Sabine Lyko

Kantar is proud to have co-hosted the recent discussion on the evolving relationship between #AI and marketing at ADWEEK House Austin during #SXSW. Our Chief Knowledge Officer J. Walker Smith revealed our research which shows that marketers rate their AI readiness at just 4.9/10—a clear industry gap. Walker highlighted a crucial shift: "We're marketing to AI." As consumers delegate decisions to AI assistants, brands must appeal to both humans and algorithms while maintaining authenticity. Yet despite this shift, the panel consensus was clear: AI should enhance rather than replace human creativity. While it's reshaping how creative teams operate, successful brands will use AI to complement emotional intelligence and strengthen their distinctive brand voice. Learn more about navigating marketing’s biggest transformation yet: https://lnkd.in/efPBZu8Z

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Christopher Chin and I had a great time sharing experiences and perspectives about the unique intersection of turning data into stories (what Chris does at The Hidden Speaker), and turning stories into data (what we do at Share More Stories with the SEEQ Platform). We’re both looking to recenter humanity in data, and help our audiences and customers connect with richer insights in a deeper way. Check out these highlights, and then catch the whole episode on YouTube at https://lnkd.in/ebGfAqFA. #SEEQPlatform #Stories #Data #Insights #Connection

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The challenges around data quality in research aren’t new; but they’re getting harder to ignore. https://shorturl.at/zhtRv From bots in online surveys to low-quality responses and programmatic fraud, there’s growing concern that what we’re measuring may not reflect how people actually behave. Add in the rise of AI-generated content, deepfakes, and synthetic respondents, and the line between real insight and artificial noise is only getting blurrier. It’s why I still believe so strongly in the in-person, observational approach we take in our Retail Labs. Not because it’s old-school. But because it’s grounded. Because we watch decisions unfold, in context, in real time. Because we work with actual people, not proxies or predictions. At a time when simulated insight is easier than ever to produce, the value of something real has never been higher.

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My review of Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy's 2024 book, How to Make People Buy, appears in the latest issue of QRCA Views. Ramsøy discusses extensively the importance of attention in advertising. Attention is critical, but he argues that it must be channeled properly for an ad to work. He illustrates several examples of ads that were visually stunning, won bookshelves full of awards, and generated all kinds of media attention but ultimately had little market impact because the brand played no clear role in the ad's story. He also offers a number of very practical tips that creatives and clients should attend to when developing and assessing potential ads. I did disagree with his critique of metaphor in advertising. My perspective is that most successful ads use metaphor in some way. Don't avoid using metaphors; avoid using confusing metaphors. (But the differing opinions are part of the fun of reading a book like this!) TL;DR: Excellent book. If you work in marketing or market research, you should add it to your reading list. https://lnkd.in/gnPbY4R5 #marketresearch #mrx #bookreviews #marketing

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Our recent Medallia research shows a few things about the perception of feedback surveys: 1. Transparency on how survey data is being used is critical. If it's not clear that action is being taken, customers aren't going to think filling it out is worth their time. 2. Younger generations are especially skeptical of the purpose of feedback surveys. The value needs to be especially evident to these groups, or voice of the customer programs will continue to see shifting health metrics as older generations fade out. 3. Capabilities to understand experiences outside of a survey program are necessary. Social media listening, third party review listening, conversational data from customer service interactions, user session analytics on digital properties, and external market research are some of the many other avenues to explore. Check out our full report via link in the comments!

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In many organizations, market research teams are expected to drive business impact while still being treated as a cost center. Yet, the reality is that more than two-thirds of research efforts are focused on client-driven, revenue-generating projects. Is it time to treat insights teams as value-driving business functions? Should they be seen as strategic revenue enablers?

