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IIC Partners with Samplecon & Quirks IIC Interactive Lounges IIC will be at some of the industry's most coveted events this year. WHY Generating awareness of our field is the key to building a more diverse, representative pipeline of talent to ensure a more inclusive research and insights future. There is a need to target BIPOC students & young professionals in a way that allows them to see themselves in our industry before finalizing their career choices. WHAT To help close the gap of awareness and build a more robust diversity pipeline for the research & insights industry, IIC hosting an Interactive Lounge Series at this year's Quirk's NYC events. WHO The lounges will be open to all but specifically geared towards BIPOC students & young professionals aged 30 and under. This year we've secured a limited among of free tickets for young professionals and students seeking to attend any of the Quirks event in Chicago and NYC. Click here for more information. The Quirk's Event is a valuable collection of sessions and networking opportunities with leaders in the insights field. It's designed to be affordable and convenient, with in-person and virtual options and multiple dates and locations. FOR BIPOC RESEARCHERS 30 & UNDER If you are a multicultural researcher under the age of 30, or if you know of any who would like to attend the Quirk's event in Chicago or NYC, contact us. FOR BIPOC STUDENTS For college students, we have secured a special timeslot for your attendance from 10am-2pm on day one, which includes lunch and fun interactive activities to meet some of the industry’s most well-known research companies. If you are an educational institution that would like for some of your multicultural research/ marketing/ humanities students to experience a research conference event with other students, contact us. Become a Sponsor Download our sponsorship package to learn more. Become a Sponsor Don't wait until it's too late! Sponsorships dollars are needed now to ensure we meet vendor deadlines!

The Talent Directory A TALENT DIRECTORY FOR BLACK & LATINX/HISPANIC RESEARCH & INSIGHTS PROFESSIONALS Insights in Color is partnering with Mimconnect to contribute to its growing Talent directory by ensuring that Black & Brown research professionals from across the industry are added to the list. Employers Job Seekers

Insights in Color, a community for multicultural market research & insights professionals rooted in intentional disruption. Get to know about us, see our pillars, meet our partners INSIGHTS IN COLOR A DIVERSITY INITIATIVE FOR THE MARKET RESEARCH INDUSTRY Offering resources and insights to ensure a more inclusive future. Founded by a researcher, for other researchers. ABOUT US | OUR PILLARS | WHAT DRIVES US We’re Changing the Research & Insights Industry from the inside out. Market researchers and insights professionals have arguably been the brains behind some of history’s most iconic innovations, ads & marketing campaigns. Despite this, many outside of our industry are not aware that we exist or the roles we play within the advertising & branding worlds. This truth is even more evident in communities of color. There is a tension that exists between our industry, which continues to fail at inclusive recruitment and retention strategies, and the increasingly diverse audiences & consumers whose stories we are tasked with telling. When researchers, analysts and data scientists don’t reflect the audiences they investigate, pivotal nuances and cultural connections become lost, deprioritized, misunderstood and/or misrepresented. This cannot continue to be the case. OUR PURPOSE We are working to increase diversity in our field The insights industry is perpetually behind the shifting consumer landscape. There is a need to bring awareness to our field, to educate others on the work we do, to foster a community of connected researchers & insights professionals of color, and a need to create culturally representative teams with greater intention. IIC is hoping to be the catalyst to ignite some of this change. About Us ABOUT US WHO WE ARE A powerful collective of research practitioners who, in their spare time, serve as volunteers to create the necessary tools, resources and points of action to shift the industry from the inside out. Learn More WHAT WE’RE DOING: Challenging the outdated norms, standards and ways of working in the research and insights industry from the inside out to create a more equitable and inclusive environment built to support the unique needs of BIPOC research and insights professionals. See our Initiatives HOW WE’RE DOING IT We strive to create new tools and systems to help push our industry forward with the goal of building a more inclusive, diverse and representative field and ways of working, for research practitioners today and tomorrow. See our Pillars Our Pillars Pillars Anchor BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH RADICAL TRANSPARENCY A pillar dedicated to supporting current and