Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Signal and Noise
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 Best Practices for Sampling in Brand Tracking Studies | Signal & Noise Ep 44 | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:52:15 | |
After a small break, Brian and Andrew are back. Both came with independent lists, sat down, and went back and forth for an hour on something they have been doing together for over a decade: running brand tracking studies the right way. Between them, they have overseen the in-field transition of more than ten large continuous tracking programs, launched dozens more, and spent years studying exactly how panel bias shows up in longitudinal data in ways that most researchers never catch. This episode is the playbook they wish existed when they started. The conversation covers how to think about blending panels for a tracker, why your anchor panel is the most important decision you will make, how inherent panel bias gets built in through recruiting practices that panels will never volunteer to you, why over-engineering the blend is its own form of data corruption, and why NPS in a tracker is a trap waiting to spring. If you run a tracker, manage a tracker, or are about to set one up, this one is worth a full listen. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| What Does Sampling Look Like in 5 Years? | Signal & Noise Ep 43 | 11 Aug 2026 | 00:49:47 | |
No guest, no agenda, no notes. Brian and Andrew just riffed for an hour on one of the biggest questions in the industry right now: what does sampling look like in 5 years? Brian is presenting on the future of sampling at the Future of Insights Summit in Athens, Georgia, and this episode is the unfiltered, longer version of that talk. The current model is broken and nobody serious is arguing otherwise. The real question is what replaces it, and who wins when it does. They work through where today's panels fall short, what synthetic data can and cannot actually do right now, and why the first truly useful synthetic products will likely be built inside brands, not sold to them. P&G, Google, and Meta are sitting on behavioral data sets that dwarf anything a panel company owns. That has consequences. The conversation also gets into why the brands that build proprietary synthetic tools will have a moat that nobody can buy, why psychological data will never fully be replaced, and why the next 5 years might be the most interesting and terrifying stretch in the history of this industry. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| “Goofy Marketing" or Genius Strategy? Verisoul Says Why Not Both? | Signal & Noise Ep 42 | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:40:10 | |
Andrew flies solo and sits down with Joey Maddox and Sebastian Babis from Verisoul, fresh off a $9M Series A and the most creative go-to-market run market research has seen in years. Times Square billboards. A Reds game with hundreds of attendees. Branded cigarettes at a European conference. None of it is random. Verisoul mapped their top 200 prospect companies, identified the 10 to 15 buyers at each, plotted where they all live, and built activations around them. Strategic chaos. The conversation covers how a team from banking and identity fraud disrupted a market that had been hearing the same messaging for years, why in-person trust-building is non-negotiable when your product is fraud prevention, and what it looks like to run go-to-market across wildly different verticals at once. Also, all three of them are newly married or about to be, and the wedding vendor pricing rant is worth the listen alone. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Joey: Connect with Sebastian: | |||
| Are AI Agents Actually Infiltrating Your Surveys? We Have the Data. | Signal & Noise Ep 41 | 28 Jul 2026 | 01:03:39 | |
Brian and Andrew sit down with Karine Pepin of The Research Heads and Andrew Gordon of Prolific to break down one of the most important data quality studies the industry has produced. They analyzed 5,200 respondents across 10 platforms and the findings will surprise you. AI agents are not in your data. Outside of MTurk, detection rates were below 0.5% across every platform type. And the things getting flagged on MTurk? Old-school bots, not LLMs. When they ran actual AI agents through the same survey, those agents outperformed real human respondents on nearly every quality measure. The actual crisis is your human respondents and the platform you are buying them from. Key Takeaways:
Link to the study "AI Agent Prevalence and Data Quality Across Multiple Online Sample Providers" If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Karine Pepin: Connect with Andrew Gordon: | |||
| From MMR to Manager in the Middle of an AI Explosion | Signal & Noise Ep 40 | 22 Jul 2026 | 00:32:10 | |
Brian and Andrew sit down with Angela Chavez, Insights Manager at Dig Insights and UGA MMR graduate, ahead of her first-ever conference presentation at the Future of Insights Summit in Athens this August. Angela's talk is called "Learning Research in a Rapidly Changing World," and this episode is a preview of exactly that. She walks through what it has actually been like to enter the industry as AI was exploding, going from hesitant early adopter to someone who opens ChatGPT as a reflex, all while growing from analyst to manager. The conversation also gets into Dig Insights' tech-forward approach and what Angela's early career experience reveals for senior leaders trying to figure out how to onboard, train, and develop the next generation of researchers right now. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Angela Chavez: | |||
| Verisoul, Venture Funding, and the Vatican Police | Signal & Noise Ep 39 | 01 Jul 2026 | 00:40:05 | |
Andrew is back from his honeymoon, and Brian is very glad to have him. This one is part reunion, part rant, and entirely worth listening to. First, the honeymoon stories. American Airlines lost three out of four bags for six days. The Vatican Special Police detained Andrew and his wife in the Sistine Chapel after mistaking them for a couple who had made terrorist threats. The Secret Service showed up at the wedding because of a drone and a Vice President flying nearby. All of this is true. Then it gets into industry territory. Brian recaps the Verisoul-sponsored Cincinnati Reds event that brought together 40 companies and became an impromptu who's who of the Cincinnati research community, with a surprise appearance from Insights Association CEO Anita Watkins. The conversation builds into a genuine debate about who actually has the microphone in market research right now, whether the loudest voices at conferences are the most credible ones, and what it means that the biggest booths increasingly belong to companies with outside capital rather than the most rigorous methodologies. Brian and Andrew close with a quick AI check-in, a plug for the upcoming July 9th webinar on the trust deficit in sample, and a tease of future episodes where they plan to screen share and show what they are actually building. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| Digital Twins, Synthetic Data, and Fairgen’s Transparency | Signal & Noise Ep 38 | 16 Jun 2026 | 00:28:16 | |
