With the second South African SCOPEN’s AGENCY SCOPE underway, a key element for conducting the most valuable interviews and gleaning information that can change the way agencies and marketers do business is the choosing of the researchers.
In order to ensure the highest level of data, Spanish-based independent research company SCOPEN and the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) recruit senior fieldworkers to interview top marketers. “Their understanding of our entire industry has to be acute,” says Johanna McDowell, CEO of the IAS, herself a researcher on AGENCY SCOPE 2017.
The IAS sought researchers with strong credentials to get the most out of face-to-face time with marketing executives, McDowell asserts, adding that both the IAS and SCOPEN understand they are dealing with individuals who are knowledge-wealthy but time-poor.
“Our researchers are able to assist the marketers in saying what they need to make known, in order to create value for subscribers. The knowledge held by our fieldworkers is assuring for the interviewee as well as the subscriber.”
The eight chosen researchers have been divided into the provinces to be covered so that one will cover the 40 interviews required in KwaZulu Natal; three will interview 80 professionals in the Western Cape; and the remaining four will meet with 120 executives across Gauteng.
McDowell says that using the online questionnaire scientifically designed by SCOPEN in Spain and implemented across Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, China, India, Singapore and South Africa results in each country’s pertinent information being sent to SCOPEN headquarters directly.
César Vacchiano, SCOPEN’s President and CEO, assures all participants that the organisation’s IT security and commitment to confidentiality is one of the reasons it has been operating as a trusted resource for marketers and agencies since 1990.
McDowell adds that the success of the first South African AGENCY SCOPE in 2016 provides a good base from which to work this year, and that the IAS looks forward to bringing “more of the right type of information” to a rapidly-changing industry.
