Kadence International is an agency with a lot of talent from all around the world. In this series, we honor some of our female colleagues leading up to International Women’s Day, asking them about their experience working within the market research industry and what the future holds for the industry.

Name: Adhistya Febriani

Position: Senior Research Manager

Kadence Office:  Indonesia

When did you join Kadence?  

I joined Kadence in 2021.

What does your role as Senior Research Manager entail?

Having an in-depth understanding of our client’s product, service, and strategy. Managing and fostering a positive relationship with our clients. Presenting compelling insights to our clients. Developing, managing, and mentoring team. Proactively working with cross-functional departments.

What does a typical day look like for you?

The team and I have a twice-weekly meeting every Monday and Friday. Friday is always a day of preparation for the upcoming week, and Monday is the time to implement everything we’ve had on the Friday list. I always put a max of 3 meetings in a day to focus on current projects. We’re still working from home, so at the moment, a typical day starts with checking the online task list in the morning and communicating with the team for any clarification. The second half of the day is usually delivering any client requests or checking data for report preparation. I typically end my day around 6 pm to take care of my son, have dinner, and continue at 8 pm onwards if there’s any backlog in tasks.

Is there anything different, unique about conducting research in your country? 

Indonesia is very heavy with traditional approaches. Mobile or self-survey is skewed to those who live in the capital cities and who have higher education, while it is the opposite for the real profile in the market. No matter how digital-savvy we are with the survey, an offline survey is always a win to capture the real respondents’ answers.

What was the very first job that you had (during school, college, or university)? 

My first job was as a research executive with Kadence International, so Kadence has been a ‘school’ for me. I was worked in Kadence for three and a half years, another 7 years with other companies, and last year I came back to Kadence and bring a whole new experience.

Is there anything about your experience before joining Kadence that has helped you in your market research career? 

I can read market research data from surveys and can translate retail analytics and shopper data into insights. I think this kind of researcher is rare in Indonesia 🙂

What is it about market research that excites you the most?

Listening to the consumers’ opinions and seeing the impact in the market.

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What is it about Kadence’s company culture that you like the most?

The leaders and their flexibility.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A photo model, yes seriously (laughs).

What qualities do you feel are “a must” for anyone exploring a career in market research?

Attitude first and being tough mentally are important and basic to be a researcher. Knowledge is something gained over time.

What piece of advice would you give someone looking to start a career in market research?

Be “data crazy” and always be curious. Do not give up any of your “why’s” until you find the legitimate answers!

How have you seen the field of market research change since you started your market research career?

Nope, it has stayed the same. We collect the data, we do the project management, we create great client experiences. In the end, presenting and receiving any client briefs means we are creating satisfaction with our services.

What is it about the field of market research you wish everyone knew?

Small things matter, attention to detail is the key to success.

What is your favorite hero or movie of all time, and why?

I am not really a fan of movies, but I do love books! JK Rowling is one of my inspirations who shows that everything is possible because she could be a great writer even at 40 plus years of age. Success doesn’t depend on age.

What is your favorite quote, motto or favorite phrase?

Poor communication will lead to conflict, no matter how good your intention is.

If you could time travel into the future 10 years, how will market research evolve?

Mobile surveys will be highly evolving.

What do you like to do in your free time, when you are not working?

I love running a lot! I even spend my time before work running.

Follow Adhistya via her LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adhistyafdj/

Kadence International is an agency with a lot of talent from all around the world. In this series, we honor some of our female colleagues leading up to International Women’s Day, asking them about their experience working within the market research industry and what the future holds for the industry.

Name: Iris Lorenzo

Position: Managing Director

Kadence Office:  Philippines

When did you join Kadence?  

I joined the Kadence in November 2017.

What does your role as Managing Director – Philippines entail?

I develop and execute business strategies, and direct and control business operations.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I start with a daily catch-up call with the team on all of the project updates, RFQ/RFPs pending, HR/Admin/Finance Updates, and other critical items. I then attend client meetings – credentials presentations, quote/proposal discussions, and project meetings. This is followed by final checking and approval of high-value quotes and proposals, and checking of Qual, Quant, and CI reports to our clients. In between meetings, I approve project and admin expense requests and review and sign contracts.

Is there anything different, unique about conducting research in your country? 

