12 Companies Delivering On The Unmet Needs Of Insights Clients

 

Earlier this month we posted the Top 12 Unmet Needs Of Insights Clients, the out put of the Insight Innovation Challenge where client-side leaders share with us their biggest unmet needs. We then are tasked with identifying  companies that we believe are best suited to address them and give them 5 minutes on stage during  IIeX North America in Atlanta June 16-18 in pitch their solutions.

For a deeper dive into the needs identified and our take on the implications for the broader trends in the industry see our post:  Can You Deliver On The Top 12 Unmet Needs Of Insights Clients?

We received many submissions from companies that wanted to be considered for this opportunity and reviewed many more from our ever expanding database of companies that we follow in order to assess their potential insights applications. The end result is that we found twelve cutting edge companies that we believe can deliver on these needs.

The firms we have invited to present as part of the Insight Innovation Challenge sessions at IIeX are:

1. Creative ways to increase survey engagement:  NinjaPost

2. Game-based research, not survey gamification:  Upfront Analytics

3. Video curation:  CorporateCloud

4. Flexible AR:  Merlin Mobility

5. Image analysis:  Ditto Labs

6. The Internet Of Things:  Evrythng

7. The evolution of taste:  SayRoom

8. Better social media analytics:  Decooda

9. More efficient ad & concept testing:  InsightsMeta

10. True Multi-Platform Analysis for Kids’ Space:  Luth Research

11. Synthesis & User-Friendly Data Analysis Software:  ICI

12. Biometrics, Facial Scanning, Neuro:  HCD REsearch

 

On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 18th these firms will all pitch their solution to a packed house of IIeX attendees in a rapid fire session that will prove to be engaging, provocative, and fun for everyone. Last year in Philadelphia I heard many audience members exclaiming “Holy crap!”  during some of the Challenge presentations, and I think we’ll hear even more this year.

This year’s selection are a mix of companies, some already firmly targeting the traditional MR space and others that have developed solutions for other business issues but that have applications for insights. I have seen demos already from most, and I can tell you that they are indeed pretty amazing, and in some cases potentially highly disruptive to the industry.  In all cases they are examples of the direction insights is headed and as such should be of intense interest to everyone involved in MR today.

Obviously new thinking, disruption, innovation, and producing real business impact via insights are the core themes of IIeX across the entire event, and there are a few other specific sessions I should mention here that will reinforce that focus.

First we have the Insight Innovation Competition which is running now. As of today 12 companies are vying for 6 spots on stage  during IIeX in Atlanta to present their start-ups to our panel of judges and audience. The Competition is always a highlight of IIeX and some amazing companies have come out previous editions. Competition presentations will be on Monday, June 16th.

Second we have the IIeX Experience (supported by LRW), a special exhibit area during the conference devoted to cutting edge technology. We beta tested this concept at IIeX in Amsterdam earlier this year and it was a hit, so we brought it to Atlanta.  In this edition we’ll be showcasing:

• VIRTUAL REALITY
• VOICE  ANALYTICS
• GOOGLE GLASS
• IRIS SCANNING
• AUGMENTED REALITY
• 3D SHOPPER ANALYTICS
• SPHERICAL IMAGERY
• FACIAL RECOGNITION

And as a part of the Experience, attendees will be privy to the first public unveiling of an amazing new system developed by Lowe’s Disruptive Innovation for folks to interact with. I can’t say more right now, but trust me it is one of the coolest things you will see all year and has immense disruptive potential for a variety of business issues, including insights.

Finally, the agenda itself is packed full of panels, workshops, and presentations by industry leaders focused on understanding the challenges and opportunities facing our industry today and in the future. One panel in particular should be of great interest to everyone: “The Great Methodology Debate: Which Approaches Really Deliver on Client Needs?”

This panel is directly following the Challenge sessions and will be moderated by Eileen Campbell, CMO of IMAX and ex-Global CEO of Millward Brown. The panel will have representatives of several prominent methodologies, each advocating the benefits of their methodology’s particular approach.

This is going to be a lot of fun, and it promises to be different from the normal conference fare. This will be a spirited but friendly debate among people with a penchant toward particular methodologies.

The participants in this event and their corresponding methodologies will be:

• Mark Michelson, Mobile Market Research Assn:  Mobile Research
• Diana Lucaci, True Impact Marketing:  Neuromarketing
• Michalis Michael, DigitalMR:  Social Media Listening
• Niels Schillewaert, Insites Consulting:  Market Research Communities
• Tom Anderson, OdinText:  Text Analytics

I think it will be incredibly enlightening to hear these experts in their respective fields discuss each of their approaches in light of the other things that will be on display at IIeX and hopefully we can move to a more holistic and integrated view of where each of these approaches fit in the insights toolbox.

In my view, the entire event and especially the sessions I’ve called out here are all designed to help identify and meet the unmet needs of insights clients; after all, if we as an industry don’t do that better, there won’t be an industry at all.