Skip to content

Insights On Outpacing Further Disruption

In summary, we have had the unfortunate opportunity to experience massive amounts of disruption. Change has been constant. How do we outpace the inevitability of this reality? When presented with the adage,  “Disruption is always right around the corner,” Sunny Zhu recommends that instead of attempting or thinking about how to outpace, “focus on what is the right opportunity for you.”

What works for one company may not work for another; by constantly looking for opportunities, you will find the results which you seek. Zhu’s approach is to have an open mindset,  a focus on growth, and always be willing and open to learning new technology and new concepts. Customize, and make sure that your whole strategy is very competitive, and “you will outpace further disruption”. 

Zhu is on the analytics side of the house, but she cares deeply about the insights function. As a data person, she knows aligning with the team creates maximum impact. She is unbiased and holds close what the insights team thinks about her analysis and data modeling work. And she doesn’t see working together more efficiently and effectively as a team as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity:

  • “Be very transparent on the goal, and always align that upfront…as a team, always be results driven and focused on the right direction.”
  • Always “Embrace data and technology caveats”. Nothing will ever be perfect, on the marketing or data side. By embracing and being open to not being perfect, the team can have great results.

Some of that thinking has made it’s way into Zhu’s philosophy on quick and elegant solutions- or, hacks to create “meaningful impacts for both the company and also our customer.”

  • First-party data is really powerful. Use it. “Start with what you have and pivot with those opportunities.”
  • Have a clean foundation when it comes to technology and data. 
  • Personalization is paramount. “It’s ok to start small. Always be able to evolve over time.”

Finally, Zhu also has some great advice for new fresh, new talent. She feels that marketing is a great place to start your data career. It has so many opportunities for customer data, “and it is easy to see an impact with your data work.” 

Be ready to learn, diversify, and be humble, and open. Focus on collaboration, and have fun.

Contributors

  • Seth Adler

    Seth Adler heads up All Things Insights & All Things Innovation. He has spent his career bringing people together around content. He has a dynamic background producing events, podcasts, video, and the written word.

    View all posts
  • Sunny Zhu

Related Content

Building an Insights Strategy

Insights strategy is not a static process, but instead is a capability that is always living, breathing and evolving as the business itself evolves. T…

Finding an Insights Strategy

An insights strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how an organization will leverage insights to drive business decisions and achieve strategi…

 
 

More Related Content

The inside of a soaring arching white roof, showing a lot of beams space and light.
insights objectives

Building an Insights Strategy

Insights strategy is not a static process, but instead is a capability that is always living, breathing and evolving as the business itself evolves. T…

A needle in a literal haystack!
market insights

Finding an Insights Strategy

An insights strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how an organization will leverage insights to drive business decisions and achieve strategi…

Thumbs up or thumbs down on a variety of customer service questions like quality, reliability, etc.
innovation

Driving Innovation and Consumer Loyalty

TMRE 2024’s day two, track three brought a fresh take on how brands are navigating the evolving landscape of consumer insights. Sessions explored leve…

A 'robot' data-like hand shaking the hand of businessperson.
collaboration

The AI-Enhanced Research Revolution

At TMRE 2024, the AI Summit spotlight was on how companies can adapt to the ever-changing landscape of AI-powered research while still staying grounde…

Colorful sharpened pencils in a range of colors in a row.
consumer trends

Sharpening Insights Best Practices

The overarching theme of the Insights Best Practices track at TMRE 2024 was the evolving landscape of insights, driven by technological advancements,…

A human hand and a robot hand, both touching a virtual display screen.
future of insights

Activating the Future of Insights

All Things Insights held a special panel at TMRE 2024 featuring commentary centered on our Future of Insights Report. With the market research communi…

A laser like opening, with points of light shooting off into the distance.
consumer insights

TMRE 2024 Keynotes Inspire Insights to Action

TMRE 2024, recently held in Orlando, gathered the market research community for a broad range of conversations and discussions about all things insigh…

A large road sign that points to Data, information, knowledge, and learning.
insights leadership

