In turmoil between a pandemic and a war affecting the global market, a shake in consumer experience could be felt across all industries. With many changes already affecting the shifting landscape, EyeSee’s brightest Business development Directors are venturing to a couple of events to tackle new behavioral learnings on consumer confidence, price sensitivity, and unique online consumer needs and trends in a digital arena. Here is a breakdown of the upcoming events to keep in mind!
Stay ahead of global crisis: Quirk’s Chicago | April 11
If you are interested to learn on the latest behavioral study insights on what the shaken consumer confidence means for pricing and pack sensitivities, EyeSee’s Business Development Director, Heather Graham and Kraft Heinz Head of Insights, Sarah Zangler, will join the stage at Quirk’s Chicago to tackle the current global crisis that is affecting consumer experience. Join them on April 11 at 9:45 AM in Room 3 here!
Seize the opportunity on Social Media: IIEX North America | April 20
Join Laura Hoste at IIEX North America on April 20 at 3 PM CDT to learn how brands can optimize ads on social media, stimulate a purchase with their main message, and ensure that ads drive attention and likability. Join us!
EyeSee has just been announced as the winner of the Fearless Leader category at Quirk’s Awards: congratulations to our Insights Director in Mexico, Diego Adolfo Chávez Terrazas! It is an honor to have a leader such as Diego to learn from and push the boundaries of market research.
The Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards, powered by Quirk’s Media, recognize the researchers, vendors and products and services that are adding value and impact to marketing research. Finalists are selected by a panel of judges made up of a combination of end-client researchers, supplier partners and Quirk’s editorial staff.
Diego’s diverse background of Walmart client-side experience, consultancy in major brand companies and agency management has equipped this top insights professional with a profound understanding of the industry and market research. A huge chunk of his involvement in shaping consumer research for the future lies in his dedication to teach the new generation of insights professionals. Diego spent 4 years as a professor at universities in Caracas and created a unique course compromised of top industry experts that put students in direct contact with innovation and understanding of the client and consumer needs. His incredible drive and strategic mindset make him the trailblazer and fearless leader at the helm of EyeSee’s ambitious Mexico hub expansion.
Olivier Tilleuil, CEO & Founder at EyeSee, shared his thoughts on working with Diego:
“What I personally found most interesting about Diego Chavez is his passion. In the beginning, when we were negotiating and he was planning to join EyeSee, Diego looked back at his time at Walmart or Kantar with great pride, as someone who really finds satisfaction in insights and discovery. This is when I knew that I had an excellent researcher in front of me. I felt that he would make a great boost of energy and experience into our team, and I was not wrong. He’s proven to be way more than just above average researcher; his business outlook and ambition have put our Mexico hub on the map in less than 6 months. He has been key in not only gathering the team, but truly implementing our culture, vision, and strategy from day 1 in EyeSee Mexico. For me, he embodies what a leader should be and I feel we are very fortunate to have Diego on board.“
Apart from Quirk’s Awards, we are also thrilled to be on Deloitte’slist for 50 fastest growing and innovative technology companies in Belgium for the fifth consecutive year. It is an honor to be recognized for our work and effort by top industry experts in the field of market research, insights and technology.
Interested in competitive sustainable problems but worried about greenwashing perception? Not sure you are making the most out of your current research framework? Looking to develop action standards for your research? We’ve got you covered! EyeSee’s very best Business development Directors are heading to a number of events to talk and connect. Here is a rough breakdown to keep in mind.
Next up: Quirk’s London | October 14
EyeSee’s partner Joris De Bruyne and Liubov Ruchinskaya (Colgate brand insights Western Europe, Colgate-Palmolive) will join the stage at Quirk’s London to untangle the myth behind sustainability and how to act responsibly yet competitively. Join them on October 14 at 2 pm in Room 4 – register here!
A friendly face: CRC Dallas | October 20-21
CRC is bringing back safe and long-anticipated in-person networking with the world’s most well-known brands. Our Jane Nedinkovski will be there to mingle and answer all the essential questions for your research needs. Find this friendly face for an insights chat!
Tom Vande Moortel will be taking the (virtual) stage alongside experts from Google, The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive and Swiggy to share their expertise and discuss the vital lessons we have learned this year about innovation, the future of e-commerce and sustainability in order to ensure big wins in 2022 – register here!
