A few thoughts on the market research state of the nation from our Head of Research following his visit to the MRS conference last week.
A few reflections on the Market Research Society (MRS) conference last week: Overall, I thought it was a big step up from the previous year which, for me, had been way too panel heavy. Panels can be great but there was a much better balance between panels and examples of the great work the industry is doing this year. One could very easily have spent the whole day listening to talks about AI in its various applications. I guess that tells us something about where people's heads are as an industry. As a small agency, it is challenging to keep up with these changes when you don't have AI experts in house - but the sense I repeatedly get from speaking to clients and other agencies is that everyone feels they're behind on this and actually that's not the case. I opted to take an opposite track and avoid all AI talks altogether, I heard about new ways of modelling tracking data, the semiotics of charity communications, an ethnographic study into the threat of toxic masculinity, mapping cultural spaces and where individuals fit into them as an alternative mode of segmentation and how people make decisions about what to watch (which led to the realisation that neither me or my partner is a "shepherd" and that's why we never decide what to watch.) Every one of these used a different methodology, all had interesting results, none had a major role for AI (although there was some machine learning involved I believe.) There's no doubt the machines are massing on the borders of market research, but there remains a lot of stuff that humans are much better at. I suspect that will always be the case, just not for everything. And, finally, it was great to learn in the closing keynote that, by the law of averages, I have reached peak unhappiness and it's all going to improve from here.