TMRE 2024 Report: Leading Through Change

A resilient market research community came together at Universal’s Loews Sapphire Falls Resort in Orlando, FL, this past December for TMRE 2024. It ma…

Champagne glasses and confetti, celebrating new years.
consumer insights

Top Insights Themes from 2024

As we close out our review of 2024, we wanted to examine the top insights themes of the year, based on our blogs, research reports and events that we…

A colorful butterfly resting on a rippling body of water.
data analytics

Transforming Insights: A Review of Q4 2024

During the fourth quarter of 2024, All Things Insights prepared for coverage of TMRE 2024 and featured a wide range of insights related topics and int…

Abstract swirls of light and colors on a black background.
sustainability

Navigating Insights: A Review of Q1 2024

During the first quarter of 2024, after wrapping up the TMRE 2023 edition the past October, All Things Insights was gearing up for a year filled with…

Fast streams of light moving off into the distance in the darkness of space.
media measurement

The Future of FAST: The Role of Measurement

Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels have disrupted the traditional television landscape, offering viewers a vast array of content w…

Business person holding a tablet with virtual data rising up out of it.
audience engagement

Unlocking the Power of AI for Media Insights

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the media industry, offering unprecedented opportunities for deeper, more actionable insights into aud…

Binary numbers moving into the distance in black space.
future trends

Weighing the Potential of Synthetic Data

With advancements in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, the questions swirling around synthetic data continue to grow in the ins…

Futuristic, walls of data coursing through space.
artificial intelligence

Exploring Synthetic Data Applications

Synthetic data, a type of artificial data generated through algorithms rather than real-world interactions, is rapidly gaining traction in various ind…

A hand holding a graphical sketch of a human brain.
category entry points

Measuring Brand Health

Building a strong and healthy brand presence in the market and creating brand awareness in the minds of consumers is a very competitive endeavor. It’s…

Future-like image showing head with circuits symbolizing artificial intelligence.
artificial intelligence

Leveraging AI in Market Research

This year’s “Road to TMRE” virtual event featured a range of sessions related to artificial intelligence and how best to leverage the technology in ma…

Hands holding a director's clapper, about to say Action!
activating insights

Directing Insights Action

In the competitive world of consumer-packaged goods, data analytics and insights are essential for brands to stay on top of their game. While retailer…

Man sitting down, holding and spinning a small globe.
upskilling

Find New Insights Career Opportunities

Science, technology and innovation are accelerating at a rapid pace in today’s marketplace. Machine learning, generative artificial intelligence, pred…

A locket with a red heart shape with key.
customer experience

The Value of Building Brand Trust

As consumers overall, and growing demographic groups such as Generation Z, call for more honesty, transparency and authenticity regarding the companie…

Robotic hand holding a light bulb shaped points of light rising up into the sky.
AI in market research

The Fusion of AI and Market Research

Market research has traditionally been a hands-on task that is time consuming and resource-intensive, from generating data collection to holding in-pe…

human-centric insights

Leading with Human-Centric Insights

As technology rapidly changes the world around us, such as the growth of artificial intelligence, there is a counterpoint to this evolution: A focus o…

A pile of one dollar bills.
customer experience

Discover the Value of Pricing Research

You have spent a great deal of time, energy, and resources and you have reached the next stage of your product development efforts. Now what? One key…

Basketball on the court with hoop in background.
insights value

Elevating Insights Impact

Market research efforts are evolving as corporations strive to determine actionable insights, implement new operations and infrastructures, and establ…

Happy family of four and dog walking on the beach by the ocean.
human insights

Building Empathy to Improve Insights

While customer centricity is a key attribute in today’s insights and data-driven corporate culture, success must also be built on a concept of empathy…

Many colored arrows pointing to the center of the graphic.
insights value

Driving Analytics & Insights Action

At this year’s TMRE @ Home, Shivani Shah, National Category & Shopper Insights Manager, H&WB, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., presented the session, “Data…