future BIPOC market researchers by: Building a better, more connected functioning network & community of current, future and prospective BIPOC researchers and insights professionals Encouraging radical transparency from BIPOC researchers by empowering them to use their voice, and share their experiences Read More BRIDGING THE GAP BY DRIVING RELENTLESS AWARENESS A central IIC pillar, “Bridging the Gap” is rooted in cultivating awareness, generating interest and increasing appeal to future generations of BIPOC researchers in order to successfully gain and also retain new entrants. We are pursuing this pillar with three task forces: 1. Education 2. Data is Beautiful 3. Careers & Partnerships Read More INCITING ACTION THROUGH REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE A pillar implemented to disrupt and challenge antiquated practices & ways of working in the market research industry in order to provoke reflection and bring new solutions rooted in intentional inclusivity, anti-racism, equity & anti-bias. Read More

Redefining Identity In Research Changing The Rules Of Sampling In The New Identity Economy in partnership with Lucid & Thinknow SETTING NEW STANDARDS FOR THE INDUSTRY Lucid has teamed up with ThinkNow and Insights in Color to create new parameters and standards for the way we conduct research today and in the future. We believe that it is no longer acceptable for researchers to create the parameters and restrictive “check boxes” consumers must choose from and identify with. Identity is a moving target. Researchers must be willing to update our terms overtime to ensure we are always staying ahead of how it’s evolving. We are proposing a more fluid, less rigid relationship with identity and its many variables- one that is consumer lead, fluid friendly and is supercharged to keep up with the changing nature of how people are choosing to identify. Read More about the shifting state of identity Learn more about Lucid's Commitment Download For Free! First Name Last Name Email Company Name Get Your Free Copy Download Now “ThinkNow is excited to be part of this initiative. Making sample more representative and inclusive is a core mission of our company, partnering with Lucid and Insights in Color on this initiative has enabled us to make an outsized impact on our industry. We see this as a first step in many towards a more diverse and inclusive market research landscape. ” — MARIO X. CARRASCO “Lucid is excited to collaborate with Insights in Color and ThinkNow to align our industry on a more inclusive set of identity demographic questions. Asking respondents who they are in a more inclusive way is critical to obtaining representative research insights and building a better respondent experience within ResTech. We look forward to continuing the conversation!” — TALIA LIPKIND

IIC believes that all data is beautiful. Because of this, we are dedicated to sharing impactful research stories in ways that are meaningful and engaging. This platform was built to move research out of white papers and to the eyes of the next generation of BIPOC researchers. By doing so we hope to aid in growing the pipeline of multicultural research & insights talent. IIC believes that all data is beautiful. Because of this, we are dedicated to sharing impactful research stories in ways that are meaningful and engaging. This platform was built to move research out of white papers and to the eyes of the next generation of BIPOC researchers. By doing so we hope to aid in growing the pipeline of multicultural research & insights talent. Data is Beautiful Story Submission Purpose 1. Changing the way data and insights are socialized in the industry by reimagining insight outputs about BIPOC groups. 2. Appealing to younger generations of researchers in order to highlight the importance & impact of BIPOC groups being the architects of their own stories. 3. Shining a light on brands, agencies and insights suppliers doing the work to tell immersive, impactful multicultural insights stories View Site Process 1. DOWNLOAD the submission template, fill it out & save it 2. SUBMIT the information in the Data is Beautiful Form; attach the template from step 1. 3. PAY the submission FEE ($1500)* 4. FINALIZE & work with IIC to clarify any last minute touches & see your insights story on site in 10-15 business days! *due to the highly interactive nature of the data is beautiful platform, IIC must pay web design specialists to create each and every story in unique ways. We take a lot of time to liaise with each specialist throughout the story development process along with members of your team. The fee accounts for the labor of the web design specialists and the IIC team. More Details

