InSites Blog

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.

The web is changing our business so fast and fundamentally that some pessimists say we’re witnessing the end of the industry. It’s true that traditional advertising is no longer working, and most advertisers have been left behind by the rapid changes in recent years. And it’s true that’s a serious challenge for the profession. But InSites Consulting provides an answer to that challenge with Steven Van Bellghem‘s book, The Conversation Manager.

The book was launched last week in Belgium at an event that attracted 400 eager marketers looking for solutions. Presentations, videos and pictures are online. Still looking for more? Take the Conversation Manager test and discover our Wall of Fame.

Next up on the agenda is the book launch in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) on Thursday 18 March 2010. Registrations are still open so make sure to reserve your seat!

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

InSites Consulting was the big winner at the MOAwards last Thursday in Amsterdam. InSites Consulting, the only marketing research company, was nominated for 2 awards and won both: ‘Marketing research company researcher of the year 2009′ (Bureau onderzoeker van het jaar 2009) and ‘SPSS Feedback Innovation Award of the year 2009″. The Dutch MOAwards are an initiative of the MOA, Center for Marketing Intelligence & Research.

The ‘Marketing research company researcher of the year 2009′ award was won by Christophe Vergult, one of InSites Consulting’s managing partners.
According to the MOA: “As InSites Consulting’s face in the Netherlands, Christophe Vergult was a breath of fresh air in research land. With an innovative research approach the established order was shook up on the principle that: good research can be different and made to be more fun. Analytically, Christophe likes to go a step further; he decides on his own initiative to present or immediately carry out the less obvious analyses. This innovative approach can also be found in the preparatory phase of new research. At an early stage he shares innovative research ideas with clients. This distinct fanatical willingness to help clients, combined with his rapid and crystal clear communication about running projects makes him a challenging sparring partner. He is also actively involved in MOA initiatives and goes to great lengths to strengthen InSites Consulting’s position in the Netherlands.”

Christophe Vergult, managing partner: “Winning this Award is a strong confirmation of where InSites is heading, our vision of marketing research and how we view the research company – client relationship.”

The SPSS Feedback Innovation of the year 2009 Award was won thanks to the RTL Nederland case:
According to the MOA: “‘So You Think You Can Dance”. This is the name of the popular television programme that RTL Nederland and InSites Consulting monitored every week based on a webcontent analysis. Using webscraping technology and text mining techniques they analysed opinions of viewers about the programme. They were able to determine plenty of time in advance what parts of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ needed adjusting and how. The case is a gripping illustration of a new research paradigm in which answers ‘already exist’ and the challenge lies chiefly in creating insights from unstructured data. It fits within an experimental marketing and research domain. At the same time, and that is the striking part of this case, it follows a very structured process and all academic standards are complied with.”

Annelies Verhaeghe, ForwaR&D Lab consultant managed the project. “As InSites Consulting we connect with the participants in our research. Really connecting means we don’t just ask questions ourselves, but also listen to what consumers spontaneously tell us on social media. This principle was applied to this project using SPSS software. And we’re over the moon with our award.”

InSites Consulting in Rotterdam
The InSites Consulting Rotterdam office was established on 1 August 2008 and is managed by Ramon Pardo, Country Manager for the Netherlands. The Rotterdam team will be strengthened from 1 August by Martijn van Bijnen, an experienced marketing researcher and ex-Research International employee.

The Dutch client portfolio includes Unilever, Heineken, Albert Heijn, Heinz, Danone, PepsiCo, Koninklijke Peijnenburg, ING, RTL, Sara Lee, PON, PCM uitgevers, Agis, Coca Cola, Pfizer, MSD ….

“The unthinkable has happened”, according to Ramon Pardo, Country Manager for the Netherlands. “Being nominated for 2 MOAwards was more than we ever dreamed of. For a new marketing research company in the Netherlands to be nominated twice is a great honour. And to then actually go on and win both categories was beyond my wildest dreams. It underlines the appreciation for all the efforts we have gone to as a team over the past year.”

The MOAwards are an initiative of the MOA, Center for Marketing Intelligence & Research. The aim is to put the marketing research sector in the spotlight more. For every award there’s an independent jury and all jury members are external. The jury’s opinion is based on what the nominees produce and what is made available to the juries.

We’ve won two MOAwards at the MOA event yesterday in Amsterdam. We were the only market research agency that was nominated for two awards and we actually won both. So we’re really happy! Christophe Vergult won the Award Market researcher of the year 2009. We also won the SPSS feedback Innovation Award of the year 2009. Annelies Verhaeghe, ForwaR&D Lab consultant, collected that prize and spoke her already famous words “Hartstikke bedankt”.

On 1 July 2009, InSites Consulting will open offices in London and Geneva, in addition to the already existing offices in Ghent and Rotterdam. Major international clients have offices and departments in the Netherlands, but also in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. By opening an office in the area, InSites Consulting is able to provide a better service to existing clients. Both London and Geneva open up interesting markets for research in view of the many headquarters of international companies based there.

