by The MRMW NA 2020 Virtual conference is just 2 weeks away and as a part of our pre-conference interviews, we recently spoke with Charanya Kannan, Global Customer Insights and Market Research Strategy at PayPal about the highlight of her session on driving strategy through Behavioral Insights and the main challenges.
Question #1: Without giving too much away – what is the core message of your talk and what would you like delegates to remember?
Charanya: The core message is around how insights can be used to drive strategy. Often, insights are presented as-is to executives who then have to think through what it means for them. In this talk, I provide actionable pointers to get to the “so what” of insights so it can be placed in the context of the business making it sharper, relevant, and usable.
Question #2: Why did you choose the topic of your talk?
Charanya: Having worked in strategic consulting, I know decision-making executives are often stretched for time. The value is not in giving them data, but in providing them the translation of the data. Data and insight experts might mine a wealth of information that can often be lost because is a gap. At a time when many firms are gravitating towards big data, it becomes imperative to bridge the gap between data and action.
Question #3: What motivates you to join MRMW 2020 and what are your expectations?
Charanya: MRMW is one of the biggest conferences aiming to inspire and innovate in the field of insight and data. The expectation is to be able to exchange ideas with the top practitioners and thinkers in this field. At a time when conferences are going virtual, industry-leading conferences like MRMW have the bonus of innovating in the virtual space & creating a successful conference model that others can emulate.
Question #4: There is a lot of talk about the current state of consumer insights and the impact of technology. How would you sum up the current state of the industry in 1-2 sentences?
Charanya: We see rapid changes in consumer behavior, expectations, and attitudes in the context where the world is becoming flat yet opinions are polarized. Only technology can help map the magnitude and variance at this unprecedented scale.
Question #5: Looking back on the past months please share your thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on the market research and the consumer behaviors in general?
Charanya: COVID-19 has brought to the forefront the relevance of strategic insights. Behaviors that take decades to evolve rapidly changed overnight due to the “burning platform” syndrome. This presents brands with unique opportunities to not only re-invent themselves but also to lead the change in shaping consumer behaviors.
Can’t make the live event? No worries, just register and you will receive access to all the video recordings!