Demystifying market research & insights to understand how you can begin a career here Demystifying Market Research To help demystify the market research and insights industry, we've started collecting the most frequently asked questions by students and young professionals in order to create more clarity around our industry. Falling into Insights A conversation about breaking into the MRX field. Click HERE To Learn More About the Speakers and Panel Members Learn more about MRX Explore Submit your own question Learn Question: What are all the roles in market research? Answer: Honestly, there are more roles than we have room to answer on this page. Take a look. However, we've written up descriptions for some of the more popular roles in Market Research below and provided a few links for you to explore on your own. First Hand Knowledge: Once you're done exploring, visit our Community Pillar to hear from market researchers themselves what they love about their careers. Qualitative Moderator Moderators are known for being the chattier, more colorful versions of researchers as their jobs, quite literally, depend on the conversations they have with others. Qualitative moderators typically lead one-on-one interviews or large focus group conversations to understand how people interact with brands and why. This method of research is used to gain deeper insights on the psychology of consumers in order to link that information to how they interact with their brand world. To get this right, Qualitative moderators often ask larger, loftier questions in order to paint a fuller, more comprehensive picture of the world and lives of the respondents they are able to speak with. Learn More Learn More Project Field Coordinator Think of this role as the glue that holds a project together. A Field Coordinator typically oversees the costs, logistics & planning of different qualitative or quantitative research projects, both globally and domestically. Their roles may include many tasks including identifying they right types of consumers the research should be focusing on, managing vendors or panel sample, creating comprehensive price elements, running the financial aspects of projects, and coordinating projects as they are won. Coordinators play crucial roles in the organization by ensuring the projects that come in are run smoothly and at a profit. Learn More Learn More Brand Strategist Similar to a Consumer Insights Strategist only their responsibilities also include developing strategies that enhance that brand itself to ensure it is easily recognized in its category and remains relevant for consumers over time. Sometimes brand strategy is only about building the brand identity which may include what the brand stands for, what it looks and sounds like and how it's meant to be perceived by others who see it. Or, sometimes brand strategy is also about creating the central idea from which ads, commercials and marketing campaigns are meant to come from. No matter the scenario, brand strategists must be able to take the data and insights they learn about consumers, culture and the marketplace to create a strategic plan to achieve specific goals for the brands they work with. Learn More Learn More Semiotician Someone who takes the theories from the field of semiotics and applies it to how consumers assign meaning to the signs, shapes, symbols and messages they receive from brands. Semioticians use their ability to break down signs and symbols to determine how brands can more effectively resonate with consumers while remaining culturally relevant. To do this effectively, semioticians must be able to stay in touch with culture at all times. They have to be well informed with the things happening in their countries- from politics to pop culture. And, more than anything, they have to love advertising and branding. Learn More Learn More Quantitative Analyst Analyze large quantities of numbers and data in order to extract insights in away that quantifies, measures or validates specific insights that brands need before making key decisions. In market research, Quantitative Analyst are the ones who build the surveys that companies make and distribute on their behalf. Their interaction with respondents is limited as they only see finished survey answers. Unlike qual, Quantitative Analysts often deal with large sets of data because the surveys they create are often meant for hundreds and thousands of people to take them. Because of this, Quantitative Analysts have to understand how shifts in demographics and identity labels (gender, ethnicity, age, etc.) may or may not impact their work. Learn More Learn More UX Researcher UX is short for "user experience". This role is all about how people navigate the internet and the ease at which they are able to do so. UX researchers work to create the best possible experience for the users of a website, or digital platform by researching user behavior and analyzing design elements to make the experience more intuitive and seamless. Learn More Learn More Cultural Strategist Very similar to a brand strategist only this person creates strategy with state of culture in mind. Essentially he/she is tapped in to culture at all times and uses this to inform how clients should go to market vs. only relying consumer data and competitor trends. Because of their relationship with culture, the