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© TNS 2015
The role of market research in 2015
#NewMR Social Media Challenge

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Introduction
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© TNS 2015
Notes about this report
This report is the TNS submission to the NewMR
collaborative review of social media research. It
addresses the objective of examining the benefits
that social media research can currently deliver
through the lens of the topic of market research.
The report focuses on the two business
objectives of:
 Increase the use of MR (which is taken to
include increasing the value of MR, increasing
the number of situations where MR is used, and
increasing the number of people using MR)
 Increasing the number of suitably qualified
people who want to work in the market research
industry/profession
Analysis of social media posts in English, French
and Italian has been conducted in order to address
the business objectives across a number of
countries. The report is the result of a collaborative
effort from many colleagues across TNS, as follows:
Lead Analyst
Preriit Souda
Supporting Analysts
Andrea Cartabia, Laura Fontana, Kyle Findlay,
Leonardo Gherardi, Anastasios Hadjianastasiou,
David Mermoud, Manuella Molia and Veronica
Ravaglia.
Contributing Authors
Sarah Ashley, Bob Burgoyne, Andrea Cartabia,
Laura Fontana, Leonardo Gherardi, Emily Gong,
Veronica Ravaglia, Evert Rutgers, Preriit Souda,
Phil Sutcliffe and Karine Trinquetel.
©1998 – 2015 TNS, a Kantar Group Company. All rights reserved

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© TNS 2015
Context and approach
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Self-expression through social channels (whether Facebook,
Twitter or more specific forums) is second nature to digital
natives – and a rapidly learned behaviour for the older ‘silver
surfer’ generation. Consumers are increasingly aware of the
power they can exercise through these channels, and some
less agile brands are struggling to adapt in this environment.
In parallel to this however, there is an emerging consensus
that companies which are able to effectively manage and
derive insight from data (the new “oil” or “soil”) are more
successful. Sources of information are rapidly multiplying and
the sheer volume of data is growing exponentially. These are
exciting times for insight professionals – we should be well
placed to help our clients capitalize on these new sources
and redress the balance of informational power in the
marketing ecosystem.
At TNS, we take a holistic view of data and recognize that
all sources and collection methodologies have comparative
advantages; questions they are particularly suited to helping
answer, or business requirements which they can fulfill more
effectively. Our approach to solving clients’ business issues
is therefore “data agnostic” or, put a different way “data
appropriate” – we use a combination of sources and
methodologies to leverage their benefits and avoid
their pitfalls.
We work with data which are fit for purpose given the
business question, budget and speed requirements. We also
recognize that volume does not equate to value – we help our
clients focus on the data that matter, smart data if you like,
rather than obsessing about big data.
Whilst for a typical client project we would be likely to
triangulate social media data with survey and/or qualitative
data, our focus for this project has been social media data
alone. Our approach involved running numerous queries
related to market research (e.g. marketing research, surveys,
data science, big data etc.) across most of the key social
media channels as well as blog posts and forums. Search
queries were made in English, French and Italian for the year
July 2014 to June 2015. Findings have been extrapolated
based on 20% of all social media data for the period, with
Netbase as our source of the data.
We use a smart combination of human insight specialists and
big data analytical techniques. After extensive data cleaning,
SPSS modeller text mining was used to identify the key issues
and individual posts have been used to illustrate these
themes. Network maps are used to identify who is involved
in the conversation and the degree of influence they have.

