5/10/12 Qualitative researcher in the 21 st century SAP Renaissance - - PDF document

5/10/12

SAP

A BUSINESS IN TRANSITION Qualitative researcher in the 21st century Renaissance Man or Networking Queen?

AQR/QRCA conference in Rome April 27th 2012

the world is changing – the old beliefs are crumbling…

“It’s a time of rapid transition, of venal political strife, of economic boom and bust, of outlandish reports from hitherto unknown corners of the world…. It is a period as much of disruption as optimism… Everything is possible but nothing is certain”

Da Vinci’s biographer talking about the world in the 1400s

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and in our little world of research… a period of disruption too clients are doing it for themselves

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but they still want smart minds & fresh thinking

• ur clients are being challenged to do

things differently “We need to see things we haven’t seen before… to be better connected with culture and able to differentiate between a real cultural shift and a trend” “We want bold thinking – to work with partners who are forward thinking, have a point of view. The best people we work with are change agents, challenging us to think differently”

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there’s a role to play as valuable thought partner

cultural consultant & business partner

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being smart & relentlessly inquisitive and often a pain in the xxxx

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‘tell me’ - da Vinci’s scribal tic More than ever, like the stars of the Renaissance, we need to be ‘traders in doubts and questions’ ‘The most relentlessly curious man in history’ had a scribal tic

• habitually doodling the word ‘dimmi’

when trying out a new pen

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to maximise our value we need to use models & theories… to help make sense

• f the world

in which we live and to lead to

‘astonishing disclosures’

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in the words of da Vinci….

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“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast”

but to making sense of the world today, we need to know so much…. We need to borrow from the best thinking and practices of many & diverse disciplines

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some islands

• f inspiration

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influence theory

…..“Our species is first and foremost a social

• ne…Most of the context
• f our individual lives is

made up of other people and most of what we do is determined by this context” Mark Earls

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behavioural economics breaking old habits and forming & reinforcing new ones

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psychology, Dichter & motivational research

Neuroscience is ‘proving’ that emotion, not reason, drives purchase decisions So emotions are back – but neuroscience can’t explain the why What can we take from ‘unfashionable’ motivational research and psychology to help us understand emotions?

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change management

to help us get people to use research, to change the way they’re doing things in an organisation

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new marketing thinking

To name but a few… participatory marketing

• with the focus on creating a

participatory brand

• vs. creating participatory

communications cultural strategy

• monitoring real cultural trends
• uncovering ideological
• pportunities to fuel innovation

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The seven principles of participatory brands

your construct is probably not the same as mine

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unequivocal images of great moments – or are they?

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we don’t view a given situation through the same lens

• ur lens is shaped by our own histories and culture to interpret

things differently

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China

the legacy of the early sages

• Confucius & Tao

and then Marx & Mao and the rapidly changes values of the new generation

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India

A market of rapid change

• where 25% growth year on year

can be a disappointment! Such rapid change, at so many levels, in an already complex culture is difficult to get a handle

• n
• even by experienced practitioners

living within the culture The best are looking for fresh ways to bring some order to the chaos

• even leveraging the shared

knowledge in India of the Hindu Gods!

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Japan

the importance of context & detail “Westerners tend of focus narrowly

• n individuals taking actions while

Asians are more likely to focus on context and relationships…. For Asians the world is a complex place, understandable in terms of the whole rather than in terms of the parts, and subject more to collective than personal control…. Asked to describe a busy airport scene, Japanese students pick out many more background details than American students” David Brooks in ‘The Social Animal”

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the US

Greater faith placed in statistical vs psychological truth

• an obsession with numbers
• to validate and control

In qual, most commonly used models are the client’s own

• Fortune 100s own view of the world

But clients are now looking for fresh ideas beyond their world… And some of the best new brand thinking is coming out of the States

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“The most popular US sports are statistically sliced and diced, every way, every day… That’s why ‘soccer’ will never conquer American hearts… There’s only so much number- crunching you can do with a 0-0 draw”

France & Germany

Neighbours who utilise many of the same theoretical frameworks

• sociology and psychological theory

dominant in both markets

• semiotics and cultural anthropology

also widely leveraged in France But differ in how much of the theory they share with clients

• in France, clients more embracing
• f theory
• in Germany, the theory often needs

to be invisible, with the focus on what needs to happen next

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which path to take?

Renaissance Man

• r Networking Queen?

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Renaissance Man…

Today we need to know about more, be open to new ideas, new ways of doing things…. Asking the constant questions of the Renaissance man And some of us may be able to do this alone….

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• r Networking Queen?

Some of us may maximise

• ur value to clients by being

a consummate networker Skilled at connecting with research participants, local partners, digital specialists, behavioural economists, semioticians… Not someone who just knows lots of people and brings them together but….

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a modern day alchemist

Blending the talents of great thinkers and doers And adding her own perspective from her

• wn experience

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building potent task forces to help crack the code

• f people’s

everyday lives

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Anita Black + 44 7810 123485 anita@themagneticcollective.com www.themagneticcollective.com