BIG Conference: Narrowing Focus?
May 17 2005
Qual research should only be done by specialist quallies, according to the ever-controversial Neil McPhee of Nuance Research, addressing a workshop at last week's BIG Conference. However, the excellent afternoon and evening programme subsequently proved that tennis should not be left to tennis players, and that good things come in threes...
The Thursday speaker sessions concluded with papers on the UK launch of Chip and PIN, the European launch of Blackberry, the rise of off-shore providers and of online panels, and the challenge of researching in emerging markets.
Chip and PIN client Sarah Stannard and Continental's Shiona Davies impressed upon their audience that the relatively smooth success of the technology's UK launch did not mean the process had been easy, and showed us how research had measured its performance and identified potential problems in advance, through talking to merchants large and small, and the general public. As well as a success story for MR, it also promoted the technology itself, about which I personally feel a lot clearer now...
Dr Martin Ruckensteiner of Austrian agency Accelate then talked about the launch of Blackberry in Europe, concentrating however on b2b research lessons and techniques. The speaker warmed to his task and raised a number of laughs through reference to his own very complicated charts showing b2b decision-making processes, product segmentations and media tools. Since one of his points was that the process was complicated, and since BIG Conference's hand-outs, CD included, generally add a lot of detail to what's possible in the 20-30 minute slots, the complexity seemed quite acceptable and the point well-made. In theory at least, large businesses have complex buying and assessment procedures, and this is potentially a key area of differentiation from B2C. However, Dr Ruckensteiner did acknowledge the role of emotion in decisions with a late reference to the use of 'buzz marketing' campaigns for b2b audiences 'where a product does not have a purely economic or financial role'.
Delegates at this party-heavy conference can sometimes find the afternoon session a challenge in the staying awake department, but Mike Taylor of Evaluserve and Richard Thornton of Ciao chose topical themes - offshoring and online panels respectively - to keep their audience's attention. The session was completed by BPRI's Anna McAvoy with an excellent look at the challenges of researching in emerging markets. Along with the usual references to international differences of culture and custom (should I bow, shake hands with my respondent, or offer a small prayer?) McAvoy packed in a lot of practical advice for b2b agencies. General pointers included the need to understand how one's local suppliers work and to allow them some flexibility with timing, and included:
- the benefits in some circumstances of taking an interpreter rather than trying to struggle with one's own so-so command of a language, and missing important nuances
- the need to be 'less snobbish' about methodological niceties, for example by permitting snowballing as a means of generating sample in a difficult market
- to be more aware of how 'western' some business terminology is, and
- to consider expert interviews as a frequently useful addition to other data sources.
We also learnt that 'in Northern China, most business deals are done outside the office... often in the karaoke bar' and that some businesses employ sociable but otherwise underqualified people principally as deal-closers for just such situations (at this point, a few called out 'Yes, they're called salesmen' but a few others left the hall to make phone calls to Chinese recruiters). The speaker struck a particular chord when talking about differences within regions, with a warning for those who treat large and heterogeneous areas as single markets, for example 'Asia' or 'EMEA': 'Clients don't understand the regional differences in my region' being a typical complaint.
The workshop sessions offer delegates a choice of three very different topics to be discussed in an informal atmosphere. Your correspondent chose Neil McPhee's on
'Quallies and Quanties: Can they live under one roof?', knowing that if nothing else McPhee would be 'as controversial as ****'. He did not disappoint, but shared his introductory remarks with
Allianz Cornhill's Rosie Hayes who gave a short contrary viewpoint.
As a particular advocate of broader skills in the research professional, and the need for us to learn about things beyond MR and understand the business process, I was scandalised by McPhee's insistence that 'generalists' had little to offer and that in order to avoid wrong turns or vacuous conclusions a quallie must, furthermore, be steeped in techniques including neuro-linguistic programming and such gems as 'gustatory' research - a new one on me albeit with an obvious meaning. Outrageous assertions included 'if you're not doing a minimum of fifty groups a year, you're not doing enough to keep your hand in', whereas I would argue that if you're doing more than fifty groups a year, you've probably lost your hold on what group attendees are feeling if they're doing their first one, to say nothing of your hold on sanity. So all in all a load of shocking, partisan, elitist, separatist quallie nonsense: more of the same next year please Neil. A group including Farrouk Suntook, the team from CSA Recruitment and the highly esteemed US researcher and writer Howard Moskowitz found plenty to argue about and the discussion generated was highly stimulating.
Of the
tennis, which followed, most has been said before. Granted, the standard is not such as to trouble the recently elected World Sportsman of the Year Roger Federer, and sponsors PulseTrain are not likely to extend their financial commitment to patches sewn on the clothing of specific players as they embark on next year's ATP tour. However, the occasion is splendid and the certainty of ENI's Damon Thomas reaching the final does nothing to spoil the intense aura of competition prevailing (Damon was joint winner this year, runner-up last and has a Borg-like string of victories stretching back to the days when wooden rackets were the norm). More surprising, indeed completely bizarre, was the winning of three prizes in the evening raffle by Yours Truly, who has never in the previous eight years won anything - proof of the London buses theory if such was needed, and a fitting end to a very good day. If you're in b2b and you don't already attend, what's the matter with you?
Nick Thomas
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
