Data Gurus Podcast | Insights on Business Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Market Research & Data Collection

In this special series on data quality, you’ll hear different perspectives from other industries regarding market research and the analytics industry. Sima chats with Charlie Allieri, CEO of Imperium, and the sponsor of this series on data quality, and Matt Staudt, CEO of Venture Development Center. Bringing Traditional and Alternative Assets to the Marketplace Venture Development Center, started...

Sima joins some of her peers on a panel discussion as it relates to M&A trends, what’s going on in the industry, and some insights for founders, as they consider their alternatives for the future. In light of the recent acquisitions for staggering amounts of money, such as SAP acquiring Qualtrics for $8B, Tableau being acquired by Salesforce for $17B, and Bain Capital acquiring 60% of Kantar,...

Sima has a special treat in store for today’s show. As Chair of SampleCon, she and the other Board Members have been knee-deep in planning for the 2020 conference to ensure its continued success. She will be chatting with some of the board for a peek as to what’s coming and the importance it holds for each member. For Sima, she loves that there’s no other conference that focuses specifically on on...

Sima and Menaka Gopinath, Lead of Social Intelligence and Communities at Ipsos , sit down to discuss the use of social media in social intelligence to help answer business questions. Opposite Ends of the Spectrum As the market has matured with social intelligence, there’s a lot of amazing things happening in the social intelligence realm for insights, but it’s not being leveraged as broadly it cou...

If you’re a Founder or CEO of a company that is looking to scale their business, this episode provides some great insight and advice.   Steve August joins Sima on today’s show, which serves as a great refresher course on things that we might already know. Listen in for timely reminders on how to really consider the next steps for your business! Steve is the Founder and CEO of Steve August Coaching...

Sima brings something a little different on today’s podcast, and that is her perspective on how we think about and accept new approaches and methodologies in the industry. Believe it or not, words DO matter, as you will soon discover! Something Shiny We’ve all lived through the introduction of new and exciting technology. Our first thoughts are typically along the lines of: “What is that? How do y...

On today’s show, Sima introduces Andrea Zurbriggen, the Strategic Sourcing Manager of Escalent , and Katie Egge from Paradigm Sample .   Listen in to discover the shades of grey that occur between a client and partner relationship.   The Approach Makes the Difference Andrea manages vendors of all types: technology platform, sample supplier, or an executive-level recruiter or moderator. It’s her jo...

Charlie Allieri, CEO of Imperium , joins Sima on today’s show to discuss data quality in the market research space. Imperium offers a full suite of solutions, but their goal is to help customers with data quality issues that they’re dealing with. Data quality in the market research space usually aligns with people and machines who are intentionally providing bad data (also known as fraud).   A Dev...

Multi-cultural research, strategy, and understanding is what Sima and Mario X. Carrasco, Co-Founder and Principal of ThinkNow Research , chat about on today’s podcast. Mario worked in the early days of digital marketing, building online communities for MSN Latino, and didn’t know what a research panel was until researching it for a job interview for a closer-to-home job. He got his start in market...

Kevin Lonnie, CEO of KL Communications , joins Sima in today’s podcast to talk about innovation. Kevin entered Rutgers College of Engineering then decided he didn’t want to be an engineer and switched to Business and Psychology. From there, he took a course in Market Research and realized he’d stumbled on to a profession that involved both disciplines of Business and Psychology. He’s been in Marke...

Mike Bloxham joins Sima in a discussion involving consumer data,   consumer behavior, viewer perceptions of video content at an emotional level, and how this is used. Mike is the Senior Vice-President of The Global Media and Entertainment Division at Magid . He is involved in the development of different services and products that get taken out to the market place, and liaison and delivery around...

Sima listens in today as Steve Danziger interviews Vignesh Krishnan and Alex Leger, and their discussion about how technology involves our interactions in data quality and respondents’ experience, and how the technology discussion shapes our agenda going forward. Steve Danziger is Executive Director of Paradigm Innovation Labs , which gives us the marriage of technology and operations, and other a...

The President of Geopath, Kym Frank , sits down with Sima Vasa for today’s chat. They discuss the history of Geopath, how they use eye-tracking studies, and location data The Uniqueness of Geopath Geopath is a unique organization founded in 1933, as a joint venture between The Agency Trade Association, The Advertiser Trade Association, and the Out of Home Advertising Association. This organization...