The pandemic has propelled us all into an evolving and learning mode; it has pushed both industries and insights providers to consider new approaches as a matter of survival. Within EyeSee, an agile strategy was part of the team’s DNA from the get-go, which is why sourcing out the right talent to shape and handle the growth is key. A new one just joined our ranks: Heather Graham, formerly VP/Client Development at Behaviorally (formerly PRS)!
Heather has market research experience spanning over two decades, covering both agency- and client-side companies in the US and Singapore. Throughout her career, she has been particularly keen to tackle a wide variety of projects, tasks, and initiatives.
“Aside from an impressive list of clients under her belt, Heather’s contagious curiosity, drive to learn and go the extra mile to the optimal solution for clients made it clear to me that she would feel right at home within EyeSee”, said Oliver Tilleuil, Founder and CEO at EyeSee.
We took this opportunity to get to know Heather’s perspective on the changing industry landscape and major opportunities facing clients in 2021.
The MR industry is adjusting to accommodate new research needs during and after global pandemic, seemingly becoming overall more tech-driven, agile, and tactical. The byproduct of this massive embrace of online and behavioral is that there is far less diversity in MR services in the market. How do you define innovation and ‘new’ in MR today?
Given the pace of 2020 (and 2021 being at least as fast, if not faster), I’m hoping for a multi-pronged approach and philosophy to innovation across the industry.
Client-facing technology and services launched by agencies: Though in my experience clients are a lot like FMCG consumers – intrigued by the new and willing to try it, but find it quite hard to give up the tried and true (for a whole host of mostly good reasons) – and so innovations and ‘new’ ideas need to find a balance between familiar or recognizable and distinctive. Both in terms of the ideas themselves and in terms of overall portfolio of services.
Employee- and team-facing technology and services: 2020 was a year of literally grinding through. 2021 needs to be a time (hopefully shorter than a year 🙂 of taking a step back and developing or retooling processes, software, and hardware to better enable and empower employees and teams to do their work successfully and more efficiently. Which will benefit everyone, of course!
With online shopping and buying options being on the rise, could you share any predictions about what might make companies competitive in this area?
For our clients: It is more important than ever in this new COVID/post-COVID environment to understand P2P and ensure that your brand has the primary bases covered – and covered with compelling calls-to-action. This doesn’t mean that everything needs to change, not at all. Continued investment in consistency – your distinctive assets and brand language should be maintained – with an eye to meaningful and well-placed signposts and reminders is critical to maintain (and better yet, build) mindshare with consumers. Driving compelling and cohesive stories across advertising, e-commerce, and pack is essential.
Additionally, ensuring brands have the right mix and the right presentation of the mix is critical. While we don’t have crystal balls, of course, the past 12 months have certainly helped us see more of the future than we could have anticipated even 18 months ago. So, in reviewing the product portfolio – do all your products still make sense? Should something(s) be added?
For EyeSee: This past 12 months provides two sides of a coin. EyeSee has been an industry leader in online behavioral research, but the gap with competitors is shrinking – accelerated by the pandemic. In the few days I’ve been here, I’ve already seen that this is simply a motivation to push further. And I’m so excited to be a part of that entrepreneurial stretch.
What do you believe is at the core of EyeSee? Was there something you learned about the organization that might not be so obvious for outsiders?
EyeSee may still feel like a young, new company in the industry, but the methods, the practices, the expertise deployed are well established and well researched.
What made me join the team are the Enthusiasm, Authenticity, Integrity, Empathy. Olivier’s passion is infectious; meeting with others in various positions and locations during the interview process demonstrated to me that it is a shared passion.
EyeSee has been a good competitor over the years , which shows me that there are strong services on offer. And these services go beyond retail and FMCG, which is exciting. With +10 onboarding and introduction meetings under my belt, I feel the human-ness of everyone I’ve spoken to. There is clearly considerable respect amongst everyone I’ve spoken with, there is a strong feeling of a team from the highest levels, and I’ve already met a cat and a baby during conference calls (strong contributors, both).
Heather Graham has worked in marketing research for over two decades, both on the agency- and client-side. Previously, she was a part of Behaviorally (formerly PRS) in the US and Singapore. Heather most enjoys being in agency-side and relatively smaller companies as she feels like this is where she can have the most positive impact, learn the most, and have access to the most variety of projects, tasks, and initiatives.
