RPA recently attended and exhibited at CASRO’s 37th Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (October 8 – 11, 2012). As members of CASRO, we attend this event every year.
First off, as usual for this conference, it was fantastic seeing a variety of C-suite executives and company heads from within the Market Research Industry – from companies such as Toluna, SSI, Paradigm Sample, Harris Interactive, Vision Critical (and many, many more).
Then, there was the gorgeous setting of the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale. What’s not to love about the Four Seasons –
frankly anywhere – let alone in such a beautiful setting, high in the Sonoran
Desert?
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Four Seasons Resort,
Scottsdale, at Troon North
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Equally stimulating were the sessions. Below, we’ve summarized just three that stood
out to us.
A 20-year veteran of the Market Research industry, Shelley carries a
big stick with any MR crowd – including the one at CASRO. When she strongly admonished the audience for
thinking that they understood social media (but really didn’t), you could hear
a pin drop. While Shelley’s a compelling
speaker, it’s her passion for social media – and its implications for the
industry – that’s truly riveting.
Of particular note, Shelley referenced Andrew Robertson from BBDO who compared learning social media with learning a new language – essentially,
that there are 3 phases:
- I can understand you but I can’t talk (you can’t speak the language – for example: Spanish);
- I can understand you and I can talk (ex: you can now speak Spanish); and
- Oh my gosh! I just had a dream in {Spanish}! The trick, he believes, is to get everyone to dream in digital.
In Shelley’s mind, we’re still in phase 1 and need to get out –
fast!
No doubt, Eric’s credentials (and credibility) is impressive –
currently Vice-Dean and Director, Wharton Doctoral Programs, The K.P. Chao
Professor, Professor of Marketing, Statistics and Education and Co-Director of
the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative at The Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania. Whew – I’ve got to take a break after all
that typing.
Sorry, I’m back. Eric talked about “The Golden Age of Market Research is Now –
And I’ve Only Said That to Myself 5 Times Over My Career”. He covered the evolution of the MR Industry
from the 1950s onward focusing on how each era seemed to be the Golden Age but wasn’t (including today). In order to get to that truly Golden Age, he
feels MR needs to do three key things:
- Better incorporate the use of new technologies and tools (including web scraping, user generated content, sentiment analysis) with traditional approaches;
- Better converge data from multiple sources (big data and traditional data) – in real time – with more automation; and
- Balance the need to leverage technologies for research with the need to protect privacy (to do that, Eric is focusing on data aggregation).
Together, they presented a case
study on a new method for copy testing using a tool to read emotional
expressions from faces.
Based on the
fact that only a tiny bit of human’s brains are actually conscious, Mihkel from
Realeyes introduced a new tool for research which captures and analyzes facial
expressions in real-time. Their case
study showed how ads from the London Olympics were tested by equating different
facial expressions with various emotions such as “happy,” “angry,” and “surprised.” This appears to be an innovational methodology
that just may help the industry to consider neuroscience-related methods easier
to understand and more within reach from a cost perspective.
So, once again, a great,
thought-provoking conference – and one which we look forward to attending next
year without doubt.
