Intellicast

Welcome back to Intellicast! Joining Brian Peterson on this jam-packed episode is Gabby Blados. They talk about conferences, data quality, as well as discuss some recent headlines from around the research world. Kicking off the episode, Brian and Gabby talk about the upcoming conferences, including SampleCon and Quirks Chicago. With Gabby attending Quirks, she gives Brian a preview of some of the topics, sessions, and activities she most looks forward to while in Chicago in early April. Next, Brian and Gabby turn their sights to the latest market research news, starting with the launch of the Global Data Quality Initiative updated Data Quality Pledge. Brian and Gabby discuss how they feel this is a step in the right direction to improve overall data quality. They are hesitant, though, since it is a pledge, and there is no one to hold people accountable to its standard other than self-regulation. They both agree that the pledge is probably a step toward some sort of regulation around data quality. In the

Welcome back to Intellicast! Brian Peterson is joined in today's episode by Matthew Alexander to discuss mergers, people on the move, and AI. Starting the episode, the guys talk about some recent mergers and acquisitions from around the industry. First, they touch on OpinonRoute's acquisition of Jibunu and how this can impact OpinionRoute going forward. They then touch ACKWEST's purchase of Precision Sample. Next, the guys discuss some moves people in the industry have made. They touch on new additions at Morning Consult and Symmetric Sample. They hit on WIRe's executive structure changes and Ryan Barry departing Zappi. In the last segment, the guys touch on a few news stories around AI, specifically synthetic data. First, they discuss the new solution from PureSpectrum, called Training Data, and how that can impact synthetic data and improve existing models. This led to a more philosophical discussion triggered by comments from a panel at the MRS AI conference. Matthew breaks it down to show how biases im

Welcome to season 8 of Intellicast! Matthew Alexander joins Brian Peterson on today's episode to talk about the latest market research news. Before the guys discuss the news, they quickly touch on some of the conferences coming up over the next month. This includes the QCRA Annual Conference in Philadelphia on February 11-14. If you are interested in attending, use promo code EMIVIP to get a discount on your registration! Starting the news discussion, Brian and Matthew talk about a couple of friends of EMI who recently switched their roles and what that may mean for the industry's outlook in 2025. Next, the guys discuss the news of Radius Global acquiring Illuminas. They wonder if this could be the start of a more significant year of mergers and acquisitions due to a better economic outlook. This leads to a conversation about the new US panel that Bilendi & Respondi launched following its acquisition of Netquest in December. Both Brian and Matthew liked that Bilendi was investing in a new US panel and s

Welcome back to Intellicast! We are putting the final touches on season seven. We want to thank all of you who tuned in this year; we really appreciate it. In this year’s Best Of episode, we are going to revisit a few of our favorite interviews from 2024. [0:54 Seconds] First up is Roddy Knowles, who made his return to the podcast after several years. He, Brian, and Matthew touched on his journey to dtect, as well as taking a deep dive into the larger fraud issue, including a few dirty secrets around data quality. [30:15] Next up, we revisit Karin Pepin’s first appearance on the podcast this season, where we had a deep conversation about data quality. Karin explains that there is no single approach to solving data quality, but a multi-layered approach is needed. [1:10:44] Finally, let’s look back at our conversation with Jeremy Zogby prior to the 2024 election. Jeremy talks with Brian and Jason about potential adjustments pollsters have made coming into the 2024 election. Jeremy also breaks down what poll

Welcome back to Intellicast! In today's episode, Brian and Matthew are joined by two special guests to get all the details around a news story that was talked about several weeks back – the new strategic partnership between Brandtrust and Protobrand. Joining Brian and Matthew to discuss how this partnership came about are Alex Millet, the new CEO of Brandtrust, and Pal Afzelius, the CEO of Protobrand. Since this was Pal's first appearance on the podcast, Brian asked him how he ended up in the market research industry. Pal tells us how he attended the Swedish School, met the co-founder of Protobrand, and hit it off; the rest is history. (You can hear Alex's origin story here: https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=CSN6936360131) After learning about Pal, the guys turned to the strategic partnership between Brandtrust and Protobrand. Alex starts it by discussing the background of the relationship between the two companies and what led to their discussions and, ultimately, partnering. He and Pal then talk about how

