IN FOCUS INTERVIEW WITH THE EDITOR :
AGILSON VALLE , SENIOR SALES DIRECTOR , APAC AND COUNTRY MANAGER , SINGAPORE , EUROMONITOR INTERNATIONAL
Purpose-Driven Corporate Response to COVID-19 Source : Euromonitor International Voice of the Industry : Sustainability Survey , fielded June 2020
You returned to market research in 2016 , after seven years working in recruitment . What made you come back to market research ?
Recruitment is all about people . It has helped me see the connections in research , whether you run panels or surveys , talk to people – both customers and consumers . It provides a lot of insight when you do recruitment . Nevertheless , after being in the industry for about seven years , I felt a calling to come back to market research due to the importance of insights . It can strongly support and bring a lot of added value for businesses . Market research is much more than data . It is making sense of data , getting insights out of it , understanding the big picture and what will happen in the next five to ten years ’ time . You only understand how consumers are changing by talking to people , by understanding their daily lives and what they do , what has changed from last year , and I think that is the beauty of market research . It is something that excites me ; the whole thing about being in touch with people .
Market research is much more than data . It is making sense of data , getting insights out of it , understanding the big picture and what will happen in the next five to ten years ’ time .
I ' ve always been involved in setting up companies . Euromonitor started here 22 years ago , when we first opened the office and Singapore was responsible for the whole of Asia Pacific . As we grew the market across Southeast Asia and Asia from Singapore , we started opening new offices . There was an opportunity to open an operation in Hong Kong , which I applied for . I did that for two years . Hong Kong , Taiwan and Macao are really exciting markets - the link between the East and the West . We started up with four people and when I left Hong Kong , we were at about 25 people . There was an opportunity to come here to Singapore , to manage a larger office , where we are responsible for 14 markets in Southeast Asia .
Had the methodology for research changed in that seven-year gap ?
During the time I decided to take a break from market research , the companies in the industry were very specialised in different areas . Each one of us were in panels , consumer surveys , or tactical tracking data for example . Currently , Euromonitor has the advantage of using multiple methodologies to connect the dots , so the data you receive makes even more sense . It was all separate before and you had a lot of data . Now , we are bringing it all together . I think that is the main difference using those different methodologies so that they help you achieve the full picture .