If this interview sparked interest in EyeSee’s unique approach, check out our article outlining the formula behind our 8 years of sustainable growth.
EyeSee obtained a record growth in 2020 in spite of the COVID crisis and kicks off 2021 by broadening its global reach and capabilities by opening a new sales office in Singapore and an operations office in Mexico City. The award-winning company has been steadily doubling in size every year to meet the growing demand for agile & scalable behavioral research from clients such as Twitter, Microsoft, Colgate-Palmolive, J&J, Bayer, Disney, and many more.
Being an agency that relies exclusively on pioneering online research technology (remote eye tracking and emotion tracking through facial expression) to deliver deep and actionable behavioral insights, EyeSee was able to serve clients in all geographies and a variety of industries from its beginnings, conducting research in 40+ countries. However, the deep and fruitful relationships EyeSee forged with its clients drive and increase demand for further global growth in exciting markets such as the APAC region and real-time support from top researchers in North America. After reinforcing its presence with experienced team additions in 2020, EyeSee continues to pull in global talents while tracing the path to becoming the most innovative global supplier of accessible behavioral research.
EyeSee’s results were recognized by industry awards (MR agency of the year under 10$ (2020), Advertising research project for Twitter (2020), Global MR project for Microsoft (2019) Quirk’s, and receiving Deloitte’s most sustainable growth award in 2020.
Joris De Bruyne, EyeSee’s partner and the leading force behind the move to Asia, explains this step:
“We are moving into Singapore to follow our clients, and we have already done projects with our blue-chip clients in Asia.” “The innovation in Asian markets in E-commerce, TikTok, and Mobile studies provide the perfect fuel for our predictive and innovative research solutions,” Joris adds. Previously, EyeSee has run Singapore-based projects with clients such as Johnson&Johnson, Bayer, Ferrero, DBS Bank, and Sanofi, so this step is a natural continuation.
It is not just about scaling the operations – for Olivier Tilleuil, EyeSee’s founder and partner, these new offices represent something much more profound:
“The ability to attract and help develop top-notch behavioral research experts in any market we do business in, is one of the most exciting and fulfilling aspects of this.” He continues: “As our organization grows into a true global leader, this brings many opportunities – apart from building innovative solutions and services that exceed the expectations of our clients, we have a chance to create true experts in our teams and a recognizable brand that stands for cutting-edge behavioral research.”
The Singapore office will continue to develop EyeSee’s key accounts in the APAC region. It will be lead by Tom Vande Moortel, and the Mexican office setup is underway with Diego Adolfo Chávez Terrazas, an experienced researcher who previously worked for Walmart, Colgate-Palmolive, Turner Media, and Kantar – as the Country lead and Insights Director.
Tom Vande Moortel explained what sets EyeSee apart in a market brimming in innovation in a hub such as Singapore:
“EyeSee’s innovative and scalable take on behavioral market research can substantially improve the quality and speed of insights, even for mature clients. Our approach correlates far better with real sales uplift than standard research methods, and results can be delivered within two-three weeks. We are very excited to enter into a market with highly developed digital commerce, and our product portfolio is perfectly matched for clients in such an environment.”
Diego Adolfo Chávez Terrazas sees the biggest opportunity in a new generation of researchers in Mexico:
“EyeSee has been a key player in the industry of Marketing Research in the last few years in Europe and the US. An operations office in North America is an exciting moment for the company, as we are looking for the best talent in the country to help us establish. We seek smart and talented people who will add value to our clients with their knowledge. For those talents who want to settle the new way of doing Marketing Research in a cooperative and innovative environment, EyeSee Mexico is the place to be.“
We are excited to announce that EyeSee won the award for Most sustainable Growth, which is presented to Deloitte’s fast 50 list contestant that has been ranked highest for the past 4 years in a row.
EyeSee is on Deloitte’s list of fastest-growing tech companies headquartered in Belgium for the 4th consecutive year. With the growth of 315,45% in the last year, EyeSee has landed spot 31 on the list, after being ranked in the top 5, 10, and 20 companies in previous years.
We are delighted by this recognition and particularly proud that we exhibited the most sustainable expansion and consistent growth across the last several years.
