MRS/BIG Award for Business-to-Business Research

This award is designed to recognise outstanding research specifically in the business-to-business arena. The BIG committee drew on BIG and MRS Conference papers, BIG Forum and other sources for papers and after a lot of deliberation, we decided on our three finalists. The process itself proved to be fascinating and everyone involved felt that there were many excellent informative and innovative papers this year.

Sponsored by

Winner

Nick Bassett (Vodafone UK Enterprise Business Unit); Matt Burn & Carrie Lawrence (ICM Research)

Small Business Lions’ Lair: A collaborative and challenging way to drive business improvement and turn insight into action

As part of a larger ‘Immersion’ programme of research, ICM and Vodafone embarked on an innovative and collaborative project with teams of client reps pitching their propositions to a panel of small business owners (‘Lions’) who, by challenging these pitches, revealed insights into their business needs. In their paper, ICM and Vodafone explored how the client was forced to think outside of their comfort zone, with the approach directly challenging and transforming their perceptions of the needs of small businesses.

What the judges said:

Good to see clients being challenged by the agency. This can only add value rather than just delivering what the client wants, hopes and expects to hear.

It is good to see the comfort zones of supplier executives being shaken and will become more and more necessary as demand for accountability increases. This technique maximised the development of rapport with respondents in an era when this is often overlooked and the buy-in from Vodafone Executives is laudable.

A simple, yet entertaining idea that proved very effective, providing new and deeper insights for the client. It is encouraging to see such approaches being utilised in the B2B domain rather than in their more usual habitat – the consumer research market.

Finalists

Catherine Shovlin (Synthetron BV)

Harnessing Social Brainstorming for Business Decisions

In her paper, Catherine focuses on the social brainstorm, explaining how it works and giving case studies illustrating when social brainstorming has helped organisations harness the wealth of ideas, experiences and opinions that rest in their employees. In a balanced paper, Catherine explores what works best about the water cooler and deals with some of its constraints.

What the judges said:

A lively, well written and interesting paper on a technique with clear applications for large numbers of dispersed B2B respondents. There are useful and clear guidelines for good practice and application for this tool which will have great value used in the right place at the right time.

A very good read. A good mix of theory and case studies demonstrating the effectiveness and benefit of a new online approach.

Neil Swan

B2B Goes Digital: New Ways for Marketing Insight

Until now, much of the research focus of social media and its facilitator Web 2.0 has been in the consumer world, with less exploration of its potential in the business world. In his paper, Neil reviews current practices in the B2B digital research world, exploring opportunities for effective development and the practicalities of implementation of social media in the business to business research market.

What the judges said:

Extensive, detailed analysis of the area and a refreshingly honest appraisal of its limitations. It is interesting to see how techniques extrapolated from B2C are developing for B2B.

A very enjoyable read with a good balance between theory and real world examples. A good assessment of the current use of Web 2.0 in a B2B context.

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