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The Blurring Roles of Sensory and Market Research: The “Myth or Reality” of the “Push-Me Pull You” in Corporate America – Research Vibe

In the original 1967 film, Dr. Dolittle’s discovery of the Push-Me—Pull-You was ultimately a transformational and lucrative addition to the Blossom Circus. But, determining how the creature functioned and deciphering how to market the unique and peculiar Push-me—Pull-you was a mystery, until Dr. Dolittle cracked the code and learned to speak the animal’s language. Only then did Albert Blossom, the circus owner who bought the Push-me—Pull-You, exclaim, “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

Similarly in corporate organizations, research and development and marketing functions often do not speak the same language or fully understand the role of the other. They are challenged to learn how to cooperate in order to deliver transformational results to achieve ambitious corporate goals. To survive, the corporate Push-Me (R&D and Sensory Science)  and Pull-You (Marketing and Marketing Research) must work together to thrive, excel and succeed.

To thrive, the Push-Me—Pull-You must speak the same corporate dialect.
• Research and Development teams focus on the scientific feasibility, product development time required, applied statistics, and available ingredient and manufacturing costs and  technology.
• Marketing and Market Research teams focus on the market feasibility, market forces, business metrics, and managing financial goals and risks.

These corporate functions both desire the same end result, market success, but approach the same goal from different directions. Learning to translate the language or even better, becoming Push-Me—Pull –You bi-lingual, allows for strategic collaboration and partnership to occur.

To excel, the Push-Me Pull-You must learn to dance together.
• R&D must not only show proof that the technology or product is viable, but that there is a consumer need driving its reason for being.
• Marketing must show proof that the innovative idea has potential, but also that the product is technically feasible to produce.

But R&D, marketing and market research often serve different internal customers with varied business strategies and goals. Those factors may change the required dance steps, dance venue and music genre based on the internal function and customer needs — this  leads to different dance steps and maneuvers on the dance floor Differing corporate pressures and success metrics may lead to parallel paths of research that are not always integrated. Both disciplines (R&D and Marketing) are bringing critical information to business decisions. The information and learning must be integrated in order to provide the most strategic insights to the overall product proposition.

How do we get differing corporate disciplines to dance together even when they may have no combined functional rhythm or sync?
1. Ensure all the pieces of the total product proposition fit together as early in the Development process, Sensory and Market Research testing and marketing goals as soon as possible.
2. Align product development efforts and initiatives with a clearly communicated product concept that is “consumer-driven”.
3. Establish clear action standards and decision points to create a strategic roadmap for moving a product from idea inception to market launch.  Don’t lose sight of the  product post launch when it has been  introduced into the marketplace  Once competitors see your innovation on the shelf, have your defensive plan ready to deploy.
4. Share learning and insights across all stakeholders throughout the development process in order to fully leverage all factors in the marketing mix and deliver a winning product.

What if we can help R&D and Marketing to change their viewpoint from “I’m not interested or I’ve seen that tried before” to “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It!”?

The result would be integrated teams, integrated learning, market success and financial gain for the corporation.
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