Mr. Deependar Rana, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Insights Division, has been with Insights and Kantar in South Asia for 7 years. Prior to that, he attended the National Dairy Research Institute and Bharathidasan Institute of Management Tiruchirapalli to pave his path as a professional. He worked in a variety of roles, including Project Director, Chief Client Officer and Managing Director for Milword Brown, Greater China. Along the years of work and experience, Mr. Deependar Rana has become an expert in Marketing Research and Strategy as well as Analytics.
In a recent conversation with Bangladesh Brand Forum, he shared his experience of working in South Asia, changing trends of marketing research and the progress and growth of marketing research in this region.
BBF: The MR industry is changing fast, and there is a lot of disruption occurring in the whole category. How is Kantar reacting to that, and what does it mean for the future?
Mr. Deependar Rana: Well, the disruption is very positive in a way. Technology is enabling us to do things that we couldn’t do before. Earlier, the industry was a lot more dependent on survey data. Now, if you look at the number of data sources we have, it has multiplied a lot. As a result, we can now integrate passive digital data and first-party data to own data with surveys. There are new parts of the field, like neuroscience and behavioural economics. So the field has matured a lot. And as a result of that, I think the role of the researcher has changed from just doing focus groups or surveys to bringing together these multiple sources of data and then actually creating an impact in the client’s organisation.
Whether it is growing a plan or innovation, the biggest power behind everything is actually analytics. Well, the fundamental disruption is technology and analytics. In fact, as a rapid reaction to this disruption, even Esomar has redefined the scope of the research industry.
Now the industry is split into three segments. Traditional or original market research companies like Kantar. These companies are worth around $40 billion. You have syndicated reporting companies that create country reports. And the third big part now is analytics. The analytics of data is a huge industry now. a lot of the analytics happens on first-party data.
So, the size of the industry has doubled. I think this year; it’s expected to be a $120 billion industry. Except for the disrupted part, which is now growing at about 20%, the original part is also growing nicely at about 7 or 8%. So, typically the research industry now is growing at about 2.5 to 3 times the GDP growth rate. I would say the prospects of the industry have never been kind of brighter, and there’s a lot of money getting popped in. So there’s a lot of investment coming into the industry, and the valuation of the companies is growing up vastly.
This massive growth happened mainly because of the use of analytics and tech. So, you could say that the old way of working is disrupted but the new way.
The use of analytics and tech is highly exciting and is creating a lot of value and a very bright future. In fact, if you look at jobs, market analysts, and market researchers are the most in demand.
BBF: What do you see as the most exciting trend happening in the industry right now?
Well, it’s the growth of 2 things: collecting data and how we handle the data. The latter is mostly about advanced analytics and AI. And then, of course, the third thing is how you impact the client’s business. All these are undergoing massive changes. The benefit that clients are getting is basically real-time decision-making and speed & scale. So this is all happening and creating new jobs, careers, and valuations.
BBF: How would you evaluate the transformation of the Kantar South Asia business and what the future may hold?
Essentially, we have businesses in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the businesses are primarily local businesses. Whereas, in India, the business is focused on a lot of overseas work. So, Kantar Group has become a big global hub now. There are around 4500 to 5000 people in India, including huge global delivery centres. We also conduct a lot of data processing work for the US and Europe. There are about 2000 people working in Ahmedabad and Pune. Additionally, we have 600 data scientists, statisticians, and analysts.
We manage a lot of big global clients out of India, including Research Services. For example, India is the home base of the global British American Tobacco, which is our top client. In Kolkata, we have about 250 researchers working for BAT. So, as a result of this sort of globalisation, South Asia, especially India, has become a part of the global supply chain. It has created massive growth for us in Kantar. Because of the growth of the South Asian economy, although Sri Lanka has been a challenge for our business, we have emerged stronger. But, the GDP growth and consumer growth here have enabled us to grow locally. But also, like I said, you are a part of the global supply chain now, and because the talent base is very strong in South Asia, we are able to contribute to the rest of the world.
BBF: Do you think research companies in South Asia are keeping up with global practices?
I would say that we are leading now. If you look at it, a lot of the leading trends are coming out of south Asia. So in a way, we are a net exporter of talent. We are also connected to the latest and best methodologies adopted globally. Earlier, what we were doing for global clients was quite different from what we were doing locally. In India, during 2018 or 2019, before Covid, everything was done face to face. Now millions of Interviews are happening online. Similarly, now we are beginning to do a lot of digital lab tests, looking at media investments across multiple channels, including digital channels, and the return on investment on that. So a lot of cutting-edge solutions that we have globally are now done here. The other thing that is happening in some areas is that people from South Asia are part of our global innovation teams. These people are actually playing a key role in creating new solutions. We have the third-largest business for Kantar globally. As a result of that, global concerns are quite keen to learn from the best practices happening in this part of the world.
