2. This is the guy that inspired me to get in. (@nielsamz)
3. He offered me a trip to the Swiss Rivièra (ESOMAR Congress). There I got in touch with one of the core values of market research: Work hard - play hard.
4. Work hard is what I do. Play hard... Well, I saw some pretty crazy things there at the congress parties.
6. Research is sexy because we tell stories. Stories are sexy. And great stories spring from human curiousity. Market researchers are probably the most curious folk on earth.
7. “ The best thing that ever happened to market research, is the question mark.”
8. “ It’s that way!” We tell stories to people with a question. We try to point them to the right direction. Sometimes we are wrong, but if we are, we have a damn good reason.
10. Being inspirational is damn hard work. Method + result + interpretation = inspiration. On all these points, we still have a sh*tload of stuff to accomplish.
12. Gamification Mobile research Infoporn Let’s make research an experience for participants. Let’s translate results into entertaining information. And let’s explore the mobility trend. Now please.
13. So we tell stories. If you’re damn lucky (like I was), you find yourself a company where they build long term stories. Theories. Philosophies. That makes it extra worthwile.
14. If you’re damn lucky (like I was), you get to help building the stories, share the stories, and become smarter in the process.
15. And if at some point you feel like you’ve had it with the sector you’re researching for... Focus on another one.
He offered me a trip to the swiss rivièra, to an ESOMAR congress, the european association for market research. There I got in touch with one of the core values of market research: work hard play hard.
To share one anecdote, at 4 in the morning I met one of my future directors at insites in the toilets, screaming to a random stranger: This is pipi paradise, this is pipi paradise”. Play hard.
Other than that, research is sexy. That guy that angels fall for? (have you seen this spot?) He’s a market researcher. And why is research sexy? Because research is about telling stories. And stories are sexy. You know where great stories originate?
From curiosity. Curiosity is the key in many professions, but especially in market research.
Everyone has questions, especially brand managers & business people are very curious. And so market research creates answers, creates knowledge. And creating knowledge is the highest form of value creation. And especially when this value creation has the following result:
We tell others where to go. Nice. We inspire people, marketers, to do great things. We inspire them with the right insight, the right practical details, etc. And while the guys from the ad agency are bullshitting about it, we have something to fall back on: analysis. When we are wrong, we are wrong with a damn good reason.
And on the other hand, this is where there is still a lot to be done. As one of my colleagues says: the researcher needs to become a DJ. Dj’ing: mixing method with results and conclusions into an inspiration.
I hope this makes clear that there is still a shitload to be done in research. Resting? Out of the question.
We are technology-enabled: learn a lot about new tech’s & concrete applications. We have to investigate it and be ready to use it, before marketers have the budget
We build new knowledge, and there is still a lot of spreading the word to be done
The chance to be versatile and do whatever you like. The chance to add to a content marketing-strategy.
Sick of the sector you’re researching? Go and do research for an other one. It’s picking your hat, it’s picking your preferred sectors or questions!
Don’t like numbers? Go quali.
Don’t like quali? Go textmining.
It’s a people business, you get in touch with a lot of people and learn to manage projects very soon. Client, boss, IT,...