GfK Group International Conference

GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide recently ran its inaugural Research Summit entitled 'Research in Action - Driving Business Forward'. Held in Edinburgh, the event bought together the company's eighteen member companies and their clients.

The Summit contained presentations on a range of market research programmes and their use in solving the international corporate marketing issues. Fourteen papers were presented overall, given by speakers from all over Europe, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK, Poland, Slovenia, Romania and Greece. These speeches are currently being submitted for publication in a yearbook produced by GfK.

Joining GfK employees were speakers from a number of major brands. This included Danone, BMW and Motorola. Delegates also included marketing and market research representatives from AXA Group, Daimler Chrysler, Dixons Stores, Ferrero International, Henkel, Kimberly-Clark, Krafts Jacobs Suchard, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Rolls Royce and Bentley Motor Cars, Siemens and Wrigleys.

Karen Wise, joint managing director of the Consumer and Business Division at Martin Hamblin GfK, co-hosted the event. She explained, 'We wanted to show how market research has been used to help organisations make strategic and operational decisions to improve their business. Market research is so often undervalued as a marketing tool, and yet it can sometimes have enormous impact on the way a company does business.'

Wise continued, 'GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience gained from major research programmes conducted for clients and we wanted to share this knowledge with others. We split the conference into four major sections: Market and Customer Segmentation, Concept and Product Evaluation, Advertising and Brand Research and Customer Loyalty and Value. A GfK member company then took that topic and demonstrated how market research has been used to help solve marketing issues in that area.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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