Thinking Ahead: Your Leading-Edge Insights Podcast

Why Data Siloes Should Be Marketing’s Public Enemy #1

Sometimes, there is an otherworldly disconnect when marketers talk about data. In a recent GfK/CMO Council study, 80% of global marketing leaders asserted that data, analytics, and insights are very important to winning and retaining customers – yet only 12% reported being “extremely confident” in their own data systems. What is the ghostly force that is keeping whip-smart CMOs and insights pros from fulfilling their data potential?

GfK’s study found that data access and management – and the persistence of age-old data siloes – are major impediments to efficient marketing today. At times, no one can remember who created these “zombie” siloes or why they still exist; but they continue to interfere with proficient marketing, leading to hodge-podge dashboards and tortured integration schemes.

In this episode, we'll reveal what companies can and should do to truly connect their data and drive marketing efficiency. We will look at examples of challenges, tradeoffs, and lessons marketing leaders can take when it comes to: 

• connecting research to activation to lift measurement
• integrating survey and behavioral data deterministically
• addressing data quality in various data sets
• finding the right insights to feed effective AI analytics

Throughout, we will share best practices and inspiring examples to help brands connect data and make high-velocity decision making an everyday reality.

Consumer Outlook: Bringing the 2023 Consumer into Focus

For consumers everywhere, inconsistency has become the new normal. The roller coaster ride of COVID, inflation, and more is not ending anytime soon – so how will your brand stay on top?

In GfK Consumer Life’s 2023 Outlook episode, we’ll discuss the concerns, movements and ideas shaping today’s consumers, and help you understand what people will likely be thinking and wanting in the year ahead.

Drawing on rich, industry-stand trends data, this episode features GfK Consumer Life experts GfK’s Stacy Bereck and Eric Wagatha.

Obliterate “Green” Stereotypes: How the generations really think, feel & act around sustainability

The generational stereotypes around sustainability are straight out of central casting – Gen Z’ers protest over climate change, while Baby Boomers line up to buy gas-guzzling SUVs and Millennials trade recycling tips over Starbucks lattes. How do today’s generations really think, feel and act when it comes to the environment? As the Earth heats up and the economy cools down, is it time to revisit our assumptions about these archetypes of culture and marketing? Join GfK for a down-to-earth discussion with marketers and researchers who represent today’s key generations – revealing firsthand whether Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers will ever see eye to eye on a host of sustainability issues, from electric vehicles to the circular economy.

Sustainability at GfK: What You Need to Know

GfK is committed to empower sustainable growth for our people, partners, and the planet. Reducing our environment impact is embedded into our company’s mission. In our latest episode, we sit down with Jochen Franz, Head of Strategic Projects and Sustainability Director for Procurement & Real Estate, as he talks about GfK’s commitment to sustainability, what we’ve achieved so far, the latest sustainability report & more!

The new faces of brand purpose: Smart strategies for high-stakes times

In what seems like an instant, the values and social actions of brands have become make-or-break with even mainstream consumers. From sustainability to global conflicts, the list of concerns brands need to engage with on a daily basis — not just once or twice a year — keeps growing.

 

How can brands navigate this volatile and unfamiliar world of high emotional stakes — and vast business consequences? Our discussion will cover:

• The evolution of sustainability — and the challenges of staying a step ahead.
• Taking social issues to heart — without leaving skeptics behind.
• Generational transformation — who is really driving the purpose revolution?
• Skillful messaging and marketing in the purpose world — striking the right balance of commerce and caring.
• How conventional brands can integrate compassion and activism into deeply ingrained personas.

Key takeaways:

1. Best practices on how to approach brand purpose.
2. What are other brands doing in this space.
3. What are the challenges facing brands in this ever-changing landscape.

Leveraging trends to stay ahead of tomorrow’s consumers

The volatility of the past two years has raised the stakes for brands of every kind. How can marketers, brand managers and innovators keep up with their customers’ evolving demands? What tools do they need to effectively plan and course-correct in real time?

Join the trends experts at GfK Consumer Life as they deliver strategies to help brands plan for today – and innovate for tomorrow.

 

Speakers: 

• Rachel Bonsignore | VP, Consulting | GfK Consumer Life
• Tim Kenyon | VP, Consulting | GfK Consumer Life
• Host: Ana Mazumdar | Digital Marketing Manager - Americas | GfK

Learn more about the Built for Success Toolkit Series here. 

Climbing the Consumer Insights Ladder

In this episode, we sit down with GfK’s very own Noah Babbott-Bryan, Megan Szabo and Kiley Rentko to talk about their experiences as Research Associates and how they’ve navigated their careers thus far. With different backgrounds and ultimately different paths within consumer insights, they offer unique perspectives on how to get started in this growing space and what skills you should possess to succeed. Tune in now!

The Next Opportunity in The Next Generation: Data Insights

The 2022 GfK NextGen Hackathon Competition brought together undergraduate teams from different universities to compete against one another in a data analytics showdown. Teams were tasked with developing strategic recommendations for new products or services in the shopper insights space; this year’s winner hailed from NJIT — iRecommend, a service that relies on predictive analytics to suggest products to ecommerce shoppers, based on their purchase histories and personal characteristics. 

Now in its 11th year, the NextGen Competition gives undergraduates firsthand exposure to solving real-life business problems with consumer insights and data.

Tune into this episode as we go behind the scenes to get insights and perspectives from one of our judges Deb, our GfK expert, Neal and team captain of our winning team, An. They talk about their experiences with the hackathon, and more importantly, how marketers, organizations and other students can benefit from taking part in a data competition.

Featured Guests: 

• Deb Eskra, Measurement & Applied Data Science, Oracle
• Neal Heffernan, EVP, Sales Effectiveness, GfK North America
• An Tran, Junior, NJIT
• Host: Ana Mazumdar, Digital Marketing Manager, GfK - Americas

American Women: How They Feel & What They Do

American women across the generations often have very different attitudes and values. The pandemic and a variety of other factors have transformed women’s roles and perspectives — changes that marketers need to understand for smarter positioning and targeting

"American women, like those elsewhere in the world, have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Diane Crispell, senior consultant for GfK Consumer Life and author of the report. “Despite the disruptions to their jobs and families and resulting stress, they have a generally positive outlook and care about aspects of life that speak to a broader social conscience.”

Tune in as Diane offers specific insights and findings from her report that dive deep into the lifestyles, values and attitudes of American women.

Guests:

• Diane Crispell, Senior Consultant, GfK Consumer Life
• Host: Ana Mazumdar, Digital Marketing Manager (Americas), GfK

Resources: The American Women Report

More on this episode:

• Get more details about this episode at www.gfk.com/en-us/thinking-ahead 
• Contact the Thinking Ahead Podcast at marketing@gfk.com

Diversity & Inclusion in Research

For companies around the world, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) has moved front and center as a business priority. But for consumer insights specialists, the stakes are higher – because their findings determine products being developed, ads being produced, and even laws being made.

Tune in to hear how GfK has worked with Microsoft to put inclusion into action in a practical sense, across a wide range of research activities.

Guests:

• Josh Billig, Market Research Manager, Microsoft
• Shelley Krasnick, VP - Marketing Effectiveness, GfK

Resources: Learn more about GfK

More on this episode:

• Get more details about this episode at www.gfk.com/en-us/thinking-ahead 
• Contact the Thinking Ahead Podcast at marketing@gfk.com