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Summary
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© TNS 2015
The MR industry needs to grasp the opportunity social
media provides
The wider public frequently discuss ‘polls’ and
‘surveys’ online where the topics relate to sport,
pop culture or politics. However, to many observing
our industry from outside, we’re seen as boring and
associated with nuisance calls.
Within the MR industry a relatively small number of
influencers dominate content, with Twitter and
Linked In being used more to like or share content
rather than as fora for discussion and debate. There
is the opportunity for industry bodies to learn from
the management consulting and tech industries and
provide open access to content to disseminate
better the MR industry’s views and opportunities to
the outside world and potential employees.
With the explosion of interest in topics such as big
data, analytics, data visualisation, business
intelligence and neuroscience, MR’s share of voice is
relatively small. We talk about these topics within
the industry and how MR needs to evolve and
capitalise on new data sources to stay relevant.
However, MR is not yet effectively harnessing this to
its advantage in social media.
Most of the MR content online relating to career
opportunities is focussed towards those already in
the industry and the job posts tend to reflect the
traditional requirements of a market researcher
rather than capabilities that are needed to take our
industry forward.
A great market researcher has invaluable skills –
the ability to draw insight from data and deliver
actionable recommendations through engaging
stories about people. These skills are more
important than ever in a big data world. The MR
industry needs to take the opportunity to
communicate this more effectively through social
media channels to clients and prospective
employees.

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© TNS 2015
Key takeouts for market research
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Information is
not knowledge
The industry needs to
take advantage of the
current buzz around big
data and analytics to
develop more visibility
for MR and reinforce
MR’s competitive
advantage; i.e. the
ability to generate
insight out of the mass
of data and translate
it into actionable
recommendations.
A little more talk and
a little more action
If Elvis had been a
modern market
researcher, he would
have updated his lyrics
to encourage the
industry not only to
accelerate its pace of
innovation, but also
to be more proactive
about appropriating
conversations around
data analysis to its
benefit.
1+1=3
Create more of a
discussion around
the industry and its
opportunities and
collaborate with
specialists like database
managers and data
visualization specialists
in order to spur on
innovation and change,
and create more
valuable services
for clients.
Build it and they
shall come
We must create a more
vibrant exchange of
ideas and communicate
the innovative spirit in
the research industry
more broadly, to attract
young graduates and
data scientists and give
them the desire to learn
more about the industry.

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Investigating the Market
Research relevant conversations
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© TNS 2015
We found it wasn’t straightforward to isolate conversations about MR. For example, in France in setting up our queries, we first
included the terms ‘sondage’ and ‘#etude’ to capture conversations around surveys and the broader theme of MR.
What we found was an enormous amount of noise, in the form of:
 Sports Twitter accounts ‘polling’ their fans on Twitter on which team would win an upcoming football match
 Teenagers talking about fun online polls, a study of the average amount of pocket money French parents give their children,
or making jokes such as “surveys say that x out of y people…”
 Huge amounts of people sharing interesting survey results (largely around politics) and statistics, but not discussing the domain
of MR specifically
When we re-adjusted our query to clean out all this noise, in France we were left with a level of conversation that was only 0.06%
of the volume of our original query (only 9529 posts in the past year, compared to 1,620,718 for the broader query), highlighting a
culture in France where people love statistics and findings, but do not make the connection between them and the market research
industry.
Distilling the signal from the noise*
*French data
Broad query
Posts related to MR
as a profession

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© TNS 2015
To many observing our industry from outside, we’re
seen as boring and associated with nuisance calls
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A selection of English language posts…
I think market
research companies
like… calling my
mobile with.
Why do you feel
its ok to cold call
people numerous
times to take part
in a survey? Well
as I said in my
emails call me
again and I won’t
be responsible for
my language.
Market research
is the most boring
thing I want to die.
So my brother has
to do some boring
market research
for work, can you
spare 5 mins?

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© TNS 2015
58.7
19.8
10.3
2.5
8.7
77.4
12.4
7.5
1.8
0.7
21
31.9
29
10.8
7.2
French 9,529 Italian 14,969
MR discussions* on social media are dominated
by English language and by forwarding links
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English 2,379,252
English language conversations dwarf those in French or Italian by a factor of c25,000 to 1. Twitter dominates in English
and French but much less so in Italian where Twitter as a channel is much smaller and skewed to a young, technologically advanced
user group.
The strong skew to Twitter with its 140 character limit means that in general, the conversations on social media involve sharing
soundbites and links to articles, rather than people expressing their opinions on market research. The culture on Twitter and
LinkedIn is one of link sharing, with people liking or retweeting posts, but far fewer people replying or discussing the topic at hand
further. This creates an effect where social networks act more as amplifiers rather than as a forum of exchange and debate; this
atmosphere of exchange does exist around other topics (e.g. politics), but MR is not currently a high enough engagement topic for
people to discuss it in that way.
*Primary terms: #marketresearch, #marketingresearch, #consumerinsight, #mrx, ""marketing research"", ""market research"",
""consumerinsight"", ""marketresearch"", ""marketingresearch"“ ** (12 month period, June 2014-15)
% %%
Twitter News Blogs Forums Other