role of Semiotician also sometimes falls beneath this practice area. This practice area is not to be confused with a "Multicultural Strategist" which is a different role all together. Click the links to lean more. Learn More Learn More Design Strategist Born from the newest fields of design thinking, design strategy is a combination of insights, brand strategy, and, where applicable, UX design. While the utility of this career role is still being explored and understood, overall, a design strategist is needed to ensure that the products companies build, the spaces we create and the way we manage our organizations are, at their core, centered around the way consumers will use and interact with them. Learn More Learn More Statistician Similar to Quantitative Analysts, Statisticians play a big role in understanding data through numbers. However, what makes them unique is that they can apply statistical methods and modeling to real-world problems to help brands understand consumers and, in some cases create predictive factors and correlation models to increase the likelihood of sales. Essentially, their ability to understand numbers means that they can track trends in consumer and purchasing behavior to create new tools for brands to rely on when building new go-to-market strategies. Learn More Learn More Consumer Insights Strategist Use the insights gained from different research methods (qual, quant, social listening and more) to create strategies that appeal to a brand’s target audience. This also means that a consumer insights strategist must be proficient in at least one research method. Typically, a Consumer Insights Strategist has to know how to take the outputs from the data and insights they receive and create a story for brands to better understand the consumers they spoke with. Essentially, a good strategist is a great storyteller. They know how to pull the most important pieces of information to the front- information that helps clients gain clarity and understand the world of their consumers with more depth. Finally, strategists identify the steps required to ensure clients know how to connect with their audience, authentically. Learn More Learn More Multicultural Strategist Someone who dedicates their research to BIPOC populations and becomes an expert in the behaviors, habits and trends in multicultural groups and audiences. A Multicultural Strategist can exist across various research specialty areas (qual, quant, stats, strategy, etc...) and uses their skillsets to tell the stories of consumers of color, how they interact with different brands, products an services and why. Learn More Learn More Have Questions You'd Like to ask? Submit them here: Email Area of Inquiry What would you like to know? Anything Else? Submit Thanks for your Question! Are you a Market Research Professional who wants to provide answers to some of our inbound questions? We are always looking for fresh perspectives. Let us know here. Submit A Question

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Training are Highly Suggested There seem to be a lot of unknowns in your research process. There may be a need for diversity training for your team to better understand how to setup and think about research in a way that doesn't produce insights and outputs through a restrictive lens, effectively muting diverse consumer narratives. Based on your responses, your research is likely already entrenched in cultural biases which automatically prevents your work from being as inclusive as it needs to be. Contact the IIC team to schedule a diversity consultation below. Without additional diversity considerations, your project will not yield accurate results. NEW! Download IIC’s Standards for Inclusive Research! UNIVERSAL TRUTHS CHECK YOUR BIASES & ASSUMPTIONS AT THE DOOR There will always be things that you won't know, or won’t know to ask yourself. Ensuring that your team is diverse will ultimately help to solve for these blind spots. Never assume that respondents will voluntarily (or honestly) reveal all of the tensions that exist within the intersectional parts of their identities. Always ensure the right probes and researcher dynamics are in place to promote information sharing in a way that fits the diverse needs of your respondents. Never assume that a person of color is as affected, or as impacted by racial trauma as other BIPOC consumers (this includes the BIPOC researchers on your team/client team). Race and identity are complex. The dynamics of American racial tensions are not the dynamics as BIPOCs in other countries. The experiences of minorities and minority immigrants should never be generalized or categorized as the same. CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT Given the diversity of the new mainstream, no research can be done without integrating cultural context into the process. Without this, your outputs will struggle to maintain relevancy and will miss opportunities for richer, more nuanced storytelling. Always ask yourself, "why is this the case?" and