Accelerating Excellence – ESOMAR Global Market Research Conference

Congress 2012 marked ESOMAR’s 65th anniversary – a milestone that called for celebrating the market research industry’s global achievements to date and more importantly for painting a vibrant and compelling vision for the future of market research.

Opportunities, of course, do not come without challenges. We live in a continually evolving society, struggling to maintain a balance of power in a fast-changing world with dynamic markets. These are stimulating times, when we must explore what is at the heart of clients’ needs and how to meet their demands for increased speed, enhanced quality and value-enriched products and services.

As a new member the Congress 2012, held in the United States for the first time, was my first experience with the organization. There were many highly interesting presentations, I was very impressed with the entire program that also featured musical performances to start each day. MIT Professor Sherry Turkle’s keynote address “Online Identities: The Person in the Machine” was a perfect, thought-provoking presentation  leading up to a high caliber program.

Out of the many topics one of my favorites was “Focusing on the Flow of Enthusiasm” by Rijn Vogelaar (Blauw Research) and Arne van de Wijden (Philips International). It emphasized the importance of focusing our attention on “Superpromoters”. Superpromoters  are clients who share their enthusiasm about particular products, brands and companies and influence other people by doing so. The theory urges companies to focus more on the enthusiasm of these customers.

Looking forward to Congress 2013!

Angela Wende, CETRA Language Solutions