The Quirks Event: A Market Research Conference
Perspectives > Blog Post

The Quirks Event: A Market Research Conference

February 27, 2015

Katherine Salisbury

This week, three Keltonites attended the Quirk’s Event, a market research conference in New York. Overall, we thought the event was exciting – there were many companies and speakers that had great content to share. Read on to hear a quick recap of our favorite presentations form the conference.

This week, three Keltonites attended the Quirk’s Event, a market research conference in New York. Overall, we thought the event was exciting – there were many companies and speakers that had great content to share. Here is a quick recap of our favorite presentations form the conference:

1. On Monday, Smarty Pants talked about the different way marketers can connect with Millennials and Gen Z – which is vastly different than the way we would speak to their Gen Y and Boomer counterparts. An important takeaway? Brands need to be ready for the “tablet takeover” that has begun, if they aren’t already. Just this past year, Gen Z chose iPad as their favorite product/brand over classic children’s brands such as Oreo and Crayola. A clear shift in mindset from drawing books to drawing apps.

2. On Tuesday morning, Cyient gave a presentation on the growing wearables trend, and it made me really think about how all brands need to start taking advantage of wearables. First, companies with wearable devices are collecting an incredible amount of data on their consumers. Two, these companies are creating a need to constantly know how something is performing – whether it’s a smart device controlling a consumer’s home, or a watch monitoring their heart rate. Thirdly, they have the opportunity to create an unparalleled customer experience. For example, when a smart device is about to die, companies can reach out to their consumers and let them know that it’s going to fail. At that time, they can either offer them a free device or perhaps a discount on their next one. This conversation with the consumer let’s them know that the brand cares about them, creating a sense of loyalty.

3. Late in the day on day two, Eric Whipkey of Navy Federal Credit Union presented his thinking on “Organizing for Storytelling.” Given Kelton’s deep roots in journalism and focus on translating data into stories, we were extremely interested in his thoughts on how data and storytelling can intersect and enhance one another. While the presentation was largely a theoretical look at how market research can learn from journalism’s core principles, he cited several examples of companies that currently leverage the model of journalism in research and called out Kelton as an example of an organization that is getting it right. We love helping brands tell their stories, and are excited to be recognized for this type of work as it becomes a more prominent focus within the market research industry.

4. During the last presentation of day two, Microsoft spoke about the necessity for innovation in research. While there are some risks with trying new research techniques, there are also many rewards if researchers succeed. One piece of advice that stuck with us was to pair new and innovative techniques with tried and tested methods, allowing brands to mitigate some of the risks of trying something new.

We hope the rest of our conference attendees enjoyed the event as much as we did!

Katherine Salisbury

Manager, Marketing and Brand Development

As Manager of Marketing and Brand Development, Katherine works with Kelton’s core teams to drive new business opportunities and expand ongoing marketing initiatives. She enjoys solving problems...

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