What did our consumers tell us this year?

Which research investments paid off – and which left gaps?

Where are the white spaces in our understanding of the market?

The Pressure On Internal Teams

Insights Shape Strategy

What Happens If You Skip It?

• Investing in campaigns that miss the mark with your target audience
• Overlooking key behavioral trends in your category
• Missing opportunities for innovation due to lack of qualitative depth

Flexible, Targeted Expertise

Fast Ramp-Up, No Training Required

Common Fractional Roles for Planning Season

• Qualitative Research Lead: Guides learning plans, refreshes consumer journeys, recommends methodology for upcoming priorities
• Quantitative Analyst: Synthesizes past survey work, builds forecasting models, refines tracking KPIs
• Shopper Insights Expert: Identifies in-store or ecommerce behavior trends to inform next year’s activation plans
• Innovation Strategist: Provides category foresight, white space exploration, and early-stage idea validation

Collaborating More Effectively Across the Business

Solving Bandwidth and Budget Challenges

During annual planning, the right mix of expertise can make or break your consumer insights strategy. With limited time and increasing pressure to make data-informed decisions, bringing in seasoned professionals through fractional insights roles can provide targeted, short-term impact right when it matters most. But which roles provide the greatest value during this period?

Qualitative Research Leads

A qualitative research lead plays a key role when teams need to uncover the ‘why’ behind consumer behavior. These experts are skilled in designing and executing exploratory research – from focus groups to in-depth interviews – to surface rich insights vital for shaping brand strategy or messaging in the year ahead.

For example, a fictional food brand launching a better-for-you snack line might bring in a qualitative lead during annual planning to explore shifts in consumer attitudes toward health and ingredient transparency.

Quantitative Analysts

Quantitative analysts help make sense of complex data, distilling numbers into clear stories. During the planning season, they’re especially helpful for:

• Modeling year-over-year performance
• Analyzing segmentation or customer journey data
• Forecasting demand across products or regions

With tight deadlines and numerous data sources, a seasoned quant expert can bring structure and reliability to your inputs – so your strategic roadmap is grounded in data, not assumptions.

Shopper Insights Experts

A shopper insights expert brings a commercial lens to consumer behavior. If your team needs to plan promotions, retail partnerships, or packaging innovations for the new year, shopper-focused professionals can reveal motivations at the point of purchase and how to best influence decision-making in-store or online.

Other Valuable Roles

Annual planning timelines are also a good opportunity to use on demand consumer insights talent for other specialized needs, such as:

• Brand strategy researchers
• Sensory insights professionals
• Innovation-focused researchers for early-stage concept development
• Customer experience (CX) analysts

Each of these temporary insights professionals brings domain-specific value that can enhance your strategy, without requiring long-term commitment.

Ultimately, the best roles for your team come down to where your gaps are. Whether qualitative, quant, shopper-focused or otherwise, on demand talent offers instant access to professionals who can step in and provide clarity fast.

No two brands have the same annual planning goals – which means your support needs will vary depending on your organizational priorities, existing team capabilities, and time constraints. Selecting the right combination of fractional insights roles starts with asking the right questions about what you want to accomplish and where you might need extra support.

Start with Your Strategic Priorities

First, reexamine the key objectives your business is pursuing in the year ahead. Are you entering new markets? Repositioning the brand? Optimizing your portfolio? Your answers will determine which capabilities are most valuable.

For example, if product innovation is a top priority, you might benefit from a qualitative specialist and a concept-testing quantitative analyst to validate ideas at speed. For pricing strategies or distribution expansion, shopper or category experts can help fine-tune your execution plan.

Identify Team Gaps and Bandwidth Concerns

Internal capacity is another critical factor. Even if your core insights team can handle foundational work, planning season’s fast pace often stretches teams thin. On demand consumer insights talent for year-end planning can help fill specific skill gaps or ease bottlenecks in analysis and reporting.

Some typical use cases SIVO clients ask about during planning include:

• Help synthesizing existing research into a planning toolkit
• Leading a strategic insights workstream like segmentation or usage & attitudes
• Supporting cross-functional facilitation with stakeholder teams

Work Back from Timelines

Annual planning usually operates under tight timelines. A major benefit of on demand talent is speed – most businesses can be matched with the right professional within days or weeks. This agility can’t be matched by traditional hiring or even larger research agencies with long onboarding windows.

Flexible Solutions for Complex Needs

With a network spanning hundreds of roles, SIVO’s On Demand Talent solution is designed to meet a wide variety of needs. From customer strategists to data storytellers, we can help you build a right-sized team for the planning period – no overstaffing, no training overhead, and no lock-in contracts. It’s all about helping your internal team run smarter and more efficiently, when it matters most.

When you need temporary research help during annual planning, there are several staffing options to consider – freelance platforms, external consultants, full-service agencies, or on demand insights professionals. While each offers different advantages, On Demand Talent strikes a unique balance of speed, quality, and flexibility that many businesses find ideal during short, high-impact planning windows.

1. Faster Ramp-Up than Consultants or Full-Time Hires

Agency consultants often come with rigid scopes and long timelines. Hiring a full-time team member, meantime, can take 6–12 weeks or longer. On Demand Talent professionals are usually ready to jump in within days – with no onboarding delays or lengthy contracting processes.

2. More Reliable Than Freelancers

Freelance platforms can be hit-or-miss. You're often working with individuals who may not specialize in consumer insights or understand your category. On Demand Talent experts from SIVO aren’t generalists – they’re seasoned market research experts with years of experience, able to integrate seamlessly into cross-functional teams.

3. Higher Quality, Lower Risk

Unlike ad-hoc consultants or unknown freelancers, On Demand Talent are hand-matched to your needs based on role fit, experience level, and industry knowledge. That means fewer revisions, smoother communication, and more consistent outcomes – all while reducing the risk and overhead of a permanent hire.

4. Fully Embedded, Not External

Unlike agencies or consultants who often work at arm’s length, On Demand Talent function as embedded teammates, aligned with your internal processes and priorities. That means more collaboration, better institutional knowledge, and faster strategic alignment.

5. Scalable and Budget-Friendly

From a budget standpoint, fractional models are often more manageable. Compared to traditional consultants charging premium hourly rates (often $200–400+/hr), On Demand Talent lets you scale support up or down based on need – without compromising expertise.

The bottom line? When you’re navigating insights team planning or preparing for the upcoming fiscal year, On Demand Talent offers a smarter, more agile alternative to traditional staffing models – combining the credibility of an insights veteran with the flexibility of a just-in-time solution.