As the first day of The Market Research Technology Event drew to a close you could find 200+ market research professionals wandering around the Cosmopolitan Hotel with slightly dazed expressions. This had nothing to do with the conference being held in Las Vegas (I’ll leave those visuals to your imagination) and everything to do with the magnitude of change that technology is bringing to our lives – both personally and professionally.

Sound bites from Day One Intensives…

You might be wearing your ‘consumer voice cancelling headphones’ but regardless of how hard you push your brand agenda, the consumer knows… it’s not about you, it’s all about them.

Combine the ubertrend of time compression with the proliferation of our digital society and the result is a very fragmented consumer attention span. Don’t agree? Think of yoga, it’s adult baby-sitting in the simplest form. You pay someone $20 to keep you calm, quite and offline for 60 minutes.

Our vernacular is evolving to match our time strapped, digital society. I’m sure you’ve said OMG with your BFF but don’t let a FOMO drive you to do something that is a CWOT.

Anything you can’t swipe is useless. Don’t believe me? Give a 2-year-old an iPad and a magazine – they’ll let you know which one doesn’t work.

What does this mean for us as market research professionals?

Listen to the customer; it’s about adding value with your product, not being and intrusion.

Keep it simple; help your customer save time.

Developing a product, implementing changes or upgrades? Ask yourself WWJD… what would Jobs do (as in Steve Jobs)? Our brains connect based on experiences, not facts. What kind of experience does your product or service provide?

Anyone need a Cosmopolitan?