A virtual check-in with Mars: the ESOMAR home series
Market Logic Team
It was a treat to present a case study alongside Breezy Coates, Global CMI Knowledge Manager at Mars as part of the ESOMAR Home Series Digital Conference. The virtual conference was a great chance to connect with data and insights professionals across the globe as we all adjust to performing our roles from home.
Facts minimize fear, especially when we’re isolated
Breezy is an engaging storyteller who pointed out that all over the world, people have had their lives disrupted in some way by COVID-19. Those of us working in insights and data have a particular appreciation for the challenges faced by each sector of the economy.
“In times of turmoil, facts minimize fear. That’s why it’s more important than ever for insights teams to listen and learn, so they can present facts to their remote stakeholders in an inspiring way.”
At Mars, the AI-powered market insights platform, Synapse, helps insights managers overcome these challenges to proactively advise the business.
Synapse brings everything Mars knows about their business from all research, secondary sources and industry news together in one place, so it’s easy to find and explore.
With Synapse, insights professionals can show the facts, and share the stories. They can analyze and reflect on previous work, to create new content that shares and inspires the next person.
Delivering facts and inspiration in three key ways
Synapse brings together primary research and secondary sources across all business segments to equip the business with self-service access to a $450 million knowledge asset. It helps deliver facts and inspiration in three ways:
1. A personal user experience ensures associates only get the news and content they need. AI recommendations keep users engaged with the types of content they like to read and share, while expert channels and announcements equip insights professionals to promote important content and curated news.
For example, Breezy and her team promote breaking news and new research on COVID-19 with expert channels.
2. An AI-powered search experience presents relevant results from all sources and automatically extracts and compiles key findings in one report, so there’s no need to open and read hundreds of pages.
Additionally, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tools equip insights managers to recommend the best content to stakeholders when they’re searching for answers, just like Google paid search.
3. Expert storytelling brings the facts to life in engaging, interactive “knowledge zones.” From the outset of the Coronavirus crisis, managers from all corners of the business have collaborated to create a comprehensive COVID-19 story that explains the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives and behaviors.
To make sure the story is top of mind, Breezy and her team actively promote the story to each stakeholder’s home page, with alerts to come back for more when content is updated.
The surge in usage over the past few months (on top of a substantial base of 1,000 regular users) reflects the critical need for fast facts – and good stories – as we all work from home.
