With customers and the marketplace constantly in flux, today more than ever, it’s critical to unearth future-forward insights that not only provide a novel understanding of today, but also illuminate tomorrow’s opportunities. Traditional market research approaches no longer cut it.

At Shapiro+Raj, with our integrated team of social + behavioral scientists, brand strategists, analysts, and creative ideators, we have a suite of industry-leading unique methodologies and technologies to discover and inspire future-forward insights. Here are a few things we do incredibly well.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been discussing with clients their research and insights plans for 2023. The surprising observation is that, often times, there seems to be a fragmented and episodic approach to insight-generation. Also quite concerning is that a majority of their spend is being allocated to research that will evaluate performance of their marketing programs.

Last week, we highlighted the substantial erosion in trust in institutions happening in America. It is a wake-up call across the board, but particularly for brands given their bottom-two placement on the trust spectrum.

In the face of this erosion in trust, brands need to be asking themselves: Am I trusted by consumers? And how robust and resilient is that trust in times like these?

Within the S+R American Pulse, we asked consumers to tell us a brand they trust and how this brand has earned their trust. Consumer’s response to this question holds invaluable insight for brands right now.

It’s no secret; we are living in uncertain times.

Today’s news is filled with stories of inflation, interest rate increases, layoffs, (especially at tech companies), the reality of a recession, and the impact of our latest mid-term elections. That’s a lot for anybody.

At Shapiro+Raj, we decided to take a ‘pulse of the American Citizen.’ We reached out to a representative sample last week, to get their perspectives on a wide range of issues - from their economic outlook to the biggest stressors in their life. What behaviors they will continue and what will fall by the wayside.

In all of this, one theme stood out to us. Trust.

We are the largest Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) insights consultancy in the U.S. It is a badge of honor, but even more so, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of who we are.

The times we are living in today require every person and every company to stand for what is right and give everyone - no matter who they are - the opportunity to live up to their full potential. In other words, it’s not just about improving the valuation of our Fortune 500 clients, but also upping the odds of success and the dignity that comes with it for our fellow minority business owners and their employees, and for many underserved communities.

It is with this conviction that we proudly join Chicago United at the Bridge Awards Celebration tonight, honoring excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion in business, united by The Power of Inclusion.

The fourth most important principle in Agility is Point insights toward actions and outcomes. The biggest single point of failure we see is the inability of marketers to activate insights. This is mostly because of the way insights are currently framed and presented. Shapiro+Raj brand strategists work closely with researchers to clearly articulate the “now what’s” so that our clients get market-ready insights.

The third most important principle in Agility is Leveraging the right technology stack. We all know that technology is one of the biggest enablers of agility. However, with the plethora of apps and tools out there, it is very difficult to know which one is right for the job at hand, and which one will perform as billed.

The second important principle for Agility is to Squeeze the juice from your existing research. Every company has data from research done for their brands over time. Unfortunately, this data is consigned to the past and very rarely used. As teams attempt to become agile, their biggest opportunity is to leverage their existing longitudinal data because the experience of the past has the power to inform the present and inspire the future.

The first step toward agility is to frame each business problem with clarity and specificity. Then to pick methodologies that can specifically provide answers you can use to truly solve the problem. Without this clear end in mind, we have seen teams get seduced by a new tech solution or fall in love with a shiny methodology.

At Shapiro+Raj, we have evolved to become a new agency for this new normal. With a curated technology stack for agility and efficiency connected with deep social science rigor and battle-tested brand strategists. All built to spark transformative outcomes for our clients. As we have evolved, we have identified four key principles for agile research that deliver high quality outcomes with high velocity.