Vortex-like laser images in space like setting.
disruption

Finding the Right AI Research Opportunities

As part of the AI & Tech Summit portion of this year’s TMRE @ Home virtual gathering, David Iudica, SVP, Research and Insights: Retail and Wealth, Cit…

Kids sliding down a big water slide on rafts.
customer journey

Mastering Funnel Analytics

Funnel analytics is an area of insights that perhaps doesn’t get as much attention as it should. We are all probably familiar with the sales and marke…

Hands shaping a clay pot on the potter wheel.
insights strategy

Positioning the Market Research Mission

Just how should the enterprise and the team go about determining its market research mission? This specific market research mission is not necessarily…

A surface of cubes with a variety of rising cubes, one stands out in a different color.
OvationMR

Leveraging AI in B2B Respondent Insights

In the B2B marketing landscape, artificial intelligence has shown great potential. It is becoming an essential and advantageous tool, a tool which no…

Book with pages flying open.
insights talent

Learning the Soft Skills of Market Research

Skills can be developed in a variety of ways in the insights workplace to create an effective, versatile employee with a diverse arsenal of competenci…

Gold bars
quantifying content

Determining the Value of Business Content

Michael Bagalman, Vice President, Business Intelligence and Data Science, STARZ, gave a presentation at the Media Insights & Engagement Conference, ca…

data democratization

Defining Governance to Deliver Data Benefits

Big data is here, it’s a growing trend and it’s not going away anytime soon. The rise of artificial intelligence and other technological developments…

competitive insights

Turning Competitive Intelligence into Insights

The competitive landscape for many businesses has never been stronger. And from small start-ups to large corporate enterprises, the playing field has…

data science

Turning Data into Market Intelligence

When surveying a new market opportunity, the company’s market intelligence efforts come into play. This valuable data helps determine market segmentat…

data science

Diving Deeper into Insights ROI

The third day of TMRE@Home, May 2, will demonstrate best practices involved in developing and positioning insights ROI. Fusing AI, data and analytics…

data science

Blending Analytics & Insights

The second day of TMRE@Home, May 1, will demonstrate best practices involved in marrying analytics with insights. Insights from analytics can be an ev…

artificial intelligence

Plugging into the Future With AI

TMRE@Home is going to be held virtually this year from April 30 to May 2, 2024, and it will feature several educational tracks for insights and market…

actionable insights

Building the Analytics & Insights Ecosystem

The recent TMRE Continued virtual event hosted a session, “Blending Analytics & Insights to Drive Business Outcomes.” Moderated by All Things Insights…

artificial intelligence

Operationalizing a Hybrid Approach to AI

In “Insights + AI: Operationalizing A Hybrid Approach,” Christina Speck, Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Commercial Product, Blue Cross & Blue Sh…

artificial intelligence

Finding the Right Machine Learning Formula

In “Machine Learning: Optimizing Ad Campaigns,” Michael Bagalman, Vice President, Business Intelligence and Data Science, STARZ, explored machine lear…

artificial intelligence

Leading Insights Through Change

Elizabeth Oates, Vice President, Consumer Insights, Ulta Beauty, spoke at TMRE at two sessions: “Leading High-Performance Insights Teams Through Chang…

business strategy

Navigating to Insights ROI

All Things Insights’ Seth Adler had a chance to sit down and get cooking with Jordan Cusner, Head of Guest Insights, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at TMRE…

insights impact

Advocating for More Insights Influence

The latest edition of the Insights Spend & Trends Report has just been released. Brought to you by TMRE and All Things Insights, this benchmarking rep…

