B - School News - Marketing Research Workshop At IIT Kanpur

Moderators, Respondents, Questionnaires, FGDs, IDIs were some of the buzzwords, pouring from across all directions of the lecture hall last weekend. Yes, it was a Marketing Research Session. Organised by IME Department, it was a 2 day workshop, delivered by Mr. Anang Anang, Research Director, Synovate India, a US based MNC.

Mr. Anang, a veteran in the field, with a vast experience of 15 years, started his journey with AC Nielson. Then he changed over to Synovate India. The speaker gave the students some deep insights of the concepts, giving illustrations from his live projects.

The speaker, whose core area of research has been automobiles, discussed about the upcoming Market Research industry in India. Commencing his session with few basic definitions Mr. Anang emphasized upon the significance of Qualitative Research and highlighted the contrast against a Quantitative study. Then he described the basic steps in any such research, constituting the rudimentary framework. This was followed by a detailed account of every step, taking a ‘soon to be launched’ mid sized car as the target of the study. That was enough to fuel the thoughts of the potential researchers. The session became all the more interesting, as the ‘would be managers’ started exercising their grey cells and the discussion stretched to as far as advertising, celebrity endorsement, brand failures and similar managerial jargons.

Audience was left agape, when Mr. Anang quoted the fact that entire nation of a billion plus, would have 25 ‘Moderators’, on the higher side. Finally, there was an informal chat of speaker with some students over dining. To summarize, it was an informative workshop and every such session ends up urging for more.