Name: The changing face of market research
Uploaded: 2022-09-23T13:02:06.717Z
Duration: 992.28

The changing face of market research.vtt

English

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Hi, I'm Jordan Thorne and
we're here at TMRE 2021.

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Today, I'm joined by Emilia Strobel.

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She's the global strategic innovation
and insights for Mars Petcare.

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Thanks so much for joining us.

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Oh, thanks for having me.

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So, you know, maybe you could tell
us a little bit about yourself

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and your role at Mars Petcare.

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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So I've been with Mars pet
care for the last seven years.

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I'm currently leading our global
portfolio of dog made meal, which is

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our pedigree and Caesar brands, which
is the largest portfolio within the

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dog nutrition or pet nutrition area.

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Amazing.

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So maybe we could talk a little
bit of about, obviously, over

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the last year we're here now,
finally, in person events.

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You know, but I'm sure the
industry has seen massive change

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over the last couple of years.

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So what do you think some of
the biggest changes have been

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particularly within the market
research community that you've sort

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of seen as a result of the pandemic.

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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COVID-19 really accelerated some
of the trends that were already

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happening within the industry.

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So that's a move more toward,
online, away from in-person

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qualitative, in-person ethnographies
things along those lines.

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And so ourselves, within Mars,
we have shifted many of our

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methodologies to be more Agile.

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Some do it yourself, which before
the pandemic, we never would have not

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never, but we wouldn't have embraced.

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And we've also been really creative
in regards to product testing.

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So as you can imagine for dog
food you want to have the product

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testing in home and you also
want to be able to have some

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interaction with that pet parent.

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And so all of that has moved online
with special deliveries and things

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along those lines to ensure that
we're getting the right product to

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the right consumers for that testing.

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What might you say are some of
the best practices for research

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when it comes to having to pivot
and reinvent products, marketing

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and business models successfully?

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As I'm sure many companies have
had to sort of be able to do.

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Exactly.

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Yeah.

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So I think of three things.

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So one is just agility.

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So being able to pivot quickly, the
second is not being mired to the past.

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So I think sometimes within our
industry, we think because we have

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the benchmarks, et cetera, that
we need to stick with that tool.

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And then I think the
third piece of it is pace.

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So that again has really accelerated
with the digitization of the industry

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in some respects, as well as the
democratization that we have in

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both human and data intelligence.

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And can you share maybe three companies
or if you have one that you've sort

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of seen developing new insights really
successfully after sort of this total

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change in how people are behaving?

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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So I'll stick with Mars.

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So there are a couple of
examples that we have.

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One in particular was a beta
product that we had in our

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vet services division, which
was tele-health or Televet.

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And it was in beta test in January
of 2020, and it quickly launched,

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full-blown, by summer of that year.

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And that's a huge way in which we
recognize the human behavior quick

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shift to be able to provide a product
and a service to pet parents so that

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they're able to provide, you know,
just basically advice from their

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vets from a televet perspective.

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So that would be one.

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Another would be basically as we think
about some of our advertising, as we

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came out of the pandemic, although
you could argue we're still in the

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pandemic, but our extra gum in our
Mars Wrigley division actually has

{{00:04:25}}
this fabulous piece of advertising that
talks about people going back to work

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and the need that they have for gum.

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And you have them coming out of their
homes, some almost looking like cavemen

{{00:04:38}}
in some respects, having to cut through
vines to get back into their office.

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So it's a really humorous
take on going back to work,

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you know, after the pandemic.

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Really interesting.

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I'd love to see that.

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I'll Check that out.

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So a big trend and market
research trends in 2021 has been

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longitudinal research and tracking.

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Do you think this trend will
continue through to 2022?

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Absolutely.

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So within Mars, we've been
doing longitudinal tracking

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since before I started.

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And we do it purposefully.

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Meaning that we want to make
sure what we're tracking is

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something that will be actionable.

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So we have a tracker that's been
in place for many years that tracks

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our digital assets, of our brands to
see, are they becoming more and more

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important to consumers over time?

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And that's when we will
not walk away from.