We would like to thank Deloitte for their dedication to showcasing business excellence and congratulate other winning companies and honorees of this prestigious list – find the full list of winners here.
For decades, marketers have realized the massive predictive potential of behavioral research methods. However, as recently as 8 years ago, reaching into the behavioral research toolkit was a rather impractical affair for brands, taking up weeks and big chunks of budget. A clever idea by EyeSee’s founders – to use respondents’ own devices and webcams to follow eye gaze – kickstarted a whole revolution in behavioral research, opening it up to further innovation.
The principle of using new tech to solve old market research problems worked well and resulted in our team doubling in size every year to meet growing demand from clients such as Twitter, Microsoft, Colgate-Palmolive, J&J, Bayer, Disney, and many more. Our research approach was recognized by Quirk’s and Deloitte; our teams are expanding worldwide, with new team members in Amsterdam and the US Midwest, and an ongoing expansion to Mexico and Singapore in 2021.
Here are 3 things that breaking new ground (in market research) for the past 8 years has taught us:
Rule 1: Disrupt, rebuild and grow with tech
The pandemic has put the world in a tailspin, as uncertainty loomed over both consumer habits and business decisions. The fast pace of the changing world made one thing clear – in-person testing is no longer a (safe) go-to; a place to look for the best and most innovative research solutions is both behavioral and online.
Tech-enabled research makes it easier to navigate category opportunities through trends as they emerge and stay on top through up-to-date optimization. For instance, brands can now opt to test their marketing materials in realistic virtual replicas of stores, websites, and just about any environment within a couple of weeks. The in-context approach takes into account all platform-specific triggers for consumers and makes for a better indicator of success, whether you are looking into purchase decisions, findability, brand equity, or any other KPI.
Rule 2: Redefine what market research can do for brands
Working in MR entails a set of skills for assessing the pulse of trends and understanding consumers that brands should serve. To tap into the full picture, we base our solutions on a combination of eye-tracking, facial coding, Reaction Time Measurement (RTM), and virtual shopping.
Recently, a study done for Twitter that examined (non)traditional gender roles in sports ads received Best advertising research project recognition at Quirk’s awards. It contributed to the conversation around gender with eye-opening findings and spurred EyeSee to further develop our context-testing Twitter solution and perfect it for future client studies.
It also prompted us to look into other communication streams such as crisis messaging – specifically BLM and COVID-related. Accumulated insights for 6 different industries are at the forefront of (mobile) market research, altogether redefining what research CAN do for brands.
Rule 3: Look into the future to better serve the present
2021 will be about disruption, innovation, and boldness. The entire year, everyone will be out of their comfort zone. To best serve our clients and their needs, we need to be a few steps ahead of them and proactively anticipate how our future solutions fit their business questions.
So, what do we think will be big next year?
In-context solutions that map out the online Path to Purchase or multi-channel brand interactions.
If you aren’t doing this already, this might be the year to step up your social media game and discover a set of best practices for all the channels relevant to your business. Based on your stimuli and content, a study like this can provide you with guidance that reflects each platform’s features, allowing you to leverage them by fine-tuning your content and messaging.
In the NPD arena, there are so many exciting ways you can test and screen your concepts! Creating entirely behavioral and fully contextual exercises delivers performance info on reliable KPIs such as interest, penetration, and value share. Aside from on-shelf concept screening in different development stages, you can also do behavior tracking on live websites, enabling you to place product concepts and asses them on a real website such as Amazon and see how much interest they garner.
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Finally, all these principles and solutions can be of immense use in all other areas of consumer research. Recreating new contexts in which people interact with your product in any retail environment you can think of – ensures reliable and accurate insights that will help you lead decision-making in 2021.
Want more? Check out fresh perspectives and strategies for MR shared by our young and brightest talents.
EyeSee is the big winner of last night’s Quirk’s Awards, winning the MR supplier of the year (below $10m in revenue), and Advertising research project for our work with Twitter on a pioneering study on (Non)traditional gender roles in sports ads. We are honored that our work was recognized by industry experts and that our long-standing collaboration with Twitter is pushing the boundaries of MR.
