The 3 C Approach: Realizing the Potential Of MR

The Context

In the Indian scenario, the market research industry is currently growing at a slow but steady rate. This small growth rate has led key players in the MR industry to feel that the true potential of Market Research in India has yet not been realized. In the light of another marketing related industry's substantial growth, viz. advertising, many key figures in the MR industry believe that there could be several marketing decisions being made without adequate market knowledge, which could prove to be dangerous in the long run for all concerned.

The Triggers and Barriers Study

The MRSI has always been a proactive society and therefore, the current scenario prompted the MRSI to comprehend the reasons for this steady albeit slow growth. The Triggers and Barriers study to the Use Of Market Research was an initiative taken by the MRSI to further understand what was hampering the consistent and committed usage of market research. The study led to the identification of key barriers to the use of Market Research as a whole. These barriers were :

(a) Lack of belief in the fact that MR can add real value to business decision-making

(b) Lack of awareness of what is available in MR, and what it can do for them

(c) No significant output of the MR Industry that forms a benchmark for depicting the power of our collective knowledge in Understanding Consumers.

Pursuant to the above, the MRSI has formulated the 3C Strategy.

The 3 C Strategy: Realizing the potential of MR

The 3 C Strategy is a planned initiative by the MRSI is to convert non-users/ non-buyers of research into open, interested users, and over time believers and regular users of marketing research.

The 3 C Strategy essentially stands for The "Convince, Convert and Collaborate" Strategy.

The 'Convince' agenda saw MRSI launching the "MR WORKS!" Seminar to help convince clients of the significant value MR can bring by sharing great Case Studies of MR Applications. The erstwhile Annual Seminar, MR WORKS! brings the market research industry's best practices and case studies to a public forum, entailing presentations in a competitive format.

The 'Convert' agenda is being dealt with through an "MR Symposium", which focuses on enhancing awareness of what is available within the MR Industry to tackle business and marketing problems. Last year, the inaugural MR Symposium 2003 addressed burning issues in business innovation. This year, the MR Symposium will be focusing on the research needs of the financial services industry and will be geared to address its vital issues. This forum provides an opportunity to forge stronger links between agencies and "new" clients from sectors, which are not hardcore research users.

The last one 'Collaborate' is a new one for the coming years. Agencies will get together to do some pioneering Consumer work, which would become benchmark for all other Industries to leverage. For example, agencies can get together on two key topics:

(a) Indian Mega Consumer Trends
- An Annual Update

(b) Consumer Buying Sentiment Index for next 6 months
- Biannual Report.

This would then start making an impact, as these studies then become benchmarks for Industries to gear up to meet emerging Consumer needs.

Thus, the 3 C Strategy is our attempt to expand the MR Industry and take it to new heights. Having set the strategy, we are already knee deep into the process of realizing the true potential of Market Research in India - now and forever onward!