Intellicast

The “No Sh*t, Sherlock” Episode

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian is joined by Matthew Alexander for a news-heavy, and slightly feisty, conversation covering mergers, data quality, respondent experience, and a brand-new recurring segment we didn’t know we needed: the “No Sh*t, Sherlock”* news section. The episode kicks off with a look at recent M&A activity, as Voxco’s owner, Terminus Capital Partners, acquires Discuss.io, merging the two brands under the Discuss name. Brian and Matthew talk about the ongoing wave of private equity–driven consolidation in the industry, and why so many deals now seem to be led by outside investors rather than research insiders. Next, they highlight Research Results’ new partnership with Verisoul, marking another big win for the fraud-detection newcomer. Henry LeGard and his team have gone from zero market research clients to over fifteen in less than a year, and both the guys agree it’s just the start of a larger industry shift toward fintech-grade data quality tools. The duo then dives into the latest releases from the Global Data Quality Initiative (GDQ), including new resources on participant incentives and procurement standards. While Brian sees these guidelines as an important step toward consistency, Matthew plays devil’s advocate: “How much impact can guidelines really have when there’s no incentive to follow them?” From there, the conversation gets spicy with the debut of the “No Sh*t, Sherlock” segment, tackling three headlines that state the obvious: * Poor customer experience costs companies trillions (who knew?). * Surveys are competing with social media for attention (no kidding). * Researchers want more time for research (join the club). Brian and Matthew share real-life stories about bad customer experiences, shrinking attention spans, and the ongoing disconnect between respondent expectations and survey design. It’s part vent session, part industry therapy, and all in good fun. Thanks for tuning in! Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here:  https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 [https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025] Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our website's Resources page here [https://emi-rs.com/resources/]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Evolution of Data Quality: Inside the Largest Fraud Study Ever Conducted with Henry LeGard of Verisoul

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian is joined by Henry LeGard, CEO and founder of the fraud detection company Verisoul, for an in-depth discussion on the evolving state of data quality and fraud detection in market research. We kick off the podcast by having Henry share how Verisoul, a company built initially to stop banking and fintech fraud, has quickly become one of the most talked-about new players in market research. He details how the company came to be, and how they entered the market research industry in 2025 with zero clients and are now protecting nearly 100 million survey clicks per month across the industry. Henry explains how Verisoul’s advanced fraud detection platform has had such a rapid impact on the industry. He shares how the team applied financial-grade fraud-prevention techniques to survey data collection, enabling them to detect and block the most sophisticated forms of digital fraud, including device spoofing, cross-continental proxy traffic, and bot farms operating at scale. From there, Brian and Henry dive into Verisoul’s newly released Market Research Quality Report, which Henry describes as the largest fraud analysis ever published in the industry. For the report, the team analyzed more than 50 million sessions across 3,700 mobile apps in 190 countries, using a new proprietary technology that can identify the exact app where each respondent originated. Henry explains how this innovation was crucial in uncovering real patterns of fraud across the ecosystem, revealing which app categories generate the cleanest and riskiest respondent traffic. Brian and Henry also discuss how Verisoul’s findings challenge many long-held assumptions about data quality. While larger apps and panels tend to have lower fraud rates, older respondent sources didn’t necessarily perform better. The study also found that just five mobile apps accounted for more than 10% of all detected fraud, underscoring how small clusters of bad respondent sources can distort large portions of the industry’s data. Later in the episode, Henry offers a perspective on the evolving sophistication of fraud, explaining that much of today’s market research fraud is human-driven rather than automated. Organized groups in low-income countries are using SIM card farms, aged burner domains, proxy networks, and more to appear as legitimate U.S. or European respondents. Henry and Brian also talk about how Verisoul’s recently launched transparency initiative — a “fraud or not” ranking, complete with a lighthearted tomato-throwing Easter egg for bottom performers, is designed to help the industry recognize who’s getting data quality right. Rather than shaming providers, the goal is to encourage progress, reward transparency, and strengthen collaboration around fraud prevention. To close out the episode, Brian and Henry discuss Verisoul’s creative marketing campaign, “We Smoke Fraud,” which debuted at the ESOMAR Congress in Prague. What started as a marketing stunt ended up earning the company some serious attention from venture capital investors. For those who live and breathe data quality, this episode is for you. Want to get a copy of Verisoul’s Market Research Quality Report? Download here: https://reports.verisoul.ai/mr-qualityreport-25 [https://reports.verisoul.ai/mr-qualityreport-25] Want to check out the Fraud or Not Ranking list? Take a look here: https://rankings.verisoul.ai/ [https://rankings.verisoul.ai/] If you want to learn more about Verisoul, visit their website at www.verisoul.ai [http://www.verisoul.ai] You can connect with Henry on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrylegard/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrylegard/] Thanks for tuning in! Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here:  https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 [https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025] Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our Resources page on our website here [https://emi-rs.com/resources/]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Big Qualtrics Acquisition, Melanie’s New Role, and Halloween Candy