We would like to congratulate Michelle Grushko, Data Scientist at Twitter, for her nomination in the Researcher of the year category, and winning the Advertising research recognition, for a project she led. Michelle emphasized our partnership and the technology that enabled research like this: “We absolutely love working with EyeSee, and consider them such a valuable partner when it comes to answering important research questions and pushing the boundaries such as testing the impact of traditional vs. non-traditional roles in sports ads.”
She further points out that EyeSee’s platform is particularly effective at capturing users’ behavioral responses when looking at a Twitter timeline as well as virtual shopping exercises to understand shopping behavior. “We are so happy to win alongside EyeSee and we cannot wait for our future collaborations!”. If you are interested in learning more about this groundbreaking study, check out our webinar here.
Olivier Tilleuil, EyeSee’s CEO and founder, looked back on EyeSee’s growth in the past years: “It is so rewarding to look back on our beginnings almost 8 years ago, and to see how far we’ve come, led by a simple, but bold idea about helping our clients understand consumers with the help of behavioral research. To receive a Quirk’s award for our collaboration with a company such as Microsoft in 2019, and Twitter this year, proves that our expertise and drive are forging a new path in the MR industry. Awards like this are incredibly important for the entire industry, as they are setting a standard, showcasing talents, and nurturing client-supplier bonds. Moreover, they promote innovation to a bigger audience and accelerate adoption of new approaches.”
EyeSee’s partner, Joris De Bruyne, also commented on the double win: “This honor is a strong wind in our sails further! After a year in which we had to rise to many challenges, it is incredibly exciting to look ahead and plan for new tech optimization and expanding our team into a new operations office in Mexico. To know that we are both the agency of the year and working on relevant topics such as this one is very humbling, and we are very grateful for this opportunity to showcase our team’s work.”
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, and many thanks to Quirk’s for hosting a fabulous black-tie event online and continuing to support the market research industry!
The Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards, powered by Quirk’s Media, recognize the researchers, vendors and products and services that are adding value and impact to marketing research. Finalists are selected by a panel of judges made up of a combination of end-client researchers, supplier partners and Quirk’s editorial staff.
For the second consecutive year, EyeSee has 3 nominations in the finals of Quirk’s Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards! We are immensely honored to be shortlisted and our work and collaboration with Twitter to be recognized in this way.
Our long-lasting partnership with Twitter resulted in an exciting project nominated for the Advertising Research category – ‘(Non)traditional gender roles in sports ads’. The pioneering study was also presented earlier in the year at Quirk’s Online event, and the webinar session can be found here. Our team is also thrilled that Michelle Grushko, who is a Data Scientist, Marketing Insights & Analytics, at Twitter and worked on the project, is one of the finalists in the Researcher of the year (client-side) category.
Aside from representing industry recognition, this nomination is a reminder of how far our team has come since winning the Global MR research project Award with Microsoft in 2019. Since then, despite the challenges, we hit a big milestone – EyeSee grew to over 100 employees, having been joined by amazing experienced professionals from the MR field, and fresh young talents alike.
The Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards, powered by Quirk’s Media, recognize the researchers, vendors and products and services that are adding value and impact to marketing research. Finalists are selected by a panel of judges made up of a combination of end-client researchers, supplier partners and Quirk’s editorial staff. For more information about The Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards visit quirksawards.com
This year has proven that in times of crisis, adaptability is the one strength and skill that is key to helping both businesses and individuals cope with the looming uncertainty. In 2020, we grew in the face of challenges while taking care of each other – all 101 of EyeSee team members.
As we enter the last quarter of the year, we see a rise of opportunities amidst challenges, thanks to a multitude of different perspectives, sophisticated online tools, and diverse and agile skillsets of our people. We spoke to some of EyeSee’s latest global hires about their onboarding experience.
EyeSee grew from a seed of innovation in the face of obstacles – it wanted to change the fact that a very small percent of research was based on behavioral methods, and instead depended on costly and unreliable central location testing. Right now, there is a similar climate and we face obstacles that further challenge our way of work. In a way, our roots were in turning hurdles into an opportunity for learning by using smart tech solutions that bypass our biases. This initial ethos of resilience is the key to our adaptability and managing the COVID-19 realities.
