Day 1
Thu Nov 6
08:00 – 09:00
60 min
REGISTRATION AND WELCOME COFFEE
Thu Nov 6
09:00 – 09:15
15 min
OPENING REMARKS BY MERLIEN INSTITUTE & CONFERENCE CHAIR
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker
Thu Nov 6
09:15 – 09:45
30 min
CRISIS AS CATALYST: REPOSITIONING MARKET RESEARCH IN CHALLENGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS
- Evaluating the evolving role and value proposition of market research and competitive intelligence in times of economic uncertainty
- Developing adaptive strategies to strengthen research's position as a critical business function during market disruption
- Building resilient research frameworks that align with changing business priorities and resource constraints
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
09:45 – 10:15
30 min
Reserved for Appinio
Louise Leitsch
Director Research
Appinio
Speaker
Panel discussion
Thu Nov 6
10:15 – 11:00
45 min
RESEARCH LEADERSHIP REIMAGINED: BUILDING C-SUITE CREDIBILITY
- Understanding when and why research teams are sidelined at the leadership table – and how to change this! What would be required to build relevance and importance among C-suite stakeholders
- What was the evolution journey of Insights over the years and where do we expect this journey to land in the next decade – are we looking into emergence of Chief Knowledge Officer role in Executive Boards
- How do we leverage insights and knowledge to drive strategic decision making at the highest levels of business – influencing stakeholders to take action based on the insights can be a major hurdle
- Some organizations may be resistant to adopting new insights function and changing existing processes – how do we make sure that we measure the impact of insights on business outcomes to demonstrate their value and justify investments in the insights function
Manuela Kautzsch
Head of Global Insights, Crop Protection
Syngenta
Moderator
Natasa Jovanovic
Head of Strategy & Insights
Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Panelist
Stanislaw Dzieduszycki
Head of Research Innovation and Strategy Team
Carlsberg Group
Panelist
Networking
Thu Nov 6
11:00 – 11:30
30 min
Networking Break
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
11:30 – 12:00
30 min
MAXIMIZING IMPACT THROUGH STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE & INSIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
- Best practices for scaling research insights across global organizations
- Leveraging digital platforms to democratize market intelligence
- Transforming knowledge and insights into strategy
- Building effective insight-to-action frameworks for stakeholder engagement
Tomas Loureiro
Senior Director of Global Intel & Strategic Projects
EDP
Speaker
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
12:00 – 12:30
30 min
Reserved for Marketlogic
Thu Nov 6
12:30 – 12:40
10 min
RECAP & REFLECT
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker
Networking
Thu Nov 6
12:40 – 13:40
60 min
NETWORKING LUNCH
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
13:40 – 14:10
30 min
CLOSING THE FEEDBACK LOOP: HOW CUSTOMER VOICES DRIVE PRODUCT STRATEGY AND SUCCESS
- Establishing value driver KPIs to connect customer experience, product experience and business outcome KPIs
- Building a comprehensive multi-channel feedback framework for understanding your customers needs
- Combining the benefits of various customer feedback channels such as real-time NPS, behavioral analytics and quantitative data
- Leveraging genAI and other technology to identify patterns for concrete actions to boost customer satisfaction and enhance retention
Daniel Becker
VP, Head of Global Adoption & Experience CoE at SAP SE
SAP
Speaker
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
14:10 – 14:30
20 min
Reserved for Prelaunch
Panel discussion
Thu Nov 6
14:30 – 15:10
40 min
MANAGING DATA QUALITY AND FRAUD IN AI-DRIVEN MARKET RESEARCH
- Assessing data quality challenges and dilemma in AI-enhanced market research
- Challenges in developing standardized protocols to better align agency-provided data with client requirements
- Exploring synthetic data generation as a potential solution while carefully weighing risks and benefits
Daniel Becker
VP, Head of Global Adoption & Experience CoE at SAP SE
SAP
Moderator
Sharjeel Syed Muhammad
Head of Global Trackers - Consumer Insights
Philip Morris
Panelist
Networking
Thu Nov 6
15:10 – 15:40
30 min
NETWORKING BREAK
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
15:40 – 16:00
20 min
Reserved for Caplena
Andre Seelmann
Customer Success Manager
Caplena
Speaker
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
16:00 – 16:30
30 min
INSIGHT-LED BRAND BUILDING: FROM CUSTOMER INSIGHT TO BRAND CAMPAIGN
- Uncovering what truly matters to customers
- Turning insights into campaign concepts
- Building internal alignment and buy in