find the historical data, context or BIPOC subject matter expert to back up and support your insights. TELL THE STORY CORRECTLY Always interrogate your story tellers. Research is often commissioned based on vendor-client relationships, and not on capability. If your research supplier or research team is not diverse enough to support or guide your projects, seek outside BIPOC resources, teams and/or experts to play lead roles in your work - from commission to completion. Interrogate your storytelling methods. Utilizing old frameworks and outputs to tell complex, multilayered consumer stories will often fall flat with audiences who may not be able to see the bigger picture. Along with utilizing more BIPOC researchers, creative & dynamic storytelling techniques are encouraged. THINGS TO CONSIDER We highly recommend that your organization set up a diversity and inclusion training to better understand how lack of diversity not only impacts your work, and internal processes. There may be a need to increase diversity within your organization, your research team or your client's team. Hiring diverse talent may take a while but using outside resources & experts could potentially solve some of the issues you may be running into or, that you may not be aware of. Reexamine your screeners, surveys and overall research approach to ensure your project is setup to capture the full breadth of diverse responses from your consumers. Ensure & insist that diversity is included in all touchpoints of your projects as much as possible, including the teams who will receive your outputs. Ensure that diverse talent is present to tell the story of the consumers in your research, especially if your work has a multicultural focus. Researching the new mainstream can be expensive, and when budgets get cut, so do opportunities for unique consumer stories & outputs. Make sure to push for, and insist on budgets that can guarantee the necessary over recruitment and readable base sizes to yield relevant solutions and truly accurate recommendations. If your project is not focused on multicultural consumers, continue to interrogate your findings to see if there are any nuanced stories that may stand out on their own based on consumers' identity (race, ethnicity, cultural background, life experiences, disability, acculturation, sexual or gender identity), a part from the mainstream findings and then investigate those stories. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES CULTURAL RELEVANCE IN MARKETING NOW MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER NON-INCLUSIVE AD TESTING: REAL CULPRIT BEHIND TONE-DEAF ADS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE SUPPORTING A CAUSE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP FROM TOUCH OF WHIT CREATIVE INTERESTED IN A RESEARCH CONSULTATION? EXPLORE IIC FORWARD Up

Whitney Dunlap-Fowler, Founder, Insights in Color & Owner Touch of Whit Creative. Who We Are A diversity initiative for researchers founded by a researcher Whitney Dunlap- Fowler FOUNDER Whitney Dunlap-Fowler is a semiotician and seasoned brand strategist with nearly 10 years of experience building culturally intelligent brands through cultural insights, brand strategy and multicultural strategy. Before founding Touch of Whit Creative , she co-lead the Cultural Insights practice at Kelton Global where she used her knowledge and expertise to aid in deepening the company’s brand strategy engagements. Her ‘brand strategy roots’ were honed and polished during her time at Kantar Added Value, where excelled as in dual strategic roles across the brand and cultural insights teams while earning a Masters degree in Media, Culture and Communications at NYU. Before leaving the company, she took on an additional role as the Multicultural Practice Lead for North America and started an initiative called “Insights in Color” for minority professionals seeking to connect with others in the research community. Since starting her own business, she’s restarted the IIC initiative in order to pursue her passion of creating a more connected network of researchers of color and a platform built to serve their needs. Industry Partners Clients We've Worked With

IIC Partners with Mimconnect, Adthrill and Thinknow Research IIC & Friends NYC In Partnership with Toasted Life Sponsored by Forward & C-Space Can you make it? Details Gallery DETAILS: WHY to align with our pillar centering on creating a greater sense of connectivity through community , we will be going to meet our members in person. WHAT IIC will host an intimate event for members of the community and our supportive allies! WHO check out some of the friends who will be joining us below! DATE: Wednesday, 6/8 New York Location: Sentry Flatiron (located in the Henri hotel) Register The Sentry Penthouse Lounge & Bar 1/1 Sponsored by Forward is an insights-driven brand consultancy based in New York City. We’re qualitative researchers, cultural thinkers, and brand and business strategists, working to implement empathetic, future-facing