The Solution may be Accountability

Since the first of the year I have encountered two totally unrelated cases that point to what appears to be a serious problem in our marketing and marketing research environment.

 In the first case, a marketing manager has been trying to get funding to research three possible introduction approaches for a new product. After considerable time and pain, the president of the company decided to go on judgment alone while stating, "I don't believe in market research." Their track record does not seem to support their level of confidence.

 In the second case, a market researcher with whom I have a great deal of confidence stated that marketers in his company generally do not consider market research worth the investment. He went further to ask how we might stimulate more confidence in our work?

 Both events are discouraging, but let's look at the facts. There will be 25,000+ new products entering the market this year and as in the past, approximately 90% will fail in their first year. These products will come from both companies that do little or no research and companies that conduct consumer/market research to a greater or lesser extent.

 The culture that I grew up in, Procter & Gamble, believed in research. They would research everything about a brand to maximize the brand's potential in the market. In a broad sense, they would research the product, package, positioning, price, promotions, communication, etc. It has been my experience that very small things in an introduction can make or break a brand. I have seen such things as a single sentence in communication greatly reduce the potential of the brand. Also I have seen a brand where four little words took the brand from acceptable to a market leader and also a paradigm shift in the category.

 I often ask, "How many really good ideas do we reject on the basis of the execution and not the idea itself?" In other words, do we rush to market with a half-developed idea only to find it failing before we can correct the problems?

 All things considered, I have two thoughts:

a. Are those who don't believe in the value of research really that good that they do not need the consumer's input? I very much doubt it. History does not bear out that conclusion.

 b. Is it that we as market researchers have not given the marketers and management a good reason to have confidence in our work? Based on what I have seen, I can accept this position.

 Regardless, we have too much investment in failures. Either we need much smarter decision makers or we need to improve our research. Yes, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. But what we really need is more ACCOUNTABILITY both on the part of the researchers and the decision makers. It is just my view.