• Ad Age , Monday, September 15, 2008 10:45 AM

Procter & Gamble and Unilever are linking with the Advertising Research Foundation to support new ways of listening to consumers that don't involve the traditional question-and-answer format. The ARF will hold two industry summits in the coming six weeks to delve into the issue.

"We continue to torture consumers with boring and antiquated research methods," says Donna Goldfarb, vp-consumer and market insights for Unilever Americas, who will headline a Sept. 22 workshop that ARF is hosting in New York.

To be sure, both companies continue to do plenty of surveys tracking brand-equity metrics for hundreds of brands daily. Kim Dedeker, vp-external capability leadership, global consumer and market knowledge at P&G, notes that in 2006 her company alone spent $200 million on 600 research vendors. She will deliver a keynote address at an Industry Leader Forum to be hosted by the ARF in New York on Oct. 29.

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