client relationships that have been built on a history of trust and service excellence.  Those that are open to integrating new methods with old methods are in a unique position to bring new value to their client organizations in a safe and reliable way. I suggest that the integrator is the golden nugget in this ecosystem where trust is the precious currency – and boutiques with a high degree of hands on client service are amongst the best, most nimble, and have the required skills for offsetting the prevention focus that inhibits innovation adoption.

The practical challenge for the corporate researcher is deciding when and with whom to innovate. Where's Waldo? He is where the right business issue meets with the right internal stakeholder, going to the right partner with the right method that fits the right budget.