Insights + Ideas.
Our point of view about humans, technology, business, marketing, and a few other odds and ends.
In The Pyramid Puzzle: Igniting Transformation with the Power of Trust, everything changes when a struggling company brings on a new CEO, Skip Collinsworth, who teams up with a business professor, a student Olympic athlete, and a philosophy doctoral candidate. Together, they draw on proven social science principles, ancient Indian wisdom, and modern-day management approaches, to transform the company culture and inspire employees, customers, and suppliers, to bring the struggling company back from the brink.
In Marketing for Tomorrow, Not Yesterday, a #1 Amazon Sales and Marketing bestseller, Zain has scripted a guidebook full of wit and hard-won wisdom that shows how truly understanding a brand’s core customer and getting back to basics is the way to conquer complex environmental problems to survive and thrive in the Insight Economy™.
Brand Rituals: How Successful Brands Bond with Customers for Life proves how companies, and their brands can drive significant business impact by creating a bond with their most loyal customers. In this book, also a #1 Amazon marketing bestseller (for over 6-weeks), Zain discusses how it’s no longer about consumer beliefs; it’s all about customer behavior. He challenges the five existing marketing myths that no longer serve us and provides a clearly defined four-stage approach to developing a Brand Ritual™.
Five Ways Insights Can Future-Proof Pharma Pipeline and Pre-Launch Readiness
Innovation is the only way to disrupt and grow. Most companies ignore the pace of innovation in Pharma. This year, 22,000+ new drugs are in development and ~60 new launches are expected. How can you win? By blending behavioral science, AI, Advanced Analytics, Human Empathy, Future Casting, and Human Ingenuity. Are you activating these five levers?
Beyond the Numbers: How Shapiro+Raj Uses AI and Social Science to Revolutionize Communication Testing.
How is it that despite rigorous research processes, almost 95% of marketing campaigns fail? Could it be the flaws in traditional communication testing methodologies? See how we’ve reimagined comms testing to go beyond the numbers.
Accelerating Business Success Through Grassroots Advocacy in Healthcare
Is your brand ignoring its most influential advocates? New research suggests that traditional Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) may no longer be the game-changers they once were. Discover how embracing a broader network of influencers—from practicing physicians to nurses, patients and their caregivers—can drive transformative change and accelerate business success.
The Consumerization of Healthcare: Insights from the Weight Loss Market
How did Hims & Hers create a $100 million weight loss revenue stream in just 7 months? The answer lies in the changing face of healthcare consumers. Explore our insights into this rapidly evolving landscape and what it means for your industry.
Revolutionizing Communication Testing with GenAI: A Strategy-Driven Approach
Discover how Shapiro+Raj’s GenAI-powered approach to communication testing goes beyond generic metrics, providing strategy-aligned, context-rich insights that inspire agile optimization and amplify your brand’s voice in the marketplace.
An Unofficial Assessment of the Official Measurement of Poverty
We love thinking about crafting the right quantitative metrics to measure the right business goals.
The Power of AI Personas: Actionable Data at Record Speed
At Shapiro+Raj, we are excited about the potential for AI to revolutionize the way we conduct market research. One area we have been pioneering is the use of AI-generated avatars to represent customer personas.
Shaping the AI Revolution: How S+R is Thinking Beyond Today’s Promises
At Shapiro+Raj, we know AI is not a passing fad, but a transformative force that will reshape how we live and work in profound ways. That is why we are looking beyond today’s hype-cycle on AI to actively envision and build the future of AI-fueled insights today.
Revolutionizing Communication Testing with GenAI: A Strategy-Driven Approach
Discover how Shapiro+Raj’s GenAI-powered approach to communication testing goes beyond generic metrics, providing strategy-aligned, context-rich insights that inspire agile optimization and amplify your brand’s voice in the marketplace.
Lessons Learned: Emerging Trends in Advanced Psoriasis Therapy, and What it Means for the Future of Immunology
Three trends S+R has seen in the psoriasis landscape, which we’re keeping an eye on and how adjacent immunology insights and marketing teams can create foresight and future-proof their brands.
AI for Market Research Part 5
In this article, we will explore how you can use GenAI at different stages of reporting. We’ll provide specific examples of prompts that you can use to leverage the power of AI to enhance your reports.
The Future of Marketing Research: Blending Art, Science and Audacity
At Shapiro+Raj we don’t think of ourselves as simply an insights company, but rather an insights + inspiration company.