Brian sits down with Samuel Cohen, CEO of Fairgen, for a no-fluff conversation about what is actually happening in synthetic data and who is positioned to win as the space matures. Samuel cuts through the vendor noise fast: most companies claiming to train models on millions of survey responses are not doing that. What is under the hood is usually far simpler, and the lack of transparency is quietly eroding trust in the whole category. Fairgen's answer is to model at the individual level and be open about how it works. The conversation also covers how collapsing time to insight is changing research workflows, where digital twins fit alongside real respondents in the next few years, and Samuel's unfiltered take on which players are well-positioned and which ones need to rethink their model now. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with the CEO of Fairgen, Samuel Cohen: | |||
| Questions the Industry Desperately Needs to Answer | Signal & Noise Ep 37 | 09 Jun 2026 | 00:26:39 | |
Andrew is in Italy on his honeymoon, a guest backed out, and Brian decided to go solo for the first time in 10 years of podcasting. No co-host, no guardrails, no agenda. Just 30 years of experience and a list of questions he has been sitting on for a while. None of them has clean answers. Thats kind of the point. Brian works through six questions the market research industry is not asking loudly enough: whether stacking fraud tools without coordination is quietly introducing a new category of data quality bias, who actually owns the definition of quality when nobody agrees, whether synthetic data is a legitimate solution or a convenient way to avoid the harder problem, where the next generation of researchers is coming from and whether the industry even knows what skills it needs to fill that pipeline, why market research is one of the only professions that shapes billion-dollar decisions without any required accreditation, and whether the M&A wave is actually good for research quality or just good for returns. These are not gotcha questions. Brian is not here to throw anyone under the bus. But he is willing to say some things out loud that tend to get avoided in favor of AI hype cycles and vendor showcases, and this episode is the result of that. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| The Research Industry's Self-Inflicted Wound | Signal & Noise Ep 36 | 03 Jun 2026 | 00:54:45 | |
In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Dan Entrup, co-founder of AggKnowledge, to talk about one of the most overlooked drivers of the data quality crisis: the respondent experience nobody is actually fixing. Dan tracked every research outreach he received over 15 months and turned it into a SampleCon presentation. The numbers were brutal. 137 times asked his age. 57 dental requests sent to someone who has never been a dentist. An inbox so flooded with irrelevant surveys that even a motivated expert panelist nearly quit. His point is sharp: bad targeting is not just inefficient, it is actively killing the panels we depend on. The conversation gets into what AggKnowledge is building to solve it upstream, why free-text profiling and stale data are quietly sabotaging research operations at scale, and why identity verification and workplace verification are not the same thing. There is also a candid take on the M&A and funding landscape, who is well-positioned, where the yellow flags are, and why human knowledge only gets more valuable as AI takes over everything else. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Dan Entrup:
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| What the Trends Actually Mean for How Research Gets Done | Signal & Noise Ep 35 | 26 May 2026 | 00:37:12 | |
This episode is the bonus round to Brian and Andrew's four forces webinar. They ran out of time on the live session, so they saved the best part for here: where all four trends are actually pointing and what it means for how research gets done. Andrew lays out the clearest version of the webinar's thesis: capital, AI, and the data quality crisis are not three separate things. They are converging forces pushing the industry toward methodologies that are more transparent, more respondent-friendly, and more operationally feasible than what came before. From there, the conversation gets specific on async qual, AI-led conversational interviewing, and agentic research. Andrew makes a sharp argument that the next step change in automated research will not come from software companies selling AI tools. It will come from agencies building proprietary workflows trained on their own data and methodological history. The agencies that do that work now will have a moat that an off-the-shelf product cannot replicate. The episode closes with Brian's take on four things the disruption narrative tends to get wrong, including why qual is not dying and why the trust crisis will not be solved by more technology. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| Four Forces Reshaping Market Research in 2026 | Signal & Noise Ep 34 | 19 May 2026 | 00:54:40 | |
In this special episode, Brian and Andrew bring their live webinar to the podcast feed. Drawing from recent conferences, client conversations, and industry reports, they break down four forces reshaping how research gets done: Capital Influx, the Data Quality Crisis, AI Disruption, and Methodology Reframe. Brian's core argument is that these are not four separate trends. They are one larger story with feedback loops accelerating each other, and the industry does not get to choose whether the shift happens, only whether it leads or follows. The episode also features a live Q&A, including a sharp exchange on whether there are research categories where AI should not be used yet, and a direct answer to how you sell quality to a client who thinks $12 CEOs are fine. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| Conference Circuit: Data Quality, IIEX, and the AI Company Explosion | Signal & Noise Ep 33 | 05 May 2026 | 00:22:14 | |
