Thursday, June 2, 2016
4:00 - 4:20 PM
Ted Talks - Marquette

Classified: Research that integrates to Innovate

The secondhand economy is thriving in Canada, and Kijiji is the largest facilitator of secondhand trade in the country. Thriving companies like Kijiji, need to keep a constant look ahead to innovation, growth and maintaining relevance in an ever-evolving market – and market research is no different. Sole reliance on the tried, tested and true no longer will help market researchers and our clients achieve success. Integration – in research methods used and of the different information we have access to – will be critical.

While the market leader, Kijiji was challenged to squeeze out even more success across its key businesses, each with differing needs, challenges and objectives: building and positioning the brand relevantly with target audiences; identifying and understanding new opportunity segments in successful markets while determining issues in a more resistant one; and exploring the path-to-purchase context to grow its customer base in another.

Environics and Kijiji embarked on a months-long research partnership using both traditional and newer, innovative research tools to uncover the integrated insights needed to inform its overall and business marketing strategy. This helped Kijiji to identity the most effective ways to build its brand, make inroads in a challenging market, and strengthen its stake in others.

Interest Statement:
We've entered a new era of research, with continuously-growing sources of data available, much of it readily at our fingertips – and our clients (and their customers) are expecting more added value. As similarly as Kijiji strives to disrupt the marketplace, so do market researchers feel compelled to do something new, something different, to innovate, to evolve… all while never losing sight of the core fundamentals that traditional research provides. And just as each business comes with its unique challenges, different research objectives demand customized approaches.

The session will share a few cases studies created with one client, focusing on how specific market growth and branding challenges can be effectively addressed through a thoughtfully integrated research approach – spanning secondary and primary research data – balancing both old and 'new'. We will share the combination of desk research, social media analysis, in-person focus groups, in-depth one-onones, online surveys and video-captured responses fed into an iterative, multi-phased approach that delivered insights that spoke to Kijiji's various target audiences for brand building, turning around challenging markets and growing new ones – and helped to answer the Kijiji's core business questions smartly.

Researchers and users interested in learning how a multi-method approach helps to come at business challenges from all angles, by making use of a wide range of research tools, and connecting seemingly disparate insights into a cohesive result will benefit from this session. Researchers interested in how newer tools such as social media and integrating video response capture can work in tandem with tried and true traditional methodologies will be inspired with how it can all come together.

The discussion will serve as a valuable reminder that making use of all the resources available to researchers and clients will provide the maximum (and most meaningful) outcome and helps researchers become a more insightful and collaborative partner to their clients.

Participants/ attendees will leave with a better understanding of ….

1. how to think strategically around business issues – and where each research component makes
   sense (and for what insight/questions) in helping their clients solve their business challenges;
2. the benefits and shortfalls of each approach, and how they come together more effectively –
   and specifically how they complement and support each;
3. how to work with a client in defining and redefining the business challenge and research
   questions to add value, and gain focused, actionable and valid feedback and insight to inform
   strategy; and
4. a renewed sense of possibilities in making use of, and integrating, the wide range of research
   methodologies and tools available to them to answer client questions strategically – both those
   they have always been using, and those they haven't considered before.

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	Susan Seto, MBA Vice President, Market Strategy, Environics Research Group As Vice President, Susan leads the Market Strategy team, with a focus spanning the breadth of consumer areas and categories, and the range of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Ms. Seto has successfully partnered with clients to solve business problems and challenging research issues in the travel & tourism, arts, culture & media consumer packaged goods, automotive, education, human capital management, real estate and retail sectors, in both B2C and B2B applications. She has specific expertise in social values analyses and custom, integrated marketing research programs to inform branding, communications and positioning strategies, as well as market and customer segmentations.
	Marc Hade Manager, Strategic Marketing, Kijiji Canada Marc brings eight years' experience to Kijiji where he is responsible for overseeing strategic marketing, including offline and online advertising (creative and media), public relations, experiential marketing, and social media content. Marc has overseen some notable projects for Kijiji including the execution of Kijiji's first-ever Second- Hand Economy campaign, a revolutionary Canadian published economics report to measure the secondhand economy in Canada. Marc also helped develop and execute a sophisticated integrated marketing approach that helped maintain and grow leadership in key regions for the company, increased focus on key segments, integrated online and offline efforts, and re-engaged users of the site.