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ESOMAR Challenges Researchers to Learn and Illuminate
ESOMAR's 2005 Congress, Making a Difference - The Impact of Powerful Research - opened today in Cannes, attended by 1000+ market and social professionals from 75 countries worldwide. The Congress also heralded ESOMAR's rebrand, and its renewed commitment to improving the image of MR - a theme touched on by several of the day's speakers.
Bernard Brochard, the Mayor of Cannes, opened the conference by praising the creativity of the MR profession, and its ability to 'help leaders and decision makers make the right decisions, and do fewer silly things'. He stressed the importance of opinion and market research to the improvements he has made in the city - from improving security and quality of life to encouraging business growth. Unfortunately, the rain, which greeted delegates at the opening reception, appears to be outside his control...
Jose Ignacio Wert, ESOMAR's President, then explained his organisation's mission to be the 'premier facilitator of the research industry worldwide' with a focus on 'demonstrating how research can make a real difference in business, society and to individuals'. ESOMAR's rebrand also means a more interactive web site (www.esomar.org ), aimed at encouraging increased dialogue between members. He stated that changes in the industry, including the expansion in developing countries such as China, India and Russia, require more robust tools and more predictive analytical skills, and emphasised the importance of sharing knowledge.
Kwai-Nang Tang, Chairman Emeritus of ACNielsen Asia Pacific highlighted the profession's current image problems - quoting a survey from the American Marketing Association, in which respondents rated MR lower than Finance, HR and IT functions. However, he made his own belief in the industry clear, stating 'market research is not only capable of making a difference to business, but also to improving democracy, social changes and quality of life'. In a memorable phrase, Tang said 'MR is like a lamppost - there to illuminate and not to lean on', and set down a challenge for research in the future to 'illuminate more clearly, more widely and further ahead'.
The first keynote speaker was Laurence Perisot, General Manager of opinion research group IFOP and President of MEDEF, the French employers' federation. She too touched on the fact that MR is not always fully appreciated by business, as she recounted the negative reactions she experienced when she stood to be President of MEDEF. She explained her efforts to show that MR is a truly scientific and independent discipline, and that it can also be a wealth-creating enterprise like any other.
In order to be taken more seriously, she believes it's important for researchers to constantly learn from the theories of those who founded the profession - from Freud's theories on crowd psychology to anthropologists such as Margaret Mead. By coupling research findings with this body of theoretical knowledge, she says, market researchers can go into the boardrooms with something to say, and really can make a difference.
The ESOMAR home page is at www.esomar.org . More from Tessa Russell in Cannes here, and in tomorrow's and Wednesday's DRNO..
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