Decoding The Jury’s Impact: How Legal Science Can Help Shape Consumer Behavior
S+R Guided Deliberations™ is a unique methodology grounded on the breakthrough social science work coming from our partnership with the University of Chicago Law School, drawing parallels in the jury room where jury members make decisions.
AI for Market Research Part 4
In this article, we explore ways GenAI can assist with performing quality control and gaining a preliminary understanding of the results.
AI for Market Research Part 3
Data Collection Instruments In the first and second installments of this series, we explored how generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Claude, can be employed early in a research project to come up to speed, refine research objectives, develop hypotheses,...
AI for Market Research Part 2
Using GenAI for Methodology Selection and Participant Screening In the first installment of this series, we explored how generative AI tools (GenAI), including ChatGPT and Claude, can be employed pre-project to come up to speed, refine research objectives, and develop...
The Future of Pipeline Research: Key Lessons for Pharma Success
In pharma, “foresight” has become the new “insight”. More than ever before, insights teams are faced with the mounting pressure to identify winning opportunities for pipeline assets earlier and earlier in the discovery cycle. This increased emphasis on future success...
The Gap Between Insight and Action: Inspiration
At Shapiro+Raj, we believe in the power of inspiration – in fact, we’ve created a powerful formula for igniting inspiration.
CLARITY + ENERGY = INSPIRATION.
Why Human Insights Will Decide Life Insurancers’ Fate
Like many of the industries we serve, the life insurance industry is facing a pivotal moment. Several converging trends present both challenges and opportunities for life insurers to reinvent their business and remain relevant in a quickly evolving landscape. We believe the companies and brands that will emerge on top are those that seek not just to understand their customers today, but to develop deep human-centered insights that will allow them to shape the future of the industry.
But first let’s take a step back. We see three critical forces that are converging on the industry right now.
The Cognitive Side of Empathy: A Cornerstone of Delivering Insight into Patients with Neurological Conditions
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Below the Surface: Using Projection to Reveal the Hidden Drivers of B2B Technology Purchases
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
AI for Market Research Part 1
The advent of generative AI has injected high-voltage electricity straight into the market research ecosystem. Established software providers are infusing their products with this elixir, while new startups storm the field. Market research software vendors are...
Developing Multi-Dimensional Segmentation to Inspire Action
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Crafting Empathetic, Actionable and Inspiring Journeys.
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Generating Foresights through Diverse Perspectives: S+R Future-Casting Roundtables
As the speed and rate of change accelerate, foresights are fast becoming the new insights. That is why we developed the Future-Casting Roundtable. S+R Future-Casting Roundtables enable clients to not only envision the potential future but also empower them to actively...
Techmanity: Human Inspired. Tech Empowered.
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Power of Perspectives
While it’s generally true that the only constant thing is change, there are some timeless truths. The power of perspectives is one of them. Whether it’s the parable of the seven blind men and the elephant originating from ancient India, or The Guardian’s 1986...
Drivers & Barriers: A Case in Unlocking Breakthrough Insights in Qualitative Research
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Sharpening Breakthrough Communications
Today, the market research industry’s approach to evaluating the impact and effectiveness of brand communications leaves a lot to be desired. It primarily relies on measuring attitudes such as "like" or "uniqueness," and not on the potential impact on behavior in the...
Accelerating Business Success through Grassroots Advocacy
Advocacy or ‘word-of-mouth marketing’ is one of the most powerful ways to impact behavior. We all know that consumers trust their family and friends’ recommendations far more than they trust any other source. This is also true for highly credentialed professionals. ...
Squeezing the Juice from Your Existing Research
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.
Leveraging Behavioral Science for Breakthrough Communications
As the external expression of the internal brand strategy, brand communications play the utmost critical role for success. It is ‘where the rubber meets the road.’ Even with the deepest insight and greatest strategy, if the communication execution falls flat, a brand...
Leveraging the Great American Resilience to Find New Pathways for Growth in Uncertain Times
As we enter the second month of the new year, even though inflation has started to show signs of slowing down, the market volatility is still in full swing. A Wall Street Journal’s article a few days ago declared, ‘The dash for cash on Wall Street is back on’, a sign...
Tough Times Call for the Best Measures
The multiple headwinds and tailwinds anticipated for 2023 will make for another year of high uncertainty. When even the WSJ’s first podcast episode of the year – titled ‘What Will the Economy Look Like in 2023?’ – ended with a range of vastly different scenarios, it’s...
Optimizing ROI in Research and Insights Planning – A Look Ahead to 2023
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...
Navigating an Erosion in Consumer Trust
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.