Welcome back to Intellicast! Gabby Blados returns to talk Thanksgiving and the latest news from around the market research industry with Brian Peterson. Kicking off the episode, Brian and Gabby talk about their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and traditions. They touch on everything from stuffing and Jello salad to the time each usually sits down for Thanksgiving dinner (or, in Gabby's case – Thanksgiving lunch). After the Thanksgiving talk, Gabby and Brian turned their attention to the latest market research news, starting with the news of a new Board of Directors for Dynata and what it could mean for the future focus of Dynata. This episode had two big topics: data quality and artificial intelligence. On the data quality front, Brian and Gabby discuss the new funding for the Data Quality Co-Op, the new strategic partnership between Sample Ninja and Veriff, and the new standard endorsed by the Insights Association for transferring survey data between platforms. They also discuss some of the data quality com

Welcome back to Intellicast! We are back with a great episode. Joining Brian Peterson and Matthew Alexander to talk data quality is the COO of dtect, and friend of the podcast, Roddy Knowles. Kicking off the episode, Brian and Matthew catch up with Roddy on what he has been up to since the last time he was on the podcast, including what led him to move over to dtect, a new data quality platform. After getting the low down on dtect and learning what they are all about, the guys turned the conversation to data quality in the industry. As an industry, we have been talking about data quality for some time now. Roddy gives his thoughts about the industry's strides in tackling data quality issues and what hasn't been done well. Next, the guys turn their attention to the discussion of bots and how it seems to be a significant focus when people talk about data quality. Roddy gives some great insight into how bots make up a small fraction of overall data quality issues and how they are just a subset of the larger

Welcome back to Intellicast! Matthew Alexander joins Brian Peterson again to discuss the latest news from the market research industry. The episode kicks off with Brian and Matthews discussing the new partnership between BrandTrust and Protobrand. Matthew gives his perspective on what it could mean for the two organizations. Next, the guys talk about the new long-term stake that Lac1 took in Ipsos. They speculate on what Ipsos could be using these new investment funds on. The guys then get into a series of stories revolving around new AI tools launched across the industry. First, the guys discuss OpinionRoute's AI feature QC Flow. This leads to a deeper discussion about overall AI adoption among the general public. The guys compare it to the new Apple Intelligence and if that will increase the adoption of AI. The second story Matthew and Brian touched on was Toluna's new synthetic data suite called HarmonAIze. They then dive into new research from the World Federation of Advertisers that found that

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today's episode, Brian Peterson is joined again by EMI's Gabby Blados to discuss the latest news from around the market research industry. Kicking off the episode, Gabby and Brian discuss the recent rebrand of Directions Research, Aimpoint, and SEEK to the Directions Group. Next, they discuss the new emoji video feedback tool introduced by Jibunu and Forsta's recent announcement of server-to-server connections to tackle ghost completes. The Forsta story leads to a deeper discussion between Brian and Gabby about how this technique has been around for a while. Gabby and Brian switch gears and talk about some of the market research industry veterans who have changed roles, including Patrick Comer taking over as the CEO of Cint, and PureSpectrum adding Toluna vet Phil Ahad as their new Chief Innovation Officer. In the last segment of today's episode, Brian and Gabby tackle some of the latest AI news. First off, they discuss the newly proposed AI Consent Act. The discussion l

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today's episode, Brian Peterson and Jason Inderhees are joined by the Managing Partner of John Zogby Strategies and frequent Intellicast guest, Jeremy Zogby. Jeremy joins the guys to discuss the polling, the 2024 presidential election, third-party candidacies, and much more! Kicking off the episode, Jeremy talks with Brian and Jason about potential adjustments pollsters have made coming into the 2024 election. Jeremy also breaks down what pollsters and the media have learned from the past two election cycles and how it pertains to the 2024 election. This leads to a discussion around the impact the media, along with misinformation, has on polling. In the next segment, Brian gets Jeremy's perspective on the current election's seeming drama and plot twists and how it compares to previous elections. Jeremy, in his customary manner, brings the historical perspective and details how this election has similarities to the 1968 election, from an assassination (attempt this year), a si

