A recent issue of National Geographic (www.nationalgeographic.com) related the discovery of a graveyard of 20 dodos.  Along with the dodos, scientists discovered fossils of plants, birds, and tortoises.  As I attended the AMA Marketing Research Conference (www.marketingpower.com) in early September, I was reminded of the dodos as speakers and attendees discussed the idea that market research is dead.  Hal King of King Brown Partners (www.kingbrown.com) even showed a gravestone with Market Research 1775 – 2006.  Malcolm Gladwell’s name was tossed about, as well. 

The fundamental goal of market research:  collecting information about customers’ to understand their needs and buying habits, will always exist.  With data collection and statistical analysis easier and cheaper to implement, the focus of the market research project can shift from research to strategic analysis.  King advocates continuous data collection, with projects being commissioned to analyze the data.  He also pushes for market research departments to become more involved with defining project scopes.

Scoping projects is useful.  First, market research departments have to think strategically.  Market research projects are commissioned to support the achievement of corporate strategies and goals.  If the market research department 1) doesn’t understand those strategies and goals or 2) participate in the creation of those strategies and goals, scoping projects or analyzing data won’t move market research departments further up the corporate food chain.

The goal of every market research department should be to provide market intelligence: 

Research and analysis of the market environment in which an organization operates. Market intelligence supports strategic or tactical decisions that an organization makes regarding its customers. 

Market intelligence uses corporate strategies and goals as the touchstones for market research projects:  informing and forming tactics and strategies.  The ubiquity of data means that other corporate managers can purchase/access market research data without a trained MR professional.  If a market research department cannot link its projects to corporate goals, its personnel may find themselves extinct as dodos. 

Posted by Samantha