Alastair Gordon's presentation to the Festival of NewMR 2010

1. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Will NewMR become OldMR?
The Challenge of Turning Radical Methods into
Sustainable Businesses
Alastair Gordon
Managing Partner,
Gordon & McCallum

2. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
What is This NewMR?
• Listening not questioning?
• Engagement and interaction?
• Online, esp. Social media focussed?
• Communities not Samples?
• Deep, realistic, emotional response?

3. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Sounds Good. Is it enough?

4. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Enthusiasm Triggers Trend Exaggeration
 “a college student in 2010 who wanted the new Mariah
Carey CD, for example, would be able to get it free by
giving lots of information about himself”.
 “5 billion people will be online by 2010, feeding
everything they see into at least 2 billion handheld
devices through mini-cameras installed somewhere on
their bodies”.
 “Proliferation of technology and the prediction that
bandwidth… will cost nothing (so) every citizen can
become a content creator….picture everyone in charge
of his own little television network”
Source:
Senior
Entertainment/IT
Execs,
NY
Times:
April
20th
2000

5. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
• Telephone
invented
1876.
• In
late
1920’s
central
bankers
sNll
mainly
using
telegrams
for
urgent
communicaNon.
• Telegraph
heyday
post
telephone.
• Telegraph
innovated
&
reinvented
• Took
mulNple
hits
to
kill
telegrams

6. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
“The New Market Research”
 “Forget Focus Groups and…surveys… Anything worth
knowing about your customers, traditional market
research can't tell you anymore”
 "You don't necessarily care if 20% feel one way and 80%
think another…You want a range of views."
 "We are in the midst of watching a real shift away from
survey-based research.”
 “…shift is toward a vastly different breed of innovative--
and sometimes outlandish--approaches that seek to
unveil the consumer's hidden thoughts”

7. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)

8. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)

9. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Emotion & MR Decision-Making
Client Need States
• Magic Insights. Find some gems in the data.
Something Special
Just For Me
• Can reports and presentations be at least
readable?
Help Me
Understand You
• Improve your understanding of client s
business & needs.Empathise Please!
• Faster, easier to access.
Help! Get it To Me
Today
• I want to compare Japan to BrazilGlobal Roaming
• Pull info together, and enchant me with new
methodsCook Me A Banquet

10. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
 Essentially about product packaging,
brainpower, design care, frameworks,
productivity, managing operations, cycle
time…
 On their own better methods, approaches
and theories can help – but are difficult to
prove, and advantages often seen as
incremental

11. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Challenges To Growth
Why
NOT?
Me
and
my
Technology
are
really
clever!
Yes,
it
works
in
the
US/UK/Germany…
but
guess
where
my
budget
is
going……
Sounds
good.
I’ll
just
get
16
different
quotes.
Looks
tempOng,
but
what
happens
to
the
last
20
years
of
data?

12. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Answers
Challenges
• Method & People Focus
not enough
• Low barriers to entry.
Fragmentation, quality
issues
• “New paradigm” needs to
work with “old”
• Got to work globally,
consistently
Solutions
• Focus on specific business
issues & client anxieties
• Products, frameworks and
applications. Standards
• Research programmes,
triangulation, mixed
methods
• Design with growth markets
in mind

13. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
For Example
SMR
Text
AnalyLcs
Cust
Advisory
Panel
Online
Qual
A
product/framework
to
drive
(e.g.)
promo7onal
effec7veness
in
a
fast
changing
retail
se=ng
is
likely
to
be
far
be@er
(and
more
unique)
if
based
around
2-­‐3
NewMR
services

14. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Similarly….
Brand-­‐Tracking
Survey
Mobile
Studies
Nuero-­‐
science/
Modeling
AnalyLcs
NewMR
methods
aligned
with
tradi7onal
surveys.
Part
of
programme
to
define
and
react
to
the
forces
that
drive
(e.g.)
brand
equity
offers
more
robust,
granular
and
precise
opportuni7es
for
marketers
to
redefine
their
brands.

15. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
What’s required?
 Imagination - applications and solutions,
not just methods and platforms
 Programme, not project approach
 Implementation. Frameworks, templates
and processes
 Co-operation. Ability to work with others
 Recognition that newMR, like OldMR, has
limitations

16. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Problems
 Busy, not enough staff
 (Relatively) Successful, in growth mode
 Failure to believe it could all fade away
 Scared of competition, over-protective of “IP”
So were the first people to deploy telephone
interviewing, ethnography, NLP, data-
mining…..

17. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Two Possible Outcomes
 NewMR becomes OldMR. “Good Ideas,
over-hyped”. Great excitement, gradually
fading into B.A.U.
 Cherry Picking. Scalable, easier to
integrate aspects of NewMR adopted by
top 5 agencies. Small/mid size companies
left with "scraps” and niche markets

18. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
A Third Possibility
 NewMR recognises its own limits, plus
potential of integration across methods
 New applications developed, based around
precise business solutions & clients’
‘emotional’ needs
 A wave of amalgamations, cooperative
partnerships etc. among NewMR firms
drives a genuine “MR revolution”

19. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Q & A
Alastair
Gordon
and
Jeffrey
Henning

20. Alistair
Gordon,
Gordon
&
McCallum,
New
Zealand
Part
1:
Session
1,
Convenor
Greg
Coops,
Chair
Jeffrey
Henning,
schedule
=
01:34am
to
02:00am
(GMT/London)
Contact Information
Email: alastair@gordon-mccallum.com
Website: www.gordon-mccallum.com
Twitter: mr_roi
Blog: Research.Opinionated.Insightful
http://gordonandmccallum.wordpress.com
Alastair Gordon,
Managing Partner,
Gordon & McCallum.
Business Consultants To
The Research Industry