Ray Poynter

"𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻?" 🤔 This question comes up more often than you'd think. Many businesses know they need consumer insights but struggle with defining what they actually want to learn and how to get there. The difference between successful research and wasted budget often comes down to one critical factor: asking the right questions before you start asking consumers anything. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀: 🎯 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Consider a beverage company wondering whether to launch a new energy drink. The research question isn't just "Do people like energy drinks?" but rather "What specific consumer need would our energy drink fulfill that current options don't address, and how should we position it?" The clearer your intended action, the more focused your research becomes. 🔍 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁: A skincare brand might think they need research on "moisturizers," but the real question is whether they're exploring the entire facial care routine, comparing premium versus mass market segments, or diving deep into specific product benefits. Each scope requires different methodologies and delivers different insights. 👥 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: When the marketing team wants to understand brand perception while the product team needs feature validation and leadership seeks market sizing, you need a study design that serves multiple decision-makers without losing focus. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰, 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. Rather than starting with methodology or sample sizes, we begin with understanding what decisions the research will inform and work backwards from there. 📋 The attached guide shows our systematic approach to client briefings, including detailed question frameworks and practical examples from categories like beauty and coffee. These tools help ensure every research project starts with clear objectives and delivers insights that drive real business impact. 💬 Thinking about a research project? Drop us a line at [email protected] - we'd love to help you get it right from the start. #MarketResearch #ConsumerInsights #ResearchStrategy #BusinessPlanning #ResearchBriefing

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I love trends but too many reports stop at the shiny surface. I'd love to see more long-term thinking/value for marketing or innovation teams. The best cultural strategy work goes further imho. It’s… LONG TERM → Spotting the deep cultural disruptions behind trends and mapping how brands can play a long term role. ACTIONABLE → Translating this into clear brand + innovation moves tailored to the business. COMMERCIAL → Sizing the prize. How big is the market today and how big could it get when a cultural disruption continues. This is a simple framework we made at STUDIO ØUTLIER to map out the bigger cultural web behind a trend to get to the bigger opportunity. (The coming months we'll share more of these bits if anyone finds it interesting!)

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📊 Audience Measurement Coalition Calls for Regulatory Clarity in EU Digital Media Landscape As President of the Audience Measurement Coalition, I'm pleased to share our response to the European Commission's consultation on the Data Union Strategy. 🎯 The Challenge We Face Independent audience measurement is the backbone of a transparent digital media ecosystem. It helps markets function efficiently, protects consumers, and enables public authorities to make informed decisions. Yet today, this critical function faces significant obstacles due to conflicting interpretations of EU privacy laws. ⚖️ 📋 Our Position The Audience Measurement Coalition's paper addresses a crucial gap: the problematic interplay between the ePrivacy Directive and GDPR. Across EU Member States, we're seeing: • 🔄 Diverging interpretations of both regulations • 🚦 Inconsistent implementation approaches • ❓ Legal uncertainty that hampers transparent measurement of online media consumption This fragmentation doesn't just create compliance headaches – it undermines the very transparency and consumer protection these regulations aim to achieve. 🛡️ ⏰ Why This Matters Now The digital media landscape is evolving at breakneck speed. Without clear, consistent legal frameworks, we risk: 📉 Reduced market transparency 🔓 Weakened consumer protection ⚠️ Unfair competitive advantages for some players 🏛️ Compromised public interest oversight 📢 Our Call to Action The AMC urges the European Commission to provide coordinated interpretation and clarification of the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. This isn't about weakening privacy protections – it's about ensuring these crucial regulations work together effectively to serve their intended purpose. 🤝 Legal certainty isn't just a nice-to-have. It's essential for maintaining the integrity of our media markets and protecting the public interest in the digital age. 💡 https://lnkd.in/dEAN4uSw #GDPR #ePrivacy #DigitalMedia #AudienceMeasurement #DataProtection #EUPolicy Audience Measurement Coalition Arcom Médiamétrie @EBMS Martin Ajdari #EBMS Carlos Aguilar

