Saturday, July 26, 2008
Research as a Service
There is no doubt that marketing is becoming ever more like a service. A service that has utility to break through each of our personal bubbles by being personal, anticipated and relevant. One only has to look at behavioural targeting to see this trend.
Will research do the same? It seems to me that what the internet does is to amplify the very humanistic need which is to connect with others. Now we have the ability to connect with people from anywhere about things that we could only have dreamed of a short time ago. Some of these connections are positive, some not so positive (depending on your perspective of course). But this is where the interest is - connecting with micro-markets at a personal level.
Just as marketing does. Just as will research will do. Bring humans together to understand them deeper than we have ever been able to do. And that is happening whether we like it or not. And whether we talk about internet penetration levels or not.
Will research do the same? It seems to me that what the internet does is to amplify the very humanistic need which is to connect with others. Now we have the ability to connect with people from anywhere about things that we could only have dreamed of a short time ago. Some of these connections are positive, some not so positive (depending on your perspective of course). But this is where the interest is - connecting with micro-markets at a personal level.
Just as marketing does. Just as will research will do. Bring humans together to understand them deeper than we have ever been able to do. And that is happening whether we like it or not. And whether we talk about internet penetration levels or not.
