Once upon a time research was a method for companies and brands to know things about them and their audience that they didn’t know.
Things that could make them better, more relevant, more profitable.
In essence, research was a torch that shone a light on the murky to help show them a better way forward.
Zoom forward to today and research is quite different.
Nowadays it’s not about shining light, it’s about wrapping them in a warm blanket.
It’s more about confirming what they know [which does have it’s place] or confirming what they want to say – regardless of whether that is the right thing they should be doing or not.
There’s lots of reasons for this, but one of them is that research companies are now so focused on maintaining their big annual contracts, they will – like many agencies – say or do whatever they think will keep the relationship alive.
Sure not all of them are like this – and as I said, there’s a whole host of other reasons for this to happen of which clients have to take more than their fair share, especially in Asia where the basic construct of decision making is “what will my boss want to hear” – however when WPP has more research companies in it’s roster than comms companies, you know the pursuit of profit … and the ramifications of not achieving that … could influence how a company responds to the brief as much as the brief itself.
I’m a big believe in research … a huge believer … but if it’s to have the value it deserves, both in the minds of clients and agencies, it’s got to stop being the safety blanket and get back to being the torch.