strategies for our (mostly) corporate clients. We work on engaging briefs spanning all kinds of questions about people and culture, from an exciting client roster that includes Jordan, Nike, Spotify, L'Oréal, PepsiCo, YouTube, Disney, and more. Learn More Our clients call us their customer agency. We create rapid insight and business change, putting customers at the heart of companies and solving problems from the customer’s perspective. We keep our clients relevant by building real, ongoing relationships with customers that in turn help them deliver superior experiences, launch successful products and build loyalty. Our customized approaches are tailored to specific business needs and include online insight communities, immersive storytelling, data and analytics, activation events, innovation projects and business consulting. We do this for many of the world’s best-known brands – like Bose, Walmart, Jaguar Land Rover, Mars, Samsung, IKEA and more – to create “Customer Inspired Growth”. Learn More Friends Our Friends AdThrill is an HBCU focused ad and insights platform dedicated to better connecting brands with multicultural audiences. Best known to HBCU students as the “World’s Easiest Side Hustle”, AdThrill pays college students to watch and rate ads online for the purpose of providing brands on-demand focus groups of these coveted audiences. AdThrill also works with brands to connect with HBCU student through on-campus activations via its Brand Marketing and Brand Ambassador programs. Highlight is a venture-backed, woman and minority-owned in-home product testing platform. The agile IHUT platform streamlines everything from recruit to data set, including all the logistics of getting your product to your target customers. Whether you’re targeting cat-owning millennials or retinol-using women over 50 in California, with Highlight you can get projects moving with just a few clicks and receive insights in weeks. Book a demo with us here. A key IIC partner, Mimconnect is a diversity consultancy helping companies recruit, retain, and develop diverse talent. Mimconnect works with a variety of companies from Fortune 500 to startups and nonprofits, and offers a variety of services and partnership levels designed to help an organization accomplish their DEI goals. ThinkNow enables companies and government agencies to discover the cultural drivers that influence consumer decisions. We provide insight solutions to help organizations thrive in a changing demographic environment. ThinkNow also owns and operates one of the largest and most representative Hispanic online panels in the industry, DigaYGane.com, which is used to service our own research as well as provide samples to the leading market research companies in the world.

Resources and tools for BIPOC/ Multicultural research & insights professionals and brands and agencies seeking tips, tricks and guidelines to ethical and inclusive research methods. TOOLS & RESOURCES Knowledge & information for insights professionals seeking new diversity solutions. Visit our FAQ page for more. Inclusive Research Standards An IIC Lunch & Learn Session For Market Research Professionals Learn More Download Empower Yourself Follow our guidelines to ensure success as you navigate your career in the research & insights industry. View More Download Inclusive Research Standards Changing The Rules Of Sampling In The New Identity Economy in partnership with Lucid & Thinknow. View More Download Attracting BIPOC Talent Download our tips and insights for free! View More

Coming Soon IIC FORWARD was created to give clients the ability to have their research approaches and documents (screeners, reports, discussion guides, stimulus & more) reviewed in real time to ensure diverse and representative measures are accounted for in their work. What it is. A fast, easy way for clients to receive input from experienced BIPOC market researchers on every step of the market research process. Who it's for. For brands and agencies seeking support and inputs to ensure more intentionally inclusive research methods and outputs. RESEARCHERS Get paid to contribute your insights on multicultural consumer research projects. Up CLIENTS Receive real-time inputs and guidance on your research approaches & documents. Up Researcher Application Process To ensure we recruit the right researchers, there is a quick, three step application process. Researcher Portal Step 1: Assessment To determine your eligibility you will be required to answer preliminary questions (below) and do a quick baseline assessment of your skillset. (7-10 mins) Step 2: Register To ensure your information is properly loaded into the system. (5mins). Save this portal page in your bookmarks! PLEASE HAVE YOUR RESUME & ASSESSMENT DOCUMENT READY TO SUBMIT. Step 3: Final Approval IIC Reviews your application and determines placement. (24-48hrs). If approved, vendors will sign necessary terms & conditions agreements before they are eligible to receive research requests. Start the Process Researcher FAQs Client Portal Have your documents reviewed fast and efficiently by IIC Researchers. Client Portal 1 Submit a request in IIC Forward’s Portal. Create a research request based on the number of pages in your document that are needed to review (submit a simple, intermediate or advanced request). 2 Correspond with researchers in real time. Once a researcher picks up your request you will be able to message them or speak with them through the portal about any additional details you may need from them. 3 Receive critical feedback in 24- 72 hours. Depending on the size of the request, our researchers will review your document and submit notes and feedback within 2-4 business days. Explore Pricing Client FAQs

