Signal and Noise

Andrew is back from his honeymoon, and Brian is very glad to have him. This one is part reunion, part rant, and entirely worth listening to. First, the honeymoon stories. American Airlines lost three out of four bags for six days. The Vatican Special Police detained Andrew and his wife in the Sistine Chapel after mistaking them for a couple who had made terrorist threats. The Secret Service showed...

Brian sits down with Samuel Cohen, CEO of Fairgen, for a no-fluff conversation about what is actually happening in synthetic data and who is positioned to win as the space matures. Samuel cuts through the vendor noise fast: most companies claiming to train models on millions of survey responses are not doing that. What is under the hood is usually far simpler, and the lack of transparency is quiet...

Andrew is in Italy on his honeymoon, a guest backed out, and Brian decided to go solo for the first time in 10 years of podcasting. No co-host, no guardrails, no agenda. Just 30 years of experience and a list of questions he has been sitting on for a while. None of them has clean answers. Thats kind of the point. Brian works through six questions the market research industry is not asking loudly e...

In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Dan Entrup, co-founder of AggKnowledge, to talk about one of the most overlooked drivers of the data quality crisis: the respondent experience nobody is actually fixing. Dan tracked every research outreach he received over 15 months and turned it into a SampleCon presentation. The numbers were brutal. 137 times asked his age. 57 dental requests sent...

This episode is the bonus round to Brian and Andrew's four forces webinar. They ran out of time on the live session, so they saved the best part for here: where all four trends are actually pointing and what it means for how research gets done. Andrew lays out the clearest version of the webinar's thesis: capital, AI, and the data quality crisis are not three separate things. They are conv...

In this special episode, Brian and Andrew bring their live webinar to the podcast feed. Drawing from recent conferences, client conversations, and industry reports, they break down four forces reshaping how research gets done: Capital Influx, the Data Quality Crisis, AI Disruption, and Methodology Reframe. Brian's core argument is that these are not four separate trends. They are one larger st...

In this quick-hit episode, Brian and Andrew debrief fresh off the conference circuit. Brian just landed from Washington, D.C. and comes in hot with takeaways from two back-to-back events: the Insights Association Ignite Data Quality and the GreenBook IIEX conference at the Ronald Reagan Building. The first stop is data quality. The Global Data Quality Initiative unveiled its latest benchmarks at I...

In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Mike Courtney, founder and principal of Aperio Insights and a practicing futurist. Mike brings a rare perspective to the Signal and Noise table, equal parts market researcher and strategic foresight practitioner. Mike kicks things off with his "Land Man oil analogy," framing AI not as something happening to us but as a new drilling tool for...

In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Jase Bumgardner, a 25-year partner at The Link Group, a healthcare-focused market research consultancy. Jase leads complex, multi-year research work streams in neuroscience and new product planning, most notably alongside Eli Lilly, following products from early concept all the way through FDA approval and launch. Jase brings a grounded, refreshingly...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Erin Sowell, owner and principal consultant at Thoughtful Research. Erin brings a background that is genuinely uncommon in the insights world, starting in environmental science and entrepreneurship before discovering market research through the product development process and going on to earn her master's degree from the Unive...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew ditch the agenda and go full rant mode, recording from Andrew's hotel in Atlanta with no guest, no script, and no filter. The topic is AI anxiety. Not the doom spiral variety, but the very real, day-to-day frustration of trying to stay current with a technology that moves faster than any organization can evaluate, approve, or implement. And...

In this quick-hit episode of Signal and Noise, Andrew catches up with Brian fresh off the floor of SampleCon 2026, recording from the Delta Sky Club in Seattle. No studio setup, no guests, just a real-time debrief from one of the industry's most dedicated annual gatherings. Brian shares his firsthand impressions of a conference that felt noticeably different this year. SampleCon is evolving. W...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Lenny Murphy, one of the most recognized voices in the market research industry. As the founder of GreenBook, co-founder of the Insight Innovation Exchange (IIEX), and a Gen2 Advisors partner with deep roots in M&A and investment, Lenny brings a perspective that is equal parts historical lens and boots-on-the-ground reality. T...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Tim Matthews, who heads up the in-person research and support team at ROI Rocket. Tim brings over 20 years of marketing experience, starting from tactical brand activations at the Winston Cup Series to building a research firm rooted in creative, human-centered consumer engagement. The conversation centers on a growing challenge i...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , Brian and Andrew sit down with Tom Anderson and Spencer Imel, co-founders and partners at The Langston Co, a quant-focused consumer insights firm known for deep category expertise and rigorous research standards. Tom and Spencer share the origin story behind Langston, from their early days working together at a fast-growing Denver startup to building a researc...

Brandon Richard returns to Signal and Noise for his second appearance, joining Brian and Andrew in person at The Link Group’s Durham, North Carolina, office. The conversation picks up where their previous AI discussion left off, diving deeper into what has actually changed in the past few months and what has not. As an AI enthusiast and healthcare research leader, Brandon shares how The Link Group...

In this special in-person episode of Signal and Noise , the hosts sit down with Beth Finn , CEO, and Jason Ebbing , COO of The Directions Group , for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of insights leadership. Beth and Jason share their career paths, how The Directions Group approaches integrated intelligence, and what it means to move beyond siloed research toward clearer signals that drive...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , Brian Lamar sits down with Frank Kelly , one of the most experienced voices in panel management, sampling, and respondent engagement, to unpack what is actually broken in online research and how the industry can fix it. Frank reflects on nearly four decades working across every major panel model, from postal and telephone panels to online access panels at Niel...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles are joined by leaders from CASE4Quality for a candid and deeply informed conversation on the state of data quality in market research. The discussion features Mary Beth Weber , founder of CASE4Quality, alongside Tia Maurer - Data Quality Guru , Efrain Ribeiro - Godfather of Sampling , and Karine Pepin - Data Fairy . Together, th...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Samuel Cohen, Ph. D. , CEO of Fairgen , to explore how generative AI and advanced statistical modeling are reshaping the way consumer research is conducted, validated, and scaled. Samuel shares his international academic journey, from studying mathematics and synthetic data research at Oxford to working with...

In this special New Year episode of Signal and Noise , Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles return with a candid conversation about what 2026 may hold for the market research and insights industry. Drawing from months of conversations with researchers, technology leaders, and clients, the hosts share a grounded but optimistic view of an industry entering a period of economic repositioning, technologica...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Craig Alter , an experienced consumer insights leader at Perfetti Van Melle , to explore how consumer behavior, impulse buying, and innovation research intersect inside the world of candy, gum, and mints. Craig shares his nontraditional path into market research, explaining how early experience in finance, ma...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles welcome Ellen Houston and Jordan Harper from Qualtrics Edge, marking the first time the podcast has featured guests from Qualtrics. The conversation dives into the future of AI, synthetic data, and the evolution of modern research inside one of the most influential insights platforms in the world. Ellen, who leads the Edge...

In this episode of Signal and Noise , hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Brandon Richard , Senior Vice President at The Link Group and a long-time AI enthusiast who has been leading multiple AI initiatives across qualitative and quantitative research. Together, they unpack what is actually happening in the research industry as companies race to understand and apply artificial inte...

In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles talk with Lindsay Zaltman, Chief Executive Officer and Partner at Olson Zaltman, the firm known for creating the widely respected ZMET qualitative insight methodology. Together, they explore how deep psychological structures influence the way people think, feel, and make decisions, and why traditional research methods often...