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But even the alchemy or turning survival into success brings risks. And the big one is that in addressing organisations’ immediate tactical needs, we draw attention away from the big strategic questions – whether that’s in how we go about insight, or the types of questions we position it to address.
For Mark Thorpe, director of Truth and chair our Insight Alchemy’s strategy session, there’s actually a vivid line between the two. “Covid really shifted the way we think about change in society, and in the industry,” he says. “When the pandemic hit, it forced people into more strategic thinking. Just the extreme nature of the thing meant we couldn’t just down tools and wait and see how things would come back to normal.”
That’s not to say we should be complacent. Far from it. “With the more immediate crises, there’s a risk we get distracted,” he continues. “On Ukraine or inflation, for example, there’s a real danger in just ‘hanging on’ to see what happens. That leaves you hostage to the future. And it means when we get there – when the new normal makes itself apparent – we’ve lost purpose or relevance. 2008 taught us that: you need to plan for what next.”
That means thinking strategically about what the other side looks like – and preparing for it, even in the midst of a crunch – is key. “If we resort of a ‘survival mentality’ – retreat into our caves until the storm passes – we’re going to struggle later on,” Mark stresses. “The world changes when you have a global recession – or when the fundamentals of geopolitics change, be that war or mass migrations.”
The strategy session at Insight Alchemy 2023 will explore positive ways of looking at that. It will be a call to action to think beyond the moment, to be the people who help us all understand what this means and what we can be doing about it. “And that reinforces the role of the MRS, too,” Mark concludes. “The industry can be a leader, showing the way, not just a follower hoping to hold onto budgets or subsist on old projects. We need to be thinking now about what ‘good’ looks like through these testing times – and beyond.”
The recognition that no single approach can deliver the kinds of insight needed to make real commercial change. The industry has tended to promote certain methods at the expense of a rounder and deeper approach. We have seen this with the pushing of ethnography 20 or so years ago. Semiotics has had its time in the spotlight. So too have panels, communities, and online research. Behavioural economics has also been pushed as the science providing real answers. However, more agencies are now positioning themselves as method agnostic and thinking more about strategic solutions than just execution.
That’s a really difficult one as so much is in flux. Agencies will be under increasing pressure to provide insights that feed strategy in a concise, meaningful, and energising form. It’s not about telling the story and strategy on a page – trying to do that is actually counter-productive and works better as an ideal than a reality. But researchers will need to tell stories that directly inform strategy. Clients will be much less patient with lots of ‘stuff’ and little real insight that has a strong connection to commercial strategy.
I don’t think you can point to a single event. Research is constantly being used to make a difference, whether socially or economically. There are a group of researchers who are now more willing to stand up for what they believe in. We see this clearly in relation to D&I. We need more bravery in the industry; more people who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in and to push for change.
Take every opportunity to learn as much as possible. Work hard and remember that the effort you put in during the early parts of your career will pay dividends later on. Above all else, be humble. You are fortunate to have a voice but that doesn’t mean you have all the answers. Be as embracing and open about what you don’t know as what with what you do.