- Identifying high-impact creative and early reflection from the live campaign
Presentation
Thu Nov 6
16:30 – 17:00
30 min
WHEN INSIGHTS SHAPE STRATEGY: CATEGORY THINKING AS A BUSINESS DRIVER
- Why insights need to own category strategy to gain strategic relevance
- How to shift from passive measurement to active business guidance
- Practical frameworks for segmenting category opportunities and threats
- Examples of insights-led interventions with measurable business impact
- How insight teams can position themselves as co-authors of strategy – not service providers
Stanislaw Dzieduszycki
Head of Research Innovation and Strategy Team
Carlsberg Group
Speaker
Thu Nov 6
17:00 – 17:05
5 min
DAY 1 RECAP & CHAIR’S CLOSING
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker
Roundtable
Thu Nov 6
17:05 – 17:30
25 min
Topic 1: AI IMPLEMENTATION AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT / TEAM EDUCATION IN MARKET RESEARCH
Dr. Susanne Wehde
Head Consumer Centricity & Insights - tesa SE Management Unit Consumer
tesa
Speaker
Roundtable
Thu Nov 6
17:05 – 17:30
25 min
Topic 2: BEYOND THE AI HYPE - AN HONEST CONVERSATION ABOUT AI’S PRACTICAL IMPACT ON RESEARCH
Roundtable
Thu Nov 6
17:05 – 17:30
25 min
Topic 3: TURNING TRADITIONAL RESEARCH TO STRATEGIC INSIGHTS POWERHOUSE IN THE NEW ECONOMIC NORM
Manuela Kautzsch
Head of Global Insights, Crop Protection
Syngenta
Speaker
Roundtable
Thu Nov 6
17:05 – 17:30
25 min
Topic 4: BEYOND \"RESEARCH\": WINNING THE CONSUMER\'S HEART AND GAINING A VOICE IN THE BOARDROOM
Nevra Tosun
Senior Director Global Head of Consumer Insights
Versuni
Speaker
Networking
Thu Nov 6
17:30 – 18:30
60 min
NETWORKING DRINKS BY MERLIEN
Day 2
Fri Nov 7
08:30 – 09:00
30 min
REGISTRATION AND WELCOME COFFEE
Fri Nov 7
09:00 – 09:05
5 min
OPENING REMARKS BY MERLIEN INSTITUTE & CONFERENCE CHAIR
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker
Panel discussion
Fri Nov 7
09:15 – 09:45
30 min
ADAPTING TO DISRUPTION: PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR THE EVOLVING MARKET RESEARCH LANDSCAPE
- An honest analysis of the state of AI & other technological evolution in our industry
- How to build adaptive teams through continuous learning, role evolution, and cross-functional collaboration under the proliferation of emerging tools
- A look in the (review) mirror – what did we get right – or wrong. What's next for market research?
Sharjeel Syed Muhammad
Head of Global Trackers - Consumer Insights
Philip Morris
Moderator
Dr. Susanne Wehde
Head Consumer Centricity & Insights - tesa SE Management Unit Consumer
tesa
Panelist
Tomas Loureiro
Senior Director of Global Intel & Strategic Projects
EDP
Panelist
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
09:45 – 10:15
30 min
Reserved for Conveo
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
10:15 – 10:45
30 min
BEYOND INSIGHT: MONETIZING THE ACT OF LISTENING
- Discovering how we transformed Voice of Consumer from an operational function into a strategic intelligence engine.
- Learning how we leveraged AI-powered listening tools and human interpretation to turn unstructured feedback into actionable insight.
- Seeing how this intelligence is embedded into predictive analysis and decision-making frameworks across the organization, fuelling go-to-market, design, messaging, quality, and innovation.
- Understanding how this capability reduced reliance on traditional market research and improved cost efficiency and speed.
- Exploring the measurable impact: smarter decisions, greater value creation.
- Walking away with a blueprint for embedding consumer voice as a business-critical engine that drives growth.
Nevra Tosun
Senior Director Global Head of Consumer Insights
Versuni
Speaker
Networking
Fri Nov 7
10:40 – 11:15
35 min
Networking Break
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
11:15 – 11:45
30 min
THE MARKETING VALUE MEASUREMENT PLAYBOOK: CONNECTING BRAND METRICS TO BUSINESS OUTCOMES FOR ECONOMIC RESILIENCE
- Quantifying the empirical relationship between brand metrics and sales performance to optimize advertising effectiveness
- Equipping marketing and insight teams with advanced frameworks to demonstrate marketing's comprehensive contribution to organizational profitability
- Analyzing the complex interplay between media investment, brand equity, and price elasticity to develop ROI-optimized strategies that enhance the strategic value of the marketing insight function
Michał Protasiuk
Senior Research and Insights Manager, Market Insights, EMEA
Google
Speaker
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
11:45 – 12:15
30 min
ASK BETTER, GET BETTER: HOW SMARTER AI-MODERATION IS CHALLENGING LAZY INSIGHTS
- Discover how AI-moderation goes beyond standard AI-questioning, challenging lazy insights to uncover what truly matters
- Learn how dynamic and smart probing shapes conversations as they unfold in real-time.