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today's episode, Matthew Alexander joins Brian Peterson again to talk about the latest news-making waves in the market research industry. Kicking off the episode, Matthew and Brian analyze YouGov's acquisition of Yabble. The guys are both surprised by the low price, speculating on undisclosed deal details and reflecting on lower AI valuations until a market leader emerges. Next, they discuss the latest IPA Bellwether report that showed that marketing budgets in the UK grew by 3.2%, more than expected. The guys speculate whether this is real growth or cost inflation. SEMrush's investment into MFour is the next story Matthew and Brian discuss. They wonder what the investment will mean for both organizations. They touch on Rich Silva's promotion to President of Research For Good, PureSpectrum's expansion in the DACH region, and Google's decision not to eliminate third-party cookies from its Chrome browser. In the last story of the week, the guys discuss a recent story from

Welcome back to Intellicast! In today's episode, Brian Peterson is joined by Gabby Blados to talk about the latest news from the market research industry. Kicking off the episode, Brian and Gabby discuss the news that NIQ is integrating their panel data into their Discovery platform. Gabby highlights how this powerful combination promises to deliver richer, more actionable insights. In the following story, Brian and Gabby discuss how Ipsos is launching PersonaBots. This leads to a deeper discussion around the use of AI to create these synthetic personas and the impact they will have on research going forward. It is not without a warning as both Brian and Gabby talk about how the LLMs and AIs are only as good as the data that is used to train them. Next, Brian and Gabby jump into some of the highlights from part 1 of the recently released 2024 Insights & Analytics Market Report. They talk about the industry's growth and how the growth rate has declined. Gabby gives her perspective from a salesperson and ho

Welcome back to Intellicast! In today's episode, Brian Peterson is joined by EMI's Mary Draper and Karine Pepin, co-founder of The Research Heads, to give another talk about data quality. The focus of the conversation came from a recent LinkedIn post from Karine that started a lengthy debate in the comment section – specifically questioning the Quality Pledge that some organizations have signed. The questions included: Why is a corporation leading this effort rather than GDQ, CASE4Quality, or industry associations? How are "indicators" of quality defined? Are indicators measured pre or post-survey? Will suppliers be audited to ensure compliance? What does "sharing bad practices" entail, and with whom are they shared? I counted 27 signatories. With so many open questions, what exactly are they committing to? Brian starts the episode by getting Mary and Karine's perspectives on the pledge. Karine talks about her reaction when she found out about it, especially since she is part of the Global Data Quality

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, we are joined by Ashley Le Blanc, Fieldwork’s Director of Communications, to talk about focus groups and the upcoming Global Focus Group Day on July 9th. Kicking off the episode, we talk about Ashley’s background. Ashley shares her fascinating journey from a marketing agency to her current role with Fieldwork, expressing her deep passion for the insights industry and its people. Brian and Ashley then discuss the shift to more in-person research that has taken place over the last couple of years as the pandemic ended. Ashley shares some observations about clients' preference for in-person meetings over online focus groups due to the benefits, such as nonverbals, side conversations, and more. The conversation then shifts to the upcoming Global Focus Group Day on July 9, 2024. Brian and Ashley discuss the evolution of this event from a week-long celebration to a single day aimed at honoring the industry's pioneers and their impactful contributions. Ashley encourag

It's been a while, but we are back! Returning from a brief hiatus, host Brian Peterson is joined by Jason Inderhees to talk about the big story in the sample industry and other news from around market research. The guys get right to it and address the elephant in the room: Dynata filing for Chapter 11. The guys talk about the news and its potential impact on the broader market research industry. Brian also gives some thoughts on what Dynata employees may think, as he has been through a Chapter 11 filing when he was with a previous company. Next, the guys switch gears and discuss some other headlines from the market research industry, including the announcement that Jim Lane of Directions is retiring at the end of the year and will be succeeded by Beth Finn. Next, Jason and Brian talk about the launch of Livepanel, a synthetic data company. They talk about their tool, N-Infinite, and how they see it could be used in practice. In the final story, the guys talk about the proposed data privacy federal legislatio

