Musings on the Market Research Effectiveness Awards

As we dust off our glad rags, and count just “one more sleep” to Awards night, I can’t help but reflect on the history of these awards and what the evidence tells us about their value to us, the Market Research profession.

I’ve been around long enough to remember the pre-Award days, the days when we lamented that researchers were not valued, that new graduates didn’t really want to work in research companies, or if they did, only as a stepping stone into a coveted client-side role once we’d taught them the nuts and bolts of measurable marketing.

I firmly believe that having awards means that we’ve come of age as an industry, that we’re mature enough to get together, competitors and clients, and showcase the best of the best.  That in itself must have some effect on our attractiveness as a career option, and on our market as a whole.

Sadly, each time these awards have been run, the number of entries has declined, the number of excuses has grown, and it has, I believe, reached a point where we seriously need to ask ourselves whether the MRS members actually want these awards at all.  Last time around the committee asked the question, having run the event at a significant loss, and was apparently deluged with feedback demanding that the awards remain no matter what.

Yet tomorrow night we will see the smallest field of entries yet, some categories with no entries at all… if we were advising a client, we would surely say that the market has voted with its feet and is sending us a message that they don’t want what we’re selling.  Well if that’s the case, well and good – perhaps we should look at merging our awards with one of the other marketing awards nights, where the small number of entries won’t be so noticeable, and where the support is much stronger from the marketing industry as a whole.

Because if these awards, our awards, are to survive, they need to be supported, and that means that every company member of the MRS should be in, the larger ones with multiple entries – and every individual member should want one of their projects to be entered – a mark in itself of effectiveness.  Without entries, the awards will not survive, the winners will not feel that they’re truly the best of the best, and our young ones, those new researchers we should be nuturing to remain in the industry, will have just one less thing to strive for.

By the time you read this, the awards will have been announced (and depending on the outcome, you can interpret this rant as either sour grapes or trumpet blowing), but win or lose tomorrow night, I have the validation of knowing that we have at least six clients who were so pleased with what our research did for their business, that they’re willing to shout about it, and let us do the same!

Debra Hall, Fellow of the Market Research Society of New Zealand