The participant is the oil in our ecosystem – with Jamin Brazil from HubUX (Live at SampleCon)

Episode Summary

Welcome to another short version of the Through Your Looking Glass podcast, recorded at SampleCon. It is our pleasure to present the powerhouse in the Sample Industry, Jamin Brazil.

Jamin is the Chairman at HubUX and the Host of the Happy Market Research podcast. In this episode he joins host, Patrick Comer, to share stories from his career.

Jamin and Patrick  touch upon the impact COVID-19 had on the market research industry and discuss the future of the ResTech space.

Guest-At-A-Glance

Name: Jamin Brazil

What she does: Jamin is the Chairman at HubUX and the Host of the Happy Market Research podcast.

Company: HubUX

Key Quote: ”We’re seeing a lot of growth in niche audiences. It’s always been there, but it’s amazing to me how important it is for big brands.”

Key Insights

• It is all about the people first. Jamin is the host of Happy Market Research, a podcast on a mission to connect people. It is a unique concept where different types of speakers share their stories, learn from each other, and even close deals. ”We have a variety of different types of speakers. And we are talking about market research specifically. It’s usually the stuff around the edges. So storytelling or empathy is a big thing that we’ve seen; lately, self-care is coming up a lot.”
• Jamin is an introvert who was looking forward to this year’s SampleCon. We came out of a pretty challenging period. No one was spared, but as our guest states, even introverts were craving for human connection. ”I’m an introvert by nature, and I have always struggled with a little bit of social anxiety. And so now it’s about flexing the muscle again to get back in the habit of being comfortable around classical hours and that kinda thing. So for me, it’s a very fun, willing, energizing environment. Speakers are great, but I think more than anything, it’s about the opportunity to be able to shake hands or give hugs or elbows or whatever people are comfortable with, which we’ve been starved for the last year and a half.”
• The participant is the oil in our whole ecosystem. According to Jamil, the market research space doesn’t exist without participants. Therefore, it is a market researcher’s job to take good care of them. ”So it’s never been more important for us to understand how we get quality participants and how we see what that jury looks like for them to decrease the churn rates, et cetera, et cetera. There’s a lot of fixing anything we can do, now that they’re kind of like the bones of using the analogy of raw materials, now that the conveyor belt is in place. We’ve got to streamline that so that we continue to create a positive environment for them.”

“It is all about people first.”

Episode Highlights

Happy MR, a Podcast That Connects People

”We are at 430 episodes. So, that’s years of work, quite a few years of work, and a lot of interviews. We have been able to surface some very interesting stories about the operators inside of this space. And the intent of the show is to create a human connection.

It lunches every week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 to 11:30 Pacific time. Ten minutes of a speaker and then 20 minutes of breakout rooms, about six people per room, learn one thing, have fun and make new connections. That’s the goal. Deals are done from it, so, if you’re in sales, it’s a great way to connect with brands.”

Introducing HubUX

”Our target customer or brands, the custom community, is a big growth area among brands. We’re approaching it from the platform itself from a participant’s first experience. So you can think about mobile, 70% of our participants are on mobile. We do video audition questions.

So, if a brand wants to do five quick turns like tonight. Then they just post up their screener, ask a specific question about the topic, and then they can, in real-time, view how people are answering, and then they pick those people, and then they book the interviews and do the interviews on Zoom or whatever platform that they want. The same thing happens on the survey.”

“The participant is the oil in our whole ecosystem.”

What the Future Holds for the Sample

 Industry

”When you think about ResTech, well actually, when you think about thetoolsets that are now enabling us to connect with consumers, they’re easier to use than ever before.

It’s, in every way, like a scalpel. So, as I’ve said many times, ‘Just because I have a scalpel doesn’t mean I should do surgery.’

But what’s interesting is now with, pick on SurveyMonkey for a minute, they have question recommenders. So they have data scientists who are professional market researchers, and they have created templates, typically designed instruments. If you execute that as a nonprofessional practitioner, then you can get real insights. And so what we see is the democratization of insight utilization across the organization.”