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Rory Sutherland's Blog

Has anyone done any market research into market research? 

Comments:6   Add your comment
Elsewhere on brand republic, someone suggests that WPP is buying another research company because "research is measurable, and WPP likes measurable things". I would suggest this is the complete opposite of the truth. Research panders to the love of measurement, for sure, but as a marketing activity I cannot think of anything less subjected to rigorous cost-benefit analysis than the money, time and effort squandered, oops, I meant 'invested' in researching things. Nemo custodes ipsos custodiet. 

A quick point of clarification. There is a vast difference between measuring things and being measurable yourself. (Referees are very rarely sent off the pitch.) The research industry does measurement  - but is not itself all that measurable. Which is all the more reason for WPP to be buying more of it.

Quite simply the industry enjoys two complementary advantages of any business. One, it caters to a vital and growing need - that of every single person employed in marketing services to be able to point to an Excel chart to justify their last trip to the bathroom. Yet, secondly, while satisfying this need, it is not itself exposed to all that many awkward questions about its own real value.

In truth, I'm not sure marketers question the value of research any more than compulsive hand-washers ask hard questions about the value of wash-basins. It's just something you need. Frequently and everywhere.

The analysis of IPA Effectiveness Awards suggests that ads which are pre-tested are on average less effective than those which aren't. Will this be a setback to the business? Will it bollocks. Research in 2008 is simply like TV advertising in 1976 - it's just something you do by default

If you want to keep your job, go and do some research. If you want to make some money, go and buy a book about behavioral economics instead.

You have to hand it to WPP. A recession is a great time to buy a research company. At no other time is the demand for fatuous self-justification higher.

Published May 12 2008, 12:19 AM by Rory Sutherland

Comments

by Simon K
May 12, 2008 9:43 PM
 
Rory - your last paragraph nails it. With budgets threatened, ad men need as many numbers as possible to keep hold of their marketing budgets (and expenses accounts?!?). Commissioniung research to prove the value of their activities therefore becomes of increased importance
 
 
by Rory Sutherland
May 13, 2008 10:51 AM
 
The question that is never asked about research is what opportunity cost it incurs. At what point does the time, delays and dithering produced by supplemental information outweigh any value contained in the information itself? The correct answer to this is somewhere between 'never' and 'always'. But a lot closer to 'always'.
 
 
by James Page
May 13, 2008 2:35 PM
 
Rory.... Read your post and instead of buying the book on behavioral economics, I stole one off my partner (she is a behavioral expert) a book on it .... I then checked all the journals lying next to the bed and the results of my desk (or bed) research is that most insights into behavioral economics is done by quantitative and qualitative research. As behavioral economics and other cognitive research has demonstrated it is possible to show consumer insights through research. So are you suggesting that research methods need updating. I would agree. There is far too much research done in the commercial world that would fail Popper's test of science. On your last comment I would say that the problem is that research needs to be made more agile. If research can be put in front of the creative fast and quick, with the right tools so that they can understand it, it would have a fast pay back. You used to be a great advocate of A vs B testing. Is that no longer the case?
 
 
by Rory Sutherland
May 14, 2008 12:17 AM
 
A lot of reserach in Behavioural Economics is absolutely B vs A. I think most BE advance is the product of experimentation, with in many cases brilliantly conceived hypotheses ingeniously put to the test - and hence falsifiable, as Popper would demand. Most market research would not meet these criteria: worse still, it is based on the presumption that people's attitude is in some way a predictor of their behaviour, which is in many cases demonstrably untrue.
 
 
by Charles Frith
July 22, 2008 8:40 AM
 

I've always thought there's an opportunity for the research industry to research itself. Excellent post Rory. I'm buying WPP shares ASAP.

 
 
by Chris Mundy
July 22, 2008 10:01 AM
 

Don't blame the researchers for this. The obsession with self-justification is endemic in marketing and brand management. Having just left a senior research job in a media company I can tell you that most of my life was spent telling people why they shouldn't research things - because the work wouldn't ultimately make a difference to the consumer.

There are a couple of cardinal rules for market research: ask yourself if the results will be just interesting or important, and are you prepared to act on them anyway. And if you've already made the decision, and need a bit of research to justify to other people why you have made the decision that you have then you are truly wasting everuyone's time and money. Sadly this happens too often.

 
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