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Who is involved
in the conversation
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© TNS 2015
Key influencers over the past year
English language
Each dot on this
network map represents
a tweet and the lines
in between show the
connections between
the Twitter handles.
The big dots marked
show the organisations,
individuals and media
platforms that are
most active in the
conversation about
market research.
The physical proximity
on the map indicates
a high degree of
connectivity, for
example between
Ray Poynter and
Lenny Murphy. Key
MRAmrx
RayPoynter
Euromonitor
Lennyism
kristinluck
RealTonyRocha
LoveStats
researchlive
TechCrunch
anthonyhaTweetMRS
visioncritical
PMRVRfromRFL
ESOMAR tomderuyck
Ipsos Mori MikeMacLeod
MRX_Robot
DJSResearch
Organisation
Individuals
Media platforms

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© TNS 2015
There is an opportunity for industry bodies to broaden
the MR industry presence
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Currently social media conversations are dominated by a small number of individuals potentially skewing the
industry perception online. Most Linked In groups are very similar, with similar stories, re-sharing of the same
content and a select few people doing most of the posting. So long as ESOMAR and MRS remain relatively
restricted communities requiring memberships, alternative spaces represent the key areas for disseminating
the Market Research Industry’s views and opportunities to the outside world/potential employees.
Members only
magazines,
events and
resources
locked behind
login screens
Open-access
articles/
magazines
and educational
videos are
more common
amongst the
Management
Consulting and
Tech Industriesvs.

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© TNS 2015
Syntec_etudes
FBenaut
TNS Sofres
Wizbii_jobs
InternFrance
Digimind_FR
DataGroupEurope
MRX_Robot
DataGroupUSA
Major_Brands
W4_Jobs_France
DataGroupAsia
ninjacking
sophiecorbiere
Zooming into the MR industry-specific community
French
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Looking at the MR community
specifically (circled in red), we
find that conversation has been
centered largely around the major
annual market research event, le
Printemps des Etudes.
There are also a few more digital
and startup-centric accounts
which retweet and diffuse content
around new
MR products or job offers (circled
in light blue).
Further out towards the edge, we
see some accounts dedicated to
sharing job postings in France,
which are generally consumed but
not interacted with (circled in
orange).
And on the fringes, there is
a constellation of accounts
dedicated to tweeting news about
new surveys and reports.

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© TNS 2015
Conversation map
Italian key influencers
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@AssirmRicerca is the
Italian association of market
research institutes. Published
contents mainly concern data
releases or events.
@squadrati is a market
research group specialising
in semiotics.
@gcomin is the founder
of comin&partners. He
deals with communication,
journalism and public affairs.
BOTstartup write about
innovation and start up.

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Market research versus
other sources of insight
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© TNS 2015
Map of Conversations
happening on twitter
around the broader
sphere of insights in
last 12 months.
(English)
Insight Universe
MR’s share of voice is relatively small in the new,
evolving insights universe (English)
25%
Big data universe
22%
Business intelligence
21%
Neuro science
15%
Conversations around
market research
16%
Data analysis

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© TNS 2015
Conversation at or around the event this year focused around:
Within the industry we talk a lot about big data
Key themes at le Printemps de Etudes…
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As the key MR event
in France, the topics
discussed at the
Printemps des Etudes
are a barometer for
the industry as a
whole.
This year’s key
buzz topics centered
around big data,
future-proofing MR
companies, real-time
insights, and the
coming into fruition of
social media insights.
This panorama of
discussion reveals
a recognition that
MR needs to evolve
and capitalize on
new streams of
data in order to
stay relevant.
How to create skills and
business structures in
the current MR context.
Big data:
The opportunity to
exploit, the cost of
analysis, and the need
to structure data for
actionable insights.
Real-time insights. The maturation and
increasing integration
of social media insights.