Upping the Odds of Success with the Power of Inclusion
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.
Insights to Activation Principle 4: Articulate and Activate the “Now Whats”
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.
Insights to Activation Principle 3: Picking the Right Tech Partner
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.
Insights to Activation Principle 2: Make the Most of What You Have
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.
Insights to Activation Principle 1: Don’t Be Seduced by the New and Cool
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.
Agility Today: Four Key Principles That Deliver Better Strategic Outcomes
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.
Bring Your #1 Business Challenge to the World’s #1 Strategic Insights Consultancy
It’s a huge validation for us to be voted by our clients and peers as the #1 Global Strategic Insights Consultancy in GRIT 2022, a big jump from #6 just last year and beating much bigger firms like Deloitte, BCG, Accenture, and Bain. This honor is in addition to being voted as a Top 25 Most Innovative Global Market Research Agency for five years in a row! Call us with your #1 business challenge and see how the #1 Strategic Insights Consultancy can spark transformative outcomes for you.
Drivers & Barriers: A Case in Unlocking Breakthrough Insights in Qualitative Research
When it comes to qualitative research impact, it takes the combination of innovative methods and skillful talent to unlock breakthrough insights. This is especially the case in research studies such as Drivers & Barriers, where it’s often not easy to deliver true breakthrough insights that go beyond the typical functional, financial, and logistic aspects.
Looking for growth? Integrate Technology with Humanity.
The way the market research industry often evaluates brand communications can be problematic and, as such, may leave brands falling short of their goal of building deep, lasting brand relationships with their consumers.
At Shapiro+Raj, our unique philosophy on brand communication is inspired by the perspective that our CEO, Zain Raj, expresses in his breakthrough book Brand Rituals: How Successful Brands Bond with Customers for Life, along with our decades of experience. We know brand communications shouldn’t just deliver a message – they should forge an attachment and build a relationship.
Sharpening Breakthrough Communications
The way the market research industry often evaluates brand communications can be problematic and, as such, may leave brands falling short of their goal of building deep, lasting brand relationships with their consumers. At Shapiro+Raj, our unique philosophy on brand...
‘Diversity’ Is More Than a Catch Phrase – It is Who We Are
Our diversity makes us one of those rare research companies that brings human empathy as well as a varied set of talents to every project – social scientists, data analysts, brand strategists , creatives, business operators, and technologists – so that we are better able to understand issues and find unique solutions that deliver on true business and marketing objectives. This has allowed us to build a future-forward insights consultancy. One that has led to a lot of success for us, but more importantly, has helped our clients consistently win in the marketplace.
Need of the Times: Agility, Responsiveness and Humanity
We believe that effectiveness is about unearthing transformative insights, then inspire ideas to successfully activate these insights in the marketplace. That’s why we’re purposefully built to deliver now-what’s not just the so-what’s or the what’s.
Stand-Out Science: Empowering Medical Affairs to Craft Winning Scientific Stories
At Shapiro+Raj, our scientific story research plans produce insights that sharpen all aspects of the scientific story – resulting in an actionable IMA refinement plan and human-centric information to set MSLs up for success (e.g., HCP areas of interest, what they may want/not want to hear, and other tips for ensuring receptivity of the data). Learn how we can help identify the narratives that can best shape your business and drive advocacy to deliver transformative outcomes.
Drive Accelerated Business Growth with Future-Proofed Insights
If you want to change the odds and find a way to win not only today, but moving forward, see how the S+R PROsician™ model can help future-proof your business by future-proofing your insights!
Leveraging Legacy Data and Human-Centric Principles to Build a Single Segmentation Schema Across Oncology Brands and Markets
Uncovering that coveted segmentation sweet spot – comprehensive customer representation in a market-friendly, easy-to-adopt package – is critical to a segmentation’s success and is at the heart of Shapiro+Raj’s research approach.
Finding A Strategic Platform That Connects With All Targets
Introducing S+R Guided Deliberations™, a unique methodology that we designed to reveal the biases coloring and shaping each individuals’ viewpoint and then have them work together to align on the most critical insight that drives them to arrive at a unanimous verdict.
Breakthrough Paradox: TechManity™ Uncovers the Pulse of the Nation
A new study from Shapiro+Raj, shows the power of what we call TechManity™, which uses the perfect blend of Human Empathy + Artificial Intelligence to deliver Transformative Outcomes. The Breakthrough Paradox takes the pulse of the nation and explores what roles brands can play in bridging the divide of today’s societal tensions.