by Leveraging Advanced Market Research Techniques for Winning Product Propositions – Speaker Interview with Vicky McKeown, BAT– MRMW Europe 2024
MRMW: We are happy to have you with us at MRMW Europe 2024, Vicky. Without giving too much away– what is the core message of your talk at MRMW EU and what would you like delegates to remember?
Vicky: Thank you so much for this opportunity to be part of MRMW Europe 2024. My topic is about the challenges we face in discovering the truth about the construct we have created in order to draw actionable insights and deliver winning propositions. I’ll be discussing the thinking and steps we took and methodologies that enable us to quantify these elusive metrics and translate them into something we can act upon.
What I’d like delegates to remember is that while intangibles like overall satisfaction can be challenging to measure, they are crucial indicators of a product’s current and future performance. By leveraging innovative tools and research methods, such as segmentation, moment analysis, psychographic profiling, and advanced survey techniques, we can capture a more holistic and accurate picture of customer satisfaction.
Ultimately, I hope to inspire delegates to appreciate the value of these intangibles and to adopt robust measurement frameworks. This will allow them to make more informed decisions that enhance customer experiences, drive loyalty, and foster long-term success.
MRMW: How has this impacted your own work and your organisation?
Vicky: We are still in the learning journey. We have not seen the impact as of yet, however, at least we recognized that we need to go deeper, conduct more targeted and nuanced analysis that goes beyond quantitative metrics. We need to incorporate empathy and leverage science even more to break down what this construct of ‘satisfaction’ really means.
I can imagine this new thinking will lead us to be a more user-centric design organization. It will help us crack what satisfaction meant, and help us design superior products.
MRMW: MRMW EU focuses on new tools, methods and technologies. What do you hope to crowdsource more info on in your conversations?
Vicky: I am looking forward to meeting delegates who face the same challenges, those who construct metrics that involve emotions, behaviors, and personal biases. I am keen to know how AI and big data help transform those into digestible, small chunks that we can process, which eventually become useful in designing winning propositions.
MRMW: How do you envision the future of market research and insights, and who is driving industry growth?
Vicky: Market research has been transformed significantly. When I started this journey 30 years ago, we had to travel anywhere to see how people live but also how they are part of the society. We see how they used our products (or not) and the other non-verbalized information. We see them as part of the big world. COVID definitely changed all that, with more quals happening online or getting streamed. I wonder how much information we are missing. The lens we used to see has gotten smaller, despite having so much data out there. I would love to see the future of market research with a wider lens—the world we used to see.
MRMW: The market research and insights community is a passionate one and generates a lot of dynamic and engaging reflections and resources for itself, especially off the clock. Any favourite peer podcasts, zines, newsletters, blogs, vlogs or initiatives you´d like to recommend?
Vicky: Although not strictly a market research podcast, Simon Sinek’s Start with Why is my favourite. It’s essential for understanding the fundamental motivations behind human behavior, which is critical when designing products. When you understand why, it gives the product meaning to them, it gives each feature a function that is necessary to achieve the bigger goal. It prevents us from wasting time doing things that don’t have value.
MRMW: Outside of work what should delegates talk to you about at MRMW Europe?
Vicky: Outside of work, I would love to chat about Nutrition and Cooking. I became interested with nutrition when both of my children developed food allergies and one of them developed extreme eczema. I was keen to know what drives gut health and health overall. This then leads me to explore healthy cooking even more! I love mixing different flavours (and colours).
MRMW: Vicky, thank you very much. We look forward to hearing more from you at MRMW Europe!
Hear more from Vicky as well as international experts representing Burger King, Nestle, Philips, Givaudan, Warner Bros Discovery, Swarovski, Ikea, Reckitt and many more. Book your tickets at https://eu.mrmw.net/