CEO and Founder of MindSpark Research International, Nikki Lavoie , joins Sima Vasa today. They discuss the two niches that Nikki has found work really well together for her Paris-based company: 1) international qualitative research and 2) UX research. MindSpark: Born Out of Necessity From a young age, Nikki Lavoie knew she wanted to travel around the world. With a background in market research, b...

In this episode, Sima Vasa converses with Chief Evangelist for Quantifind,  Malcolm De Leo.  He shares with us how Quantifind detects signals to help predict outcomes, how he embraces innovation in his career and how he enforced the philosophy of “Corporate accountable, locally responsible.” Chief Evangelist  Malcolm serves as a Chief Evangelist for 20 years now, 5 years of it has been spent with...

Today’s episode is our second for our two-part series with guest Merrill Dubrow, the President, and CEO of M/A/R/C Research. He shares with us what gets him excited, especially after serving the industry for 25 years. Merrill Dubrow, a thought leader, also gave some relevant advice for industry professionals that is definitely worth listening to.  Getting and Staying Excited  For someone who has b...

Today’s guest is Merrill Dubrow, the President, and CEO of M/A/R/C Research. He shares with us some important industry perspectives on automation and the consultative role of insights companies. This is an episode for industry professionals who wish to stay relevant in this field of work. Six Decades of Excellence Merrill Dubrow has been leading his company towards its 6th decade. He has a passion...

Today’s guest, Chief People Officer Nicole Patel joins Sima Vasa to discuss the recruitment process and employee retention at LUCID. Further, she shares the processes they employ within the organization and the culture they promote that is centered on openness and transparency.    Nicole and LUCID Lucid was founded in 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana and currently has offices in New Orleans, Gu...

Today’s guest entrepreneur Jason Krantz of Strategy Titan joins Sima Vasa to discuss a wealth of information about data analytics and insights in the B2B space. He shares his personal experience in having a balance between technical and business skills. Further, he discusses how these skills helped him navigate the elusive HVAC industry.   The Immense Power of Analytics With over 10 years of...

In today’s episode, Sima Vasa sits with Executive Director of Client Development at Paradigm Sample Katie Sands, together with Sr. Consultant for Sampling at Burke Inc., Brad Franz. Both are considered next-generation of leaders for the market research industry. Together, they discuss perspectives on data collection and shifts in the industry both for clients and the overall market.    Next-G...

In today’s episode, Sima Vasa sits with Priscilla McKinney, CEO of LiTTLE Bird Marketing . Together, they talk about her company and their edge in content marketing, some tips on personal branding and her struggles and triumph as an entrepreneur.   LiTTLE Bird Marketing Priscilla McKinney has a background in Cultural Anthropology. She finds herself an easy fit in the world of Market Research...

Karen Lynch , Senior Director of Qualitative Insights at InsightsNow Inc. joins us today to talk about PlayFULL Insights™, an innovative approach to qualitative research. Karen was granted the Market Research Disruptive Innovator award for her work which benefits consumers, clients, and fellow researchers.   The Rise of Qualitative Data Researchers and marketers want to gain more insights int...

Finn Raben , Director General of ESOMAR, joins us today to confer about how data collection and analysis have shifted to data curation. With huge amounts of data available today, Raben emphasized the importance of providing correct and effective analyses to governments and trade organizations. Commitment To Quality Research ESOMAR is a non-profit organization that was created in Europe in 1947. Th...

In today’s episode, Sima Vasa sits with Tania Yuki , CEO of Shareablee . Together, they talk about what inspired her to create Shareablee and how it helped advertisers, influencers, publishers and brand owners determine share-worthy content. Lawyer Turned Social Media Analyst Tania Yuki tried her luck as an Internet attorney before finding her way to social media analytics. At the moment, she is c...

Co-founder and executive chair for Reid Campbell Group Eileen Campbell joins Sima Vasa today. Together, they talk about Eileen’s history and her undying curiosity, passion and hard work that ultimately birthed her tremendous career in the industry. “I think if you’re intellectually curious, it’s a completely gratifying way to make a living.” – Eileen Campbell Eileen Campbell &#82...