Data Driven Insights 2025

09.00 Registration and breakfast 

09.25 Welcome from the Chair
Ben Walton, Chief Commercial Officer, Walr

09.30 MRS Keynote
More details coming soon!

10.00 Panel: Shaping the next decade of data-driven insights
Over the next decade, data-driven insights will play a vital role in accelerating decision-making, deepening understanding of customers and the public, and strengthening confidence in strategic and commercial decisions. This session will explore how developments in AI-powered analytics, synthetic data, data integration, and data governance are set to transform insight generation and reshape business models and research practices.
Chair: Louisa Livingston, Founder & Director, Forward Thought & member, MRS Advanced Insights and Analytics Council
Panellists:
Ajay Mathur, Data Governance Leader, Motability Operations
Eileen Irvin, Co-Head, Survey Research Methods Centre, Ipsos
Jonathan Williams, Founder, One Strategy Studio
Julian Watson, Founder & Director, Sketch Insight

10.35 Enhancing Network Rail’s digital audience understanding
Network Rail sought to enhance its digital communication strategy by gaining a deeper understanding of its diverse audience groups and prioritising engagement with key segments. This presentation will demonstrate how data-driven audience understanding moved beyond basic digital audience measures, using content, engagement, and influence metrics to build a richer understanding of 11 key audience segments, with media, transportation bodies, and industry professionals emerging as the most influential.
Hear how Network Rail used data-driven insights to refine its communication strategy through understanding stakeholder interactions across digital platforms. This ensured that targeted messaging aligned with strategic goals, maximising impact and fostering stronger engagement with key groups.
Ceira Rutledge, Principal, Yonder Consulting
Alice Bresciani, Strategic Insight Director, Yonder Consulting
Andrew Regan, Head of Research and Insight, Network Rail
Caren Osborne, Senior Strategic Communications Manager, Network Rail

11.05 Morning refreshments

11.35 How Just Eat Takeaway is empowering local teams with data-driven insights
Just Eat Takeaway (JET) is a digitally native business with a longstanding focus on data-led decision-making, both tactically and strategically. 
To support the individual insight needs of local markets, the Global Insight team (in partnership with Basis Research) runs a programme of local-market ‘Connected Reviews’ each year. These include local briefing sessions and bespoke, narrative-led debriefs, integrating multiple data sources (everything from AI analysis of unstructured social data and customer closeness transcripts through to the fusing of attitudinal survey data with internal behavioural data).
This case study showcases how the effective integration of multiple, diverse datasets is truly driving decision-making across a complex, global business.
Olly Robinson, Senior Director, Basis
Liam Laville, Global Head of Insight, Just Eat Takeaway

12.05 Optimising propositions to drive switching behaviours: a data-driven approach at Trainline
Trainline sought to identify the most effective levers to convert non-users across the UK, France, Italy, and Spain. 35-45 potential actions were identified and evaluated —ranging from brand messaging to product features.
This session will explore the trade-off exercise that quantified the impact of each action on switching behaviour, identifying those considered both important and persuasive. It will examine how these insights which fed into a simulator model, estimated revenue impact and guided strategic decisions.
Hear how this model has been central to Trainline’s investment in brand and product features, ensuring data-driven decision-making with tangible business impact.
James Hinde, Research Director, DJS Research
Natalie Delahunty, Head of Brand Insight, Trainline

12.35 Lunch

13.40 Decoding TikTok beyond conventional analytics
As TikTok reshapes social trends, traditional analytics often miss key insights by focusing only on metadata. This session explores a six-month study using Exolyt’s VideoAI toolbox to analyse TikTok's visual content alongside metadata, revealing emerging trends and consumer behaviours.
The presentation will highlight how AI powered video analysis enabled brands to dive deeper into TikTok communities and identify brand-specific and industry relevant consumer shifts and market movements. It will also show how researchers and strategists can integrate video insights into market studies, trend analysis, and strategic decision-making providing a qualitative edge to data-driven market research.
Tigran Khachatryan, Senior Data Scientist, Exolyt

14.10 Uncovering invisible engagement: an observational data-driven approach for predictive social media analytics
Traditionally used social media metrics, such as likes, comments, shares or impressions fail to capture real consumer engagement, often leaving key marketing questions unanswered. This case study showcases how uncovering invisible engagement, can help brands move beyond vanity metrics to gain a true, data-driven understanding of consumer engagement, ultimately driving more impactful business decisions.
Explore how L’Oréal partnered with Tracey.ai to uncover the power of invisible engagement including dwell time, expanding posts, browsing content, searching for brand-related information or saving posts. Hear how the AI-driven methodology provided scenarios for effective campaign architecture leading L’Oréal to optimise its campaigns.
Petra Audy, Founder & Managing Director, Tracey.ai
Zuzana Kalistova, Consumer & Market Intelligence Manager, L’Oréal CZ/SK/HU

14.40 Session TBC

15.10 Afternoon refreshments

15.30 Empowering stakeholders with self-service insights and driving operational efficiencies at Microsoft
Microsoft’s Business Sales Operations (BSO) team faced overwhelming internal queries, impacting the team’s efficiency. They were looking for a solution which would increase the BSO teams' productivity, whilst also empowering stakeholders to self-serve the information. 
The solution provided by Ipsos Data Labs was an AI-enabled chatbot called 'George' which has since seen exponential adoption across EMEA and is now a global initiative.
This session explores the methodology and impact of this forward-looking chatbot solution. Hear how Microsoft’s tools, together with Ipsos’s expertise in AI, automation and advanced analytics, came together to revolutionise insight democratisation across Microsoft.
Rayan Hafeel, Senior Consultant, Ipsos Data Labs
Senior Business Programme Manager, Microsoft

16.00 Accelerating business decisions through data governance and storytelling: creating a vibrant, data-driven culture
Organisations today face significant challenges due to fragmented and poorly defined data, often resulting in slow and ineffective decisions. In this session you’ll hear how Motability Operations transformed data driven decision making by integrating diverse business-critical datasets, building a robust data governance framework, and leveraging data storytelling to bridge gaps between technical teams and business stakeholders.
This presentation will demonstrate:

• The power of crafting compelling data stories to engage stakeholders
• Key data governance actions that improve transparency and trust in data
• How to become a more data-confident organisation with increased agility and quicker decision-making capabilities

Ajay Mathur, Data Governance Leader, Motability Operations

16.30 Panel: Doubling down on trust and integrity in our data

• From client to data collector: how should different players across the market research supply chain be collaborating to tackle key data quality issues
• Myth busting and addressing quality concerns relating to new practices in market research data collection
• Debating the robustness of new technologies and approaches for improving sample sourcing, data security and survey design
• Evaluating the role and efficacy of synthetic data for plugging the gaps

Lewis Reeves, CEO, Walr
Rebecca Hatherall, Chief Operations and Strategy Officer, System 1
Davide Tiberti, Head of Consumer Research, Which?

17.00 End of conference