by Josh Bernoff
As you may have read on blogs from Jeremiah, David, and Emily, we convened a little pow-wow here in Cambridge this week. We included not only the new members of our team from Jupiter -- David Card, Emily Riley, Barry Parr, and Michael Greene -- but our European analysts covering social computing -- Rebecca Jennings, Mary Beth Kemp, Christine Overby, and Jaap Favier -- and our analysts looking at marketing at technology companies, Peter Burris, Laura Ramos, and Oliver Young. We also included some of our research support staff including our data expert, Cynthia Pflaum.
As the "Chief Groundswell Officer" at Forrester and instigator of this get-together, I have to say this was the most empowering event I've been a part of in years.
First of all, I was pleased to see that not only are the Jupiter and European analysts open to being a part of this movement, but our thinking is highly compatible. The Jups are a bit more media-focused, and the Europeans have their own way of looking at this, but it's clear the Groundswell phenomenon is global and that marketers everywhere want to be a part of it.
This was an internal meeting, but I'll share that we generated a whole bunch of new research ideas, critiqued and improved our consulting offerings for marketers, and busted our heads developing a common understanding of the tools we use, such as the Social Technographics Profile and the wiki on which we all share our examples and concepts.
Before this it felt a little like I was trying to hold everything together with my fingernails -- demand for our services seems endless, as more and more marketers need help with social applications. After this, I felt more like we were a team with some pretty amazing strengths and a strong bench. I would trust any of these analysts to help a company with its social applications. In other words, "Yes, it blends!"
We also had a bit of fun making smoothies with my Blendtec blender.
I wouldn't normally write so much about an internal meeting, but this gives me confidence that you'll see a whole lot more insights from all over Forrester as the team gets going. These are not shy people, and they are thinking about your problems. We look forward to helping you, and impressing you.
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