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DIY research saves money and sometimes save time. But at CRC I heard a growing pushback against overreliance on DIY tools in market research. There were two types of issues – company issues and people issues. On the COMPANY side, many research teams were increasingly capacity constrained as they added tasks they previously outsourced. The promised efficiencies were only partly realized, as they often used high-skilled marketing talent for basic technical work (like programming and QA). But the riskier (and more subtle) impact was on the quality and strategic impact of their output. The rush to get basic work done left less time for the really high impact work: analyzing the story and socializing the results to brand teams and managers. ‘Agile’ results were less coherent and often disjointed. Data quality was questionable (there’s a reason DIY panel is cheap) and methodology was restrictive or poorly understood. Then there are the PERSONAL risks with DIY tools. When your job becomes ‘running tests on X-tool’, you become the ‘X-tool expert’. In a lot of ways, there’s job security there – in the short term. However, this also means less time per project to focus on the big stuff. Less time to polish each presentation (or have your agency do it) and make sure you look your best. Less time to learn other skills and less flexibility to adapt your research to meet unique project objectives. In short, the ‘X-tool expert’ often has less opportunity to present really high-quality work to senior management and shine in a strategic role. So what’s the solution? DIY tools aren’t going away. Budgets just aren’t going to allow that. I think it’s already emerging – the Do It Together (DIT) model. Basically, the idea is to shift some of the DIY activities to an agency with trained teams that are more efficient at programming, QA, etc., and then to retain the higher value and more strategic activities (like analysis and reports writing) for client-side team members. For the right teams, this model is exceptionally powerful, and still very cost effective because specialized vendor-side staff is 2X or 3X as fast at using the software than client-side teams. I’m going to guess that this model is going to grow rapidly in the next few years. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!

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The future of marketing won’t be about louder campaigns it will be about campaigns that live longer in memory: https://shorturl.at/sgM4R That’s why at Neurohook, we don’t just track impressions or clicks. We measure recall, we test memory, and we design for emotion. Because when marketing aligns with how the human brain actually works, it stops being a cost and starts becoming a growth engine. We’re humbled to be featured in The Economic Times’ ‘Future-Ready India’, spotlighting how neuromarketing can help brands unlock reliability and long-term growth. This is only the start the science of memory will define the next decade of marketing. #neurohook #neuromarketing #marketing #founder #ceo #india #innovation

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If the insights industry went on vacation for the first two weeks of August ... it came back this week in a big way. Here's everything you might've missed since last Friday: 🚀 AI & Tech: - quantilope opens its quantilabs R&D hub to clients. - Cint unveils “Luci” AI research assistant. - Livepanel’s AI generates open-ended responses. - Definite raises $10M for its AI analytics platform. 📊 B2B MR: - Streetbees files to appoint administrators. - NielsenIQ posts 5.7% growth and trims debt post-IPO. - Polestar lands $12.5M and ex-telecom CEO as Chair. 💰 M&A & Partnerships: - The DRG merges into consultancy Cortico-X. - IQVIA and Veeva Systems settle feud & partner up. - MSQ rebuffs S4 Capital Group merger rumors. - Circana closes Nielsen’s MMM unit buy. 🔄 Org Changes: - New global CEO at Ipsos (Accenture’s Jean Laurent Poitou). - Smart Data Foundry hires Chief Data Scientist. - Human8 names new Australia director for APAC growth. 🎧 Expert takes: - Rep Data’s Steven Snell on tackling tech-enabled survey fraud. 🤖 Did the robots and I miss anything big? Share it below. 🔗 Read the full twir recap in the comments. 📬 Want twir sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter. 📣 Got some upcoming industry news to share? DM me for inclusion in an upcoming episode. 💡 About twir: twir is your weekly digest of market research news, insights, and emerging trends. Leveraging AI, we scan leading industry sources to distill the essential developments shaping the world of research. Every week, twir evolves—learning and building a richer perspective on industry shifts.

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This feels like an innovation that’s been waiting to happen. Flavoured sauces have been around for decades, so why not flavoured purées? For years, purée has sat quietly at the back of the cupboard. Functional. Invisible. The thing you add in but never talk about. Now it’s reframed as a flavour booster. Suddenly it’s not just a base ingredient, it’s a shortcut to boldness: red wine, chilli & garlic, herbs. Purée moves from commodity to chef’s hack. And that’s important. Because own label dominates the commodity end of categories like this. By elevating purée with flavour and design, Princes Limited's Napolina creates differentiation, premiumisation, and permission to carry a higher price point, a smart response in a world of rising input costs. Sometimes innovation isn’t about creating something brand new. It’s about reframing the familiar in a way that changes perception, lifts value, and sparks new use.

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Marketing and Finance often don’t speak the same language. That’s a problem, but there is a fix. In my latest piece for AW360 by Advertising Week, I break down how incrementality testing can help get Marketing and Finance back on the same page. Why? Because lift testing gives Marketing and Finance a shared framework for measuring what’s actually driving incremental outcomes for the business (and what’s not). When organizations start doing this, a few shifts happen: • Finance makes stronger forecasts • Marketing can defend budgets with better evidence • Both teams start working from a shared framework with common language We've been testing this approach at Recast for a while now. The companies that get it right don't eliminate the Marketing x Finance tension, but instead, turn it into productive collaboration. The full article elaborates on these ideas and provides some tips for using incrementality tests in financial planning. Link is in the comments.

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