5 Must Read TMRE Themes to Jumpstart 2025
TMRE 2024 was all about sparks. Sparking connections. Sparking ideas. Sparking relationships. Sparking the future of insights in a rapidly evolving world.
As you may expect, AI was a big theme. TMRE had an AI in Action Summit and Certification Track. Yet, there was much more to be seen, and to learn. Our highlights are inspired by leaders from companies like Coca-Cola, The Hershey Company, Clorox, Cargill, and The New York Times who each sparked new ideas with ah-ha moments.
Check out our team’s 5 themes from TMRE 2024…
Have you ever wondered if your innovative new product failed because it was just a bit too novel? Your intuition may be right. Derek Thompson, host of the Plain English podcast and writer at The Atlantic, shared his findings from the book Hit Makers. Thompson said that hit products and new trends are normally a blend of something familiar with something novel. He said, “To sell something familiar, make it surprising. To sell something surprising, make it familiar.” He talked about the Lie of Modernity. Oftentimes we think that people just like new stuff. The reality is that people have a bias toward the familiar.
Similar to our observations at the Insights Association Corporate Researchers Conference in September, AI is everywhere. ~40% of presenting suppliers talked about incorporating AI in their product and service solutions. A number of F500 leaders discussed how they are embracing AI in their insights work. For example, Coca-Cola highlighted work they are doing with GetWhy to scale qualitative research with AI, while Eli Moore, Sr. Director of Analytics shared a peek into how Coca-Cola is improving Business Intelligence with AI. Moore encouraged us to explore with AI. He said, “We fear that AI will give us inaccurate information, but humans do that all the time!”
Many of us love a good trends presentation. We’re always on the lookout for the next big thing. Kristen Griffith, a Consumer Insights Leader at Clorox, shared how they view trends as guideposts for stability. They adapt their trends based on small consumer tweaks. Purchase funnel collapse is one trend she recommended we all pay attention to. Consumers are more readily able to be made aware of a product and buy it in the same instant. She used social media to make her point. With the ability to buy in apps like Tik Tok, consumers can pretty much do anything in an app. Social commerce is truly changing the game with not only sharing new products, but buying them too.
There is no neutral choice architecture. Katy Milkman, a Wharton professor and best-selling author, shared why no choice is still a choice when exposing things to consumers. She shared how humans are imperfect. We need helpful people to structure our choices to make the greatest impact. She shared 4 key principles on moving people from where they are to where they want to be highlighted in her bestselling book How to Change. One principle she highlighted was prompting people to plan. People follow through on their plans more frequently if they are prompted to plan. She encouraged us to impact people’s lives by prompting them to identify when, where, and how they will make changes.
It felt like we were in the twilight of traditional research, at the dawn of more technology backed approaches to uncovering consumer insights. P&G’s Chief Analytics Officer kicked off TMRE 2024 by sharing the importance of being consumer first. Yet, he challenged attendees to embrace new methods and tools to answer perpetual and omnipresent human questions. Beyond AI, rapid consumer research tools and DIY research approaches presented were numerous.
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TMRE 2024 served up great food for thought for 2025. The organizers and presenters helped spark the imaginations of attendees. The Garage Group, much like leaders at other organizations, attends these conferences to stay relevant and ensure we are on the pulse of what’s next. We embrace cutting edge research tools and techniques into our work so we can illuminate new paths to grow one step (or idea) at a time. We’re excited to put our learnings into practice!
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