In this quick-hit episode, Brian and Andrew debrief fresh off the conference circuit. Brian just landed from Washington, D.C. and comes in hot with takeaways from two back-to-back events: the Insights Association Ignite Data Quality and the GreenBook IIEX conference at the Ronald Reagan Building. The first stop is data quality. The Global Data Quality Initiative unveiled its latest benchmarks at IA Ignite, and the numbers are hard to ignore. Post-survey removal rates of 46.5% in B2B and 30% in healthcare patient research paint a picture of an industry with serious work to do. Brian and Andrew also dig into findings from Verisol, who analyzed 50 million survey clicks and found that the biggest threats are not true bots, but humans armed with AI using VPNs and location spoofing to game incentives. Then it's on to IIEX, where Brian played a little game with Andrew: name the companies. Out of roughly 30 AI companies with booths or presentations, Andrew recognized maybe two. Outset, Neurons, Dialogue AI, ConvoTrack, Riley AI, and dozens more are flooding the market, and Brian makes the case that nobody can keep up with all of them. The second mouse gets the cheese. The episode closes with a plug for the Signal and Noise webinar on May 12th at 2 PM Eastern, where Brian and Andrew will go deeper on trends, AI, and everything they held back from this one. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| Lowering the Floor Doesn’t Raise the Ceiling | Signal & Noise Ep 32 | 21 Apr 2026 | 00:50:18 | |
In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Mike Courtney, founder and principal of Aperio Insights and a practicing futurist. Mike brings a rare perspective to the Signal and Noise table, equal parts market researcher and strategic foresight practitioner. Mike kicks things off with his "Land Man oil analogy," framing AI not as something happening to us but as a new drilling tool for human knowledge and intelligence. Just as early oil pioneers could not have imagined the thousands of uses petroleum would eventually unlock, we are likely only scratching the surface of what AI makes possible. From there, the conversation goes deep on what futurists actually do, why exponential growth is so hard for humans to comprehend, and what the five to ten-year picture actually looks like. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Mike Courtney: | |||
| The Case for AI Pragmatism | Signal & Noise Ep 31 | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:49:24 | |
In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Jase Bumgardner, a 25-year partner at The Link Group, a healthcare-focused market research consultancy. Jase leads complex, multi-year research work streams in neuroscience and new product planning, most notably alongside Eli Lilly, following products from early concept all the way through FDA approval and launch. Jase brings a grounded, refreshingly calm perspective to a conversation the podcast usually approaches with a bit more urgency. Where Brian and Andrew often find themselves in the AI doom spiral, Jase comes in as a self-described pragmatist. He estimates AI has changed roughly 10 to 15 percent of what his team actually does day to day, and he sees it primarily as amplification, not replacement. The real disruption, in his view, is still mostly theoretical for firms doing elite, high-stakes consultative research. The conversation covers how The Link Group made AI a formal priority years ago through a structured task force, a five-year strategic plan, and ongoing sentiment checks to see if it's actually moving the needle with clients. Jase also pushes back thoughtfully on the rush to adopt, citing data showing only 13 percent of brand-side clients are satisfied with generative AI results, and warns against what he calls the "great de-skilling," where reflexively outsourcing thinking to AI erodes the very capabilities that make great researchers irreplaceable. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Jase Bumgardner: | |||
| Thoughtful Research featuring Erin Sowell | Signal & Noise Ep 30 | 10 Apr 2026 | 00:33:54 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Erin Sowell, owner and principal consultant at Thoughtful Research. Erin brings a background that is genuinely uncommon in the insights world, starting in environmental science and entrepreneurship before discovering market research through the product development process and going on to earn her master's degree from the University of Georgia's highly regarded MMR program, where she now serves on the advisory board. The conversation digs into what it actually looks like to run a small, independent research consultancy built around integrated insights, bringing together qual, quant, and existing client data to answer business questions rather than just execute studies. Erin walks through a real project where a B2B client had a product that customers asked for and then refused to buy, and how a phased qual-to-quant approach helped uncover that the problem was not the product but the positioning and targeting strategy around it. Brian and Andrew also explore one of the more underappreciated challenges in the industry: working with clients who have never done primary research before. Erin talks candidly about what it means to not just sell a study but to introduce an organization to research itself, the white-glove education involved, the sticker price shock, and why getting that first impression right matters so much for the long-term relationship a client develops with insights as a function. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Erin: | |||
| AI Anxiety, the Easy Button, and Building for What You Don't Know Yet | Signal & Noise Ep 29 | 26 Mar 2026 | 00:44:19 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew ditch the agenda and go full rant mode, recording from Andrew's hotel in Atlanta with no guest, no script, and no filter. The topic is AI anxiety. Not the doom spiral variety, but the very real, day-to-day frustration of trying to stay current with a technology that moves faster than any organization can evaluate, approve, or implement. Andrew frames it as trying to build a robot underwater with one arm tied behind his back, in a wave pool, while the water keeps changing. The conversation gets honest about what this looks like in practice, from juggling a growing personal stack of AI tools to navigating the very different constraints that come with using AI inside a company holding PII, client data, and SOC 2 compliance obligations. They land on a practical and surprisingly calming framework: stop chasing the best model and start building your processes in a model-agnostic way so your work survives the next wave of change regardless of which tool wins. The episode ends with both hosts arriving at genuine excitement rather than dread, and an open invitation for listeners navigating the same thing to come on the show and talk through it. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| SampleCon 2026 Rapid Recap | Signal & Noise Ep 28 | 19 Mar 2026 | 00:17:53 | |
