Driven by the ever-increasing impact of social media, word-of-mouth has turned into worLd-of-mouth. Today's consumers have the power of traditional mass media. They own your brand much more than you do and want to be involved in determining its future. The marketing wall is falling. To remain competitive in today's marketplace, marketers need to learn how to let go.

Dealing with this consumer revolution is challenging. But it offers tremendous opportunities to those who are willing to give up control. And of course it forces market researchers to think completely differently about the nature and role of their activities. We believe market research should shift from …

• Validation to collaboration
• Asking questions to observing, facilitating, and joining conversations
• Ad hoc and post hoc to always-on and in-the-moment 
• Rational thinking to emotional sensing
• Acting as an intermediary to acting as a coach and facilitator
• Information to actionable insights

Change is here to stay, and the speed of change is accelerating. Our vision of contemporary marketing is evangelized through our best-selling books "The Conversation Manager" and "How Cool Brands Stay Hot". Our ForwaR&D lab co-creates the future of research with clients seeking to stay ahead of the game. And since "forward thinking" is central to our company culture, we ensure that everyone in our company is challenging the norms every single day.