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I think also from a longitudinal
perspective, the way that we do the

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tracking is shifting a little bit.

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And so even with that tracker that
I mentioned, we're embedding more

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implicit tracking from consumers so
that we're able to see, even though

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they can't say what they think about
a certain color on a brand or an

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image on a package we're able to
implicitly see is it a sharp connection

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or a quick connection with them.

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So that's one example, from other
longitudinal studies that we have

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in COVID, we actually did start
a longitudinal study on COVID.

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And that included a couple
of different data sources.

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So it was looking at social listening.

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It was looking at actual on the
ground, what was happening with

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consumer behavior, integrated
some of the regulatory and

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the government pieces of it.

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And so over the 18 month period, we
were able to use that longitudinal

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study for us to understand what were
the patterns and of those patterns

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to give confidence to the senior
leaders about what they should

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see once we emerged from COVID.

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What do you think might actually be
one of the biggest trends for 2021?

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So you mentioned you think longitudinal
will be definitely here in 2022, is

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there anything that really stands
out to you that you've seen this

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year, over the last couple of years
that you think market researchers

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should really be looking out for?

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I think it's along the whole
umbrella of digitization.

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And what I mean by that is
there's so much data out there.

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And there's so much more required
from a consumer perspective to

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make sure that we're providing as
manufacturers and brands and services,

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what they want, when they want it.

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And from a market research function, I
am not a hundred percent clear that we

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have the skillset and the knowledge to
be able to effectively address that.

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So I would see that as a trend
that's going to be continuing

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and something that as a function
we need to get on board.

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I know within Mars, we've been doing a
lot, especially in the marketing group,

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which CMI reports or our insights
reports into marketing, around digital

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transformation and both training and on
the job experience to ensure that we're

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up-skilling our associates, so that
they're prepared for 2022 and beyond.

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And, you know, as we talk about
the workforce, the shifts over the

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last two years have really impacted
insight professionals, really

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anybody, but insights professionals
as we talk about specifically around

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things like skill development,
worker retention, equity creation,

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and culture and value alignment.

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So we know what is being done,
what is your company sort of doing

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to address some of these issues
that are no doubt being faced?

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Right.

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So Mars has their five principles,
which are quality, responsibility,

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efficiency, mutuality, and freedom.

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And one of my favorite is mutuality
and it's about mutuality between the

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company and the customer, company
and the consumer, and company and

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our suppliers, and companies and our
associates or our employees, and the

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company takes that very seriously.

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So when we were starting to see that
we might be coming out of COVID,  the

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company did a really great job of
doing these mini workshops, across

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all functions around the globe to say,
what is the future of work at Mars?

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How do you want to work within Mars?

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And so the outcome was basically
almost, I don't want to say

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unanimously, but a strong desire for
both associates to do  hybrid work.

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And so it's up to each of the
functions in each of the various

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markets, et cetera, to determine
what does that look like?

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So is that three days in
the office, two days out?

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Is it one day in the office,
but everybody's in the

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office at the same time?

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Is it a one week we're all
in, the next week we're not?

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And again, it's really the decisions
pushed down to each team to decide

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how they best want to do that.

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The other thing with Mars, again,
from a mutuality perspective with

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diversity and inclusion, there's
been a lot of effort over the

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last, I would say 18 months of the
organization to provide training.

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We've been doing a lot with Harvard
in some of the implicit bias work.

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Pretty much everyone in the leadership
has been trained on  implicit bias

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and what that means and how to not
necessarily look at it that's bad.

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You have it, but more along
the lines to recognize when you

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may have preconceived notions
of a person or ethnicity or

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religion or whatever it might be.

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And so that's been, I think really
transformational for our company

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to look at people as they are.

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And again, that, to me, that goes
back to that mutuality principle.

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How is the team and your team
embracing and emphasizing diversity

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and inclusion as it relates to market
research and sort of ensuring that

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diversity is there in the research?

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Right.

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So a couple of ways.

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One is just basically the
research we do is usually

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representative of the market in
which the research is being held.

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So that's one way you can ensure at
least from a population perspective

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that you're getting the right reach.