In this quick-hit episode of Signal and Noise, Andrew catches up with Brian fresh off the floor of SampleCon 2026, recording from the Delta Sky Club in Seattle. No studio setup, no guests, just a real-time debrief from one of the industry's most dedicated annual gatherings. Brian shares his firsthand impressions of a conference that felt noticeably different this year. SampleCon is evolving. What once centered on panel standards and supplier partnerships is now leaning hard into technology, AI implementation, and a wave of new faces and companies that would have felt out of place at the event just a few years ago. Brian compares the vibe to a smaller IIEX, and that is not a small compliment. The conversation covers the headline moment of the conference, a point-counterpoint keynote debate between Patrick Comer and Melanie Courtright on human versus synthetic respondents, the growing industry consensus shifting from "should we use synthetic?" to "prove to us that it works," and a standout session from Walmart's research team making a public case for better respondent care and panel investment. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| Industry Reckoning or Restructuring? Starring Lenny Murphy | Signal & Noise Ep 27 | 17 Mar 2026 | 00:43:13 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Lenny Murphy, one of the most recognized voices in the market research industry. As the founder of GreenBook, co-founder of the Insight Innovation Exchange (IIEX), and a Gen2 Advisors partner with deep roots in M&A and investment, Lenny brings a perspective that is equal parts historical lens and boots-on-the-ground reality. The conversation covers the accelerating collision between artificial intelligence and the market research industry. Lenny reframes AI not as an apocalypse, but as a restructuring, drawing parallels to the printing press, the automobile, and the industrial automation of the 1980s. The discomfort is real, the displacement is real, but so is the opportunity. The trio digs into where the industry has already been commoditized and where it went wrong, why the real asset in research has always been the connection to consumers, and how agentic AI is already reordering business models faster than most companies can respond. Lenny also shares a candid take on why many established firms are caught in the crosshairs, not because of a lack of talent, but because of a failure to adapt before the wave arrived. The episode also touches on the future of live events and in-person connection, the upcoming IIEX conference in Washington, DC, and a new IIEX West launch in San Francisco, with Lenny making the case that human gatherings become more valuable, not less, as automation takes over routine work. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Lenny: | |||
| If They’re Breathing, We Can Find Them | Signal & Noise Ep 26 | 10 Mar 2026 | 00:41:58 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Tim Matthews, who heads up the in-person research and support team at ROI Rocket. Tim brings over 20 years of marketing experience, starting from tactical brand activations at the Winston Cup Series to building a research firm rooted in creative, human-centered consumer engagement. The conversation centers on a growing challenge in the research industry: the erosion of trust in online quantitative data, the difficulty of reaching low-incidence and niche populations, and why in-person recruiting is anything but old-fashioned. Tim reframes the concept of the "intercept" entirely. Forget the clipboard in the mall. His team operates more like a creative, agile engagement deployment squad, going where consumers live, work, shop, and play to find respondents that online panels simply cannot reach. From private golf clubs to luxury dinners at the Playboy Mansion, Tim shares the strategies and stories behind some of his most memorable and creatively ambitious recruiting projects. The episode also features a live "Can You Find Them?" game, where Brian and Andrew throw out increasingly niche audience targets, and Tim explains how his network and methodology could actually reach them, from nuclear plant operators to doomsday bunker owners. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Tim: | |||
| Speed Is Cheap, Trust Is Expensive | Signal & Noise Ep 25 | 03 Mar 2026 | 01:02:11 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian and Andrew sit down with Tom Anderson and Spencer Imel, co-founders and partners at The Langston Co, a quant-focused consumer insights firm known for deep category expertise and rigorous research standards. Tom and Spencer share the origin story behind Langston, from their early days working together at a fast-growing Denver startup to building a research firm rooted in reliability, trust, and methodological discipline. What began as two social scientists exploring how to understand consumers evolved into a firm now operating at the intersection of AI, category intelligence, and scalable insights. The core of the conversation centers on a bold idea: AI has made speed cheap, but trust is still expensive. Langston describes its journey from early skepticism about AI to building a sophisticated internal Insights Assistant that sits on top of category-level survey ecosystems. Instead of treating AI as magic, the team invested heavily in understanding how large language models actually work, including context windows, tool calls, and failure points. By combining structured survey data, industry context, and documented research methodologies, they created a system that accelerates analysis without sacrificing rigor. The episode includes a live walkthrough of their AI-powered Insights Assistant, demonstrating how a brand manager could instantly explore brand performance across age groups within a facial skincare category. The conversation then zooms out to tackle bigger questions about the future of research, including:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Learn more about The Langston Co: Connect with Tom: Connect with Spencer: | |||
| The Secret Sauce: AI or Humans? | Signal & Noise Ep 24 | 24 Feb 2026 | 00:35:30 | |
Brandon Richard returns to Signal and Noise for his second appearance, joining Brian and Andrew in person at The Link Group’s Durham, North Carolina, office. The conversation picks up where their previous AI discussion left off, diving deeper into what has actually changed in the past few months and what has not. As an AI enthusiast and healthcare research leader, Brandon shares how The Link Group approaches AI pragmatically. Rather than chasing every new tool, the team focuses on understanding core AI categories such as conversational surveys, synthetic data, knowledge management, and generative productivity tools. The number of vendors may be exploding, but the foundational capabilities remain relatively stable. The episode also explores a bigger existential question for the research industry. If AI can generate longitudinal synthetic respondents and analyze business questions directly, what role does market research play? Brandon argues that the value of research lies not just in answers but in the collaborative process. The refinement of business questions and the strategic intuition researchers bring to the table are difficult to replicate with a single AI prompt. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Brandon: | |||
