THE CONSUMER INSIGHTS REVOLUTION

Phillips, Barry, Gans, and Schardt present a guide to transforming and expanding market research to help build a company’s brand.

This business guide details the ways in which research can be used to better build and position a brand. Two of the authors are senior managers at PepsiCo, and two work with Zappi, the company PepsiCo partnered with to create Ada, a learning application that, per the book, transformed PepsiCo’s market research. The text outlines how PepsiCo Insights, the company’s research and marketing arm, affects the larger organization, offering nuggets along the way that can apply to any company looking to become more consumer-centric. The authors cover the history of consumer and marketing data, including the early days of surveys and focus groups, to more modern methods of collecting data online. Chapters include information on making market research more agile, finding the right platform (like PepsiCo’s Ada), gathering buy-ins from other people, and using AI in market research. (“AI will disrupt every phase of the research process,” the authors write.) Each of these topics is explored thoroughly, often through case studies from PepsiCo; in fact, the book often reads like an advertisement for the platform that PepsiCo and Zappi developed. (“To date, the platform has generated over 6,000 research products … and over $100 million in savings and improvements,” readers learn.) Still, there is useful information here. Chapters end with key takeaways and even more helpful action points (for example, build bridges across your organization, map out how your business uses market research right now, and work closely with IT). Though the guide reads like a textbook and can stray into the weeds with its diagrams, charts, and footnotes, there are portions that could appeal to anyone—for instance, the extremely useful final chapter (“The Bluffer’s Guide to Tech Terms”) provides a list of definitions for terms such as algorithm, augmented reality, blockchain, and user interface. Any reader can benefit from this information; heavy-duty researchers will appreciate the rest.

A bit on the wonky side and tailored for a niche audience but containing information useful to all.