Here’s what you missed at Research Asia Interactive [GALLERY]

With the market research function facing a sea of change, we thought it necessary to hold Research Asia Interactive for the second time.Here’s what was discussed.For more pictures of the event see:[gallery link="file" ids="56293,56294,56292,56291,56290,56289,56288,56287,56286,56285,56284,56283,56282,56281,56280,56279,56278,56277,56276,56275,56274,56272,56271,56270,56269,56268,56267,56266,56265,56264,56263,56262,56261,56259,56258,56257,56244,56240,56187"]The session opened with Tyrone Almeida (pictured above), director of insights and planning for Kellogg Company, Asia Pacific and S.S Africa, speaking about the future of market research. He advised marketers and researchers to deal with data influx by breaking down data as much as possible for meaningful insights. He also advised marketers to keep 10% to 20% of the research budget for experimenting with new research methodologies.[gallery link="file" ids="56244,56240,56189"]The conference then moved into interactive sessions, where hosts facilitated a series of discussions on selected topics such as the challenges and opportunities of real-time research, visual storytelling, research ROI and leveraging mobile and social media for research.[gallery link="file" ids="56192,56195"]Next was a panel (pictured above) on whether traditional research methods were still relevant. On the panel were Philip Steggals, insights director for Kadence International; Sohyun Song, assistant vice-president for market research, group customer experience, OCBC Bank; and Mukesh Kumar, head of marketing for the Maggi light meal business, Nestlé India. The three discussed their current research strategies; the challenges in the client-agency relationship and the challenges of integrating all data sources.Anna Rokina, a social data consultant for Lenovo’s global analytics hub, spoke next on social media listening, talking about the challenges of mining social data for meaningful use, such as product or service development. She also addressed the concern that such an operation needed to be a heavy investment – her team for social media data mining is a lean three-person team.Mukesh Kumar, of Nestlé India, was up once again, speaking on competitive intelligence versus market research and how marketers still need to lead their consumers instead of relying too much on research to lead their decision-making. (For more on that read: Marketers, don’t follow your consumer blindly)In the final session, Michael Chadwick, director of brand strategy for Mondelēz APAC, spoke on how research needs to stop being a dampener for creatives, and be fuel instead for better work. (For more on that read: Your market research should liberate creative work)Research Asia Interactive 2014 was a one-day conference held by Marketing magazine on 27 June, at Grand Park Hotel in Singapore.