| Inside the Mindset of Modern Research Executives at The Directions Group | Signal & Noise Ep 23 | 17 Feb 2026 | 01:26:24 | |
In this special in-person episode of Signal and Noise, the hosts sit down with Beth Finn, CEO, and Jason Ebbing, COO of The Directions Group, for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of insights leadership. Beth and Jason share their career paths, how The Directions Group approaches integrated intelligence, and what it means to move beyond siloed research toward clearer signals that drive real business action. The discussion also explores data quality, speed to insight, pricing research based on value, and how artificial intelligence should support rather than replace human thinking. This episode offers a candid look at modern leadership in the insights industry and how organizations can stay relevant as decision-making accelerates and expectations rise. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Beth: Connect with Jason: | |||
| Fix the Incentives, Fix the Data w/ Frank Kelly | Signal & Noise Ep 22 | 12 Feb 2026 | 00:33:49 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian Lamar sits down with Frank Kelly, one of the most experienced voices in panel management, sampling, and respondent engagement, to unpack what is actually broken in online research and how the industry can fix it. Frank reflects on nearly four decades working across every major panel model, from postal and telephone panels to online access panels at Nielsen, Kantar, Ipsos, and now Virtual Incentives. He explains why today’s fraud and data quality challenges are not new problems, but the result of incentives, engagement, and trust being systematically undervalued for years. A central theme of the conversation is compensation. Frank makes the case that low incentives drive fraud, disengagement, and professional respondents, while fair and meaningful incentives expand the pool of real people willing to participate. He challenges the assumption that higher incentives automatically increase fraud and explains why the opposite is often true. The discussion also explores how conversational AI, video, and smarter profiling can radically improve panel quality if paired with the right incentive strategy. Frank outlines a future where premium panels support deeper qualitative work, smaller samples, and AI-powered synthesis, all while maintaining higher standards of validation and trust. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Frank Kelly: | |||
| Confronting the Data Quality Crisis with CASE4Quality | Signal & Noise Ep 21 | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:47:49 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles are joined by leaders from CASE4Quality for a candid and deeply informed conversation on the state of data quality in market research. The discussion features Mary Beth Weber, founder of CASE4Quality, alongside Tia Maurer - Data Quality Guru, Efrain Ribeiro - Godfather of Sampling, and Karine Pepin - Data Fairy. Together, they unpack how the industry arrived at its current data integrity challenges and why progress has been slower than many expected. The episode explores the realities of online sampling, fraud, and professional respondents, including how the promise of unlimited and inexpensive sample has distorted incentives across the ecosystem. The guests explain how aggregation, lack of transparency, and pressure for speed and cost reduction have quietly undermined confidence in research outputs. The conversation also addresses the growing tension between AI-driven research and poor-quality input data. The panel warns that synthetic data and advanced analytics cannot solve quality problems if the underlying data is flawed. Throughout the episode, the group emphasizes the need for transparency, accountability, and brand-led standards to restore trust and long-term viability to the research industry. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Learn More About CASE4Quality: Connect with Mary Beth Weber: Connect with Tia Maurer: Connect with Efrain Ribeiro: Connect with Karine Pepin: | |||
| How Fairgen Brought AI-Augmented Research To Life | Signal & Noise Ep 20 | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:44:26 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Samuel Cohen, Ph.D., CEO of Fairgen, to explore how generative AI and advanced statistical modeling are reshaping the way consumer research is conducted, validated, and scaled. Samuel shares his international academic journey, from studying mathematics and synthetic data research at Oxford to working with AI in industry labs before launching Fairgen. He explains how rising costs and declining data quality in traditional market research led him to build a platform focused on generating reliable, usable insights from limited samples. The conversation breaks down the difference between partial simulation and full simulation, clarifying how Fairgen uses statistical models to amplify real survey data rather than replacing it outright. Samuel walks through real-world applications, including how enterprise clients use data amplification to unlock granular insights across small or hard-to-reach segments without dramatically increasing budgets or field time. The hosts and Samuel also discuss where AI works well and where it falls short, particularly in high-stakes research, governance-driven projects, and complex quantitative methods like advanced conjoint analysis. The episode closes with a forward-looking perspective on how budgets, decision risk, and organizational governance will shape the future role of simulated data in consumer research. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Samuel: | |||
| 2026 Outlook - Huge Year for Market Research | Signal & Noise Ep 19 | 27 Jan 2026 | 00:30:50 | |
