As the new CEO of The Olinger Group, it is my honor to embrace a legacy, provide a seamless transition for our clients, and move the business and industry forward.
While the CEO transition was news to our clients, the groundwork was put in place a long time ago. We have been preparing for this; it just took the right team and the right planning in the background to make it happen.
Embrace a legacy
The Olinger Group was founded in 1994 and has worked with hundreds of top-name clients.
It also has an amazing executive team that I am privileged and honored to work alongside. Chanttel Allen, our COO, has been with TOG for 25 years. And Meg Scott, our Director of Research Operations, has been here for 15. Their experience and leadership helped TOG create consistent processes and a powerful team spirit.
Seamless transition
That consistency of running the business and running projects will not change. In fact, clients who worked with TOG in the past year will only see one change going forward, and that is the title of the team members they work with. Everything else from the clients’ viewpoint will remain unchanged.
That’s because we made and implemented our internal changes over the past few years. Everything is set, practiced, and running like clockwork.
Moving forward
While the past is important, life and business are not static. There is a natural evolution that TOG is capitalizing on.
Consumers are very personal in their decisions, but they are not unique. That’s market research 101.
Now here is the evolution:
- Consumers are in the driver’s seat.
- They demand that brands make a personal connection with them and their priorities.
- Their priorities are not always easy to find, and
- The indicators of those priorities are found in surprising places.
TOG is positioned to drive this evolution well into the future with our Live Well™ approach to insights. I discussed that approach in the blogs “Live Authentically; Live Well” and “Life on My Terms.”
TOG clients receive the traditional insights of market research, as well as our Live Well insights. That combination gives brands even more power in their business plans, communications, and activations.
My qualifications
For the past decade of my career, I have been at the forefront of new ways of thinking in the market research space.
Ten years ago, I was part of a team that brought mobile research to the industry. It was a new, innovative approach at the time, and there were doubters. Now you can’t field a survey without it being mobile-compliant.
I was an early advocate for 360-degree views of consumer attitudes and bringing market research into behavioral data. I also focused on qualitative platforms before they were a thing, back when everyone just used focus groups.
My point is, I have always been at the forefront of bringing in new ways of addressing old questions in order to get more complete answers. And although those approaches were new at the time, they quickly became the standard.
Now the new approach is Live Well insights. I absolutely 100% expect this to become the new standard because the long-term vision of it is so much bigger than custom research.
Live Well insights help you understand the most important consumer segment for your brand. That consumer segment also helps you understand future implications of loyalty, net promoter score, and ultimately revenue.
The evolution of Live Well insights aligns perfectly with my experience of taking something to market that is new today and expected tomorrow.
I am excited for the future. This is going to be a fun ride!