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The other is, depending upon what
the product is or the service that

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we're looking at, we might skew more
toward a younger demographic or to an

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older demographic, regardless of, you
know, race basically or ethnicity.

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And the third way is that from
a Mars marketing perspective,

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globally we have been participants
of the Gina Davis Institute.

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And so Gina Davis, the actress,
she created this Institute to look

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at,  bias in media, advertising,
and other arts such as that.

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And so over the last two or
three years, Mars marketing

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globally has been part of that.

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And so we've gotten feedback on areas
where we're doing really well, we

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have strength in certain demographics,
certain ethnicities, this even goes

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down to from a disabled disability
perspective, how are we showing up?.

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Are we showing people who are disabled?

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Are we showing LGBTQ people?

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Black people, Asian people,
Hispanic, et cetera.

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And it's been a great way for us and
for our agency partners to start to

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say, Hey, you know, if this represents
the United States or Europe, you

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know, UK or Japan or whatever it
might be, we need to make sure

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that we're truly representing the
different pieces of the population

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within a given marketplace.

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For people maybe in different
countries in market research, are

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there other types of resources
like that, that you would recommend

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people ensure they have in there, you
know, diversity inclusion tool kit?

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Yeah.

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So, as I said, Gina Davis is globally.

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So her Institute basically looks
across all the pieces of copy

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that we've created across Mars.

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And then with what they provide
is a kind of a global cut.

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And then they'll do a cut by market
because if you think about it, some

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markets are not as diverse as the
United States is diverse, as far

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as different types of cultures that
have become part of our melting pot.

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So, that would be one that we've,
again, it's created a lot of

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great discussion for us and has
heightened our awareness of where

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we could do maybe a better job in
representing all types of people.

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What are some creative ways to
ensure your teams enhance the

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value proposition of insights
versus sort of going and

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following with the status quo?

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Right.

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So one of the key tenants for me is to
make sure any piece of research that

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I do is going to make a difference.

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So there's a business reason that
we're running that insight and running

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that research, whether it's innovation
or advertising, or it's trying to

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figure out early what are some of the
delighters or pain points from a jobs

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to be done perspective for consumers?

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So that is critically important.

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Job one, when somebody is going to
take the researcher once the research.

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The second is if you have a
searing insight that's going to be

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disruptive to the organization and
make them think differently, you

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have to shop that insight around.

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So you have to figure out who
were some of the key stakeholders,

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who are some of the people
that can be supportive of you.

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If the key stakeholder turns to their
right arm person, which they usually

{{00:14:53}}
do, and that person says, oh no, no,
no, that's exactly where we need to go.

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And so that takes some time.

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And then it's also selling
it in way that's easily

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digestible for that person.

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So there's a style component of
adjusting your communication style to

{{00:15:11}}
the person so that they're receptive to
what you're kind of selling into them.

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And then what we try and do
at the end of each piece of

{{00:15:21}}
research is to, I'm gonna say this
loosely, like calculate an ROI.

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And so calculating an ROI within the
insights world is very difficult,

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because a lot of what we do is very
much upstream and it's sometimes

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difficult to say, okay, because we ran
this early piece of research, which

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went into an innovation proposition
that got launched three years later.

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The ROI on that study was X.

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And so again,  if you're doing
the research, because it links

{{00:15:57}}
to the strategy and it links to a
business problem, usually the ROI

{{00:16:02}}
comes and you can support that.

{{00:16:06}}
Amelia, it's been really
incredible speaking with you.

{{00:16:08}}
I love to hear the insights.

{{00:16:10}}
I loved hearing sort of
what Mars Petcare is doing.

{{00:16:13}}
And I think you provided some
really great insight and also some

{{00:16:16}}
tools that other new companies,
researchers can potentially utilize.

{{00:16:21}}
I really appreciate you
talking to you today.

{{00:16:22}}
Great, Jordan.

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Thanks so much for your time.

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I appreciate it as well.

{{00:16:25}}
Thanks.

Hi, I'm Jordan Thorne and
we're here at TMRE 2021.

