For over 20 years, innovation and research agency buzzback has helped hundreds of brands worldwide better connect with consumers, break through marketing challenges, and grasp new opportunities. Major consumer, pharmaceutical and financial services companies have innovated using buzzback’s intuitive image-driven & language-rich approaches. The business was founded to take advantage of emerging technologies to help companies get close to their customers – and has pioneered the use of technology in insight and innovation ever since.
Headquartered in NYC, with offices in the UK, buzzback has won numerous industry and technology awards, including being listed as one of Crain’s 100 Best Places to Work in NYC three years in a row. Buzzback is a woman-owned diversity supplier.
Kindly Give us an overview of your background and your role in the company.
As founder and CEO of buzzback, Carol Fitzgerald is an experienced senior-level executive with proven success in the management of both established and start-up companies. Passionate about innovation, Carol spotted the potential of using what was then new technology to do consumer research back in 2000 and has driven the use of technology in insights ever since. She is a recipient of both the Enterprising Women of the Year and International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Foundation Awards, both of which highlight her strong dedication to helping those in her community and female business owners through education, access and mentorship. In addition, about half of buzzback employees are women, many of whom have been with the company for 10+ years.
What were the past experiences, achievement or lessons that shaped your journey as a successful leader?
People often ask me the biggest challenge I have faced – running a marathon, having twins or founding a business – and I can certainly say founding and then running a business is high on my list. To start, there was a great deal of scepticism about using the internet for consumer research at a time when the worldwide web was just getting going. Most clients did not have internet access at work. They were nervous about doing research online, often asking “how representative is the internet?” We spent to the first few years proving our credibility, highlighting how using the internet can be a valid way to get close to and understand people. But it was also so important to create a company culture with flexibility, where people could create value for the business by being supported and included. I had no idea that would take off – but it did and has become a hallmark of our culture.
Kindly mention some of the Important challenges that you faced during the initial phase of your journey.
Looking back, we were ahead of our time and it took longer to establish credibility and win adoption of our techniques than I had realised. Then it was also a challenge to show the value in the way we work – we have always been flexible and agile although it is something clients have only really started adopting in the last couple of years and now even more through the pandemic. Today we all work from home, do research online and we expect it. And that will likely continue in one way or a nother. But when we started it was a challenge.
Describe some of the vital attributes that every transformational leader should possess.
. You can’t run a 26.2 mile marathon without training. As Edison says “success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” In that, in order to lead you need to work hard, and be seen as working hard. Of course you need to set clear goals, have a vision, and communicate effectively but I am a believer that behavior best demonstrates leadership – working with my colleagues is the best way to lead. So in terms of attributes, I guess it would be having a passion for what you do that drives you to be the best you can be.
How do you innovate your products/solutions that appeal to your target audience?
After 20 years, it’s easy to look backwards, not so easy to look forward. It’s a continuous journey with an even bumpier road now. However, one thing I do know is our vision hasn’t changed: to create a fun and intuitive way to engage consumers, to understand them as people first – who they are, how they live and what motivates them. That’s inherent in our techniques and methodologies, and core to all of our work.
How are disruptive technologies impacting today’s innovation and how has the role of a leader has changed over the years?
Agile is the mantra. We have seen this become the way to innovate with our clients through applying test and learn. This means being able to embrace failure. The role of a leader has changed, in that rather than being a distant figurehead, a leader also needs to be agile, to learn and grow with the business. If you don’t innovate you are dead in the water.
How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead?
We are well poised right now to become a global leader in insights innovation. We have the credibility, we have great client relationships, and we have an amazing team. While in truth the faster acceleration of change is the only thing I can truly predict, we will try to make the next 20 years even more successful than the first.
What is your advice for Fledgling women leaders?
Don’t limit your expectations by worrying about what others think of you. Set your goals and work hard to achieve them. Always do the very best you can. Stick with it!
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Quote
“Big data tells us what people are doing, but it is only by understanding the ‘why’ behind the (big) numbers that we can make sense of them. By understanding human emotions at a deeper level we can work out what influences behaviour and how to change it. Technology has brought us big data but it also has a big role to play in revealing those human emotions.”