BBF: Particularly, how far has Bangladesh advanced compared to that of the global standards?
I think there are two things. One is the clients themselves; if you look at for example, British American Tobacco in Bangladesh is one of the top ten markets among BAT global. In fact, in terms of volume, I think it is the second or the third. And then, if I look at Unilever, again for some of the categories, Bangladesh is now globally in the top ten. So what does that mean?
What these clients expect from us in Bangladesh is world-class. They expect us to deliver the same product and same services anywhere, and we deliver that. In that sense, it has reached the same level; The second part is that the local Bangladeshi clients have begun to learn from those practices, and they are stepping up. So in that sense, we will deliver the same level of services to our local clients as well. I think one key area where there are still differences in the inside digital data collection and it requires a bit of investment. Currently face to face data collection is so cost-effective and good. I mean, we are very good at Kantar, and that is so good and effective that there is no commercial pressure to create online channels. But if you look at western markets, there was a lot of commercial pressure to create online. But in Bangladesh, I still do not see it happening. The issue is how cheap face-to-face data collection is. When you set up an online panel, it won’t be cheaper than face-to-face. In other countries, online is cheaper, But in Bangladesh, you can do something online, but the client will say why do you pay more? That is a big question. Then you need to show the extra value you are getting from online. In Bangladesh, one key thing we have checked that the market research size versus the GDP.
The market research size is proportionately much less here compared to some other or most of the markets. In those markets, the market size of the market research is very high as a proportion of the total GDP. The other unique thing about Bangladesh is the total amount of Social Research. These researches are not consumer research. This segment is much bigger in Bangladesh than in others.
BBF: what are the plans and vision of Kantar Bangladesh for the next few years?
Well, the first thing will be we will continue to serve our multinational clients very well. You know Bangladesh is a very critical and growing market. Not only do they have strong brands here, but they’re also doing a local innovation that fits the needs of the Bangladesh market. So because of the sheer size of the Bangladesh market, multinational clients will continue to not only take best practices and brands from abroad, but they will create brands and products here and perhaps even export from Bangladesh to other markets. So, we will clearly benefit from that. The second big segment is what the local clients are doing, and of course, there are local clients who currently believe a lot in the power of distribution and the key asset they have currently is their manufacturing and distribution.
But they’re changing, and in the future, their key assets will be brands. They will start listening to the consumer’s voice. A lot of best practices are moving from multinationals to these big local conglomerates like PRAN-RFL Group. So this movement will keep growing, and we are very excited about that.
I see some of the sectors of like areas where Bangladesh should really go forward fast. Fintech is one such area. If we talk to our top clients, the percentage of media spending that they’re doing on digital here is very similar to anywhere else. So again, we will be transforming the way we do research.
Well, another positive thing is the young people here have so many opportunities. Some of the things that you will see here are that we are adapting to be a lot more inclusive and diverse with a very strong female workforce and growing women leaders, and growing young leaders from Bangladesh. I think that’s a very critical part of being successful here. So it’s not just the hard part of the business, the tools, the intellectual property, the solutions, or how we do our business is also about the quality of the talent here and then tapping into the entrepreneurial talents. So finally, if you look at who will connect best with the local clients, you know, it’s the great local leaders. And that will be a big focus area on how to do that. We do a lot of HR best practices training courses and stuff. Therefore, we are absolutely excited about Bangladesh as a market, and we will continue to invest here.
BBF: Kantar Group has a penetration of over 90 markets globally and locally. Given the vast data and insights it obtains, how do you see the consumer experience and behaviour shifting or changing, especially those of the Gen-Zs?
They spend A lot of time online. There is also this newest trend metaverse. So obviously, you have to hang out, observe their behaviour and make your connections with them online. But then, on the other hand, the amount of data they’re creating can also be analysed online. So I think you have to make your operations a lot more engaging and fun for Gen-Zs. They are usually very keen to share their opinion. So, you can rather introduce gamified ways to hear their opinion.
According to the consumer trend, Gen-Z customers are looking for brands with purpose. It’s a cohort that does not only look for price and functional delivery. Rather they are looking at higher order. They throw questions such as: Why should I believe in this brand? How is this brand sustainable? What are they doing to prevent global warming? What are they doing in terms of inclusion and diversity?
So all that becomes a lot more important for brands when they need Gen-Z consumers.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the baby boomer generation is retiring, and they have plenty of money; they live longer too. On the one hand, there are Gen-Zs, and on the other hand, there are these baby boomers, who are also a big consumer target group. And during COVID, this cohort also transformed very fast because they were forced to; they were not online beforehand. But, when they were stuck at home and fearful of COVID, they were forced to go online. They learned how to start ordering using e-commerce and so on.
Author- Mohammad Sifat
