Seven takeaways from Quirk’s Event – Chicago 2025
Editor’s note: Kelvin Calveria, director of demand generation at Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. This is an edited version of an article that was originally published on Rival Technologies' blog.
Last week, the Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights teams touched down in the windy city for Quirk’s Event – Chicago 2025 – one of the biggest conferences in North America for insights leaders and market researchers.
With representation from CPG, food and beverage, beverage alcohol industry, retail, pharma and other major industries, this year's event brought together some of the sharpest minds in our industry.
If you missed this Quirk’s Event, or just want to relive the highlights, here are some of the biggest takeaways.
Quirk's Event – Chicago 2025 takeaways
Want a seat at the C-suite table? Start with ambition.
Pamela Forbus, SVP, global chief of insights and analytics at Mondelēz International, kicked things off with a powerful presentation on how to gain and retain a seat at the C-suite table.
Her advice? It starts with your mind-set.
“You have to want it,” she said. Ambition matters – but that's just the start.
Forbus walked us through her journey from advertising to insights, sharing how reinvention and continual learning helped her rise.
Her other big takeaway was don’t get stuck in research mode. Think business impact.
“Your role is to answer the big questions that the company is asking,” she reminded the audience. “Figure out how you can bring big thinking.”
Insights, marketing and vendors – get in sync
Scott Peiser, associate director of consumer insights, and Valerie Sokolova, senior brand manager of innovation, Kraft Hinz, talked about the magic that happens when everyone’s aligned – from insights to marketing to your external partners.
“From the marketing side, speed to insights with quality is very important,” said Sokolova.
That’s why alignment around timelines and transparency is so critical during both planning and execution.
Another great reminder: marketers don’t need to have all the answers.
Share the challenge, let your insights pros do their thing – and when the findings come in, be more than a messenger. Bring your POV and use effective storytelling to be a strategic partner.
Turn your stakeholders into champions
Karly Anderson, marketing analytics and research manager, and Denise Chariya, director of marketing, THOR Industries, offered a road map to making research matter more inside your organization.
Their key message: great research isn’t enough – it needs visibility and champions.
That means building relationships with stakeholders, understanding their needs and staying proactive. On the tech- and vendor-side, share case studies and new capabilities. On the brand-side, bring new learnings and get ahead of planning cycles.
One standout tip?
Create a simple one-pager outlining your research team's key methodologies and when to use them. It’s a great way to set expectations and educate your colleagues about what insights can bring to the table.
AI alone can’t decode emotion – humans still matter
Angelina Iturrian, senior director, consumer insights and analytics, Purpose Brands, shared a refreshingly balanced view of AI in research.
She reiterated that AI has its limits. From Iturrian’s POV, AI for research is most helpful when we already know a lot about the topic. Anything that requires something new or uncovering more nuances will still require keeping humans in the loop.
Her team used AI to analyze 400 interviews for a segmentation study – but didn’t stop there. Real researchers stepped in to surface emotional nuance through linguistic analysis.
“Emotion is a tough one for AI to understand,” Iturrian said.
And she’s right. When the goal is deeper and needs more human insight, AI is a tool – not the whole toolbox.
A big tip from Iturrian is activation and making sure your research is actionable. She recommended simple deliverables like one-pagers that bring your segmentation or personas to life in an easy-to-understand format.
Take credit for the impact of your segmentation research – it does help marketing, innovation and other teams do better work.
AI is here – so let’s help consumers feel good about it
Unsurprisingly, AI was everywhere at the Quirk’s Event – Chicago (even more so than Quirk's LA.) AI is proving to be the biggest market research trend in 2025. Many insight platforms are releasing exciting AI capabilities almost every week.
In her presentation, Diane Lauridsen, head of consumer and market insights, UScellular, reminded us to zoom out and think about how consumers feel about all this innovation.
“AI is not an anomaly. It’s here to stay,” she said.
The good news?
People love AI when it’s helpful – answering questions, recommending products, saving time.
The challenge?
Consumers are cautious when AI asks for personal data.
Lauridsen emphasized that it’s on brands to address AI anxiety and build trust through transparency and education. Help people understand what AI is doing and why it matters.
Great communities serve participants and stakeholders
Suzette Stapleton, CX research manager, Prudential Financial, gave a crash course in what it really takes to run a successful insight community.
Her advice? Treat it like a two-sided ecosystem.
On one side: the members. Make them feel welcome, incentivize participation and show how their input drives change.
On the other: the stakeholders and decision-makers who need to tap into the insights from your community. Talk to them, learn what they need and cocreate your research plan.
Stapleton’s session was a reminder that great insight communities aren’t just about collecting feedback – they’re about building bridges. Having the right strategy and using the right insight community platform can help!
Innovation means taking risks
Jonathan Dore, EVP and founding partner, Reach3 Insights, took the stage with Scott Healy, senior manager, insights and analytics, Cheez-It, Kellanova, to talk about the future of snacking and innovation testing.
Faced with the challenge of finding new product varieties for Cheez-It, Kellanova had two options: stick to the traditional approach or try something new. They chose the bold route – working with Reach3 and using the Rival platform to engage Gen Z and other hard-to-reach groups.
With a conversational, mobile-first approach, they blended quant, qual and video using AI along the way to dig into real snacking habits.
The result? Cheez-It Smoked Cheddar and Cheez-It Smoked Gouda – now on store shelves.
The crowd even got a taste – literally – because we gave some away during the Q&A!