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© TNS 2015
But MR is only a very small part of the broader scope
of data conversations (French)
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Big data/data science, data visualization and CRM
elicit very large volumes of discussion – particularly
around data visualization, as infographics are very
popular content to share socially.
There is a large amount of overlap in the
conversations around these topics, especially
between infographics and big data, demonstrating
the importance of all three elements of analytics,
visualization and business impact for businesses
looking to play in this space.
The node of conversation around market research
(in the red circle) is much smaller showing that
MR is currently not adequately exploiting the
huge conversation around big data to build
more visibility and recognition as an industry.
Big data/data science
Data visualisation
CRM
Market research

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© TNS 2015
Big Data
Some observations from Social Media
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There is an increasing perception/acknowledgement that “Big Data” is only as good
as the people who can analyse it.
However MR analytics have not caught up – too great a reliance on Tech companies
in spaces where MR could credibly play.
Key credible tech players in this space in social media:
IBM, Microsoft, Intel, SAP, Google.
Big Data Social Media groups don’t discuss MR and its potential usefulness. The MR
industry are very much the observers and commentators on Big Data, not vice-versa.
There is an opportunity for MR to stand up as the human face and interpreters of Big
Data. Big data needs effective analysis, insight generation and storytelling. MR can
capitalise on the shift in terminology we are seeing to “good” or “smart” data.

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Attracting talent to the industry
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© TNS 2015
2 in 5 posts about market research in French are
about jobs and training
18%
Market research training
Themes around MR jobs and internships
make up 20% of our collected data set
Using text mining techniques, we grouped words that commonly appeared together in our data pool into
themes and analyzed the occurrence of these themes in the data collected. Posts about jobs comprised
about 1 in 5 posts captured in our dataset, while training comprised another 18%. That means almost 2 in 5
posts around market research were meant as career information dissemination tools, further underscoring
the role of digital channels in France as a means of sharing and retrieving information, rather than one of
exchanging ideas. Almost none of these posts were potential candidates expressing interest in
working in the industry, revealing that online social sources are not where candidates discuss job
potential, and that MR does not currently have the sort of profile that attracts large amounts of
new interest.

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© TNS 2015
MR job postings are slow to see evolution
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For all the discussion around revolutionizing the industry, big data and integrating new streams
of data into market research, recent job postings are still relatively traditional.
Too much of this… …not enough of this
The majority of job postings are still rooted in
traditional survey, project management and report-
writing skills.
Only a small propotion mention any capabilities in
digital methodologies, data science or statistics. The
industry seems to be more active in talking about
evolution than in taking steps to enable the change.

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© TNS 2015
Meanwhile, data science is hot in many other fields
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In searching around data science and analytics-related fields, job positions are plentiful in domains ranging
across marketing agencies, big brand clients, software firms, and consulting firms, but almost none appear for
market research, an industry whose sole purpose is mining data to produce insights.

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© TNS 2015
Other industries are much
more vocally and successfully
engaging with young people
through social media – be it
through thought leadership
or direct career advertising/
guidance.
MR needs more people in
the industry to engage more
proactively with younger
people through thought
leadership, careers guidance,
mentoring etc. There is a
huge amount of exciting
innovation happening in MR
and the industry should take
the opportunity to share and
discuss this thinking more
actively to attract new,
innovative hires that can
drive further evolution in MR.
MR has the opportunity to build a much more engaging
online presence to attract the best and brightest new
talent to the industry
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Furthermore the negative
tone to much of the MR
discussion online risks being
off-putting and uninspiring
to young people.

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© TNS 2015 27