“The opening of these 2 new offices is the logical result of our growth objectives,” says Tim Duhamel, CEO of InSites Consulting. “A local team of consultants will be developed who look after the client contacts and manage projects with the support of the team in Ghent. Our centralized approach is the ideal foundation to work for international companies and headquarters. Our base line, ‘taking research forward‘, stands for a forward looking focus on innovative market research in which traditional and new methods, innovations and expertise are combined into a tailor-made solution for our clients. Our ForwaR&D Lab often plays an important role in this, especially in so-called ‘fusion’ research projects in which we collaborate with clients.

Recent examples include:

• Fine-tuning of online discussion groups in co-operation with Heinz concerning their brand in 6 European countries;

• Testing a strategic brand positioning tool in co-operation with Heineken in Spain;

• Observing social media via text analytics in co-operation with RTL Nederland.

We also work intensively on R&D projects with universities and business schools over the whole world such as the Universiteit van Maastricht, Bauer College of Business (University of Houston), Essec, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School and Smeal College of Business (PennState University).”

The success of Rotterdam

Rotterdam’s success was a contributing factor in our choice to open extra offices in London and Geneva. The InSites Consulting Rotterdam office was established on 1 August 2008 and is managed by Ramon Pardo, Country Manager for the Netherlands. The Rotterdam team will be strengthened from 1 August by Martijn Bijnen, an experienced market researcher and ex-Research International employee.

The crowning glory in Rotterdam is our double nomination for the MOAwards, which are awarded every year by the MOA (Center for Marketing Intelligence and Research). First, Christophe Vergult, Managing Partner, was nominated for market researcher of the year. And secondly, our RTL Nederland Case has been nominated for the SPSS Feedback Innovation Award. The winners will be announced on 18 June.
The Dutch client portfolio includes Unilever, Heineken, Albert Heijn, Heinz, Danone, PepsiCo, Koninklijke Peijnenburg, ING, RTL, Sara Lee, PON, PCM uitgevers, Agis, Coca Cola, Pfizer, MSD,…

London and Geneva led by managing partners

Christophe Vergult and Niels Schillewaert, both Managing Partners, are responsible for the development of the offices in London and Geneva respectively. This implies a strong involvement of the management at the start-up of the two offices and guarantees InSites Consulting’s values and culture are respected in these international offices.
Christophe Vergult, Managing Partner at the office in London: “With Hakim Zemni (Senior Research Consultant), Tom Goderis (Research Director) and Magali Geens (Research Director – Health) the UK team has considerable research experience spread over different sectors such as media, FMCG, health and services. These research directors all work in their field for international clients”.
Niels Schillewaert, Managing Partner at the office in Geneva: “With Delphine Van Tomme (Senior Research Consultant) & Filip De Boeck (Managing Partner) our team in Switzerland will be a mix of experience, skills and interests, just as the UK team. In this way we are able to repeat what InSites Consulting is good at, i.e. serving headquarters on a high-quality methodological level”.

More practical information about these offices is available on www.insites.eu.

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.

Since 1 August InSites Consulting is the Netherlands’ latest new market research player.
InSites Consulting was established in 1997 as a spin-off of the Vlerick business school (www.vlerick.com) and has grown into an online market research company with a strong international focus. InSites Consulting’s roots are Belgian but 75% of its turnover is generated outside Belgium.
Today the company employs 75 people and will generate an estimated turnover of 12 million euro in 2008. Already 20% of InSites Consulting’s current client portfolio is established in the Netherlands. Big clients include Heineken, Sara Lee, Heinz, ING…

Kristof De Wulf, Managing Partner of InSites Consulting: “The opening of a local site in Rotterdam was one of our growth objectives for the following years. The choice for the Netherlands was obvious: online market research is generally accepted, we already have a great many Dutch clients, an online panel in excess of 170,000 Dutch people at our disposal and have noticed that increasingly more companies are organising themselves from a Benelux perspective. The main reason is of course that we can provide an even better service to our Dutch customers.”

The question remains whether the fiercely contested Dutch market can handle an extra player. Ramon Pardo, country manager for the Netherlands and ex-RI employee with more than 16 years experience in the sector has no doubts: “Of course the Netherlands has many good companies which have secured a strong position. I still see many possibilities for InSites Consulting to become an established value on the Dutch market. ‘Taking research forward’ is our base line, and it stands for a progressive focus on innovation and R&D, with great freedom for initiative and self-development. Moreover the academic roots of the organisation provide an important network that is actively used in this. In this way InSites Consulting is funding a PhD student of the University of Maastricht for the next 4 years to come up with innovative views together with us which can be translated into relevant solutions for our clients.”

In any case InSites Consulting is well integrated in the world-wide ESOMAR network: over the past 2 years the company has presented as many as 8 different papers at various conferences, 2 of which were nominated for best paper, and organised worldwide workshops about web 2.0 applications in market research. “Internally, we call it ‘connected research’. It allows us to bring our clients closer to their customers via various new techniques and methods such as online communities, bulletin boards, blogs, online qualitative research, etc.”, adds Kristof De Wulf.

InSites Consulting moved into the Rotterdam Brainpark on 1 August. For more information on InSites Consulting, please go to www.insites-consulting.nl.