The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Anita Watkins, CEO of the Insights Association which empowers more than 30,000 data and insights professionals. Its collective voice fuels growth, strengthens advocacy, and advances careers. Guided by ethics and truth, we bring understanding to an uncertain world.

Follow Anita on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-watkins-8b33224

Follow the Insights Association online at: https://www.insightsassociation.org/

Anita answers these questions:

You spent two decades at Kantar, most recently as Chief Solutions Leader for Creative, Innovation, and Qualitative — and now you’re leading a trade association. What drew you to the Insights Association at this particular moment in the industry’s evolution?
The IA represents over 30,000 data and insights professionals. In your first months as CEO, what surprised you most about stepping into an advocacy and membership role versus a commercial one?
CPG companies are under enormous pressure — tariffs, private label competition, shrinking research budgets. How is the insights function holding up, and where do you see it either gaining or losing strategic influence in the C-suite?
The IA just held its Ignite: CPG event in Cincinnati. What were the dominant themes that emerged, and what does that tell us about what CPG insights leaders are most anxious about right now?
You have a webinar series literally titled “Simulating Humans” — that’s a provocative framing. How should CPG brands think about AI-generated synthetic respondents vs. real consumer research, and where does the IA draw the line on standards?
AI is both a threat and an opportunity for the insights profession. In your view, what’s the single biggest risk AI poses to the integrity of consumer data — and what is the IA doing about it?
The IA has been driving the Global Data Quality Excellence Pledge and launching new resources around procurement and incentive guidelines. For CPG brands buying research, what should they actually be demanding from their vendors right now that most of them aren’t?
Survey fraud and data integrity issues have become a serious industry problem. How bad is it, and what levers does the IA have to enforce quality standards across the ecosystem?
The IA is actively tracking state-by-state privacy legislation, GDPR, and now the proposed SECURE Data Act. How does a fragmented U.S. privacy landscape create operational headaches for CPG brands doing consumer research at scale?
The IA recently raised concerns about how the Department of Labor classifies research respondents. That’s a sleeper issue with real cost implications — can you walk our listeners through what’s at stake?
Anita, you’ve been recognized for developing the next generation of insights leaders throughout your career. With burnout high among market researchers and AI changing the job description rapidly, what would you tell a young person today about why this profession is still worth pursuing?
You said upon your appointment: “I’ve spent my career believing in the power of insights to drive better decisions and better outcomes.” For CPG brands that are deprioritizing primary research in favor of data lakes and retail media signals — what’s the cost of that trade-off that they might not be seeing?

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The Insights Association’s Anita Watkins on the Benefits and Risks of AI in Insights Development

The CPG Guys

The Insights Association’s Anita Watkins on the Benefits and Risks of AI in Insights Development