This autumn, the 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 team will meet you in 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 at 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗿 and in 𝗠𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵 at 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝘁𝟮𝟮!
We discussed with Paula Paslaru (Chief Operating Officer), Daniel Dunose (Chief Executive Officer) and Alexandru Craciun (Business Development Manager EMEA) who will represent us at the conferences about their thoughts before these conferences, but also about the new trends and realities of the market research industry.
What thoughts and expectations do you have before BoE and Succeet22?
Paula Paslaru: To have a successful event, with a catchy presentation, to see lots of interesting and new facts about the industry and to meet some Romanian new clients and also see some of friends from other market research companies.
Daniel Dunose: I’m expecting to meet old acquaintances as well as like-minded professionals from different niches of our industry and look for synergies in our businesses, ways to work together.
Alexandru Craciun: The BoE and Succeet22 fairs are getting closer with each day and it feels quite exciting to take part in both of them. I feel these are excellent opportunities for taking the industry’s pulse and
for being up to date with the latest trends. It is also important to mention the social aspect as
well, as (re)connecting with industry colleagues remains one of the core benefits of these fairs.
What news does DataDiggers bring to these conferences?
Daniel Dunose: We’re presenting with the results of the two projects we recently conducted on topics very well connected with the challenges that the unprecendented pandemic restrictions created among the
society: the intermingling of technology and relationships as well as family dynamics under
current social and economic pressure.
Paula Paslaru: For us this is the first experience as presenters. We have participated at these conferences as spectators before. Hopefully this will bring us more visibility in front of Romanian end- clients and also bring some captivating information about trendy subjects in our society to fellow specialists. We always try to find interesting subjects and present them from a new and fresh perspective.
Alexandru Craciun: This year, Data Diggers will bring without any doubt quite a lot of enthusiasm: from the great amount of work put by all the involved teams in preparing these fairs, up to the moment when
we will physically step on the venues. Data Diggers is definitely growing and we continue to
investigate various topics and trends – my favourite one is the analysis on the online dating apps,
as we have discovered some unexpected insights from our respondents.
How has the market research industry changed in the last year, taking into account the socio-political-economic context?
Daniel Dunose: We could notice a structural change, i.e. the migration from offline to online methods of
collecting insights which has accelerated during the pandemic out of obvious reasons. My take it
this trend will continue in the coming years, this time not due to pandemic-related restrictions,
but more so because of its economic side effects exacerbated by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Paula Paslaru: We have seen a clearer trend towards online research and, also a shift towards more quantitative studies. I have seen a lot of innovation at the last 2 conferences we attended, so we are constantly re-inventing and using technology to our advantage (especially AI).
What are your predictions for the next period in the market research industry?
Daniel Dunose: Luckily, we are in a field that usually thrives on uncertainty: the more question marks about the future, the more interest from clients to understand consumer behavior. Given that a large slice
of the market research expenditure globally is held by manufacturers of goods that are closer to
the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a crisis in the market doesn’t necessarily mean a
crisis of the same intensity within the market research. So, I am both prudent and optimistic at
the same time about the next period. I expect to see an acceleration of the structural shift from offline to online, since clients will become more demanding regarding spending their resources,
therefore market researchers will have to adapt if they want to stay relevant.
Alexandru Craciun: I am no fortune teller, but innovation and technology will continue to play a big role in how the industry evolves. For instance, AI powered solutions seem to even take over the business
discussions. “What technology do you involve for the implementation of your projects?” or “Do
you support this type of solution?” are nowadays common topics in online or face to face
meetings nowadays.