In 2004 when James Surowiecki published The Wisdom of Crowds he caused quite a stir within market and social research; a stir that is still being debated seven years later. In the book, Surowiecki argued that ‘the many’ are smarter than ‘the few’. He presented case studies to show how collective wisdom shapes business and economies. In short, he proposes that the aggregation of information from groups results in better decisions being made that those made by any single member of the group. I don’t want to debate here whether this is right or wrong for research, but I do believe that getting input from lots of AMSRS members on a range of topics is leading to better decision making for the Society as a collective.

Our strategy is to listen, discuss and consider how far our finances can stretch – and then act with all of our members’ best interests in mind. We are working to get more members’ voices heard and examples of this include:

• The QPMR review in August was undertaken by a fresh set of members with both clients and suppliers represented. Thank you to Kathy Benson for getting that ball rolling with her simple post on LinkedIn.
• We involved members in a discussion about the key messages we should present on massive banners to promote the profession, which will be displayed on the exterior of the Sydney Town Hall this week.
• Members also have a chance this month to have your say on the new draft constitution. The draft will be emailed to all AMSRS members in September and we are hoping for wide-ranging member feedback.
• There has been member feedback on the structure of the Research Effectiveness Awards, which has resulted in more award categories. Check out both the news story and double page spread in this edition of Research News (http://www.amsrs.com.au/index.cfm?a=detail&id=8512&eid=402), which pre-empts the launch of 2012 Awards at the conference. I am particularly excited about the new Young Researcher’s Award. Mark your calendar now on 24 May 2012 for the Gala Awards night in Sydney.
• We are taking action on the request for more educational features in Research News and the theme of next month’s edition is ‘continuing education’.

Listen, discuss and consider what we can do, make sure you have a say.

If you didn’t see the Gruen Transfer last night, you should check it out – http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/theshow.htm

For a while now, I have been whining about the fact that the Advertising Industry is not listening to research as its considered boring and gets in the way of creativity.  Last night my 2 favourite panelists, Todd and Russel showed me may be wrong or things are changing.  Both these guys lead major Ad Agencies in Australia and they really spoke about how valuable research can be in the marketing process, ROI, avoiding costly mistakes etc etc.  They disagreed with other panelists that started down the well worn track that research stifles creativity and just tells you what you already know. 

I thought that was great and good on you Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft for helping the cause of those that know.  Research done correctly is a great investment and working in partnership with Ad Agencies is productive!

Like many others, I spend lots of time travelling, something I feel extremely lucky to do.  Last month I was lucky enough to fly between Toronto and Chicago and by chance I was introduced to Porter Airlines.  Being an ignorant Australian J, I had never heard of Porter, who I understand is a Canadian privately owned Airline who are really having a go and providing a different airline experience. 

I could not believe how pleasant it was.

1.       Purchasing the ticket online was easy and the flight was fantastic value

2.       You leave from downtown Toronto so close from work to the airport.

3.       You take a 3 minute pleasant ferry ride to the terminal

4.       You walk into the terminal and it looks like the Qantas Chairmans lounge but less stuffy. Food, drinks, lounges, fast wifi and very comfy

5.       You walk on to the plane, met by really well presented staff

6.       Once they take off, they come and give you a neat snack and offer a drink in a glass (all free of charge)

7.       They ask if you want a refill

8.       They take away the rubbish without grumbling

9.       You land at Chicago Midway, luggage appears within minutes and you are in a cab and almost in downtown Chicago quickly.

In a time when Airlines are going bust, making cuts, trying to achieve loyalty, spending $ on everything, I wonder if anyone has stopped and really tried to understand the business traveller experience.  Porter are doing an amazing job and I would bet their customer sat scores reflect this.  Everyone I spoke to after that flight told me that Porter were great.  Great experiences, leading to great word of mouth, leading to great loyalty.  Simple – right?  

This never-ending thirst for learning by people within our profession is something that continues to amaze me. Our profession is coming out of a tough few years in business and yet our professional development program (PDP) and conference numbers have never been stronger. The AMSRS Winter School last month comprised of eight different workshops and they were all near sellouts. We work hard at AMSRS to continue to innovate and improve the scope and quality of professional development and my thanks always to PDP gurus Bob White and John Scott for their great work in improving things constantly.

I recently watched an interview with Lindsey Buckingham, legendary guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac, during which he was asked how the band had remained so popular for so long, despite all the turmoil, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. He responded by saying ‘if you are any good at all you know that you can do better’.
And maybe that is the reason we continue to come to together to learn.

Long live our thirst for learning and wanting to do better. It will assure us a role in the future of business.

We have another opportunity to learn coming up with Conference 2011 being held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney 7-9 September. There is an amazing line up of speaker and papers: six keynote speakers including Sheila Keegan and Matt Church; seven invited speakers including Iggy Pintado and the amazing Caz Tebbutt; interwoven amongst a host of fantastic papers written by our members from around Australia. The icing on the cake will be Dr Karl’s breakfast hangover cure session on the final morning and Wil Anderson’s closing session. Conference Chair Suz Allen and her committee have done a wonderful job again this year so if you have not already done so, check out what’s in store at http://amsrs2011.sb4.com.au/

Last month was the reporting period for Australian banks. The Big Four (Commonwealth, National, ANZ and Westpac) reported strong results but one of the headlines that struck me was prompted by the ANZ CEO Mike Smith advising the banking sector that they must prepare for a paradigm shift, arguing that banks need to reinvent themselves for a new ‘low growth’ environment, where margins are tightening, and financial institutions need to learn to use capital more effectively and seek out alternative sources of income.

It occurred to me that, like banking, market and social research is also in the midst of a paradigm shift but I have not resigned myself to a low growth business environment for our profession. This is because I think we can adapt well to change and embrace new business opportunities. It is also about making research relevant and accessible to a larger audience in business, potentially via mobile and other new forms of information collection. Will it be more relevant to stakeholders in consumer insight or marketing departments or new sectors such as property or retail design? Can new methods allow the profession to seek out access to new budgets?

This month’s Research News is a good example of the transformation going on now in terms of mobile research and using geographic data fused with observational information and more conventional data collection methods: http://bit.ly/jKYfH3

Can these new methods increase our reach? Can they lead to high growth in our profession as market and social research extends beyond current methods to collect information? Time will tell, but it is up to all of us to challenge the status quo.

We need to refine our offer so we can survive in a business world where there is less appetite for risk and often fewer financial resources available, more do-it-yourself (DIY) options, more mobile and location-based tools (GPS), more demand for simplicity and speed from users and buyers and more insight from non-research activities – customer relationship management (CRM), word-of-mouth (WOM), social media monitoring (SMM) and analytics.

Bringing this together, using technology and providing expert analysis may be where the future lies, but within our profession there are some fine lines that need to be drawn in the short to mid term including the line we must draw as professionals between research and telemarketing.

This is not to say that we should operate in a bubble. It’s critically important that we develop strong alliances with other professionals who advise business decision makers. This is why this year’s national AMSRS conference features keynote speakers from academia, law enforcement and the media. If you are interested in the AMSRS National Conference in Sydney this September check out the highlights here http://bit.ly/jdhLYu and introducing the keynote speakers here  http://bit.ly/kjkrxl

The conference will build on the successes of the previous two years so please come along to learn, share and join in the fight against a low growth future http://bit.ly/jcSFJ1 !