What do the Olympics and the Market Research Industry have in common?

This weekend, the Olympics draw to a close in London. There have been many great amazing and surprising upsets. Beyond the sports, market research lies at the heart of these successes.

Let's take a look back at how our guest bloggers have shared the importance of market research as it relates to the Olympics.

How is market research impacting these games and sports in general? Kelley Styring, TMRE guest blogger, recently compared the advances in technology and advancements in swimming to market research: 'Swimming have shown the most statistical progress over time versus something like Short Distance Running. That's because Swimming has benefitted from technology: better swim suits, less turbulent pools, etc. And that Running is something anyone, anywhere in the world can do versus Swimming where you need a pool you probably don't have in, let's say, Somalia. Good points, both.' Why is that relevant to market research?

How is the massive amount of data coming out of these 'digital' Olympics offering limitless of opportunity to market researchers across the globe?

Here just a few facts from blogger Katie Clark's blog post:
-For the first time ever in the United States, NBC is offering every moment of competition live via nbcolympics.com, which equates to around 3,500 hours of coverage. Many of you reading this work in media research and know that's a lot of video storage bytes!
-There were an estimated 1billion people tuning in to watch the opening ceremonies worldwide, and a documented 40.7 million people tuning in on NBC, making it the most-watched opening ceremony for a summer or winter Olympics ever.

What can come of all this data? Katie has a few ideas.

With these things in mind, we have to look at how these trends parallel market research today. What's the impact of technology on the industry? This fall at The Market Research Event, JetBlue, Maritz Research, Best Buy, ABC Television Network and more will join us in the Mobile and Technology track to look at how they're using technology to revolutionize the industry. Gerber Products, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Fidelity and others will join us in the Big Data track to look at how the amounts of data, comparable to those coming out of the Olympics, can be used to transform the industry. For more on these tracks and the rest of the agenda, download the agenda.

Would you like to join us this November 12-14, 2012 in Boca Raton, Florida? Register today and save 15% off the standard rate when you mention code TMRE12BLOG. If you have any questions about this year's event, feel free to contact Jennifer Pereira.