Late last month we once again participated in a virtual Quirk’s event, both attending some great sessions, running a virtual booth for InsightsNow, and presenting ourselves.
Learning About Machine Learning
On Wednesday, we caught a machine learning session with Brian Boever with Coca-Cola, Andrew Glor with Foresight Associates, and Aman Q with Amass titled “Using AI to develop an early warning system for brand performance.” We loved hearing about how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to inform the more macro picture of brand strategy, using a case study example with Coca-Cola. What made this session especially compelling is coming away with practical applications, like the process for applying AI in brand strategy studies, how this approach can identify key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to future success for a brand, and how results can be integrated into a dashboard user interface. Pretty cool stuff!
Taking Risks in Research 
We also took the time to join Jane Horder with Mars Foods along with Susan Spantiz with watch me think. They presented “Embracing the unfamiliar (and keeping your job): How the role of insights has become foresights.” We learned about how many times in market research, we may defer to the safe and familiar when generating insights that lower risk in our decision-making. But they pointed out that if you broaden your scope beyond the familiar and let your consumers REALLY tell you their story, you see something new and essential via mobile observational research without a scripted discussion guide.
Insight Into Our Innovation Center
Our Quirk’s session, “Fast-tracking Tofurky retail concepts via InsightsNow’s innovation center,” with our CEO Dave Lundahl and Senior Research Director Kenny McMahon, explored how to design a new product to succeed in today’s marketplace, using a Tofurky real-life case study as an example. By going through the process of the Tofurky retail placement and packaging study step by step, attendees learned how easy it is to initiate and access on-demand research, using our new Innovation Center. If you missed the session, you can view the Tofurky case study content here.
And congratulations to our gift card winner, who stopped by our virtual booth and dropped their “business card” in our lottery. We can hardly wait to see everyone at the next Quirk’s event – and maybe even in-person!