In this special New Year episode of Signal and Noise, Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles return with a candid conversation about what 2026 may hold for the market research and insights industry. Drawing from months of conversations with researchers, technology leaders, and clients, the hosts share a grounded but optimistic view of an industry entering a period of economic repositioning, technological acceleration, and rising expectations for data quality. The discussion opens with reflections on personal and professional goals before shifting into a wide-ranging outlook on volatility, global and political uncertainty, and how those forces shape research budgets and decision-making. Brian and Andrew explore why market research is well positioned to benefit from artificial intelligence, even as pricing pressure, consolidation, and competition continue to intensify. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| The Business of Candy Is Not What You Think | Signal & Noise Ep 18 | 18 Dec 2025 | 00:50:19 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Craig Alter, an experienced consumer insights leader at Perfetti Van Melle, to explore how consumer behavior, impulse buying, and innovation research intersect inside the world of candy, gum, and mints. Craig shares his nontraditional path into market research, explaining how early experience in finance, marketing, and brand management shaped his ability to connect subtle consumer insights to measurable business outcomes. He discusses why many professionals discover research later in their careers and why diverse business backgrounds are a strength for the insights industry. Craig also discusses innovation and product testing as one of the most rewarding areas of consumer research. He walks through central location tests, flavor development, texture evaluation, and how research can serve both product refinement and selling stories with retail buyers. Throughout the discussion, he highlights how qualitative and quantitative methods increasingly blend together to solve real business problems. The episode concludes with a thoughtful discussion on the role of artificial intelligence in research. Craig offers a pragmatic perspective on where AI can add speed and efficiency, such as summarization and early screening, and where human nuance remains irreplaceable, particularly in humor, taste, emotion, and impulse-driven behavior. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Craig Alter: | |||
| What Qualtrics Just Revealed About the Future of Research | Signal & Noise Ep 17 | 11 Dec 2025 | 00:56:54 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles welcome Ellen Houston and Jordan Harper from Qualtrics Edge, marking the first time the podcast has featured guests from Qualtrics. The conversation dives into the future of AI, synthetic data, and the evolution of modern research inside one of the most influential insights platforms in the world. Ellen, who leads the Edge Center of Excellence, outlines how her team focuses on the intersection of market research and artificial intelligence, particularly in developing synthetic respondents and next-generation research tools. Jordan, a senior principal thought leader, brings a scientific and strategic perspective shaped by his background in astrophysics, engineering, technology, and agency leadership. Together, they explain how Qualtrics Edge is working across product, engineering, delivery, and customer teams to establish a rigorous foundation for AI in research. Throughout the episode, the conversation highlights the opportunities and challenges of AI, including research design, niche audience modeling, accuracy signals, and the role of synthetic respondents in uncovering deeper truths and exposing issues in survey construction. Both guests share examples of experiments, such as priming tests and concept evaluations, that reveal how synthetic respondents behave compared to humans and how these differences can expand the insight landscape. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Jordan Harper: Connect with Ellen Houston: | |||
| Making Sense of AI in Modern Market Research with Brandon Richard | Signal & Noise Ep 16 | 04 Dec 2025 | 00:45:49 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles sit down with Brandon Richard, Senior Vice President at The Link Group and a long-time AI enthusiast who has been leading multiple AI initiatives across qualitative and quantitative research. Together, they unpack what is actually happening in the research industry as companies race to understand and apply artificial intelligence. The episode also explores the limits of AI-generated synthesis, the need for trust and human verification, the challenges of capturing nuance in qualitative work, and why the industry must avoid falling into the trap of faster and cheaper at the expense of true insight. Brandon highlights the importance of friction in the research process, explaining that many of the valuable ideas and breakthroughs come from the messy and human parts of research, not simply the final deliverable. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Brandon Richard: | |||
| The Power of Deep Metaphors with Lindsay Zaltman | Signal & Noise Ep 15 | 26 Nov 2025 | 00:46:21 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles talk with Lindsay Zaltman, Chief Executive Officer and Partner at Olson Zaltman, the firm known for creating the widely respected ZMET qualitative insight methodology. Together, they explore how deep psychological structures influence the way people think, feel, and make decisions, and why traditional research methods often miss these hidden drivers. Lindsay explains how deep metaphors guide human behavior at a subconscious level and how they reveal the emotional stories people use to make sense of the world. He shares how Olson Zaltman uncovers these underlying meanings through imagery, personal narratives, and symbolic thinking. The discussion highlights how these insights help brands uncover motivations that consumers cannot easily verbalize and how they lead to more effective strategies, stronger creative ideas, and clearer paths for innovation. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Lindsay Zaltman: | |||
| How KS&R Is Scaling Research Insights with AI Chatbots | Signal & Noise Ep 14 | 20 Nov 2025 | 00:33:24 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles speak with Ben Cortese, Vice President of Decision Sciences and Innovation at KS&R, to explore how custom AI chatbots are reshaping the way research insights are accessed, shared, and expanded beyond traditional deliverables. Ben explains how his team is combining qualitative and quantitative research with secure AI systems to build proprietary chatbots that allow clients to interact naturally with their own data. These tools help stakeholders ask new questions, explore nuances, and identify early opportunities without re-fielding studies or relying solely on static reports. The discussion covers how KS&R structures these models to remain accurate, safe, and aligned with proven research findings. Ben also walks through the technical evolution of the tool, including early failures, the role of system guardrails, the importance of loading structured data, and why transparency and validation matter more than speed or novelty. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Ben Cortese, PhD: | |||