Welcome back to Intellicast! In this episode, we continue our spring conference recap series. This time, Brian Peterson is joined by Tony Brown and Jason Inderhees, who were in Austin for IIeX. The guys dive right in, with Jason and Tony giving overall perceptions of the conference. They talked about the set-up (including the headphones), how it seemed people were willing to talk, and the quality of the sessions. This leads to a conversation about the key themes of the conference. In what shouldn't surprise anyone, artificial intelligence was the key theme. However, Jason and Tony both talk about how, while AI was the main theme, they liked the secondary theme of data quality and the efforts made (including employing AI) to achieve better quality. Next, Tony and Jason talk about their favorite sessions from the IIeX. Tony talks about a session that BET held about how they use data to improve their recommendations for viewers based on their viewing habits. He also mentions another presentation that talked a

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today's episode, Brian Peterson is joined by Alex Hunt, the CEO of Behaviorally, to discuss the evolution of Behaviorally as well as the evolution in the market research industry as a whole. Kicking off the episode, Alex delves into how he got into market research. As you may suspect, it was an industry Alex kind of fell into. Alex then gets into some of his early journey within market research and how it led him to Behaviorally. Brian and Alex then discuss Behaviorally's evolution over the last six years since Alex joined the organization. He details how Behaviorally adopted a digital-first approach that has reshaped their operations, including helping productize their offerings. This clearly determined product stack is integral to their operations. Overall, Alex's strategic moves have streamlined processes and enhanced the company's ability to leverage behavioral data sets effectively. Alex also gives some advice around implementing the changes Behaviorally underwent. One o

Welcome back to Intellicast! We have another great episode for you today. Brian Peterson is joined by Mary Draper, who has just returned from Atlanta and the Insights Association Annual Conference. Kicking off the episode, Mary and Brian discuss how the spring conference season is closing out. This naturally sets up the conversation for the rest of the episode – an in-depth recap of the IA Annual Conference. The conversation starts with Mary giving Brian her overall perceptions of the conference. Compared to other conferences she has been to, Mary talks about how IA Annual is much more focused on information sharing and networking than sales. This leads to Mary discussing one of the first sessions called "So You Want to Sell to Me" and how Karen Craft talked about what it was like for her to attend a conference. This included the hundreds of emails they get, many invites for coffee and/or dinners, and more. Mary said that while she couldn't remember the exact number mentioned, if Karen accepted all the invit

Welcome back to Intellicast! It has been a couple of weeks, but we are back with a couple of special guests. Joining Brian Peterson this week are Gabby Blados and Matthew Alexander – both of whom attended Quirks Chicago. Kicking off the episode, the trio discuss the recent eclipse and what they did to view it. Everyone agreed that it was a once-in-a-lifetime event that they were glad they were able to see. Next, Gabby and Matthew give a breakdown of Quirks Chicago. They talked about the overall tone of the event and how it was more lively than other conferences they had attended, especially ones just out of the COVID lockdown. Gabby mentioned how she felt a sense of camaraderie from everyone attending. Matthew and Gabby then get into some of the major themes and topics from the conference. In what should surprise no one, AI was the biggest topic. They noticed a shift in attendees toward embracing AI, where there was much more hesitancy in previous years. Data quality was another big topic at Quirks, and somet

Welcome back to Intellicast! EMI's own Matthew Alexander joins host Brian Peterson to discuss the latest market research news. Kicking off the episode, Brian gives a quick rundown of upcoming conferences and their dates, including Quirks Chicago, where Matthew will attend. Matthews gives his insight into what he is looking forward to with Quirks. The guys then dive into the market research news, starting with the news of the launch of Unlock Surveys, a new panel from Stagwell, the owners of Harris Poll and Maru. In connection with the podcast, former Poll Party Pod host and frequent Intellicast guest Adam Dietrich will be the managing director of the new panel. Next, the guys discuss the latest financial reports from Ipsos. Brian and Matthew discuss Ipsos's growth in 2023 and what it means for the overall industry. The following story ties in nicely as the guys discuss the new AI tool, InnoExplorer, that Ipsos launched. The tool uses generative and analytical AI to help clients accelerate their innovation cyc