Intellicast S6E26 – Client-Side Insights from Craig Alter of Perfetti Van Melle
October 23, 2023
Behind the Picket Line: Exploring Public Awareness of the Writers’ Strike
November 9, 2023
Welcome back to Intellicast! We have another great guest joining us on today’s episode. Craig Alter, who works in consumer insights at Perfetti Van Melle, joins Brian Lamar and Producer Brian to talk about how research has evolved from a brand perspective this year.
Before diving into the discussion, Craig brings us up to speed on what has happened with him since his last appearance on the podcast back in 2022. He explains how he joined Perfetti Van Melle and the reasons behind his career move.
Next, Craig shares his perspective on how research has adapted this year, considering the volatile economy and tightening budgets. He mentions that the impact on Perfetti Van Melle has been minimal, and we even speculate that candy might be recession-proof. Craig also highlights Perfetti Van Melle’s growth mode, citing their recent acquisitions of new brands from Mondelez earlier that week.
The conversation then evolves into a discussion about how Craig and his team gather and utilize global insights, applying them to regional brands. They also explore the overlap between regional brands and tastes in different areas.
In the final segment of the interview, Craig discusses how he and the team at Perfetti Van Melle are incorporating artificial intelligence into their research process. He explains their plans to use AI to test video ads by analyzing a database of previous ads to determine their potential success.
It was enlightening to gain a different perspective!
Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian Lamar and Producer Brian dig into some of the recent news from around the market research industry.
The episode kicks off with some commentary about how fall has really set in over the last week or so. Then Brian Lamar starts to provide some updates on upcoming conference dates. He talks about not only the ones left on the schedule for 2023 but many that have been announced for 2024 as well.
Brian then gets into the upcoming Cincinnati WIRe event where EMI’s own Mary Draper will be speaking on a panel with Mike Herrel and Rudy Bublitz about artificial intelligence, diversity, and more at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.
After the conference discussion, the guys jump into some market research news. First up is the news of the new Delete Act in California that strengthens CCPA regulations. The guys wonder how this will impact companies and people who are based outside California but work with businesses/people who are.
In the next story is a big one for those of us in the sample industry. Research Defender was acquired by Rep Data. Brian and Brian discuss the acquisition, and how it will enhance the competitive landscape around data quality. We also want to send our congratulations again to friends of the podcast Vignesh and the entire Research Defender team.
In the next story, the guys discuss another data quality-related story, this time the new initiative, Colab, from Verve and Basis research. It takes a different approach to data quality that the guys hadn’t seen before. Brian is encouraged and hopes it is successful. Producer Brian plays devil’s advocate and asks how they could account for someone using the new voice chat function of ChatGPT to game their validation methods.
The guys switched back to data privacy news with a story about the new federal legislation being proposed called You Own the Data Act. The proposed legislation would prohibit a lot of data collection, use, and storage by a number of insights companies and organizations, as well as requiring several common consumer data privacy rights. The guys talk about Howard’s response to the legislation, as well as give their own perspective on it.
In the last couple of news stories, the guys touch on the winners of the MRX Podcast of the Year award, as well as the winners of the Female Founders Award.
In the last segment of the podcast, they guys discuss a recent Greenbook article titled, Why the Sampling Ecosystem Sets Up Honest Participants for Failure, from Karine Pepin of 2CV. The article talks about how EPC is a cause of fraud in the industry, and for honest participants to fail when taking surveys.
You can read the article here.
Thanks for tuning in.
Download our new whitepaper, Strategic Sample Blending: The Premier Methodology for Tracking Studies! You can download your free copy here.
EMI’s annual report on the sample industry, The Sample Landscape: 2023 Edition, is now available! Get your copy here.
Want to catch up on our blogs? Click here.
Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our Resources page on our website here.