Data Science & Analytics Strategy
data measurement

Reinventing the Data Relationship

The reinvention of the relationship between enterprise data science and business stakeholders is upon us. The focus is now on what the data can do for…

actionable insights

Diving Deeper into Measuring Insights ROI

If you can measure it, you can manage it. Insights leaders came together on this panel discussion on “Measuring Insights ROI” to share their respectiv…

actionable insights

Demystifying Insights ROI

Key challenges come into translating business insights into ROI. This includes data quality, research bias, no direct translation of insights into bus…

data analytics

Establishing Insights ROI

In a recent ATI Gathering…Insights ROI, the community looked at the complex issue of insights return on investment from several different angles. Co…

market strategies

Balancing Insights with Uncertainty

Uncertainty abounds, from inflation and layoffs to bank failures and talk of recession, to robust job reports, financial resilience, and the strength…

data analytics

Unifying Data Analytics and Insights

To be human or not to be human? That is a relevant question in today’s technology-driven society, and one we posed when thinking about unifying data a…

data driven culture

Gaining Insights Leadership

The role of today’s Insights professional is evolving as Insights teams are increasingly pressured to connect data sources, surface consumer stories a…

actionable growth

Taking Action to Spark Growth

Actionable growth is the process of taking action to achieve a desired outcome. It involves making strategic decisions and implementing tactics that w…

consumer insights

Measuring OTA Programming

Television audience measurement is on the precipice of innovation due to the opportunity to leverage data from set top boxes, smart TV’s, and other so…

strategic insights

Building Strategic Insights

The world of data is evolving and ever-changing. A data insights strategy is built in part on the potential data that one hopes to accumulate, the ins…

predictive analytics

Using Insights to Predict the Future

A key component of any marketing strategy is to think about and plan for the future. Despite constant macro and micro disruption, marketers can still…

industry insights

Media Industry Insights

It’s not unreasonable to feel overwhelmed when faced with the size and scope of the continuous shifts in the television industry within the past few d…

data translation

Translating Data Into Action

“Data is the new oil,” and it seems like everyone wants to get a piece. But what is it that most major companies are missing when it comes to harnessi…

media insights

Media Insights Report

The All Things Insights Media Insights community completed an extensive survey covering what folks are thinking, how they’re spending and the issues t…

data fluency

Interpreting Data

Data isn’t just a set of numbers in a spreadsheet that sits there collecting digital dust. Michael Nevksi, the Director of Global Insights at Visa, no…

data fluency

Data Fluency

Data fluency and how it applies to an organization is essential for a business to thrive – according to Bob Bress, Vice President and Head of Data S…

data science

Digestible Insights

Business founders and leaders are proud of their accomplishments and with good reason. They have led their operations, often for decades and through s…

data science

Timely Insights

“May you live in interesting times.” We are all familiar with this curse (or blessing, depending on how you see it). Many of us even know it as Chines…

data science

Insights Enablers

Over the past two and a half years, there “have been more DIY projects” thus “Insights teams are moving more to becoming consultants and enablers fro…

business intelligence

Pandemic Analytics Insights

It is reported that after the pandemic that 50% more customers and teams will use Business Intelligence tools. “Adapting, moving online, and having a…

actionable insights

Data, Analytics, Insights & Action

If you watch June Dershewitz when she’s not looking, you might catch sight of her cape. She is a superhero in the world of data. Her goal is to make t…

inclusion

One Way To Insights ROI

“It’s not only a ‘feel good’ thing anymore. It is actually something that is reflected in profits.” DEI is a business issue. Once nice to have, the co…

insights talent

UX Insights

Shilpi Sinha is not only speaking at TMRE but joining the pre-event Innovating Insights Workshop as a table co-host. Both the session on the agenda an…

data science

Data Culture

Global society and business continues to shift from decisions informing data to data informing decisions. That is to say, for most of human history, a…

data science

Insights Resilience

Way back at the beginning of our modern almost apocalypse, there was one term used across the globe and up and down the organization- resilience. Faci…

media insights

Measurement, Currency and Attribution

Keeping pace with innovation is always a challenge. The Media industry not only has to keep pace with that innovation, many players have offerings tha…

data science

The Missing Link Between Data And Business

2022 has proven to be a year of change. While lingering reminders persist, the past two years are falling further and further back in the rear view mi…

leadership

A Contemporary Insights Organization

We are in the process of experiencing the second paradigm shift of human behavior in just a three year period. For a prepared organization, this is a…