Filipinos are typically positive, agreeable, and generally do not want to offend anyone. In qualitative research, we have to highlight that the moderator will not be offended if they have any negative comments – in fact, it will be helpful to also hear about contrary opinions. For quantitative research, respondents tend to score higher so we should take this into consideration in the analysis.

What was the very first job that you had (during school, college, or university)? 

I worked as an intern at the Ateneo Human Rights Center, where we provided legal aid to the Mangyans. These are the indigenous peoples of the Philippine island of Mindoro, who were being illegally evacuated from their homeland due to industrialization and illegal logging operations.

Did you earn any experience before joining Kadence that helped your MR career?

I worked as a Strategy and Competitive Intelligence Trainer, where I traveled to different countries in Southeast Asia and Australia to train company executives and government officials on Competitiveness, Early Warning Practices, War Games, and Scenario Planning.

What is it about market research that excites you the most?

The continuous learning about different industries, products, and services. The constant expansion of my knowledge about a variety of things makes me feel that I am growing every day.  

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What is it about Kadence’s company culture that you like the most?

Agility – it allows us to quickly address a need or challenge by having collaborative resources across the different offices.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a detective like Nancy Drew.

What qualities do you feel are “a must” for anyone exploring a career in market research?

A market researcher must be curious and inquisitive.

What piece of advice would you give someone looking to start a career in market research?

You have to be open and flexible, there is so much to learn, and it is a great adventure if you listen well, observe closely, and be brave enough to step out of your comfort zone.

How have you seen the field of market research change since you started your market research career?

Most of our methodologies were face-to-face and paper-based when I first started. The switch to digitization was slow until the pandemic happened. It just supercharged our adoption of technology in our methodologies.

What is it about the field of market research you wish everyone knew?

Market research is an exciting career where things are never the same every day. You will not be bored with your job, as there is always a new question, a new opinion, a new perspective, a new profile, and a new challenge. 

What is your favorite hero or movie of all time, and why?

Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Not only was Gary Oldman brilliant in his performance, but it shows that a being is not defined only by his nature. Love can bring out the monster in all of us, and can also bring redemption.

What is your favorite quote, motto or favorite phrase?

“Ang puno na hitik sa bunga ay binabato” is a Filipino phrase that translates to “People throw stones at trees that bear a lot of fruit”.

If you could time travel into the future 10 years, how will market research evolve?

We will have a lot more neuroscience tools, and virtual reality will be commonly used across different methodologies.

What do you like to do in your free time, when you are not working?

I like binge-watching “post-apocalyptic earth” TV shows and movies

Follow Iris via her LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilorenzo/

Kadence International is an agency with a lot of talent from all around the world. In this series, we honor some of our female colleagues leading up to International Women’s Day, asking them about their experience working within the market research industry and what the future holds for the industry.

Name: Ana I Pahler-Villaverde

Position: Sr Graphics Specialist

Kadence Office: USA

When did you join Kadence International?  

I joined the Kadence Americas team in October 2021.

What are your role responsibilities?

I am responsible for creating marketing materials and supporting all teams with any graphics needs. I spend my days creating compelling marketing materials, creating visually attractive presentations while creating a compelling story. 

What is unique about market research in the USA?  

The USA is a melting pot. As MR helps us understand consumers, identify issues and solve problems, the variety of the “panel” makes the studies applicable to international markets, helping to avoid expansion mistakes and identify international business opportunities.

What was the first job you had (during school, college or university)?

My first job was during my last year of university. I tutored high school students in Math, Physics, and Spanish. What was interesting is that I was majoring in Communications and Advertising.  

Is there anything about your experience before joining Kadence that you feel worth mentioning?

I came to the world of Marketing Research 15 years ago completely by accident. I was lucky to start my journey working for P&G in their Brand and Communications department, working on global programs and taking some time to grasp all areas of research working as a Jr. Analyst. Since then, understanding and positioning brands in consumers’ minds has been my passion. Nothing is more gratifying to me than making complex information clear, engaging, and efficient.  

What is it about market research that excites you the most?

Design is a lot more than making things pretty. I see myself as a creative person with an analytical mind. I love to apply a WHY and a WHAT FOR to everything I do.

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What is it about Kadence’s company culture that you like the most?

Kadence allows people to shine. There is always an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and learn from other departments.  

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Not related to what I do at all. I always wanted to be a veterinarian. Unfortunately, I faint when I see blood 🙂  

What qualities do you feel are “a must” for anyone exploring a career in market research?

