InSites Blog

The Rotterdam branch of InSites Consulting is conquering space with a September move to larger premises. The change of address is the result of our rapid growth in the Netherlands. The new office has capacity for over twenty staff and includes space to hold events for 100 attendees.

Space for work and events
Since opening in August 2008, InSites Consulting’s Rotterdam office has expanded from two to ten members of staff. The new site will let the team breathe again, since it creates room for over twenty people and provides an ideal location for our seminars and workshops.

On the opening night on 9 September we invite contacts across the industry to celebrate the move. The Director General of ESOMAR, Finn Raben is one of the confirmed speakers to welcome the attendees. (More information on http://www.insites.eu/newoffice)

“Since opening in Rotterdam, we’ve been running just to keep up with demand for research and consultancy” says Kristof De Wulf, Managing Partner. “The new office will give us space to work efficiently and gives us the capacity to continue recruiting in future”.

On a mission to teach
The features of the new office are intended to benefit the entire Netherlands research community, Ramon Pardo, Research Director points out. “An important part of our mission is to help researchers learn new approaches and practices they can use in their work. Our events are a vital aspect of that work, and the new office, with its large auditorium, will allow us to hold bigger and better events”.

The new office is just off the main A20 highway, giving easy access from the rest of the Netherlands.

New address:
InSites Consulting
Barbizonlaan 45
2908ME Capelle a/d IJssel
The Netherlands

On June 16th, the Dutch Market Research Association MOA organised the Dutch Market Research Awards at the Zandvoort beach near Amsterdam in a truly stunning setting. And after two successful award ceremonies in 2008 and 2009, it’s now safe to speak of a great Dutch market research tradition!

With no less than 19 colleagues, InSites Consulting was well present and while we fully enjoyed the bubbles, cocktails, live music and great summer-style food, we were utterly nervous – with a good reason! InSites Consulting made it on this year’s short list of market research agency of the year. During the award ceremony the tension among the colleagues raised to new heights: will we make it? First there was a big hand for the winner of the SPSS Feedback Innovation Award: Wakoopa . Wakoopa’s Robert Gaal (@robertgaal) collected the well deserved price: their way of data collection allows market researchers to analyze online behavior in a truly new and innovative way. Other award winners include Peter Mulder and ASR Nederland’s Saskia Goedhart. The entire list of winners and the judge’s comments can be found here (in Dutch language only).

And while the sun was already setting in the sea, finally came the moment to announce the Research Agency of the year 2010: five companies made it on the short list, including InSites Consulting. Ferro and Mare already made it on the short list last year and while all agencies scored very high on the jury’s check list, this year’s award was for Mare.

The jury’s statement mentioned how all nominees

“… have an outward look: focusing on taking research forward to a future no one can ignore. A future in which research will play an active, creative and insights generating role with a multitude of methods and tools. Indeed, a role of exceeding ambitions and being at the forefront of the research industry….”

This year’s winner was Mare and we like to take this opportunity to once again congratulate them with this well deserved price.

At InSites Consulting we realize that it takes losers to have a winner and while we feel we’ve exceeded on the judges requirements, the Dutch InSites organization may have been too new and too young to be this year’s winner. We realize how we’re in the midst of a new year in which we hope to grow at an even faster speed, continuing to take research forward and enlightening our clients and the fellow researchers.

Thank you MOA: we are already looking forward to next year’s award ceremony!

Join our Connected Smartees on Thursday 8 April 2010 in Rotterdam (NL) and meet the ‘contemporary’ consumer.

Tom De Ruyck (Senior R&D Manager) and Annelies Verhaeghe (Senior R&D Manager and ESOMAR Young Researcher 2009) will guide you on your way to grasp this new consumer. By using advanced research methods and a careful selection of research design, you’ll be able to reach your consumers.

Check out the full program online and sign up for free!

InSites Smartees are a chance to hear how marketers like you are innovating to solve research problems and gather more useful data. They’re informal, practical, and offer the chance to network with your colleagues.

This week InSites Consulting was present at the Marketing & Information Event 2009 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We challenged the visitors at our booth to arm wrestle the Agency Researcher of the Year, Christophe Vergult. He stood tall, but wasn’t able to beat all of the challengers. Check out the action on www.insites.eu/mie.

Next to our booth we also led 2 workshops.

• Doing research without asking questions by Annelies Verhaeghe and Ramon Pardo
• Corporate Social Responsibility, a Chiquita case study by Frank Geers and François Tasmowski (Innovation Manager Chiquita)

Both of them were appreciated highly by the audience, ranking us in the top 10 of best workshops. ‘Doing research without asking questions’ by Annelies Verhaeghe and Ramon Pardo even ranked second in the shortlist of 90 workshops.

Check out the presentations at www.marketinginformationevent.nl

Ramon Pardo is Research Director & Country Manager the Netherlands at InSites Consulting, operating from our Rotterdam office.

What’s the new ‘buzz word’ in your domain? What does it mean and what do you do with it?
The domain closest to me is Customer Experience, and although in this domain everybody is talking about NPS (Net promoter score) I believe the new buzz word for this domain is going to be SMF (Social Media Feedback). SMF is all about using spontaneous customer feedback (which is already out there on blogs, forums and other social media) to evaluate and improve the relationship customers have with brands.

What are you most proud of?
All the things we have accomplished in just 10 months of being present in the Netherlands with the InSites Consulting office. The energy of my fellow team members Steven and Kristof to build the Dutch business in Rotterdam is really amazing. And it pays off! In the end, the most rewarding are the satisfied customers that we have been able to help in taking their businesses forward!

What do you want to warn marketers/market researchers about, now and in the future?
As researchers we need to understand that there are already many stories and opinions out there and in the future this will only increase. There will be less need for asking questions, we just listen to what customers are telling us spontaneously.
So stop asking questions and start listening to what the customer is telling us.

What has surprised you lately?
As a new entrant on the Dutch market I expected some resistance from current market research bureaus and associations. But nothing is further from the truth. It has been a total joy working and discussing with fellow researchers and encountering real openness amongst our colleagues in the Netherlands.

What did your morning look like today?
This morning I left for a day’s work in our head office in Wondelgem, Ghent, Belgium. I spent it with our R&D team on a conceptual discussion about human motivations. These are the things that really inspire me! Being an innovative researcher also means taking the time to take 2 steps back in order to make 1 leap forward. Having a dedicated R&D team that funnels inspiration really helps with this process!

Let’s end with a ‘quote of the day’!
An old one from Einstein but still too often the truth in current research: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. As an industry we must have the courage to change and reinvent ourselves constantly, if we want to deliver better recommendations to our clients.

The Marketing & Information Event (MIE) takes place on 4 and 5 November in De Kuip in Rotterdam. It’s  the biggest marketing event in the Netherlands, two days packed with workshops. One of the workshop will be hosted by ourselves, a special Smartees edition: “Taking innovation & Connected research forward”. Ramon Pardo, Country manager the Netherlands, will talk about usage of dedicated panels and show a case study of being connected. Filip De Boeck, Director Innovation Research, will present the topic of online co-creation with consumers.  This special Smartees@MIE will take place on wednesday 5 November, from 11.00-12.00, with lunch afterwards. Sign in now for this free Workshop.