A Need for Increased Diversity Resources Though you have thought about diversity somewhat, you have not put enough resources into your research process and team structure to ensure your research is truly inclusive and void of bias. Without additional diversity considerations, your projects may not yield the most accurate results. NEW! Download IIC’s Standards for Inclusive Research! UNIVERSAL TRUTHS CHECK YOUR BIASES & ASSUMPTIONS AT THE DOOR There will always be things that you won't know, or won’t know to ask yourself. Ensuring that your team is diverse will ultimately help to solve for these blind spots. Never assume that respondents will voluntarily (or honestly) reveal all of the tensions that exist within the intersectional parts of their identities. Always ensure the right probes and researcher dynamics are in place to promote information sharing in a way that fits the diverse needs of your respondents. Never assume that a person of color is as affected, or as impacted by racial trauma as other BIPOC consumers (this includes the BIPOC researchers on your team/client team). Race and identity are complex. The dynamics of American racial tensions are not the dynamics as BIPOCs in other countries. The experiences of minorities and minority immigrants should never be generalized or categorized as the same. CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT Given the diversity of the new mainstream, no research can be done without integrating cultural context into the process. Without this, your outputs will struggle to maintain relevancy and will miss opportunities for richer, more nuanced storytelling. Always ask yourself, "why is this the case?" and find the historical data, context or BIPOC subject matter expert to back up and support your insights. TELL THE STORY CORRECTLY Always interrogate your story tellers. Research is often commissioned based on vendor-client relationships, and not on capability. If your research supplier or research team is not diverse enough to support or guide your projects, seek outside BIPOC resources, teams and/or experts to play lead roles in your work - from commission to completion. Interrogate your storytelling methods. Utilizing old frameworks and outputs to tell complex, multilayered consumer stories will often fall flat with audiences who may not be able to see the bigger picture. Along with utilizing more BIPOC researchers, creative & dynamic storytelling techniques are encouraged. THINGS TO CONSIDER There may be a need to increase diversity within your organization, your research team or your client's team. Hiring diverse talent may take a while but using outside resources & experts could potentially solve some of the issues you may be running into or, that you may not be aware of. Reexamine your screeners, surveys and overall research approach to ensure your project is setup to capture the full breadth of diverse responses from your consumers. Ensure & insist that diversity is included in all touchpoints of your projects as much as possible, including the teams who will receive your outputs. Ensure that diverse talent is present to tell the story of the consumers in your research, especially if your work has a multicultural focus. Researching the new mainstream can be expensive, and when budgets get cut, so do opportunities for unique consumer stories & outputs. Make sure to push for, and insist on budgets that can guarantee the necessary over recruitment and readable base sizes to yield relevant solutions and truly accurate recommendations. If your project is not focused on multicultural consumers, continue to interrogate your findings to see if there are any nuanced stories that may stand out on their own based on consumers' identity (race, ethnicity, cultural background, life experiences, disability, acculturation, sexual or gender identity), a part from the mainstream findings and then investigate those stories. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES CULTURAL RELEVANCE IN MARKETING NOW MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER NON-INCLUSIVE AD TESTING: REAL CULPRIT BEHIND TONE-DEAF ADS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE SUPPORTING A CAUSE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP FROM TOUCH OF WHIT CREATIVE INTERESTED IN A RESEARCH CONSULTATION? EXPLORE IIC FORWARD Up