For the first time major corporate houses have come together to share their market research data, insights and forces to address key global development and sustainability challenges. They have created an open platform called Paragon which is ready for launch in May 2016.
The first lot includes Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Kantar, Nielsen, MetrixLab, GfK, Flamingo, Save The Children, The Market Research Society (MRS), Esomar and Sapient Nitro. Their purpose is start applying authentic data and insight to fight massive global problems such as poverty, climate change and inequality.
This is significant because all possible stakeholders – governments, NGOs, academia, industry, market research firms – are forming a close-knit partnership. The biggest impact of this initiative is enhanced effectiveness of programs of the governments, foundations and businesses. http://www.paragonpartnerships.com/
Typically, the partners, through the open-platform share ideas, will share data and insights to address key global challenges. This platform will be a boon to the recently agreed United Nations Global Goals for achieving its sustainability development goals.
The Paragon portal states: “With no one single body or organization able to find a solution to all of these challenges, Paragon has been created to be a single information source together with research bodies and industry.”
Stan Sthanunathan, senior VP, consumer and market insights, Unilever said: “In a rapidly-changing world, we cannot operate in silos. The past year has set the precedent with highly ambitious goals and frameworks created to address the global sustainability and development challenges that we all face.”
Jane Frost, CEO of MRS said, “This year MRS, now in its 70th year, is celebrating a core value of the market research sector: helping people talk to power. Unilever’s Paragon partnership, which we are delighted to support, is an excellent practical example of the way that ethically-sourced research can be used for good, giving more people a voice and more organizations a chance to listen.”
