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21. Mai 2025
Building more bridges again between DACH and ESOMAR
We present: Issue No. 18 of the Mafo.de column ‘Herbert's World’!
In his latest column, our CEO Herbert Höckel talks about the terrible fraud case in the USA (keyword: ‘ants’), about more attitude, controlling and sanctions in the industry and, of course, a lot about ESOMAR and its relationship with the DACH region in MaFo. Enjoy reading!
Herberts World #18
What a few weeks it's been. A new federal government (finally) enters the big national stage and a new pope (Leo!) appears on what is probably the biggest stage of all. Plus the almost usual madness in all other corners of the world. And even on the international MaFo stage, a lot has happened. Keyword: New ESOMAR Council, in which I am allowed to participate for the next three years, together with the new wonderful President Anne-Sophie Damelincourt and the very committed Council colleagues.
Let's hope that all the current restarts point to a positive future. Unfortunately - and this should not be overlooked at this point - we have been shocked by this unbelievable case of fraud in the USA for a few weeks now, which has damaged the reputation of the industry as a whole. A truly unpleasant case involving so-called ‘ants’, i.e. fraudulent individuals who posed as legitimate survey participants and thus caused damage totalling an alleged 10 million euros. MaFo's self-regulation did not work in this case and unfortunately turned out to be a toothless tiger. Presumably also because the management personnel of the suspected companies themselves had been coordinating internationally for years and had deliberately acted criminally. This then called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) onto the scene and ultimately the US Attorney filed a lawsuit.
It only works with: Transparency, transparency, transparency!
I don't want to dwell on this topic too much at this point. In the past two weeks, there have been enough good comments from almost all associations and some clever minds that I can only agree with.
Hartmut Scheffler, for example, said at this point that the market and opinion research industry still makes far too little use of all the possibilities for data control and quality assurance and that the relevant national and international guidelines are too often not adhered to and that he can therefore only recommend one thing: ‘In addition to fair payment for better quality [...] transparency, transparency, transparency!“
We need attitude, controlling and sanctions at all levels!
The ADM also said in a press statement: ‘The industry cannot and must not simply go about its daily business and must learn from this and draw consequences! The generation of falsified survey data is criminal and can only be prevented through the consistent application of binding industry guidelines and quality standards, which above all demand ethical behaviour, transparency, quality and scientific traceability.’ The ADM is therefore urging us all to adopt a better attitude and to exercise more control at all levels. That's right. However, I would like to add ‘sanctions’ to this!
The membership of Slice MR and associated persons in ESOMAR and the Insights Association has now been suspended. This is a step that I very much welcome as a Council member, although - and this must also be said here - the final legal outcome is of course still pending. If Slice MR is found guilty, the memberships will be cancelled for good, but that could take years in America. Until then, the presumption of innocence applies, even though the child has already fallen into the well and the reputation of the industry as a whole has been tarnished.
Speaking of ESOMAR and back to the good news in this column!
Together with the aforementioned Anne-Sophie Damelincourt, the Council's first meeting at the beginning of April in Amsterdam was a veritable whirlwind of fresh perspectives and valuable information to jointly shape the future of market research. Also, or perhaps precisely because of these technically revolutionary times.
There were already clear priorities in terms of content: An even stronger focus on the members of ESOMAR (‘Member Centricity’) and the digital transformation of the global association.
Of course, as the German representative, I would like to take the liberty of focussing on my own topics in addition to those mentioned: building more bridges again! This means actively representing the interests of the DACH region at ESOMAR and, conversely, making the world's largest association in Germany, Austria and Switzerland even better known and more popular.
The DACH dinner in Athens becomes DACH drinks in Prague.
You will surely remember: On the eve of the last ESOMAR Congress 2024 in Athens, we were able to enjoy the first ‘DACH Dinner’ with a view of the Acropolis. An event especially for attending delegates from ADM, BVM, DGOF, SWISS INSIGHTS & VMÖ. In the end, we were almost 40 experts, all with the aim of strengthening the German-speaking MaFo community again.
After the positive feedback last year, ‘DACH-Drinks in Praha’ will now follow this autumn. On 28 September in a beautiful rooftop bar with a view of the Moldova! By strengthening and (hopefully) expanding our community, we would like to gain further influence, shape the congress even more with our impulses and also become a little more audible compared to the recent past. The invitations will follow in good time, further information will of course be available here on marktforschung.de and also on weloveresearch.com.
Last but not least: ESOMAR Connect in Bonn.
Our two new ESOMAR representatives Claudia Kuhlmann and Andreas Knappstein are already hard at work organising this year's edition of ‘ESOMAR Connect’. The event for almost 200 participants is planned for 5 November 2025 in Bonn. Great presentations and exciting insights in a historic and inspiring location on the grounds of Deutsche Welle - including a look behind the scenes of the globally active media organisation. More information will follow and registration will open shortly.
Habemus Papam.
Finally, I will allow myself a word about the new Pope. Because in his first speech on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, he also spoke about ‘building bridges together, with dialogue, with encounters, to unite us all’. I don't think you have to be a believer to find such a statement good, especially in these times, and to simply repeat it at this point. Let's join hands, let's build bridges and let's find each other!
Herbert Höckel ist geschäftsführender Gesellschafter hier bei bei der moweb research GmbH. Seit mehr als 25 Jahren ist er Marktforscher. 2004 gründete er die moweb GmbH, welche er bis heute als Inhaber führt. Die moweb aus Düsseldorf ist international tätig und eines der ersten deutschen, auf digitale Verfahren spezialisierte Marktforschungsinstitute.