Empathy. I think it is essential to empathize with the consumers/users. And see problems and experiences through the eyes of users. Be open to learning from others and have excellent communication skills.

What piece of advice would you give someone looking to start a career in market research?

Be ready to do many things outside your work description; you will be working long hours, expect a lot of bumps on the way, and be open to criticism. You will learn and grow from it, and the end result will make the experience worth it.  

How have you seen the field of market research change since you started your market research career?

Market Research is way more graphic these days. When I started, reports were data-heavy and not very easy to understand or even interesting for those outside the analytics teams. These days, reports are easy enough to understand and present to marketing departments, creatives, and end-users.  

What is it about the field of market research you wish everyone knew?

I would love people to understand that graphics and design are not just making things pretty. It involves KNOWLEDGE. There is always a WHY behind a good chart, attractive packaging, or exciting marketing collateral. Researchers give us that information, and marketers convert that information into compelling content.

Who is your favorite hero, or what is your movie of all time and why? 

I’m not too fond of superheroes movies. I am more of a drama queen 😉  

The Notebook and Out of Africa are my favorite movies. Love slow descriptive stories, with beautiful photography and a memorable soundtrack!  

What is your favorite quote, motto, or favorite phrase?

Life is as good as your mindset.  

If you could time travel into the future 10 years, how will market research evolve?

Consumers/users are constantly changing, and because of this, Market research will continue changing with them. I think the future will see more and more observational research using wearables and technology.

What do you like to do in your free time when you are not working?  

I love to paint, hike and spend time with my kids.  

Follow Ana via her LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anapvillaverde/

Global manufacturing leaders are carefully considering the pros and cons of both.

China still leads the world in manufacturing, with close to 30% of the country’s economic output coming from this sector. Many industry experts and leading economists believe that China will no longer be the manufacturing powerhouse it once was within the next five years.

How the pandemic changed the manufacturing industry

The global pandemic caused a notable decrease in manufacturing production in 2020 due to containment strategies in economic and social lockdowns. Both had a significant impact on both supply and demand. 

Consumer demand declined overall due to uncertainties triggered by travel restrictions, remote working, business cessations, and job losses. At the same time, the production of many goods came to a halt worldwide for many months. 

A shift away from Made in China

For some major manufacturing companies, the pandemic spurred a sea-change in where they manufactured their product. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shenzhen, China, surveyed its manufacturing membership and learned that over 30 percent were in the process of moving some of its manufacturing out of China.

In July 2020, Apple announced it was shifting the assembly of its iPhone 11, the most advanced model in its product line, from China to India.

A couple of weeks later, Samsung and several other Apple suppliers applied for the Indian government’s incentive program targeted towards large-scale manufacturers of electronic products, which would see a significant part of these companies’ manufacturing transferred to India.

In recent years, China has attempted to replace the term “Made in China” with “Engineered in China”: the country would no longer be known as the world’s factory, a cheap place for countries to outsource manufacturing. Chinese manufacturers have increased automation and switched to using robots instead. In these instances, up to 80 percent of workers were sent home and replaced with specialized production line workers — typically experts in machine maintenance and machine learning. Mechanized factories boast much higher output with fewer errors and accidents, and a higher dependence on technology and automation meant wage costs were no longer critical.

With these changes, China is slowly losing its foothold in the global manufacturing sector for reasons with nothing to do with costs and output.

Other factors affecting this shift also include; trade tensions between China and the US (along with its western allies), the realization by global manufacturers during the pandemic of the flaw in the supply chain delivery due to over-reliance on one country for production, increased costs, and tariffs, and consumer sentiment of products made in China.

Even so, manufacturing in China is expected to recover in 2021, growing by 9 percent.

The growth in manufacturing in India

By comparison, India is expected to grow by 10 percent, recovering from significant economic strain during the pandemic.

The average age of a citizen in India is 28 years versus 38 years in China. This country has a massive population, and the demand for technology is high. Manufacturing overseas is not always about importing; it is also about global supply. If you have a product that appeals to 20 somethings or 30 somethings, manufacturing locally in India makes sense.

India is a lot less controversial geopolitically, and the Indian government is poised to capitalize on that notion.  

The government of India has launched several policies over the past few years to create a favorable environment and attract investment in manufacturing, with a focus on electronics manufacturing, including mobile phones, industrial electronics, consumer electronics, electronic components, computer hardware, and LED products.

