Jane Frost, CEO MRS T Connecting the dots he special report in this issue (see pages 22-30) is just one of the fruits of a 12-month collaboration between the MRS and global professional services firm Accenture. It explores how organisations measure brand purpose and the role of data analytics in the process. I am very grateful to those of you who completed a survey on this topic over the summer. At the start of the survey, we defined brand purpose as being: The reason why something exists. For companies, it is the foundation of every experience, it is the underlying essence that makes a brand relevant and necessary. We should, as a sector, be taking a lead and applying all our extensive experience to achieving greater transparency and consistency in how purpose is measured. It can only help our stakeholders to have well-understood, shared evaluation criteria. We need to deploy and integrate data analysis and artificial intelligence systems with other qual and quant techniques to achieve this. In our research, 43% of client respondents felt that Covid-19 had either had some or a high degree of impact on their brand purpose strategy. Many reported that before the pandemic no-one knew where we were going, and it helped us consider who we are, what were supposed to do and why. For more on this research project, visit mrs.org.uk/ brandpurpose This project naturally led me to reflect on the purpose of the MRS. How necessary are we? In particular, how well we have or havent delivered on that promise to protect, promote and connect the research sector over the past few years. Fortunately, I have had enough feedback from our members to believe that we supported them well through the pandemic, and the MRS Annual Review 2021-22 details our tireless lobbying of government and support of specific groups such as fieldworkers and small business owners (see mrs.org.uk/annualreview). In fact, MRS became a reference for other associations searching for a case study in how to respond in a crisis. Our role is always to be leading from the front, driving the sector forward and anticipating the next set of challenges so that our members are prepared with the resources and information they need. You will notice how the MRS Awards 2022, Annual Conference 2023, and our programme of one-day conferences and training have all been designed to meet the need for relatable and applicable guidance across the kind of issues that keep us all awake at night. I do hope you feel that MRS continues to meet its stated purpose. For me, that means treating every individual member, every company partner, and every customer as an individual entity with their own specific requirements for whom we do our very best to tailor our services. Purpose should indeed be the foundation of every experience, so if thats not your reality, please let us know and well do our best to make that happen. Sector and MRS news A merit for Ayesh Ayesh Jayawardana from Sri Lanka is the rst student to complete the MRS Certicate in Market Research after it was made free to sponsored students on the ESOMAR Foundation. This initiative is to support students from disadvantaged socioeonomic backgrounds who are interested in a career in research. Ayesh said: I am really happy about my grade and that I get a good solid foundation in research. OUTsights podcast The latest OUTsights podcast talks to YouthSights Josephine Hansom about young LGBTQ+ consumers, and gets BTs Clare Woodwards take on conducting inclusive research. Hear this at mrs.org.uk/about/pride International research perspectives See senior research professionals from across the globe discuss the key issues facing research today at mrs.org.uk 55 Impact ISSUE 39 2022_pp54-57_MRS.indd 55 23/09/2022 15:27