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Market research and insight agencies succeed because of their commercial capabilities, not their size or capacity of work. When I talk to leaders about growth, sometimes what I hear is "we cannot grow this account or this revenue stream because we don't have enough people - they are too busy already.” It's the classic seller-doer trap. Often, it’s not headcount that’s the problem, it’s whether the team has the right skills, clarity, and focus to deliver. May be they are over-utilised, may be not held accountable for growth, may be too involved in the doing, may be not confident that they can engage and build relationships. One of the most impactful shifts I help agencies make is learning to ask: 👉 Is it is a capacity issue, or is it a commercial skills and culture problem? And moreover, how can we motivate, enthuse and support our teams so that they can build and express their commercial capabilities. Because when you get unlock that, growth comes faster and more sustained.

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✨ “The fundamental problem with survey research is just that people who answer surveys are really weird.” Lol. That’s David Shor on The Ezra Klein Show podcast (transcript link in the comments). Shor is the head of data science at Blue Rose Research, a prominent research firm in the world of Democratic campaigning. Shor goes on to talk about how Blue Rose corrects for weirdness. It’s a great interview, btw, that goes a long way to explain the state of things—I highly recommend it. But I think Shor is missing the bigger problem with surveys. While I am sure the talented team at Blue Rose can correct for weirdness, there is an inherent problem with surveys that is harder to manage. Surveys capture opinions, not behavior. When I take a survey, I may say that I am going to behave a certain way; what I actually do is often entirely different. Surveys happen in an artificial environment. Voting takes place in the real world. Context matters. Surveys can be a great tool for gathering what people *say* about candidates, campaigns, and issues, but a less-great tool for predicting what they will *do*: how they will vote or which issues they will actively engage on. There is a self-awareness in taking a survey (‘I’m being observed’) that makes people behave in ways that may not be purely natural. Later in the interview, Shor talks about showing political campaign ads to 500 people and then using a survey to see the impact on their voting preference vs. a control of 500 people who did not see the ad. Is this a missed opportunity? After all, ads are such a good way to see people’s behavior in action. What about using ads to understand which issues people care about the most? ..Build a series of ads that showcase different planks of the Dem platform. ..Create at least two ads per plank—you don’t want terrific ad creative to be the reason the plank performed well—you want to know it’s the plank—so it’s useful to test pairs. ..Run the ads with a statistically valid sample of key audiences on at least two different ad platforms. ..Measure engagement: maybe how long a video ad was watched or whether anyone liked or commented on the ad. Crunch the data to identify the plank/issue ‘hotspots’ for each audience and its subsegments. Why is a behavior-based approach better? Because it measures the effectiveness of ads based on behavior not on opinion.  Because it reaches people in an everyday environment, not an artificial survey environment. Because it allows you to reach an audience sample so large that it is representative of everyone, not just weird people. P.S. I would love to meet David Shor. Anyone know him?

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I've had a surprising number of conversations the last few days about how ineffective - and almost insulting - advertising can be, when creative is based off of overly sterile, boring, surface-level insights, gleaned from people who don't really give a shit about being part of your research. So: just a reminder that your output gets 5000% better when you slow things down and spend real time with people, to get to the truth of their lived everyday experiences, and how brands (can) fit within those.

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Over the past 20+ years as a market researcher, I’ve witnessed how technology has revolutionized our ability to uncover deep consumer and customer truths—but often qualitative research goes underappreciated. It’s not just about collecting quotes or video snippets; it’s about understanding the why behind behaviors. By leveraging qualitative couple with quantitative research delivers powerful, actionable insights that drive smarter business decisions. I wrote the recent blog article, "The Evolution of Qualitative Research in Market Research," which dives into how platforms like EthOS are reshaping the qualitative and hybrid research landscape. Real-time video capture, AI-driven moderation and analysis, and hybrid methodologies enable us to scale efforts while preserving and exploring depth. It’s a game-changer for businesses looking to move beyond surface-level data and unlock meaningful consumer and customer insights. https://lnkd.in/dev9A-wX #ovationmr #ethosapp #insights #qualitative #innovation #mrx #restech #marketresearch #AI

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