Aleksandar Velikic, EyeSee’s General Manager, shared his feelings on growing the team to over 100 employees during the crisis: “It brings a strong sense of pride – I am very glad our team grew and that we created a great and secure workplace for so many talents. However, working under the pressures of a pandemic is a whole new set of challenges that has to be acknowledged if you care for your team’s physical and psychological safety.”
Amongst the 20+ people that joined us since March is Alexandre de Jubecourt, who previously worked with Veylinx, MetrixLab, Nielsen, and leading the Unilever account at Millward Brown in South Africa.
Q: Why did you decide to change positions right now and how did you choose EyeSee to do that?
Alexandre de Jubecourt: After 15 years in the big companies of our Industry, I joined early 2020 a start-up. It was however not answering my needs, still, I wanted to stay out of traditional Market Research and stick within the behavioral world. I wanted to join the firm of the future, this is how I found out about EyeSee – I find it innovative, growing, dynamic, fun, and shaped for success.
Nikola Golubovic joined EyeSee as a Shopper Insights director and brings over 15 years of experience in the MR industry, to the table – 7 of which he spent in PepsiCo.
Q: How did you decide to move from the client-side to an agency right now, and what are your first impressions about EyeSee?
Nikola Golubovic: Two years ago, I had the opportunity to work with one of EyeSee’s excellent teams. By launching a pack redesign after EyeSee’s recommendations, we at Pepsico managed to reverse a negative category trend and gain market share. It was clear evidence of benefiting from skillful researchers who apply sound science. Once again, I concluded: “Knowledge belongs to the one who best knows how to ask (questions)” (Miroslav Antic). Our researcher community is very small, and when my long-standing colleagues invited me to join the Team, I could only accept it with pride and pleasure. I embraced the offer in order to learn how to pose questions even better. Regarding EyeSee, my first impression was that I need a lot of effort to keep up with the inexhaustible amount of energy, enthusiasm, and passion for research that the EyeSee team possesses. Now, it makes me feel younger and I appreciate the given opportunity to work with highly-intelligent experts who are novelty seekers and status quo challengers at the same time.
Another great addition to EyeSee’s US team is Jennifer L. Guerrette. Jennifer is very experienced in the industry, having worked for Millward Brown, Ipsos and Survey Sampling International with clients such as Amazon, Ab InBev, Nestle, Dannon, GSK, Godiva and many others.
Q: What does a career change and the onboarding process look like during the pandemic?
Jennifer L. Guerrette: Global and personal crises makes one reevaluate their life. Reflect on what you truly want. Career is no exception. Sometimes you need to take the risk & move forward even when you don’t have a sure outcome. When it comes to onboarding, I’m very used to onboarding virtually & working remotely. This feels no different to me. What is nice is the human touch. At larger companies, there is less face to face virtual training… many rely on 3rd parties to house pre-recorded trainings + quizzes. They are impersonal.
One of the people who joined EyeSee as the crisis started to develop was Jonathan Asher, EyeSee’s Executive Vice President. Jonathan spent 10 years as an Executive Vice President at PRS In Vivo, where, in addition to overseeing the client service group, Jonathan also established the e-commerce section.
Jonathan Asher: I chose to make a change to a specialist in online shopper research just prior to the crisis hitting, and the timing was quite fortuitous as just after starting, clients could not conduct and in-person research and sought online providers they could trust. I found myself in the right place at the right time – and EyeSee was an ideal option to do that. I chose to pursue an opportunity here because, during my exploration of online shopper research Firms, it became very quickly that EyeSee was by far the best. This was due to several factors, including:
A proven method that mirrored the in-person methods I knew worked well
Technology that provides real eye tracking on respondent devices – rather than relying on proxies such as “click on what you saw”, mouse hover time or recall
Broad-based experience with a range of top clients as well as across several types of testing such as packaging, shopper marketing, e-commerce, advertising and innovations
A very talented and experienced staff of research experts with backgrounds from top tier research firms
A high level of client satisfaction
Staying agile in a dynamic market
As we look back on the challenges surmounted and opportunities seized in the past few months, we are reassured that staying adaptable, embracing change headfirst, and caring for our people is the way to move forward in even the most unpredictable of circumstances. Whether it is by making sure that our insights are reliable during changed consumer sentiment, keeping track of the developing trends, or sharing our knowledge on consumer behavior in an ongoing webinar series – we are here, prepared to turn hurdles into stepping stones forward.
