SAMRA conference offers key research papers

Salomé Barnard: SAMRA plans to encourage innovation and constant improvement of research methodologies and techniques.

Conference chair, Joanne van Schaardenburgh, states that 16 research papers have been selected for the conference, two expert Q&A sessions and seven keynote speakers, offering 25 presentations in total.

Keynote speakers

• James Fergusson (global director emerging markets, TNS, Singapore) - Embracing digital in emerging markets
  
• Adrè Schreuder (MD - Consulta Research, SA) - Revisiting customer experience measurement from 2002 keynote address to 2010 and beyond
  
• Mark Earls (HERDmeister, HERD Consulting, UK) - Herd behaviour
  
• Ari Popper (president: North America, BrainJuicer, US) - Innovation
  
• Gunilla Broadbent (president - ESOMAR)/Finn Raben (director general - ESOMAR) - The state of the research industry
  
• Haythem Guizani (researcher, Wesford Ecole Supérieure de Commerce et de Management, France) - Brand equity, brand personality measurement and modelling
  
• Martin Kingdon (CEO, Sheridan Global Limited, UK) - Retail and shopper behaviour

Conference forms part of 2010 push

According to Barnard, the conference forms part of the 2010 objectives of SAMRA, which is a busy year with a full programme aimed at achieving various objectives. These include:

• Promoting and maintaining professional standards in the industry;
  
• Ensuring ongoing training and knowledge-sharing;
  
• Establishing a viable networking forum for marketing research practitioners;
  
• Promoting marketing research as profession; and
  
• Promoting understanding of its contribution to society and the economy

“If the marketing research industry wants to stay abreast, SAMRA also needs encourage innovation and constant improvement of research methodologies and techniques. This we plan to do through a number of industry events, with presentations and papers by leading research experts, both local and international,” concludes Barnard.