1) The document discusses the role of a "consigliere" in market research, which is an advisor who works closely with leadership to ensure plans are foolproof and challenges the boss when needed. 2) It provides examples of work done by the authors as consiglieres for Coca-Cola, where they identified issues with data quality from a new fieldwork provider, uncovered executional problems from speeding up interviewers, and found methodological and executional changes were ignored. 3) The document argues that having external consiglieres to provide oversight is important for clients to have full confidence and transparency in their market research data on which important decisions are based.

1. What “The Godfather”
has to do with Coca-Cola
IIeX North America June 2017
Atlanta
Thomas Walker (@ctsvrollin), Horst Feldhaeuser (@nzfeldi), Cecilia La Greca

2. In ITALY and
SWITZERLAND, a
consigliere is an advisor
who works very closely with
the boss, a trusted confidant
(often a family member),
and with the unique
capability of challenging the
boss when needed to ensure
plans are foolproof.

3. Protocol
compliance &
data quality
Qnr design &
implementation
Support as MR
methodology
consultants
Audit & analyze
unexplained
changes, tracker
vs. reality
Manage
changes in
field agencies
Share
learnings back
to markets
WHAT THE CONSIGLIERE DOES?
Centralized best-
practice MR
methodology hub

4. UNDERSTANDING GAPS IN INTERVIEWER NOTES
OF NEW AGENCY
KEY ISSUE:
In spite of having a strong
protocol, data changed
drastically after switching
fieldwork providers
OUR SOLUTION:
Re-training the
interviewers and
implementing new QC
processes
OUR FIND:
New interviewers were
not insisting as much as
old ones when
prompting brands

5. IDENTIFYING SPEEDING UP INTERVIEWERS
KEY ISSUE:
Tracker data showing a
collapsing market against
sales and Nielsen data
OUR SOLUTION:
Re-train interviewers.
Around 60% of the
interviews needed to
be replaced in order to
guarantee the quality
of the study
OUR FIND:
Uncovered executional
issues, survey length
reduced dramatically
while interviewers
expertise grew

6. CHANGE OF SAMPLE COMPLETION & COMPOSITION
AND INTERVIEWER FLUCTUATIONS
KEY ISSUE:
Unexplained data
fluctuations (particularly
evident for Coca-Cola
brand)
OUR SOLUTION:
Keep consistency:
stable interviewers
teams, constant
training and new QC
processes
OUR FIND:
Major methodological
and executional
changes were
disregarded in terms of
their impact on the data

7. IMPACT OF EXECUTIONAL DECISIONS
KEY ISSUE:
Over 60% of brands showed
a declining trend in
consumption to previous
years
OUR SOLUTION:
Restauration and
re-process of data.
OUR FIND:
An upgrade in the
collection platform
resulted in longer loading
times, with interviewers
‘compensating’ for this
with fewer prompts.
LOI
# brands ever consumed

8. Smart Proofing
the Beverage Tracker

9. CREATING
TRANSPARENCY:
ONGOING QC
REPORTING

10. Why is this so important?

11. OUR STAKEHOLDERS RELY ON
TRUST
100% confidence to
base decisions on the
information we have
available
Knowing that we can
rely on the data no
matter where it comes
from is a MUST

12. OUR STAKEHOLDERS RELY ON
INTEGRATION
How useful is this
information?
How can it be combined
with other information
and data sources?

13. OUR STAKEHOLDERS RELY ON
SPEED
Information request
on short notice
Ability to have our
insights readily
available when
needed

14. 14
This is not a role clients are willing to
invest in very often, as they simply rely
on their fieldwork supplier for this.
However, without the external, vigilant
eye of the consigliere, such an approach
would cause irreparable damage based
on the executional blind spots
highlighted in our presentation.
For us, the choice paid off time and time
again.

15. 15
Reality check
of Results
Transparency of
Data Collection
Visibility of
Data Quality Objectivity
of Delivery
Volatility of
Results

16. 16
Thomas Walker, Horst Feldhaeuser, Cecilia La Greca
Gracie!