Our 2026 Agenda

• How are shifting power dynamics and trade realignments forcing companies to fundamentally rethink their market entry strategies, supply chain dependencies, and competitive positioning?
• In what ways do border tensions, sanctions, and regulatory fragmentation challenge traditional research methodologies—and what new frameworks are emerging to capture insights across divided markets?
• As economic volatility becomes the norm rather than the exception, how can researchers move from reactive adaptation to building antifragile research strategies that thrive on disruption?

• Shifting from reactive fraud prevention to proactive quality architecture—designing studies that are inherently resistant to manipulation while preserving authentic human insights
• Navigating the AI paradox in research: As synthetic respondents become increasingly sophisticated, challenging fundamental assumptions about data collection and distinguishing between technological efficiency gains and existential threats to research validity
• Reimagining verification frameworks in an era where fraudulent responses can undermine entire datasets—not just as technical controls, but as a new form of research ethics that balances vigilance with respondent experience - How to build trust in this infrastructure?

• Deconstructing how identical questions yield fundamentally different insights across Asian markets—where cultural context shapes not just answers, but the meaning of the questions themselves
• Challenging the myth of standardized research—when does methodological consistency become cultural insensitivity that undermines data validity, particularly in APAC?
• Navigating the tension between regional efficiency and local truth—at what point does scaling research across APAC sacrifice the authenticity that makes insights actionable?

• Merging ‘Deep Human Understanding’ with ‘Superior Science’ to create scientifically driven consumer focussed magic
• Building future-ready, human-led innovation — where insights, strategy, and R&D converge , turning foresight into growth and competitive edge
• Ensuring business success by humanizing science and claims

• Spending millions of dollars expanding into areas that look promising — but without real movement data, economic signals, and spatial context, most location decisions are still educated guesses.
• Applying Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) to uncover true growth zones by fusing telco mobility data, bank deposit and loan indicators, POI & competition presence, and official demographic data into a nationwide, micro-market heatmap that reveals where your target customers actually live, work, shop, and cluster
• Identifying high-value customer segments at the micro-area level, pinpointing strong purchasing-power pockets based on real banking data, mapping mobility flows to find daytime and weekend demand centers, and detecting underserved zones where your competitors have zero presence
• Transforming network planning for retailers and branch-based businesses by highlighting underperforming locations for relocation and spotting precise neighborhoods primed for new branch investments
• Making location decisions backed by hard data, not gut feel

• Brief by CEO: Addressing Customer Churn, The Maersk Way
• Brief by Sales Excellence: Growth Opportunities in Vietnam by understanding Decision Making behavior
• Leveraging insights to elevate business decision making

• Examining how bias persists in AI systems despite fairness intentions—tracing its roots through design decisions, embedded cultural assumptions, and organizational incentive structures
• Analyzing real-world case studies that demonstrate where and why equitable AI remains an elusive goal rather than an achievable reality
• Applying the 10 HCAI Human Factors framework to identify bias patterns and develop more intentional, inclusive approaches to generative AI product development

• Overcoming brand tracking limitations through innovative sampling, advanced analytics, and modular survey design that delivers reliable and adaptable insights
• Expanding reach and reducing fraud through non-incentivized sampling approaches
• Enabling trackers to adapt to new KPIs, segments, and brand lists without losing consistency through modular survey design
• Turning complex tracking data into fast, reliable, and scalable insights using AI-driven analytics

In this workshop, market research leaders will gain hands-on experience with AI prompting techniques and tool selection strategies. Through interactive case studies and practical exercises, participants will learn how to craft effective prompts, choose the right AI platforms, and implement governance frameworks that overcome daily AI implementation challenges.

• Practical techniques for crafting effective AI prompts tailored to market research, with hands-on case studies demonstrating how prompt optimization drives better outcomes.
• Learn how to evaluate and select appropriate AI tools for specific research scenarios, recognizing that different platforms offer varying capabilities and limitations.
• Engage in an interactive workshop with two-way learning and experimentation throughout the session.

