What Market Research Misses

Something strange is happening in research.?

Every day, commentary proliferates on the new tools, technologies, platforms and cultural truths fundamentally changing the way we think, process, shop, donate, engage, make decisions, and move through the world.

And yet, so much of market research – the industry that aims to understand all that – remains materially unchanged. Sure, the processes and deliveries are souped up –?faster, AI-generated, infographic-laden, etc. – but the fundamental approach stands, in many ways, frozen in time.?

A generation ago, it all made great sense. For the most part, our parents and grandparents came across new products, content and initiatives 1:1. They’d watch TV (three channels! one household screen!), see something, then form a POV. "Oo, that looks good. I'd like to try that."?

In this context, the traditional approach tracks. Show someone something in a vacuum, ask them what they think, then build against wherever majority opinion stands.?

Today, we bump into new stuff entirely differently.

By the time I watch a movie trailer, I’ve read a “think piece” and scrolled the memes. If I'm adding something to my cart, it's because TikTok compels me to believe it’s a genuine dupe for the too-expensive original I want but would never let myself buy.?Like it or not, we rarely see things without already having at least some sense of how others feel about them.

Honestly (embarrassingly?), when I do see something in the silo of my own opinion, it’s a little unsettling. I take immediate action to start triangulating my own view based on that of those I trust or want to emulate.?

Market research has captured virtually none of this new dynamic; it marches on as if the waves and tides of social and community? influence don’t exist. Surveys ask our brains to do gymnastics about the extent to which we agree/ disagree that we might buy or engage with this thing we see sans context. The simulation takes away our ability to search, learn more, read reviews, etc. –?or, in other words, to do any of the stuff we actually do.

Of course, 1x1 questioning has its place, and we use it every day in our work to get a clear, gut reaction read. But we’ve also found that our insights start to really sing when we get people together – on their own terms and platforms –?to communicate about things in the ways they naturally do.?

Our tools let us see what happens when an idea bounces around a cultural in-group. What happens when I pass my POV to you, you pass yours to me, and we begin to co-create a cultural perspective? Understand this and we understand if an idea, initiative, innovation, etc. has what it takes to stand out, blend in, or break through.