Summary
This presentation posits that adding judicious use of market research to big data leads to "smart data". It sees big data, gathered by researchers from both proprietary and open sources, as representing an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of human behaviour. The rise of smart data can be seen in the emerging disciplines of cyber-psychology and computational sociology. Various smart data measures and metrics - specific to individuals, segments and social networks - are discussed.

Summary
Social media has not only changed the way we interact with each other, it also has the ability to transform the research industry, with the likes of Google Consumer Surveys already proving itself to be more accurate than most opinion polls when it came to predicting the result of the recent US Presidential Election. Sthanunathan predicts that the insights industry's transformation is likely to be spearheaded by China in the next five years and virtual focus groups will be the new norm. One-on-one in-depth interviews will be easy to conduct and become very cost-effective too but the biggest impact social media will have is its ability to provide deep understanding of human conditions.

Summary
A round-up of the key issues businesses and marketers face as they address the brave new world of big data, as discussed at the I-COM conference in 2012. Research firms providing insights at the event include Nielsen and comScore. The presenters suggest that, a) consumers are increasingly tech savvy and protective of their personal data, b) that businesses face the internal task of managing and analysing the vast amount of data available and the external challenge of using data-fuelled insights to improve consumer communication, relationships and loyalty, and c) that advertisers have to work in close partnership with agencies to help them assess the relevant data and use it to shape strategy.

Summary
A round-up of presentations from I-COM 2012, looking into the issue of whether or not the Big Data trend is driving business efficiencies. Presenters argue that, regardless of the business concerned, the application of data insight can increase efficiency, hone strategy, and provide new means to offer improved customer service. In order for this to happen, brands and marketers need to: identify areas where data can impact on a specific business problem, look at specific, relevant data in context, and, where possible, integrate data into marketing to allow for rapid targeting and tailoring of communications.

Summary
A round-up of presentations from the I-COM 2012 conference. Across the course of a wide range of panel discussions and presentations a number of key themes emerged. Among these were the challenges of adapting to the Big Data megatrend – the explosion in available data on shoppers available to companies in recent years. Presenters suggested that Big Data has reshaped the way corporations are structured, the way they plan and analyse, and the way they market their goods and services.

Summary
A report from Datacentric, an event organised by Warc. Among the major themes discussed by presenters are: that the rise of "big data" has helped firms to tap new sources of information about customers, giving them the ability to optimise communications in real time; that clients are using online data in a variety of ways, and with varying degrees of success; and that the regulatory environment, particularly for web cookies, is likely to get considerably tougher in future.

Summary
As a data analysis technology, data mining has matured to the extent that there are now a number of sophisticated commercial software packages available. The purpose of this article is to explore what data mining has become, its relationship to statistics and its relevance in market research.

Summary
Reporting from ad:Tech Chicago 2009, Geoffrey Precourt, WARC's U.S. editor, covers a session on 360-degree marketing by Elva Lewis, Procter & Gamble's associate director of corporate marketing. Lewis argues that P&G is "one of the biggest and most siloed companies in the world", presenting unique challenges when it comes to understanding its customers. Currently, the FMCG giant's communications target around half of the potential U.S. audience base of 200 million people. The company's former marketing director, Jim Stengel, emphasised the importance of understanding the "who", the "what" and the "how" of the purchase process, but, until now, only the first of these criteria had been truly met, she added. However, by aggregating this information, and taking advantage of the scale of its operations, in a single-source database, P&G will now "be able to understand, for the first time, the individual. We'll know who she is. We'll know what she cares about at P&G."

Summary
This paper summarises the presentation by Martin Hayward on "Connecting the dots: joined-up insight finally becomes possible" given at the IJMR Research Methods Forum: ‘Methods Matter: Interviewing and Beyond’, 25 November 2008, Royal Society, London.

Summary
This paper describes the cross-functional team project, which was aimed to reconstruct consumer insights for building relevant and effective communication for children in the ice-cream category in Poland.