• Mapping invisible growth corridors in non-mainstream APAC cities where consumer spending power is exploding faster than traditional research can track
• Questioning capital-city bias in research design and recognizing how regional consumer behaviors fundamentally differ from metro patterns, not just as scaled-down versions
• Identifying breakthrough categories before competitors by detecting early signals in emerging markets where the next wave of growth is already forming

• Deciding whether insights departments are evolving or facing extinction as organizations confront a binary choice about the future of their research teams
• Citizen Researchers vs. Specialists: Evaluating whether democratized access to insights tools eliminates the need for dedicated research expertise
• Is it the responsibility of CMO or CSO to defend the necessity of the market research and insight function in the company?
• Determining whether human researchers remain valuable when AI delivers faster, more comprehensive pattern recognition
• Proving strategic value as centralized insights teams in a world moving toward distributed research capabilities

• Defining the category lens and establishing how insights functions must shape category boundaries to become strategic business partners
• Reframing measurement to transform passive reporting into proactive category opportunity identification
• Mapping category opportunities and Applying practical methodologies for identifying opportunity spaces, emerging threats, and white space within your category
• Demonstrating impact to showcasing case examples of insights-driven category interventions that delivered measurable business results
• Elevating the insights function and positioning your team as category architects and strategy co-creators—not just data suppliers

• Discovering how product team transformed voice of customers from an operational function into a strategic intelligence engine
• Establishing value driver KPIs to connect customer experience, product experience and business outcome KPIs
• Seeing how this intelligence is embedded into decision-making frameworks in the in-patient experience journey, fuelling go-to-market design, messaging, quality and innovation

• Deconstructing tier-based consumer psychology—how aspirations, spending triggers, and brand relationships fundamentally shift across China's economic gradients
• Navigating the research paradox of China's data landscape—capturing authentic insights within evolving privacy frameworks and regulatory constraints
• Adapting methodologies for China's fragmented digital ecosystems—where platform dominance, regional preferences, and local commerce patterns rewrite research

• How global brands transform consumer understanding into meaningful experiences and market leadership
• From Insight to Identity: Translating consumer trends into brand positioning that reflects sustainability, comfort, and urban chic aesthetics.
• Bridging Research and Reality: Moving beyond data dashboards to actionable strategies that influence boardroom decisions and shape authentic brand experiences.
• Narratives that Resonate: Converting analytical findings into compelling stories across channels, creating emotional and conscious connections with diverse audiences worldwide.
• Sustainability as Strategy: Leveraging insights to turn eco-conscious values into monetization opportunities and disruptive growth.

• Leveraging multiple linear regression (MLR) to establish clear relationships between business outcomes (such as sales, revenue, market share) and various marketing activities across channels
• Moving beyond intuition to data-driven budget allocation decisions by quantifying the incremental contribution of each marketing touchpoint
• Case studies demonstrating how MMM helps optimize marketing spend and forecast the impact of future campaigns in competitive markets

• Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can grill them with the questions they're actually thinking—unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

  Table 1: How are you using your data to predict customers’ behaviour and manage it before it becomes a problem?
  Lolitta Suffian, Senior Vice President Customer Experience, Bank Simpanan Nasional

  Table 2: How to run agile research without sacrificing quality?
  Justin See, Global Research Lead for Consumer Laptop & Gaming, HP
  
  Table 3: Theme TBC

  Table 4: Theme TBC

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ANYTHING Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can grill them with the questions they're actually thinking—unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ANYTHING Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can grill them with the questions they're actually thinking—unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

• Integrating market intelligence into innovation and strategic planning processes
• Elevating insights from tactical support to strategic business partnership
• Detailing how research and intelligence can be utilized to inform long-term organizational direction, proving strategic value as centralized insights teams in a world moving toward distributed research capabilities

• Understanding why AI alone is insufficient in healthcare—recognizing that empathy and emotional support are critical as patients navigate disease journeys
• Navigating the paradox of global standardization versus local relevance—when does scaling personalization dilute cultural authenticity in healthcare delivery?
• Leveraging AI to deliver individualized patient experiences without losing the human insight and emotional connection that makes personalization truly meaningful in healthcare contexts

• Redefining research relevance by moving beyond report production to strategic meaning-making that transforms insights into organizational alignment and accelerated decision-making
• Synthesizing signals across products and interpreting nuances that data alone cannot reveal, demonstrating how researchers provide depth beyond surface-level analysis
• Guiding teams toward de-risked, user-grounded decisions through strategic interpretation that distinguishes professional researchers from stakeholders who simply "do research"

As we close this conference, our expert panel will cut through the noise to identify what truly matters for the future of market research and insights. This isn't about repeating challenges we've already discussed—it's about synthesizing everything we've learned into actionable priorities.

• How do we move from fragmented research functions to truly integrated intelligence ecosystems that connect consumer insights, cultural intelligence, and operational data in real-time?
• What critical capabilities are missing from today's research teams that will determine who thrives versus who becomes obsolete in the next 3 years?
• As research cycles compress and AI accelerates everything, how do we maintain methodological integrity and ethical standards without becoming the bottleneck that slows business down?
• Open discussion—what's the one question about the future of research that nobody dared to ask during this conference, but we all need to confront?