The Most Widely Read GreenBook Blog Posts of 2019

It has become the custom of the GreenBook Blog to publish an article presenting the most widely read articles of the past year.  It is appropriate that we do so again this year, but we decided to make a few changes:

• Since we publish over 200 posts a year, instead of presenting a Top 10, we decided to expand the list up to the Top 20.  This way, we could look at roughly the top 10%. We thought we could get a better insight into the trends and topics that attract readers by expanding the list up a bit.
• We also decided this time not to count articles summarizing conferences like IIeX.  We know these articles are very popular, but we wanted to focus on original topics. Had we counted them, articles by Tom Ewing and Jonathan La Greca summarizing key points from IIeX North America 2019 would have made the list.

The 20 Most Widely Read Blogs of 2019

1. CEO Series: Interview with Eric Salama, CEO of Kantar – Lenny Murphy

2. Premiumization: The Key to Brand Growth – Jason Martuscello

3.  How AI is Transforming Mobile Technology  – Ralf Llansas

4. A New Manifesto for the Insights Industry  – Susan Schwartz McDonald

5. Market Research Fraud: Survey Farms Exposed – Offir Pasternak

6. Seven Principles of UX Design for Market Researchers – Emma Gavin & Nicholas Lee

7. Will Ai End Market Research or Lead it to New Heights? – Anil Kaul

8. How AI is Completely Transforming Knowledge Management for Businesses – Scott Litman

9. Are Market Researchers Indispensable? Six Steps to Make Sure – John Bird

10. Microbrands and Macrostrategy in Market Research – Lenny Murphy & Larry Friedman

11. Social, Not Stupid – Holly Collins

12.  4 Technologies that will Revolutionize Healthcare – Kaleem Khan

13. A Tale of Two (Sample) Cities: Paradigm Shifts in the Sample Industry – Mario Carrasco

14. The Robots are coming: Look Busy! – Amy Knowles

15. The Netflix Effect – David Swart

16. How to Boost the Efficiency of Facebook Lead Ads with the Right Images – Eugine Dychko

17. CEO Series: Interview with Didier Truchot, CEO of Ipsos – Lenny Murphy

18. Using AI to Conduct Qualitative Interviews is Faster, Less Expensive and Viable – Laura Craig

19. The Case for Developing a New Research Mindset – Robin Wedewer & Larry Friedman

20. How Technology is Changing the Fashion Industry  – Simran Sethi

The CEO interview series that Lenny Murphy does is extremely popular.  His interview with Eric Salama of Kantar about the Bain acquisition was the most widely read article of the year.  The interview with Didier Truchot of IPSOS also made the list. Several others were published in December, and if they were live for a longer period of time, they probably would have made the list too. Expect more such interviews in 2020.

Key Findings

Several key points jump right out when you look at the list:

• If there were a “topic of the year” it would be Artificial Intelligence.  AI was the subject of six articles in the Top 20 – #s 3, 7, 8, 14, 18 and 20.
• “Macro views” of trends in the market research industry continue to be popular – #s 4, 9, 10, 19 all focused on larger themes around mindset and skillset shifts in the industry.
• Trends in business and marketing also feature on the list – #s 2, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20
• Critical issues around sample and questionnaire design were the topics of several top articles this year – #’s 5, 6, and 13.

So, those were the top articles of the year.  I suspect 2020’s top articles will cover some similar themes, but will also bring some surprises, as the world continues to change, and the industry continues its evolution.  As always, GreenBook Blog will be home to the leading thinkers in the industry.