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March 7th 2025
Herbert's World #17 - From the DACH Dinner 2024 to the Council 2025
Issue No. 17 of the Mafo.de column ‘Herbert's World’!
Our CEO Herbert Höckel has been elected to the ESOMAR Council! In his latest column, he outlines, among other things, the last (almost) 30 years and his path to the highest body in the industry.
Enjoy reading!
Please allow me to start this column with a leap into my distant past: my first encounter with the ESOMAR organisation was more than a quarter of a century ago.
Back then, in 1997, as an industry novice, I attended my first international congress in Istanbul. Looking back, it was an impressive experience that left a lasting impression on me. I was immediately fascinated by the internationality, high-calibre discussions and non-stop presentations. Ever since then, the European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR) has played an important role for me, especially when it comes to the big picture in the world of market research.
Leap forward to the year 2023: the ESOMAR Congress in Amsterdam.
As always, I was an accredited visitor, but for several reasons I realised that the German-speaking colours within ESOMAR had diminished considerably. DACH representatives present? Almost a complete absence. The event itself also seemed to suffer, at least to me it seemed strangely tired and perhaps still sceptical so soon after Corona. This impression plus the clear lack of German-Austrian-Swiss representation was enough to raise the question:
How can we change that? How can we make local market and social research more visible and vital again in the international community?
This was followed the following year by the ‘DACH Dinner’ before ESOMAR 2024 in Athens as a new, very special impetus in this matter. The result: 35 German-speaking participants sat together over dinner with a view of the Acropolis. So a good start had been made.
(For those interested, here is my summary of the dinner and congress in Athens)
From the DACH Dinner to the new ESOMAR Council!
This first step in Athens was followed by the second: my official application for the next ESOMAR Council. And as of last Monday, it is now official: my campaign was successful and I am a proud new member of this important body!
Very soon - and until 2028 - I will therefore be able to help shape the fate of ESOMAR. Together with Anne-Sophie Damelincourt as the new President and seven other outstanding experts from international market research.
From the new legislature onwards, I really do have the opportunity and mandate not only to represent the DACH region on the big stage, but also to bring valuable impetus to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. An exchange that should build bridges between the countries, players and institutes.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my special thanks to the German ESOMAR representatives Claudia Kuhlmann and Andreas Knappstein, who encouraged me to apply for the Council in the first place. Thanks also to Orkan Dolay, who stood as a candidate himself in 2023, and Kristin Luck, who actively helped shape ESOMAR for many years. I have benefited greatly from many valuable tips from both of them over the past few weeks. Thank you both!
My very personal election campaign …
For me, the past few weeks have seemed almost surreal because I have been running my own election campaign at the same time as the German parties. Which, incidentally, was nowhere near as polarising as on the big political stage. Instead, the election period for the Council was fair, professional and collegial at all times. Truly exemplary.
For anyone who is considering running for the ESOMAR Council, here are some figures, measures and results from my campaign:
- Over 50 calls (video and telephone) with the trade press, the ADM, BVM, DGOF and VMÖ associations and other supporters
- Several campaign mailings and reminders to almost 5,000 national and international recipients
- Video shoots, photo shoots and several reels
- A German and English-language website just for the election campaign
A short interjection explicitly to the ADM, the BVM, the DGOF and the VMÖ: Thank you for your support! And yes, I am very aware of the special position of German-language market research in the international arena and will know how to defend our claim.
LinkedIn as a key channel for the campaign!
My most important platform during the election campaign was LinkedIn, because that's where things really got going over the past four weeks:
- Among other things, with 17 posts (eight video posts, six picture posts and three more personal posts)
- This led to 37,812 impressions and 6,624 members reached on LinkedIn
- They in turn responded 984 times, left 230 comments and 97 reposts
And then there was succeet25 in Wiesbaden!
succeet 2025 was undoubtedly the best international event for market research ever! A celebration for the industry that will help us all move forward. For me personally, it was also an opportunity to hold numerous important discussions about my candidature. And I was really pleased that Otto Hellwig from DGOF also spoke in my favour at ResearchPlus! Thanks to you too, Otto!
So, enough navel-gazing. Because now the work begins! I'll be at the ESOMAR office in Amsterdam for the first time in April 2025 for the constituent meeting. I already clearly stated my core objectives during the campaign: That ESOMAR should become even more digital, networked, international, accessible and inclusive.
The following milestones will be important this year:
- The call for papers for the ESOMAR Congress 2025 in Prague (in autumn) ends on 7 March. As their new representative, I hope for active participation from German-speaking countries.
- DACH dinner for the second time! On Sunday 28 September, AMR & moweb are hosting the next big networking event. The invitation to the event on the banks of the beautiful Vltava will follow in good time.
- In November 2025, an ‘ESOMAR Connect’ event will also take place at Deutsche Welle in Bonn, organised by the aforementioned Claudia Kuhlmann and Andreas Knappstein. This is another important industry event that I will inform you about in due course
Another personal note from the campaign.
In the past really ‘hot election weeks’, I have received many personal and, above all, emotional statements from old and new supporters. I am still moved by the fact that they all see me, of all people, as the right candidate.
I don't want to disappoint them - or anyone else, of course. I have great respect and humility for the responsibility that comes with being a member of the Council. I want to bring this to life with passion, commitment and a clear view of the future.
The journey has only just begun and I look forward to you - dear readers of marktforschung.de - joining me on it.
Herbert Höckel is a managing partner here at moweb research GmbH. He has been a market researcher for more than 25 years. In 2004 he founded moweb GmbH, which he is still the owner today. moweb from Düsseldorf operates internationally and is one of the first German market research institutes specializing in digital processes.