I love this time of year. As a real nostalgic I enjoy all these ‘best of 2011’ lists and ‘year in review’ overviews and it feels there are more every year. In the past two weeks we also have been bombarded with opinions about the developments in the market insights industry in 2011, as well as what people expect to happen in 2012 (and beyond). We’ve seen Twitter 2011 reviews, crowd sourcing activities, expert views, and so on. And I read them all. However, I do this with my favorite end of year activity playing in the background: The Top2000. This is an annual five day event that counts down the 2,000 best records ever produced – as voted by 3 million Dutch adults.

And that started me thinking which soundtrack would fit best with the predictions for the market research industry for 2012? I’ve first thought of the R.E.M song ‘It’s the End of the World As We Know It’. But that might be a bit too fatalistic (although Lenny Murphy did use this as title for his 2012 predictions blog ). Then ‘God Only Knows’ from the Beach Boys came to mind, followed by ‘Under Pressure’ from Queen.

But the song that best identifies for me this specific moment in time for market research is …. (drum rolls)

David Bowie’s Changes

And what is yours?

Happy New Year from the market insights team at Forrester, we wish you all the best for 2012. May all your market research wishes come true!