Insights2020 launches

Millward Brown Vermeer, The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), ESOMAR, Kantar, and Korn Ferry announce a partnership to lead Insights2020 - Driving customer-centric growth, a global marketing leadership initiative focused on aligning insights and analytics strategy, structure and capability to drive business growth. The initiative's founding partners will collaborate with the Insights2020 advisory board, chaired by Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Unilever.

The Insights2020 study will develop the strategic framework, practical guidelines and case studies to help marketing and insights and analytics leaders:

• define the role of insights and analytics in driving business strategy and growth;
  
• build and organize the function - both structure and processes - for success; and
  
• emulate the leadership competencies and behaviors of over-performing organisations.

Insights2020 builds on Marketing2020 which is the largest study of its kind, helping global CMOs align marketing strategy, structure, and capability with business growth. Marketing2020 included contributions from more than 250 CMOs and 10,000 marketers across 92 countries and was featured in the July-August 2014 Harvard Business Review. Inaugural Insights2020 findings will be presented at the ESOMAR Congress in September 2015.

"As business leaders face unprecedented complexity and disruption, they need to align research, analytics and brand knowledge to support planning, decision making and business growth," said Frank van den Driest, Chief Commercial Officer, Millward Brown Vermeer and Insights2020 global program leader. "Through in-depth discussions with marketing and insights leaders, complemented by case studies and quantitative findings, we'll uncover how over-performing organizations are approaching insights and analytics differently, and offer leaders a framework for success."

Keith Weed will be joined on the advisory board by a number of business and academic leaders, including Diego Scotti, CMO, Verizon; Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer, GroupM; Harish Bhat, Member - Group Executive Council, TATA; Julian Prynn, Marketing Director, Middle East, BAT; Professor Jerry Wind of The Wharton School; Barbara Lamprecht, Brand and Marketing Strategy, Volkswagen; Tony Fagan, VP Research, Google; Gayle Fuguitt, CEO and President, ARF; and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, Kantar's and Millward Brown's parent company.

"As brands have nearly unlimited opportunities to connect with 'always-on' people, the stakes for insights and analytics have never been higher," said Weed. "In Marketing2020 we showed how successful companies are driving business growth through big insights, purposeful positioning and total experience. With Insights2020, we're excited to go even further and specifically explore the role, structure and capabilities of successful insights and analytics organizations in today's evolving market."

Laurent Flores, President of ESOMAR added: "As a leading global association for businesses and individuals who use data-led marketing strategies to drive innovation, growth and profitability, we are delighted to be a founding partner of this initiative, as this study will provide breakthrough and leading-edge thinking of where and how research - the backbone of any effective insight - can best be generated and applied in today's fast-paced and increasingly demanding commercial world."

For more information visit: www.insights2020.org

Media Contact

Millward Brown
Susan Hickey
+ 1 212-548-4680
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About Millward Brown Vermeer

Millward Brown Vermeer is a global marketing consultancy focused on unleashing purpose-led growth through the development and embedding of consumer insight-led marketing strategy, structure and capability. We provide solutions to strategic marketing challenges, rooting our approach in consumer research, stakeholder understanding and financial analysis. We tie insights to dollars, the universally accepted language of business. Our whole-brain thinking brings an intrinsically multi-lens and practical approach to our work. Our Marketing2020 study is the most global and comprehensive CMO research program in the market and our annual global BrandZ™ brand valuation ranking is the market benchmark for determining the most valuable brands in the world. Millward Brown Vermeer is part of Kantar, WPP's data investment management division.