Due to these commercially favorable initiatives, India’s electronics production has more than doubled in the last five years (2015-2020). According to the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information technology, India’s electronics market is expected to reach US$132 billion by the end of 2021.

In China, manufacturing labor wages by location (in USD per hour) is $3.80 compared to India’s 0.70. Even with China’s focus on automation and robotics, labor in India is five times less than in China.

While the shift from solely or wholly manufacturing in China has seemingly begun, China will still be a global manufacturing hub. 

Perception of manufacturing locale 

Supply is synonymous with manufacturing. In economics, the rule of supply and demand states that if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of a good, the fewer people will demand that good. For most, regardless of generation, price and availability are essential, if not the most important, in buying decisions. 

However, in economics, “movements” and “shifts” represent different market phenomena concerning supply and demand. 

In the past, companies chose to manufacture from an outside country due to price. Now other factors could negatively affect demand and brand perception.

Price, or cost of goods sold, is an easy measurement to evaluate in manufacturing. However, more and more companies see that consumer sentiment is a factor contributing to growth and demand.

Consumer sentiment is becoming an essential factor in manufacturing. After all, it does not matter how cheaply you can manufacture a product, whether that is in China or India, if the demand is not there or if consumers will choose a different, competitively priced product based on the manufacturer’s location.

A key question a company should ask is whether consumers would feel differently and ultimately decide to buy a product based on a “Made in India” label versus “Made in China.” 

For Gen Z and millennials, these two generations are much more brand conscious. In one study, 62% of millennials surveyed said buying from brands that support their own political and social beliefs is essential. In another study, Gen Z consumers are more likely to switch brands that meet specific values like sustainability. 

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The role of research in manufacturing 

Moving the manufacture of parts or components to multiple countries is a huge undertaking. Deciding to enter a new market, along with evaluating manufacturers, can be incredibly daunting if “on the ground” knowledge is limited or non-existent. Commissioning a research agency to find out where to direct your attention is a crucial first step. Selecting a research company with direct market knowledge can save time and capital investment.

Understanding how your target audience perceives where your product is manufactured, alongside any impacts on demand, should be researched and evaluated. 

Read case studies from the Manufacturing sector here

Kadence International is proud to be announced a finalist for the 2021 Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards.

Known as the Quirk’s Awards, Kadence learned that placed as finalists under the Best New Product/Service Innovation category. The category honors a research product, tool or service making an impact on the marketing research industry.

The award nominations are open to all researchers worldwide. All attempts are made to ensure the judging is blind so that the judges do not know the name or company they are evaluating.

“Being named a finalist for a Quirk’s award is a huge accomplishment in itself” said Darren Lewis, Kadence International’s UK Country Manager.

“To be judged by your peers in the research industry, who know firsthand what “best in show” research truly looks like, means to be named a finalist is a badge of honor,” he said.

Even so, Lewis and the entire Kadence International team are hopeful of a win. Winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony held on November 9, 2021.

“Being a finalist in an award category that acknowledges an impact in the industry is humbling,” said Ramsey Yomen, who leads the Kadence International brand through the 10 countries it operates.

“Kadence has always been about pushing the boundaries in the research data and insight industry. Being named a finalist, and hopefully a winner, will prove we continue to be on the right track and forefront of innovation in research.”

Kadence International has won multiple industry awards in recent years including winning Gold as Consultant of the Year – Agency of the Year Awards, 2021 and Market Research Agency of the Year, Agency of the Year Awards, 2021. The international agency last won a Quirk’s Award in 2019 for Market Research Supplier of the Year.

Kadence International prides itself as a being a boutique, yet global marketing research agency. Whether it be strictly for delivering well-sourced data for company’s research divisions or conducting end to end full data research and insight reporting, Kadence delivers it all. With offices in 10 countries (USA, UK, India, Malaysia, Sinapore, Phillipines, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and China), Kadence is provides research expertise across the globe.

We are absolutely thrilled to be finalists at this year’s AURA Awards for Innovation of the Year in conjunction with Asahi Europe & International. The award nomination recognizes our work using augmented reality to drive innovation in pack and concept testing.

This new approach harnesses augmented reality models, built in-house by our design team, that respondents can interact with at home. The result? Rich, detailed feedback to fuel the innovation and design process without the need for a physical prototype or bringing respondents together centrally.

