We sat down with Pilar Bermudez, an insights professional at Gloria Alimentos Peru, one of the leading dairy producers in Peru, to hear her thoughts on technology and change within the market research industry. Pilar has spent almost 20 years in the market research industry, cultivating a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Tell us a little bit about Gloria Alimentos Peru as a brand in the Peruvian consciousness.
Pilar: “Gloria is one of the most recognized brands in Peru, if not the first brand in the hearts of Peruvians. It’s a brand with enormous potential, with enormous growth potential, but also important challenges.”
Focusing a bit on the market research world, the market research department at Gloria Alimentos Peru specifically, what role does it play within the company?
Pilar: “The role of the insights department is a bit heavier nowadays because it calibrates the decisions that are made in the business at large.
Insights is not just a service where you tell your internal client ‘Hey, here is the result of the research and you decide what to do with it.’ The insights team literally has to be able to sit down and talk to the internal client, and tell them why we can and why we can’t move forward in certain directions so that in the end, a consensual decision can then be made. So it’s a vital part of the organization when it comes to responding to the institutional premise that the consumer should always be put in the center. So, I have my premise, which is that the consumer is at the center, and I make it real to the extent that, I, in the insights department, sit down to make decisions for the business.”
What is the difference you see when you work with a multinational company versus with the agencies that are a bit more local?
Pilar: “There are several levels to this question. The first level is the global companies. The global companies have many advantages, like the certainties that come with the constant development of knowledge and the robustness of its methodologies. Then you have the next level – companies that span across Latin America. The knowledge they have of the particularities of the region is extensive and the way in which they can be flexible to address the business challenges is highly appreciated.
Then there is a third level, the boutique companies, but these are the boutique companies that are formed by former directors of something. These are the ones I like the most. Senior people who left the corporate grind, set up their company, and now take the time to sit down with you, without it being excessively time consuming. Every time they talk, given the expertise they have, they generate a lot of value for you. In the end I feel like I’m talking to someone who is a partner in the project.
Those are the ones I like. The fourth and final level are the boutique agencies made up of young people, those who still don’t have a lot of experience but can help you with very tactical issues because they are flexible and fast. Each of these agency types has its advantages and can be useful depending on the challenge you are facing, which ultimately means that not all of them are always the first choice for all challenges. A thorough evaluation is required to understand which agency profile may be the most suitable for the challenge at hand.”
What challenges do you face when conducting market research or experimenting with methodologies?
Pilar: “Well the first one is being at the mercy of the methodology that, in theory, helps me generate valuable judgments. It is true that when you work with a big company there is a degree of security because these big companies have the know-how. Their methodologies are robust, but the contact you have at the big company is supposed to generate value for you as well – not just the methodology or the research itself. However, these relationships often fall short. So that’s my first big pain with the methodological part. The fact that I have to be subjected to contracting very robust methodologies, but that the delivery I’m given is very weak in terms of business sensitivity and the particularities of the challenge.
In line with the business sensibility, yet another of the most important challenges is that the methodology is often too rigid, or the agency’s methodological offer does not seem to connect the dots and have a broad enough focus to address different edges, nor to be deep enough to trigger concrete actions.”
What are the main challenges facing the market research industry in LATAM?
Pilar: “I think that right now, in Latin America, what we are going through is a moment of friction. Market researchers don’t want to adopt new technologies because they think they are the enemy that will displace human white collar labor. So I think the biggest challenge we have today as a region, all of us who are part of the market research industry, is how we embrace technology to enhance our knowledge and thus have more time to generate value.
“So I think the biggest challenge we have today as a region, all of us who are part of the market research industry, is how we embrace technology to enhance our knowledge and thus have more time to generate value.”
I am a firm believer in the idea that there are many things in which machines or artificial intelligence will never replace us. So why not embrace technology and leave our time available to make valuable decisions, to engage in strategic discussion, and to cultivate creativity. To me, the biggest issue that the LATAM MR industry has is that they don’t want to embrace technology.
The big companies say that there are a lot of technology solutions, but in the end, they always do the same thing. The boutique companies are still not embracing technology. Then you have small companies that are making cutting-edge technology decisions but not necessarily embracing the more human side like the qualitative side and creativity. So they’re still all playing in siloed arenas, and they’re still not realizing the potential opportunity of the technological side along with the human side to be able to develop much more powerful market research.”
In terms of adopting technology, sometimes the costs of these new technologies are not favorable to Latin American companies because of the devaluation that occurs from paying in dollars; what do you think about that?
“Yes, that’s true, but what happens is that you have to have a very active network because the truth is that, yes, technology is expensive when you look at other nations, but there are many local startups that are developing very powerful models with much more affordable pricing.
I find Colombia a hub of very interesting startups. I feel the same way about Mexico where, in the end, the pricing you get for that type of access to methodologies is very cheap. Let me tell you about it. I recently had to do a packaging evaluation and a global company was charging me fifteen thousand dollars and would deliver it in a month. The local company charged me two thousand five hundred dollars and delivered it in four days.“
What benefits do you find in being part of ESOMAR?
Pilar: “The exchange of knowledge, and being next to people in the vanguard. Being able to obtain innovative methodologies from partners that you may not necessarily have in the country, but that make your life easier. For example, I left the Esomar congress with a very important alliance. So yes, Esomar really serves in terms of knowledge and the possibility of accessing an extended professional network, and I think it’s fantastic.”
Pilar and her call to push the industry forward using novel voices and methodologies, while still keeping an eye on the validity of any given method, should not be ignored. As Pilar pointed out, change and adaptation are key to the success of this industry in the Latin American market.
