What are the top five problems that stand in the way of market research, both globally and in India?
A. Lip-service has got to be the number limiting factor! Other than a handful of seasoned marketers, too many people use research to gloss over the real facts, or as a crutch, or as an excuse. Million-dollar decisions are taken based on scanty research. Millions are thrown at vaguely defined consumers via advertising that could have been far more tightly focussed. Today, I can see the Indian marketplace relative to many markets across Asia. As the economy races forward, with more money in the hands of more people, success will come relatively easy to many marketers. But there’s a paradox I see in India that’s perplexing, given the world-class brains that run businesses here. Because of the immediate urge to cut costs, quality gets affected. At the same time, there is the uncontrollable desire to loudly throw millions on advertising, without being accountable for every rupee. Good marketing goes far beyond using Bollywood or cricket to build market share. Not enough professionals are st