We conducted a pilot of the technology alongside Asahi Europe & International, which validated a number of benefits over established pack and concept testing methods, including respondents being able to better visualize what the concepts would look like in real life, and spontaneously commenting on critical details of the pack design. Read the full case study to find out more about the pilot.

The AURAs are one of the most respected awards in the market research industry, and are judged by members of AURA, an organization of client side research and insight professionals. Innovation of the Year is a brand new category for 2021 that seeks to recognize solutions that are helping to “deliver better insights or deliver insights better.”

The winners will be announced at the AURA Awards Dinner in London on 19th July.

AURA Innovation of the Year award

We are thrilled to announce that we’re finalists in 3 categories at Singapore’s Agency of the Year Awards. We’re shortlisted for:

  • Market Research Agency of the Year
  • Consultant of the Year
  • Agency Leader of the Year

The Agency of the Year Awards are organized by Marketing Magazine and seek to recognize the country’s best agencies. The awards are judged by an esteemed panel of senior client-side marketers. You can see a list of all finalists on the Marketing website.

In 2019, we were named Market Research Agency of the Year and in 2020, we took home the trophy for Consultant of the Year. Hear the Managing Director of our Singapore office, Phil Steggals, speak to Marketing Magazine about the award win and what Kadence is doing differently.

Find out more about our Singapore office or get in touch, if you’d like to discuss a potential project.

In 2020, we’ll share more reports and short reads to help you get ahead of the latest market research and consumer trends. But, before we do, we’re looking back at our most-read LinkedIn posts of the past year to point you in the direction of our top reports and blog posts from 2019 – covering everything from the future of cars to the booming cannabis market in the US.

The launch of our Urban Mobility study

In February 2019, we launched our Urban Mobility study, a new piece of global research exploring how people across the world commute. Our launch event at the London Transport Museum brought together industry experts from Drivy, Waze and Bloomberg as we discussed the future of travel and transportation and the innovations we expect to see in this space.

Missed the event? You can download the full Urban Mobility report here.

Understanding the Concerned Consumer

From calls for recyclable packaging to moves to eat less meat, we’re seeing the rise of the concerned consumer. But what are the issues that really matter to consumers when comes to food and drink? And what implications do these trends have for marketing and product innovation? Our Concerned Consumer research sought to explore, by understanding the attitudes and behaviors of 5000 consumers across 10 countries which match the global footprint of our offices.

Get your copy of the Concerned Consumer report here.

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What do therapeutic cannabis users in the US look like?

As the legal markets for cannabis expand in the US, we wanted to understand what therapeutic cannabis consumers look like. Are they really that different to the average US cannabis consumer? We found they’re more likely to consume cannabis everyday and are more likely to consume using non-combustive methods, such as edibles and vaping concentrates.

We visualized the full findings in an infographic on our blog. If you want to learn more about cannabis consumption in the US, you can download the full report.

The Best Market Research Agency in the World (probably)!

In December, Phil Steggals, MD of our Singapore office, explored ESOMAR’s Insight Market Development Index, taking a tongue in cheek look at why this must mean that Kadence is the best market research agency in the world … probably!

Read the blog post here.

Kadence is the best Market Research agency in the world (probably).

Admittedly word ‘probably’ in the headline is ‘doing a lot’ – but it does in fact play a lovely dual role. Firstly, to hark back to the glory days of Carlsberg’s branding, a series of fantastic ads that ran for many years, in many parts of the world (have a Google, if you don’t already have a favorite!) – and secondly to ensure that there is not a legal outcry from others. As a diligent researcher, I have of course checked on the Advertising Standards of the claim ‘best’ and so I shall be providing the ‘objective claims’ required.

Earlier this year, ESOMAR released their Global Market Research report – their annual look at the size of market research across the world. For the first time, within this report they released the IMDI (Insight Market Development Index) ranking – an inaugural ‘look at various aspects that affect the industry, and informs the reader about the degree of development of the sector in any country compared to others’.

