Victoria Sakal is Managing Director for Morning Consult, one of the most interesting and innovative data intelligence companies to emerge over the past few years. She is also author of their Most Trusted Brands 2021 report, which we discuss in this episode. Among other things, we talk about why small businesses get the highest trust ratings, why tech brands score so well, what trust really means, and trends in trust over time. 

Also worth checking out: Morning Consult’s Return to Normal tracking study.

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Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Menaka Gopinath is President of the Ipsos Social Media Exchange (North America), and is recognized as one the world’s leading experts on social media listening.  

Among other things, we discuss today’s consumer mindset, the consumer trends that are emerging as The Corona Economy (hopefully) begins transitioning into the post-vaccine economy, and what kinds of brands are thriving at this time (“brands that are living out their purpose, and using that as their compass”).

Menaka can be found on LinkedIn here.  Menaka and the broader Ipsos team have produced excellent thought leadership content on The Corona Economy, including content on vaccine intent, Americans re-emerging, and the Pandemic Wall.

Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Randy Wahl is President of M/A/R/C, a leading market research firm. Randy has been conducting consumer research for over twenty years, and he’s consulted for many of the world’s leading brands. 

Among other things, we discuss the latest data and trends related to consumer acceptance of the vaccine, tele-medicine, pet care, and how the post-corona economy is taking shape.

Randy Wahl can be found on LinkedIn here. The M/A/R/C website is here, and the M/A/R/C podcast is here.

Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Alf Nucifora is Chairman of Luxe SF, the Bay Area’s premier industry association in luxury marketing.  We discuss the latest trends in luxury, wine, real estate, and the SF Bay Area.  He shares his insights on... 

• Why the ‘work from home’ trend will have a lasting and profound impact
• How The Corona Economy has minimized impulse purchases and the consumer focus on stuff
• Why the existential dread of 2020 will likely persist into 2022
• How business is booming for many real estate agents and interior designers
• How the wine business, and luxury in general, is failing to connect with Millennials

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Alf can be found on LinkedIn here, and his organization LuxeSF here

Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Bob Lederer is veteran observer of the market research and consumer insights industry.  He publishes several newsletters on the industry, and produces a widely-watched daily video series on industry developments.  

We discuss the history of market research, and how the field has continued to grow during The Corona Economy as companies have been pressed to make more decisions with more speed and less information than ever before.  

Bob’s Research Business Daily Report can be found here, and Bob can be found on LinkedIn here. His book “Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl Team that Changed Football” can be found on Amazon here.

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Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Walker Smith is Chief Knowledge Officer at Kantar, and one of the most respected experts in the study of consumer trends.  In this episode, he shares his takes on the most impactful, overlooked and interesting trends in The Corona Economy

• The most impactful trend: the increasing importance of the home
• The most overlooked trend: savings rates continue to rise
• The most interesting trend: rituals and occasions are evolving

He also shares why 2020 will (psychologically) be an 18-month year (yikes! It’s not over yet), and how he challenges brands to grow with a powerful question: “How do you help people live big in a smaller world?”

Walker can be found on LinkedIn here, and check out his new blog here

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Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.

Leslie Wood is Chief Research Officer at NC Solutions, a joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina that features one of the industry’s most comprehensive databases of consumer behavior and media use. We discuss…

• Why spending continues to rise on consumer packaged goods, comfort food, and iconic brands (but not on private labels)
• Why the new wave of stay-at-home orders is unlikely to change consumer behavior
• How advertising is more effective for building loyalty than encouraging trial (and why loyalty is more important than ever)
• A common advertising mistake: brands get tired of their messaging and change it even when it still resonates with consumers
• How the quantitative analysis of advertising effectiveness reveals the importance of the “softer” sides of advertising -- messaging and creative (and how I am REALLY similar to Don Draper!)
• How The Corona Economy is analogous to the entire population going through multiple lifestage transitions at once

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Learn more about NC Solutions here, and reach Leslie on LinkedIn here

Theme music courtesy of Tess Stevens, the world's most rocking content strategist.  Thank you Tess!   Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @tessfstevens.  Stream her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.   

Andrew Lipsman is Principal Analyst at eMarketer and was formerly SVP of Marketing and Insights at ComScore.  In this super-cool episode, he shares how David Byrne’s recent concert film American Utopia serves as a metaphor for consumer trends in the Corona Economy.  He also shares his top predictions for 2021, his take on what brands are really getting it right, and why so many predictions about future behavior go wrong, 

Check out more of Andrew’s work at eMarketer