- Understand why AI-driven methodologies is not about automating conversations but about understanding human thinking further and helping decision-makers think smarter
Hakan Yurdakul
CEO
Bolt Insight
Speaker
Fri Nov 7
12:15 – 12:20
5 min
RECAP & REFLECT
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker
Networking
Fri Nov 7
12:20 – 13:20
60 min
NETWORKING LUNCH
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
13:20 – 13:50
30 min
TURNING DATA CHAOS INTO STRATEGIC CLARITY: HOW TVH TURNS GLOBAL CUSTOMER FEEDBACK INTO ACTION
- Implementing an "Enable-Activate-Drive Action" framework to transform customer feedback in a global organisation
- Consolidating data, automating insights delivery and embedding accountability to turn feedback into value
- Changing the internal feedback culture with the support of tools, governance and storytelling
- Next steps: Tying customer sentiment directly to business outcomes
Eefje Battel
Global VOC Lead
TVH
Speaker
Charlotte Vanbrackel
VOC Program Expert
TVH
Speaker
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
13:50 – 14:10
20 min
Reserved for Stravito
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
14:10 – 14:40
30 min
BRINGING KRAFT HEINZ SHOPPERS TO LIFE WITH DIGITAL TWINS: REAL LESSONS ABOUT AI PERSONA CREATION, TESTING, AND ADOPTION FOR ENTERPRISES
- Telling the difference between the nice twins and the evil twins: Implementing comprehensive benchmarking processes to assess and validate digital twin outputs using our industry-leading evaluation framework.
- Building reliable digital twins: Sharing essential construction principles and techniques to ensure your digital twins meet enterprise standards and deliver reliable results.
- Leveraging digital twins to enhance traditional research - While digital twins complement and augment existing research methods, they serve to extend and enrich insights rather than replace traditional respondent-based techniques
Jeremy Attridge
Director of Customer Insights
Kraft Heinz
Speaker
Adam Bai
Chief Strategy Officer + Chief Client Officer
Panoplai
Speaker
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
14:40 – 15:00
20 min
AI-POWERED RESEARCH REVOLUTION: SAMSUNG\'S JOURNEY FROM CURIOSITY TO USAGE
- A real case study of how Samsung is utilising AI to develop unfiltered Voice of Customer (VoC) insights, bringing them directly to the boardroom and garnering positive feedback from various internal stakeholders.
- How AI can approach the capabilities of a professional researcher in guide development, survey design, moderation, and analysis—maximizing both research quality and efficiency.
- How to effectively balance AI capabilities as co-intelligence with human expertise, enabling insights professionals to conduct research that would otherwise be impossible—successfully blending qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Florian Bauer
Consumer Insight and Customer Analytics Lead
Samsung
Speaker
Orkan Dolay
Group Director Product Innovation and Development
Bilendi
Speaker
Networking
Fri Nov 7
15:00 – 15:30
30 min
NETWORKING BREAK
Presentation
Fri Nov 7
15:30 – 16:00
30 min
DESIGNING FOR MEANING: HOW MBANK USED MULTI-STAGE RESEARCH TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SAFETY REALLY MEANS TO CUSTOMERS
- Using a multi-method approach to unpack the emotional and functional meanings of safety across seven distinct customer segments.
- Combining online ethnography, narrative and trend analysis, creative focus groups, and large-scale quantitative surveys—demonstrating how layered, mixed-method design can surface both strategic direction and cultural nuance
- Developing a segmentation-sensitive model that moves beyond broad demographics to reflect how different audiences—from Gen Z to SMEs—construct and prioritize notions of trust, risk, and institutional support
- Sharing key findings, narrative metaphors and an analytical framework that links perceptions of concepts like safety to measurable brand outcomes
Karolina Kozłowska
Research Manager
mBank
Speaker
Konrad Siwinski
Senior Partner | Team Leader
Minds & Roses
Speaker
Panel discussion
Fri Nov 7
16:00 – 16:45
45 min
BUILDING STAR-SHAPED RESEARCH TEAMS: THE EVOLUTION OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
- Navigating today's complex research landscape by mastering both individual growth and cross-functional team collaboration for maximum impact
- Developing star-shaped capabilities beyond traditional T-shaped skills through strategic toolbox expansion and intentional career pathing
- Building sustainable research teams by implementing proven engagement strategies, facilitating knowledge exchange, and creating scalable growth opportunities
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Moderator
Fri Nov 7
16:45 – 17:00
15 min
CHAIR’S CLOSING SPEECH AND END OF CONFERENCE
Yasmin Dufournet
Consumer Insights Director
Salomon
Speaker