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian is joined by Gabby Blados to cover one of the busiest news weeks the insights industry has had in a while, featuring a billion-dollar merger, a major leadership shake-up, and plenty of questions about what’s next. The episode kicks off with the biggest headline of the week: Qualtrics’ announcement that it plans to acquire Press Ganey Forsta for over $6 billion. Brian and Gabby dive into what this means for the market research world, especially as two of the most widely used survey programming platforms — Qualtrics and Decipher — will soon fall under one roof. Brian wonders if this level of consolidation could raise antitrust or competition concerns within the industry, while Gabby reflects on what this might mean for current Decipher users, including EMI. They also explore whether this deal might spark a new wave of innovation from smaller, niche platforms looking to position themselves as alternatives to the latest “industry Goliath.” Next, Brian and Gabby turn their attention to the surprising news that dropped the same morning — Melanie Courtright, CEO of the Insights Association, is stepping down after five years to join Sego as Chief Strategy Officer. Both agree that this was a major surprise for many across the industry. The pair discusses Melanie’s strong legacy with the Insights Association, including how she unified chapters, modernized the association’s structure, and strengthened its position as the leading voice for research professionals. Gabby and Brian share their excitement for her new role at Sego, while also speculating about what comes next for IA’s leadership and the direction the organization will take. In between these two major headlines, Brian and Gabby also touch on a few other key stories — including the Census Bureau's recent layoffs and their potential implications for data accuracy, and new developments in the ongoing conversation around data quality and AI-driven fraud detection. And because no episode would be complete without a little fun, they close out the episode by ranking their top Halloween candies. Thanks for tuning in! Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here: https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 [https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025] Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our Resources page on our website here [https://emi-rs.com/resources/]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The State of Privacy Legislation with Howard Fienberg of The Insights Association

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian is joined by market research’s favorite lobbyist, the Senior Vice President of Advocacy for the Insights Association, Howard Fienberg. He makes his return to Intellicast to discuss the latest developments in privacy legislation and more. Kicking off the episode, Brian and Howard discuss the current state of privacy legislation in the United States. Howard gives an update on his efforts to help the industry navigate new state privacy legislation in 2025, on where we stand on new state privacy legislation that may be coming down the pipe.   The conversation changes its focus to a potential federal version of privacy legislation. Howard discusses the various efforts that have taken place in the past and why he believes the current efforts are distinct. He is cautiously optimistic that we could see a serious proposal introduced in 2026. Brian and Howard then discuss the LiveRamp lawsuit and its current and future impact on the market research industry. Howard mentions how this lawsuit has spotlighted how trial lawyers are twisting old surveillance laws, initially written for phone wiretaps, to sue companies over tracking cookies. Even if most cases aren’t held up in court, they’re expensive and distracting. In the final segment, Brian and Howard discuss the recent decision in the EU to uphold the Data Privacy Framework, the current agreement that allows U.S. companies to transfer data from the EU. This may have flown under the radar for many, but Howard talks about how important this court ruling is for every business in market research. Want to stay up to date on Howard’s advocacy work for our industry? Log into you IA account and head to the Advocacy section: https://www.insightsassociation.org/Advocacy/Protecting-the-Profession [https://www.insightsassociation.org/Advocacy/Protecting-the-Profession] You can connect with Howard on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardfienberg/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardfienberg/%20]), or by email at Howard.Fienberg@insightsassociation.com [Howard.Fienberg@insightsassociation.com]. Thanks for tuning in! Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here: https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 [https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025] Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our Resources page on our website here [https://emi-rs.com/resources/]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Key Takeaways of CRC 2025 with Andrew Hunt of The Link Group

Welcome back to Intellicast! Brian Peterson is freshly back from the 2025 Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC) in Chicago and is ready to break it all down. Joining him is his presenting partner at CRC and Vice President of The Link Group, Andrew Hunt. Andrew and Brian jump right in and discuss the overall trends from the conference, including: * How AI is not the end-all, be-all, but how it is being incorporated into existing processes to make organizations faster, more efficient, and uncover hidden insights. * Everyone wants to be faster    Data Quality – More brands are starting to take an interest and ask questions. * The IA rebrand * And more! The guys then discuss some of their favorite sessions from the conference. Andrew talks about the first keynote session, Dare to Connect, which was the talk of the conference. Brian mentioned the C Space and McDonald’s video that humanized the insights that were gathered. The guys then both touch on the session with Andrew’s colleague, Parks, who presented with Chick-fil-A, as well as the data quality session that kicked off day 3. Finally, Brian and Andrew talk about some of their favorite activities during their time in Chicago, some being tied to the conference, and others not so much. If you want to relive CRC, or have FOMO from not being there, this episode can’t be missed! Learn more about The Link Group by visiting their website: https://www.tlg.com/ [https://www.tlg.com/] You can connect with Andrew by email at ahunt@tlg.com [ahunt@tlg.com] or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhunt7/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhunt7/]) Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here: https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 [https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025] Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our Resources page on our website here [https://emi-rs.com/resources/]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]