Thomas Bullock,
Ocean Spray CEO,
in the News
by Hal Brown
Ocean Spray President and CEO Thomas Bullock is quoted extensively in an article in the
March, 1999 of American Demographics Magazine entitled "Intelligence Agents" by
Sara Eckel. The article discusses how marketing research functions within the context of a
consumer company's profit making goals. "Intelligence Agents" looks
at the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) David Ogilvy Awards and their seven
outstanding marketing programs. Mr. Bullock in among several top management
executives who were interviewed for the essay.
Author Eckel notes that Corporate leaders are working to "redefine, even reinvent,
the role of research in these fiercely competitive times." In recent years companies
have renamed their market research departments much as Personnel Departments gave
way to Human Relations Departments a decade ago. Market Research at Ocean Spray, and at
Campbell Soup Company is now called Consumer Insight. At Ralston-Purina, not that
the well-fed critters can tell the difference, the same department is Information
Management. At Procter & Gamble, you'll now find the old Market Research Department
behind the door marked the Department of Consumer Market and Knowledge.
Thomas Bullock is quoted as saying "they still gather data and crunch numbers, but I
don't want them to deliver information as much as insights."
Eckel writes "....Ocean Spray's Bullock, who says he has seen the product -
development cycle of his company cut in half in the past five years. 'At one time an
18-month or 20-month cycle was a fast, efficient cycle. Now it has to happen in eight to
nine months,' he says. 'Everyone is able to compete faster and they can copy faster, so
you have to have the next thing.' "
"Market research is not a substitute for good judgment, adds Bullock. 'The risk is
that rather than making a decision, people will want to go back and research again. But
you need to stop at some point. That's the job of Consumer Insight: to know when they've
gone far enough.' "
"Intelligence
Agents"
by Sara Eckel
in the March issue of American Demographics Magazine
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