Interview with Frits Spangenberg
Frits Spangenberg founded Motivaction in 1984, and was the company's General Director until the end of 2005. Spangenberg is still closely involved with the company. He acts as consultant and gives lectures and workshops both nationally and abroad. He also provides training programs for Motivaction personnel. Spangenberg is the former president of ESOMAR, a global organization that aims to enhance the research into markets, consumers and societies. He will be member of the council untill the end of 2010.
'The greatest challenge facing organizations is establishing a sufficient connection with consumers and other players in the field. This is why Motivaction takes a close look at what motivates people, and our goal is to know the most about what is going on in society. With the aid of our research results, our clients should be able to improve their own performance. This was the driving force behind my decision to start Motivaction. Over the years, a second ambition materialized, to translate the practical application of the consequences of rapidly changing social relationships. It is not only essential for businesses and government institutions to proactively monitor these changes, but to also apply them in their policies. In this respect, we have a long way to go. Motivaction has demonstrated its grasp of these changes and is able to advise organizations how they may best respond to them.
The greatest challenge facing organizations is establishing a sufficient connection with consumers and other players in the field.
Market research is a varied sector in which to work. Every day you get to explore new topics, come into contact with new people, and are exposed to new insights. This keeps your mind flexible. The changes within society are always surprising. They lead to new patterns with repeats from previous times, but always appear in new, different combinations. As we now know, the right combination is not determined by chance. It is important to know that we have a hand in guiding the future, and that it's not the unpredictable course of events that determines the course of history.
One of the innovations characterizing Motivaction's history is the development of the Mentality™-model in 1996. Mentality™ is one of the most distinctive tools we use, and provides insights that other agencies don't have.
People's jobs, living environments, media use and choice of partner do not come about by chance. People determine their opinions, lifestyles and behavior on the basis of acquired values. It is important for organizations to familiarize themselves with these values for each target group segment and to be able to respond to them. Motivaction has in-house specialists who perform qualitative and quantitative research, as well as experts in the field of Mentality and segmentation research.
Another important angle is the human dimension, and questions about day-to-day life. Take technological development, for example. This is only increasing in speed and depth, but does not mean that people are automatically shifting gears to keep up. It is becoming increasingly important to listen to what motivates people, in order to ensure that developments are attuned to users' wishes. This starts in the immediate environments of family, home, and work. The borders between amateur and professional observations are vague and overlapping. All the more reason to listen carefully to individuals and take them seriously, regardless of their age, education, or background, and to make them participants in our future scenarios, in an inspirational manner. Motivaction can make a systematic contribution to these processes.'