Mumbai: Ipsos India has bagged two prestigious awards at the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) organized, the Golden Key Awards 2023 (GKA 2023). The awards won were in the categories of the Most Effective Storyteller (won jointly with Nestlé and the Best Operations Team of the Year. The awards were held on February 21st, 2024 at The Leela Ambience Hotel, Gurugram.  

The Most Effective Storyteller award was for the acclaimed recognition of the paper produced in collaboration with Nestlé, that underscored the significance of fundamental storytelling elements in conveying meaningful insights. As the the widely accepted adage goes: Insights are delivered, stories are heard, and movies leave a lasting impact - this encapsulated the distinctive aspect of the winning paper.

It adopted a novel approach of movie-based storytelling, to vividly illustrate the experiences of Generation Z. The team of Ipsos, Shelly Jain (research director, Ipsos UU), Maitreyi Mangrati (executive director, service line leader, Synthesio), and Ashwini Sirsikar (group service line leader, Ipsos UU and Synthesio), confabulated and conceptualized this innovative approach. And complemented by key inputs from client partner, Nestlé and Abhinav Goel (lead consumer insights, Nestlé). Ergo, the collective effort redefined the power of storytelling, delivering impactful insights.

“Generation Z is a not only a very important target set for Nestlé but also reflects on the new employees entering the workforce. To understand them in reality, Ipsos conducted an important research, understanding the cohort in detail and more importantly bringing  them alive in a unique way that aroused the curiosity of all the stakeholders,” said Nestlé director strategy and marketing communication, South Asia region Chandan Mukherji.

“Ipsos India is a strong advocate for using the storytelling principles for delivering insights. We realised that we needed to do something different for the insights to be impactful and memorable since there was already so much that was known about Gen Z. Short, engaging and well woven, data-led business narratives are the need of the hour and what better way to deliver insights than using the magic of cinema! We used the classical story arc to build and deliver the narrative in the form of a short movie, complete with a trailer to create excitement, expert speak and a meet with the cast on the big day,” stated Ipsos UU and Synthesio group service line leader Ashwini Sirsikar.

In case of the 2nd win, for the Best Operations Team of the Year Award, public affairs executive director Mridula Mishra elaborated, “Pey Jal Survekshan was done in 485 major cities in India where views of citizens were captured for the water supply related services provided by the Urban Local Bodies. We reached out to 5 lac plus citizens in this process and provided meaningful insights to the client for planning the next course of action.”

Ipsos India operations director Meghana Kelkar said, “The Ipsos Operations team was honoured with the Best Operations Team of the Year award at the MRSI Golden Key Awards, 2023. We also had the distinction of shortlisting of two finalists in the same category. We demonstrated operational excellence as we successfully conducted the world's largest sanitation & cleanliness survey, the Swachh Bharat Survekshan Urban & Swachh Bharat Survekshan Grameen, and the Pey Jal survey, India's first unique urban water quality survey. It's a matter of immense pride to win one and for the other project to be a finalist in this prestigious category. Our work was on full display at the great GKA 2023 platform."

Apart from the research team led by Mridula Mishra and her team. The Operations team comprised of Meghana S Kelkar (operations director), Surojit Podder (associate director-field), Sonia Marwah, (associate director-field), Dilip Mishra (associate director- field) and Jaspreet Singh (senior manager-field).

Ipsos in India CEO Amit Adarkar expressed his joy with the stellar performance by his teams. He said, "It is a matter of great pride and honour for everyone in Ipsos, that our two teams have picked up these much coveted awards. While it is our constant  endeavour to provide clients with the best in class solutions and deliver impactful work to provide them with the market leading position, awards validate our work. For us, the total of 8 finalists on the GKA 2023 is in itself a significant achievement. We keep the tempo going."    

Golden Key Awards

MRSI Golden Key Awards recognize and celebrate Research and Researchers contributing to growth in their clients' business. Research is a critical foundation for business success, albeit the work done by researchers can be a ‘behind the doors’ activity supporting the more visible brand, marketing and business strategy.

MRSI instituted the Golden Key Awards in 2019 to recognize the contribution of insights for the growth of the business.

MRSI Golden Key Awards 2023 continue to be a beacon of recognition and celebration, honoring the vital role of research & insights and researchers in driving business growth. In a world where research often operates behind the scenes, supporting the more visible facets of branding, marketing, and business strategy, these awards serve as a platform to shine a well-deserved spotlight on the dedicated professionals in the field.

The 2023 edition is set to take place at The Leela Ambiance, Gurgaon on 21 February 2024.