What can market researchers learn from Hokusai and the Great Wave?

To read the Japanese version of this post (from Mr Ryota Sano) click here. Many of us from outside Japan are familiar with Hokusai’s picture the Great Wave, but I suspect that I am not alone in being less familiar with his other works. Luckily for me, that situation changed today. In learning more about Hokusai, I was struck by its significance for market researchers, insight professionals, and anybody looking for the story in the data. I spent the afternoon attending an exhibition of Hokusai’s work. The exhibition showed Hokusai’s work and highlighted the enormous impact he had on painters such as Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro. I won’t go into all of the many things that I learned today, instead I will focus on a few lessons for those of us trying to find meaning in data and information. One of Hokusai’s great works is his 36 views of Mount Fuji. The great wave is one of the 36 views, as are the other two on this page. In the West, at the time Hokusai was becoming famous (the mid-19th Century), painters rarely painted the same scene repeatedly. In contrast Hokusai did one hundred black and white views of Mount […]

Ray Poynter’s presentation at JMRA Annual Conference 2017

This week, Ray Poynter was the opening keynote speaker at the JMRA (Japanese Market Research Association) Annual Conference in Tokyo. Ray’s topic was ‘Where next, and how do we get there?’ The four final points, the big picture, that Ray left the audience with were: Traditional Research is yesterday New methods are the future A dichotomy is emerging Data / DIY / Automation / AI Consultancy and Storytelling The tide of change is mostly English The key priorities for clients are usually in the following order: Speed Cost Agile Quality If you would like to download a copy of Ray’s presentation click here.

The State of the Global MR Industry

AMSRS (The Australian Market & Social Research Society) has just published an article from Ray Poynter in its members’ magazine, Research News. In the article, Ray sets out his perception of the global picture for market research. If you are not a member of AMSRS and would like to read the articles, click here. Perhaps you would like to add your views, why not add them as a comment to this page?

How does your knowledge and MR learning compare with others?

Update, the survey is now closed and the analysis has begun. When we have finished the analysis, reporting and story creation we will update this page and tell you how to get a copy of the final report and provide a link to a short form of the report. You can still see the topline result from the data collection below. We (Ray Poynter and Sue York) are running a study that seeks to benchmark the current state of play in terms of what research terms are understood. Once the data is collected we will be analyzing the data and creating a report, looking at the key issues identified by the research, and making suggestions for career and professional development. Before looking at the data results so far, please take part in the survey by clicking here [survey now closed]. The survey comprises: 9 terms used in market research, asking participants which are they familiar with (as in could explain to somebody). A series of questions asking how often people do things like attend conferences, listen to webinars, take part in training, and read articles and books. There are just two demographics, age and country. A question about topics you would […]