Point of view: Time for research to pivot

This article argues that research often stifles innovation, but could instead be used to generate insight and help companies to change direction.

Point of view: Time for research to pivot

Brian MillarSense Worldwide

Stan Sthanunathan is the former head of marketing strategy at one of the most innovative companies on earth: Coca-Cola. So when he asked, 'Is research stifling innovation?' in a recent Admap article, I hope there was a collective sputtering into flat whites behind the one-way mirrors in a thousand focus group rooms. The fact is, Stan is right. Conventional research predicts innovation success about as well as throwing somebody in the river predicts whether they're a witch.

The current financial climate demands big, ground breaking innovation....

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands