"Transforming Research. Are you Listening?"

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ARF research chief Joel Rubinson look at how consumers’ digital conversations reveal brands’ mojo.

The ARF kicked off a groundbreaking discussion on how advertising professionals can absorb what consumers are saying about brands online at its Advertising Week workshop on Sept. 22.

We asked Joel Rubinson, the ARF’s chief research officer, for his takeaways – and for a look ahead to the Industry Leader Forum the ARF is holding to continue the discussion. “Transforming Research. Are You Listening?” takes place at the New York Athletic Club on Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 29. The event will offer insight into how consumers’ digital discussions are augmenting existing approaches to research, help participants tap into the flow of consumer conversations and behavior, and provide tools and strategies to bring back to their companies.

The Sept. 22 event, “People Are Talking. Are You Listening?” featured a free ranging discussion by an All Star panel of industry leaders: Artie Bulgrin, senior vice president of research and sales development for ESPN; Jeff Flemings, senior vice president, renaissance planning for VivaKi; Belle Frank, executive vice president and director of strategy & applied research at Y&R; Donna Goldfarb, vice president of consumer and market insights, Unilever Americas and Stephen Kim, senior director, global branded experiences and entertainment team, Microsoft Advertising. TNS and BMW North America also presented case studies that illustrated the importance of listening to what consumer-generated conversations in digital media, such as blogs and social networks. Jonathan Carson, president, international for Nielsen Online, moderated.

ARF: What was your take on the Advertising Week workshop?

Joel: It was verification that we’re on this journey and there’s no turning back. The most dramatic part of the event was that the five researchers all seemed to agree that we needed a new language, we needed a new agenda, and we needed to sharpen our thinking about listening vs. measuring. It was great because it was researchers using new terminology, embracing new thoughts, and resonating with each other. This was agenda-setting. It was confirmation that we need to move forward on this path.

ARF: What type of feedback did you get from participants afterward? Did they view listening in a new way?

Joel: People who came to event either felt validated if they believed the topic was important before they attended – or said they converted to a more transformational posture based on what they heard. We were very gratified because we felt a little lonely in driving the industry discussion on listening. Innovators often feel lonely at the beginning. We need to have the courage to push forward. It’s closer to the start of the process than the end of the journey, but we created a momentum that was in every way what we intended. If we can start building a groundswell of interest in this and really turn research into a force for change, then we’ve given a phenomenal gift back to the industry – which is what the ARF mission is all about.

ARF: Does the industry have the technology it needs to listen effectively?

Joel: There are a lot of organizations that offer listening methodologies and there is technology available for text mining and scraping the blogosphere.

We’re in the early stages of an innovation-adoption process. What the ARF can do is help to scrutinize methods for solid evidence that they work; while we’re optimistic we must also remain unbiased and open-minded regarding whether or not listening approaches provide insights you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

ARF: Realistically, how much will it cost companies to listen more effectively to what consumers are saying about brands online?

Joel: It depends on the alternatives. Someone at the event talked about using search in a creative way as a form of concept testing. The numbers the panelists threw out were much less expensive than traditional concept testing. When you consider the costs of the listening approaches compared to the cost of other means of gaining insights such as focus groups, I don’t think that listening , behavioral analytics or analysis of search are more expensive in any dramatic way. They have their own cost structure and people will find their own way of integrating them into their research strategies and budgets.

ARF: The case studies by TNS and BMW North America provided an idea of how big companies can listen more effectively. What was your take?

Joel: From TNS’s presentation, you got a new view of what a brand’s mojo is about, by mining social media that you would not have gotten from traditional brand equity research. Yet traditional brand- equity research formed the foundation. You wouldn’t have gotten those insights without looking at the social media information. They demonstrated incrementality.

The BMW case study showed how a brand can be welcomed into online communities. If, like BMW, you can’t see moving away from this, it shows how important an accomplishment it is.

ARF: How will the Industry Leader Forum on Oct. 29 follow up on the conversation?

Joel: It’s going to continue the progression, with a distinguished panel of industry leaders getting more specific about their tools for listening at the one-day conference. The marketing leaders represented are Procter & Gamble, Unilever, General Mills, and Sony, among others. They’re all going to be presenting their successes with listening. The co-chairs are from Nielsen and Millward Brown, who are research leaders. And we’re also going to hear perspectives on the need to change from Avenue A/Razorfish, Google, Millward Brown and TracyLocke, among others. After that we’ll have a breakout session and networking with speakers and each other so people will be able to work with the ideas from the morning and put them into use.

The amazing lineup of speakers is a testimony to the importance of the subject. These speakers would not be devoting their time if they weren’t passionate about the need for the industry to move forward down this transformational path.

ARF: What steps does the research industry need to take to complete the journey?

Joel: It needs to reexamine its vision in how it can drive change in the larger organizations. It needs to reexamine itself as a profession. What are the new capabilities and skill sets we need as an industry?

The industry also needs to benchmark itself in terms of its relevance and impact on decision making. It needs to relentlessly search for, cultivate and encourage new tools for new marketing questions, rather than be wedded to older tools. And it needs to do a better job of making research come alive. We think the key word here is storytelling.

Learn more about Industry Leader Forum and register here »

Read our coverage of “People Are Talking. Are You Listening?”
The Art of Listening, for the Digital Age
Can You Hear Me Now?