The past year has been a whirlwind for Consumer Insights. Teams across all industries continue to work under enormous constraints to help their organizations navigate rapid changes as effectively as possible.

Elon Musk is the richest man in the world – at age 49, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is a multi-billionaire many times over. He does what he wants. He says what he thinks. He has disrupted the status quo again and again with his relentless innovation and refusal to follow the tried-and-true path of established U.S. corporations. The guy who quit Stanford after one day is doing things his way – and it’s not about the money. It’s about creating something new; creating real value.

A tourism industry client of ours recently placed a research project on hold because they want the timing of their research to align with the loosening of travel restrictions. They simply weren’t sure consumers could envision travel right now. It was a good decision to wait.

Another client went forward with a research project that was planned well before COVID-19 – they assessed, correctly, that the pandemic would not prevent them from understanding what they were trying to learn.

Hormel has made a huge shift in the way they handle research. This global company has more than 20,000 employees and 50+ brands, such as Spam, Skippy, Black Label Bacon, Applegate, and many more. As you might imagine, they rely heavily on consumer insights. I recently co-presented with Heather Vossler, Hormel Director of Insights and Innovation, to learn about their approach to research, how it has shifted in the past few years, and how they are adapting during COVID-19.

More than 70 days. That’s how long people in the U.S. have been on lockdown since COVID-19 hit. Now, as businesses begin to reopen and a bit of normalcy is on the horizon, we are shining our qualitative research spotlight on consumer hopes and expectations as social distancing measures begin to loosen. How can your brand help consumers through this transition and add value during this time of change?

Now more than ever, it’s critical for companies to make high-quality decisions quickly. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research to inform those decisions is arguably the best way to go, whether you do it in-house, partially in-house, or choose to fully outsource it. Men’s care brand Harry’s has optimized their team and technology to get impactful results.