Andrew Wiseman reflects on last week’s Market Insight Forum in London.
Last week, I attended The Market Insight Forum, an event organized by Richmond Events with the support of the Market Research Society.
What is the Market Insight Forum?
For those who are not familiar with it, it brings together clients and market research agencies for a day full of workshops, networking and new business meetings (for clients). For agencies, it’s a pitching marathon, getting to meet up to 14 new clients over the course of the day. If you’re already exhausted by that, try thinking about the now beloved Marketing Forum (RIP), which amplified this threefold by running for the best part of three days, whilst being anchored off Guernsey or somewhere. Kind of the same but with added gin and seasickness, if my memory serves me well.
Anyway, I digress. When I try and explain this concept to friends, I normally start by saying it’s like ‘speed dating for business’. To be fair, it gives most of my friends the ‘ick’ at this point. And yes, I’m happy to use the word ‘ick’ in narrative after John Amaechi OBE used it in his keynote. If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me. Others think that it’s a load of people spouting bollocks for the day (thanks again, John for the permission to add this into the blog too).
And yet, it gives me a real, maybe perverse sense of enjoyment. Of course, there’s a bit of trepidation ahead of time: What if my meetings don’t go well? What if there’s no chemistry? What if I meet THAT person from my past that I don’t really want to see again in a hurry. The reality, none of that actually happens. I’ve done this a few times over the years, and what you actually get is the opportunity to say ‘hello’ to the organisers (they seem to have the lowest employee churn rate known to man), reconnect with people from the agency community who you haven’t seen for a while, and meet new and lapsed clients to see what’s going on in their world.
Add to this the opportunity to network, grab some lovely food and drinks, and get a bit of brain food, it’s no wonder it’s such a popular event. Of course, by the end of the day, you’re totally exhausted. And yet I was unable to sleep until the small hours until the excitement and provocations of the day had left my head.
For Mustard, it was a great day. It’s the first event of this type since we refreshed our brand last year, so it was great to take it on the road and get some in the moment feedback on which messages resonated. It was also really humbling to think about all the great work that the team do for our clients, and the genuine interest in finding out more about some of our work from new clients. Ultimately, it’s about finding new clients and new business. And with five follow-up meetings already booked, it feels like a totally worthwhile use of the day.
Here’s to the power of real conversations, genuine curiosity, and turning a hectic day into meaningful opportunities.