| How Verisoul is Solving Market Research’s Fraud Problem | Signal & Noise Ep 13 | 12 Nov 2025 | 00:53:11 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, hosts Brian Lamar and Andrew DeCilles welcome the team from Verisoul, a company redefining fraud detection in market research. The guests include Henry LeGard, Founder and CEO, Joey Maddox, Chief Strategy Officer, and Erinn Taylor, who joins the conversation to explore how Verisoul uses banking-grade technology to detect and eliminate fraud while keeping real respondents in the data set. Henry and Joey explain how Verisoul’s background in cybersecurity and fintech enabled them to develop invisible fraud-prevention tools that identify bots, VPN spoofers, and fraud rings in real time. The team discusses how their system detects human behavior through device patterns, network signals, and even physics-based methods like latency and impossible travel analysis, all without disrupting survey participants. Brian and Andrew dive into how legacy fraud detection tools often over-block legitimate respondents, creating bias and frustration. The Verisoul team outlines how their approach balances protection with precision, reducing false positives and improving data integrity across the research industry. They also share insights from Verisoul’s large-scale fraud study that analyzed more than 50 million sessions, revealing global fraud trends and the role of device types in fraud rates. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: Connect with Joey: Connect with Henry: Connect with Erinn: Learn more about Verisoul: | |||
| Research Rant: You’re Misusing Your Fraud Platform | Signal & Noise Ep 12 | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:41:50 | |
In this no-filter episode of Signal & Noise, hosts Brian and Andrew dive into one of the most pressing issues in market research: the misuse of fraud detection platforms. They unpack how digital fingerprinting tools, while valuable, are often implemented in ways that damage data quality and block legitimate respondents. Brian and Andrew explain how overly-aggressive fraud settings can create non-response bias, limit sample diversity, and frustrate real participants. They reveal why using multiple fraud detection tools or relying solely on automation can lead to distorted data and wasted resources. They share lessons from industry research, stories of clients who turned off their fraud filters and saw better outcomes, and practical insights into balancing data protection with respondent experience. The conversation builds toward Brian’s “Eight Steps to Winning,” a clear framework to improve quality, restore trust, and move the industry forward. Key Takeaways:
If you loved the episode, have comments, or want to appear on the show, connect with us down below! Connect with us: | |||
| The Future of Healthcare Research with Isaac Rogers, CEO of Sago Health | Signal & Noise Ep 11 | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:36:32 | |
In this episode, Brian and Andrew sit down with Isaac Rogers, CEO of Sago Health, for an in-depth conversation about the rapidly changing world of healthcare research. Isaac shares his path from technology entrepreneur to leading one of the most respected names in healthcare insights. Together, they explore how qualitative and quantitative research are merging, how artificial intelligence is shaping the future of patient and physician studies, and why the healthcare sector is becoming one of the most innovative areas in the research industry.
Stay tuned until the very end of the episode to hear blends of expertise, humor, and practical insights! Connect with Isaac Rogers on LinkedIn: Isaac Rogers Connect with us: | |||
| Inside the Mind of a Market Research Maverick: Dan Foreman on 30 Years of Innovation | Signal & Noise Ep 10 | 09 Oct 2025 | 00:39:38 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Brian Lamar sits down with Dan Foreman, one of the most influential voices in market research, to reflect on a 30-year career that has shaped the industry’s evolution from clipboards to AI. From launching global operations at FocusVision to investing in next-gen insight startups like Zappi, Dan has always been on the leading edge of innovation. Dan shares his fascinating career path - starting as a researcher at Research International, then moving through marketing, consulting, and entrepreneurship - culminating in advisory roles across more than a dozen companies. He also dives deep into the founding of the ESOMAR Foundation, created to support researchers in crisis zones, and the impact of building community-driven change in a global industry. The conversation explores Dan’s investment philosophy, how he evaluates new ventures using a mix of “science and X-factor,” and his latest venture into biotech and longevity through initiatives like The Infinite Games. With stories that span continents, boardrooms, and industries, this episode is a masterclass in staying curious, connected, and committed to meaningful innovation. Key Takeaways:
🔗 Connect with Dan Foreman on LinkedIn: Dan Foreman Connect with us: | |||
| Human Truth in the Age of AI with Alex Millet, CEO at Brandtrust | Signal & Noise Ep 9 | 08 Oct 2025 | 00:43:41 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Andrew and Brian are joined by Alex Millet, CEO of Brandtrust, for a thought-provoking conversation on the intersection of emotion, insight, and innovation. Alex explains how Brandtrust helps companies uncover the deeper psychological and emotional forces that shape consumer behavior, what they call “Human Truth.” The discussion dives into how brands can balance data-driven decisions with empathy-driven understanding, especially in an era increasingly dominated by automation and AI. Alex shares his perspective on how human-centered storytelling, narrative research, and empathy-based strategy can transform how organizations connect with customers and build loyalty. From uncovering the subconscious motives behind purchasing behavior to redefining what authentic branding means in a digital-first world, this episode is a reminder that even as AI advances, emotion remains the ultimate differentiator. Key Takeaways:
🔗 Learn more about Brandtrust: https://brandtrust.com/who-we-are/ 🔗 Connect with Alex Millet on LinkedIn: Alex Millet Connect with us: | |||
| Independents, Polarization & the Future of U.S. Politics with Jeremy Zogby | Signal & Noise Ep 8 | 02 Oct 2025 | 00:42:00 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Andrew and Brian are joined by pollster Jeremy Zogby for a deep dive into the state of American politics, the growing power of independents, and what the future might hold for voters caught between two increasingly polarized parties. Jeremy shares his perspective as Managing Partner of John Zogby Strategies, where he has led groundbreaking work on independent voter behavior, including his role as lead pollster for RFK Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign. With a historian’s lens and decades of polling experience, he unpacks how political violence, economic uncertainty, and global shifts are reshaping the electorate. Key Takeaways:
Jeremy also reflects on lessons from history, generational cycles, and his own family’s legacy in polling to frame today’s turbulence within a broader context. 🔗 Learn more about John Zogby Strategies & The Zogby Report podcast: johnzogbystrategies.com 🔗 Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn: Jeremy Zogby Connect with us: | |||
| Data Privacy, Census Challenges & AI Regulation with Howard Fienberg | Signal & Noise Ep 7 | 25 Sep 2025 | 00:33:32 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Howard Fienberg, Senior VP, Advocacy at Insights Association, returns for a wide-ranging conversation on the policies shaping the insights industry. With over 25 years of government affairs experience, Howard has been named a Top Lobbyist by the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics and continues to be one of the strongest voices advocating for research professionals in Washington, D.C. In this episode:
Learn more about us, the Insights Association, and Howard down below! Connect with us: Connect with Howard: | |||
| We Talked to 4 Synthetic Panels in One Day and the Takeaways are Shocking | Signal & Noise Ep 6 | 18 Sep 2025 | 00:28:30 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Andrew and Brian take you behind the curtain again on one of the most buzzworthy topics in market research: synthetic panels. After meeting with four different providers in a single day, they share candid reactions, surprising truths, and why the future may not be what you think. But first, Brian gives a quick recap of his trip to CrimeCon in Denver, a subculture of true crime enthusiasts that had eerie parallels to how niche communities form in market research. This episode is part myth-busting, part roadmap, and part rallying cry for researchers curious (and cautious) about synthetic data. Tune in now to filter out the noise! Connect with us: | |||
| Qualtrics & PureSpectrum Partnership, Synthetic Data and Industry Rants with David Butler | Signal & Noise Ep 5 | 04 Sep 2025 | 00:36:39 | |
In this episode of Signal & Noise, Andrew and Brian sit down with David Butler, President of PureSpectrum, to unpack the company’s newly expanded partnership with Qualtrics and what it means for the future of synthetic data in market research. David shares insights on:
The conversation also covers broader industry themes like data quality, the shift toward shorter, more engaging surveys, and how synthetic insights could reshape research practices in the years ahead. To lighten things up, the episode ends with a round of rants from the headaches of time zones to the value (or lack thereof) of conferences. Connect with Signal & Noise: Connect with David: | |||
| Does Data Quality Even Matter? Rants, Reality & Possible Solutions | Signal & Noise Ep 4 | 21 Aug 2025 | 00:41:02 | |
In this fiery episode, hosts Brian and Andrew tackle one of the most pressing and frustrating issues in market research: data quality. After weeks (more like years) of conversations with clients, researchers, and suppliers, the hosts dive deep into why data quality feels like it’s getting worse, why the industry keeps masking the problem, and whether brands should even care. From the massive waste caused by fraud prevention and data cleaning to the commoditization of sample providers, Brian and Andrew don’t hold back in asking the hard questions. Does a poor-quality sample matter if agencies clean it all up before it reaches brands? And if not, what’s the long-term cost to the industry? If you have thoughts on Data Quality (rants or solutions), or are interested in being a guest on the show, Brian and Andrew want to hear from you! Connect with us: | |||
| Synthetic Data, Qualtrics and Pure Spectrum Partnership, & Gig Economy Update | Signal & Noise Ep 3 | 14 Aug 2025 | 00:24:44 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian and Andrew are back with a fresh dose of industry insights, hot takes, and personal stories, diving into three major topics shaking up the research world. They kick things off with the Qualtrics and Pure Spectrum partnership, exploring whether this could be the turning point for synthetic data in market research, the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, and the likely future of hybrid panels. Next, they spotlight the rebrand of Azure Knowledge to Mavericks, debating why the change was made and whether it works, while having some fun with its pronunciation and branding implications. Finally, they break down the recent IRS decision to raise the 1099-K reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000, discussing what it means for research participants, particularly those in healthcare and qualitative studies. If you have thoughts on synthetic data, rebranding in the insights space, or want to join the conversation, Brian and Andrew want to hear from you! Connect with us: | |||
| The Slow Burn of Data Quality: A Boiling Frog in Market Research | Signal and Noise Ep 2 | 24 Jul 2025 | 00:39:24 | |
In this episode of Signal and Noise, hosts Brian and Andrew hit the ground running - literally - fresh off a multi-city client tour. They break down the recurring (and alarming) theme they heard at nearly every stop: data quality is in a full-blown crisis. Brian and Andrew unpack why some researchers are tossing out nearly half of their data, how bots and disengaged respondents are wreaking havoc and why middle-tier sample market might be on its last legs. The episode ends with some must-hear rants, including Andrew’s thoughts on why terms like “proprietary” and “verified” need serious industry-wide clarity. Connect with us: | |||
| Taking the Marketing Research Industry by Storm | Signal and Noise Ep 1 | 11 Jul 2025 | 00:32:40 | |
Welcome all to the debut episode of Signal and Noise, hosted by marketing research veterans Brian Lamar & Andrew DeCilles. Aiming to bring you honest conversations from industry experts, ranging from trends to breaking news to ugly conversations that others won’t touch; no subject is off limits. In today’s episode we go over where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to since our last podcast for those that aren’t new here. We also discuss what old and new listeners in the Marketing Research space can expect from us moving forward. Marketing Research has never been in such a season of change and outcry - we’ll help you separate the signal from the noise. Connect with us: | |||