She's the global strategic innovation
and insights for Mars Petcare.

So, you know, maybe you could tell
us a little bit about yourself

So I've been with Mars pet
care for the last seven years.

I'm currently leading our global
portfolio of dog made meal, which is

our pedigree and Caesar brands, which
is the largest portfolio within the

So maybe we could talk a little
bit of about, obviously, over

the last year we're here now,
finally, in person events.

You know, but I'm sure the
industry has seen massive change

So what do you think some of
the biggest changes have been

particularly within the market
research community that you've sort

COVID-19 really accelerated some
of the trends that were already

So that's a move more toward,
online, away from in-person

qualitative, in-person ethnographies
things along those lines.

And so ourselves, within Mars,
we have shifted many of our

Some do it yourself, which before
the pandemic, we never would have not

And we've also been really creative
in regards to product testing.

So as you can imagine for dog
food you want to have the product

testing in home and you also
want to be able to have some

And so all of that has moved online
with special deliveries and things

along those lines to ensure that
we're getting the right product to

What might you say are some of
the best practices for research

when it comes to having to pivot
and reinvent products, marketing

As I'm sure many companies have
had to sort of be able to do.

So being able to pivot quickly, the
second is not being mired to the past.

So I think sometimes within our
industry, we think because we have

the benchmarks, et cetera, that
we need to stick with that tool.

And then I think the
third piece of it is pace.

So that again has really accelerated
with the digitization of the industry

in some respects, as well as the
democratization that we have in

And can you share maybe three companies
or if you have one that you've sort

of seen developing new insights really
successfully after sort of this total

So there are a couple of
examples that we have.

One in particular was a beta
product that we had in our

vet services division, which
was tele-health or Televet.

And it was in beta test in January
of 2020, and it quickly launched,

And that's a huge way in which we
recognize the human behavior quick

shift to be able to provide a product
and a service to pet parents so that

they're able to provide, you know,
just basically advice from their

Another would be basically as we think
about some of our advertising, as we

came out of the pandemic, although
you could argue we're still in the

pandemic, but our extra gum in our
Mars Wrigley division actually has

this fabulous piece of advertising that
talks about people going back to work

And you have them coming out of their
homes, some almost looking like cavemen

in some respects, having to cut through
vines to get back into their office.

So it's a really humorous
take on going back to work,

So a big trend and market
research trends in 2021 has been

Do you think this trend will
continue through to 2022?

So within Mars, we've been
doing longitudinal tracking

Meaning that we want to make
sure what we're tracking is

So we have a tracker that's been
in place for many years that tracks

our digital assets, of our brands to
see, are they becoming more and more

And that's when we will
not walk away from.

I think also from a longitudinal
perspective, the way that we do the

And so even with that tracker that
I mentioned, we're embedding more

implicit tracking from consumers so
that we're able to see, even though

they can't say what they think about
a certain color on a brand or an

image on a package we're able to
implicitly see is it a sharp connection

Expert Insight

Understanding customer needs and behaviors is essential for selling a product or service. Market researchers support brands and businesses in achieving that goal. However, the pandemic affected consumer behaviour around the world, making things more difficult for market researchers.
In this unprecedented period, Amelia Strobel offers valuable insights about industry changes, future trends, and talent management based on her broad experience. 

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Amelia Strobel

Global Strategic Innovation & Insights

The best practices in market research are being supported by not being stuck in the past and an agile manner of working to keep up with the pace in a rapidly changing environment.
Organizations' tracking of digital assets is changing, necessitating more implicit tracking in order to obtain better data from consumers.

Changes in market research

One of the most well-known themes in recent years has been longitudinal study and tracking. In addition to digitization, Strobel anticipates that this trend will continue to be popular.

Biggest trends

Market research that is built on a thorough grasp of diversity and inclusion practices could address customer needs better. 
Strobel discusses mutuality and implicit bias training as examples of the approaches they've been employing on Mars.

Diversity, inclusion and talent management

Linking your market insights to your product strategy will result in a more precise calculation of future ROIs for that project, which will help you determine the value of your market research.