With 28 presentations packed in one and a half days the 2011 Yale Consumer Insights Conference was once again a great opportunity for academics and practitioners to share insights. This year the focus was on:
- Social Media
- Maximizing Brand Performance
- Marketplace Impact
- New Product Innovations
- Competitive Marketing Strategies
- Understanding Customer choices
Check out the 2011 Customer Insights Conference Agenda for more details on the presentations.
For me the "big" takeaway was that both academia and practice are at very early stages of figuring out how companies should deal with social media or the larger question of information, feedback, opinions and preferences being shared at super speed (think Twitter,Facebook) via the Internet. Companies cannot be nimble enough to respond with execution to changes in the marketplace. But it's a good start to actively look out for what customers are thinking as more and more folks let their opinions be known on-line.
Also it's really important that the firm,its brands and its people including suppliers and distributors be as authentic as possible. Because trying to say one thing and do another, at any point of the brand's value chain, is quickly called out via social media !