There are 3 parts that make up the index:

  • The Global Prices study – a biannual report that informs what prices, on average, are to be expected in each country and for a wide variety of projects
  • The Global Market Research Report – the document listed above, a yearly publication that presents in detail the state of the insights industry
  • The Representative Index – an indicator for the representation of the professionals both within the country and at a global scale, extracted from ESOMAR’s worldwide member base

According to this index, there are a ‘group of countries that belong to the High Industrial Development, enjoy a highly developed industry with decent per capita turnover, strong representation of end-clients and specialized workforce and above average price levels’

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The country that tops this list? Singapore. So Singapore is the most ‘developed’ research country in the world. So, we need to look at Singapore, we need to find the ‘best’ agency in Singapore. Well. As it turns out Kadence won the Gold Award at the ‘Agency of the Year’ Awards in 2019 presented by Marketing Magazine – these are the only awards in the country that specify the ‘Market Research Agency of the Year’.

So, if Kadence is the Agency of the year in Singapore – which is the most developed market in the world for Kadence – it is quite clear that Kadence is the best agency, in the best market in the world.

So there we have it. Proof. I am privileged to run the best research agency in the whole world.

Although, if I am honest (and I am hoping you have picked up on the tongue in cheek nature of this post), there is no such thing as a ‘Best Agency’. There is a huge collection of brilliant people, working for brilliant research companies. I have often said that as an industry we are too hard on ourselves – always looking over our shoulder and proclaiming that AI, Big Data…the Internet…will change everything! As an industry, market research is here to stay – and the successful companies of the future will embrace the new – as well as adapting the old. For Kadence, much like the focus of Carlsberg in 2019, we will be starting this next decade by looking to do what we do….only better. No probably about it!  

Have a great Christmas and New Year all!

P.S. If you want to hear some of the reasons why we made it to Agency of the Year in Singapore – check out this video.

As Greenbook endeavors to expand its presence within Asia, Kadence International identified with that desire to spread innovative market research practices across the world, for the betterment of the industry. With that in mind, Kadence International stepped up and became Title Sponsor for its third IIeX Conference in Dec 2019.

The two-days conference brought together both clients and agencies in Thailand and within the region, and the Kadence booth was at the center of all ‘buzzworthy’ interactions and conversations, discussing what interesting methodologies are being carried out, and what kinds of possibilities and potential the future can hold, when clients and agencies achieve perfect synergy.

To that point, Kadence’s presentation at the conference was great proof of that: it worked with Bloomberg on a project, the first of its kind in Asia, by marrying neuro-centric measures of respondents and traditional quantitative surveys, to understand consumer reactions to the same ads placed on different platforms. Results of the study will be released in the public domain in Q1 2020, but the study proved how traditional research methodologies, in the face of evolving technologies, can still play a complementary role in enhancing outcomes and strengthening gained insights 

The presentation was part of a larger series of sessions that covered other interesting subject matters: from Google’s sharing of what makes a fad a trend (or, when does a ‘thing’ actually become a THING) and the commercial potential that brands can tap into when thinking about the urban phenomenon of loneliness, to why the over-60-year-olds are brands’ best bet for market growth in Asia and how visual communication partially explains chat platform Line’s success in Thailand, there were food-for-thought aplenty, and many topics that sparked discussions during lunch and networking breaks

Kadence also noticed 3 phenomena during the conference, which it believes is evidence that a larger trend is taking shape:

  1. Greater willingness to appreciate research from a multitude of angles – Google’s own study on the formation of trends highlights how data analytics, however advanced and wide in reach, can only explain part of the story
  2. Greater access to research respondents outside of traditional channels – on top of reaching out to online panels for respondents to complete online surveys, there’s increasing experimentation to access data from a brand’s own users (e.g. True Mobile in Thailand and its millions of subscribers), or new vendors that are using different platforms to offer agencies that reach (e.g. crowdsourcing, social media, etc.)
  3. Distinction vs. differentiation – precisely because of the plethora of new partners for both agencies and brands to work with (e.g. in the space of accessing respondents for studies), the ones that work well understand the classic marketing notion of ‘distinction’: what they offer may not be different to their competitors, but they are at least clear about what it is that allows them to stand out from the crowd
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In summary, that larger trend is the notion of ‘connections, not alternatives’; this is at the heart of Kadence’s strategy for 2020, as it believes in order to raise the impact of research within the region, through meaningful insights and business-relevant recommendations, it will benefit by playing that ‘matchmaking’ role, working with partners who’s business is in making sense of cutting-edge research technologies, and deciphering that to put it together with traditional research, in service of answering clients’ strategic questions. Kadence is certain that the industry will certainly benefit from the notion of ‘this-AND-that’, rather than ‘this-OR-that’