Fri, 13 Dec 2019
We are in a period of renewal and an intense cycle of elections in Latin America with elections in 15 countries in the region between 2017 and 2019. The elections in...
Thu, 12 Dec 2019
SHOBSERVATORY: A quirky look at research, marketing, brands, consumers and everything else astronomical to microscopic.
Thu, 12 Dec 2019
Since the initial draft, almost a year has passed and a new version of the law has recently been brought to the national parliament.
Wed, 11 Dec 2019
The paradox of choice is that while we might think that more choice would make us happy, the reality is that it often doesn’t. Despite the heightened sense of freedom...
Tue, 10 Dec 2019
WPP has just announced that it has completed the sale of 60% of Kantar, its global data, research, consulting and analytics business, to Bain Capital Private Equity, relating to approximately...
Mon, 09 Dec 2019
We all have blind spots, literally and metaphorically. In our eyes the optic nerves pass through the retina obscuring our sight. But we don’t notice because our brain automatically fills...
Fri, 06 Dec 2019
ESOMAR wishes to extend its warmest congratulations to Melanie Courtright on her appointment as CEO of the Insights Association in the United States.
Fri, 06 Dec 2019
Consumer research may have digitalised radically over the last few years, insights teams still need to uncover the humans behind the data. We asked insights experts how they connect emotionally...
Thu, 05 Dec 2019
"Any researcher worth their salt was acutely aware of sample design and delivery on that design back in the 1970s. We knew that it would make or break our study...
Wed, 04 Dec 2019
Disruption is everywhere – today it is standard in every market. While not a new concept, it has certainly become an ever-bigger challenge. Even previously staid markets, such as for...
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About us
ESOMAR is the global voice of the data, research and insights community.
A truly global association since 1947.
ESOMAR is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the value of market, opinion and social research and data analytics. We’ve been providing ethical and professional guidance and advocating on behalf of our global membership community for over 70 years.
Learn more about the data, research and insights industry – a more in-depth introduction
Market research – the fundamental basis of the data and insights profession - is about listening and understanding people’s views, and interpreting this information to guide brands, organisations or governments when making decisions.
From the everyday products you use, the films you watch in the cinema, the food you eat, to governmental policies, humanitarian causes – research has played a key role in the journey from concept to you.
It is about analysing and interpreting (the right) data to build information and knowledge that can be used to predict future events, actions or behaviours. This is where the real skill of our profession lies.
Insights enable people all over the world to understand and interpret the increasingly complex world we live in.
Learn more about data, research and insights – a more in-depth introduction
Working within the insights profession requires creativity, imagination, thinking outside the box…and sometimes courage!
The insights profession has a huge impact on your day-to-day life. From the products you love, to the services you use, to laws set to improve our lives. Everyday data, research and insights organisations carry out work that leads to those ‘Eureka’ moments, those moments that can make a difference in the world. To truly understand the work of our profession, we have collected those ‘ah-ha’ moments from those working in the industry. Discover what research commissioners are learning about the world around them and the impact it’s had on their organisations.
ESOMAR Director General
Our profession can trace its roots back over 300 years, when the missionaries undertook ethnographical studies of the native tribes they encountered. Wide-scale commercialisation of the profession started very early in the 1900’s, with the advent of radio and the need to assess the impact of advertising. ESOMAR itself was founded immediately post WWII, in 1947, when a group of visionary researchers – fully cognisant of the extreme challenge of bringing a divided world back together – decided to establish an international professional community, united by a common desire to work to agreed professional standards and a Code of Conduct.
Nowadays, the research profession represents a $70 Billion sector – bigger than the worldwide Wi-Fi or online music industry. The “western” or developed world accounts for the main share of the sector (North America represents 44% of the worldwide market, and Europe 37%), although of the top five markets globally, China is now placed 5th – having recently overtaken Japan.
This profession is one which encompasses psychology, anthropology, sociology, econometrics and statistics; it employs neuroscience, biometrics, mathematics, statistical models, ethnography and semiotics, and it is a profession which is now embracing advanced analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, automated processes and predictive modelling.
At its heart however, the profession’s philosophy is “How can I help?” If you think back over the last great innovations that we have seen….mobile phones, hybrid cars, HIV drugs, bio-genetics, ATM’s…all were conceived, tested and made launch-ready with the benefit of research and insight; indeed, even movie endings can now be tested and adapted based on audience research. While much publicity may be generated by just one poll (irrespective of whether its right or wrong!), so little publicity is generated for many of these amazing innovations during the assessment phase(s)….and yet, none would be available today without the guidance of research and insights.
Show me a researcher and I will show you someone who gets no greater joy from providing an insight that helps to solve a challenge, and who gets no greater satisfaction in seeing that insight translated into effective action.
Looking for a great researcher, and a great intelligence partner? Look for an ESOMAR member!
Learn more about the data, research and insights industry – a more in-depth introduction
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