Joel Rubinson is Chief Research Officer for the Advertising Research Foundation. His blog unfolds a progressive vision for the way that marketing research can inspire business strategy and fuel growth by placing the human at the center of marketing thinking. Key themes in the blog include:
- Creating a fast-learning, lean forward marketing organization
- How to listen to social media to hear the unexpected that leads to innovation
- How to re-establish trustworthiness of online research results
- New thinking about building strong brands in today’s marketing environment
- How to integrate shopper insights and consumer insights
- Media planning based on path to purchase
- Using storytelling to make insights and recommendations that are unforgettable and deeply influence business strategy
Why must the marketing organization now transform? Marketers need a strong connection to consumers, which comes from the marketing research and consumer insights teams.
- New marketing questions. The human is now in control in an “always on” world of long tails of media, purchase choices, and social media. Marketers must re-learn the consumer.
- New mental models are emerging. Neuro-science, anthropology and behavioral economics have painted a totally different picture of how people absorb messaging, retrieve memories, and make decisions from what was believed only 5-10 years ago.
- New data feeds, notably social media allow us to “listen” to naturally occurring conversations and behaviors … to hear the unexpected. These insights come at us like a continuous river, changing the cadence of research.