DataDiggers

20/10/2026

Not every market research project goes by the book. Real-world constraints are part of the process, and sometimes they push us to think differently about the data we already have.

In our latest research, conducted together with Auto Car Group, we explored a different approach using Penalty-Reward Contrast Analysis to overcome some of these limitations and uncover insights that might otherwise have remained hidden.

Did we find the perfect solution? Maybe not. But we certainly learned some valuable lessons along the way, and we're excited to share them!

🎤 Join our colleague Liviu-Teodor Micu and Lukas Ionescu, Auto Car Group, at Esomar Connect 2026, as they take you behind the scenes of this research journey, sharing the challenges, the discoveries, and the lessons learned.

📅 November 4, 2026
📍 Sheraton Hotel, Bucharest | Hybrid

🔗 Register here: https://sorma.ro/esomar-connect-2026

See you there!

12/10/2026

Less than a month to go until Esomar Connect Bucharest 2026!

On November 4, we're excited to once again join the market research community for a day of fresh perspectives, meaningful conversations and new ideas.

🎤 DataDiggers and our partner Auto Car Service will take the stage!

Our colleague Liviu-Teodor Micu, alongside Lukas Ionescu from Auto Car Service, will present:
🏎️ "Pit Stop: From Operational Challenges to Opportunities"

What makes customers choose a service provider isn't necessarily what makes them come back. And what they say matters most might be only part of the story.

Through our joint research, we'll explore how looking beyond the obvious can reveal unexpected insights and help turn everyday business challenges into new opportunities.

📅 November 4, 2026
📍 Sheraton Hotel, Bucharest

We're proud to support Esomar Connect 2026 and look forward to connecting with fellow researchers, industry experts and business leaders!

See you in Bucharest!

06/10/2026

A special return to where part of the journey began. 🎓

Our colleague Madalina Mirigel, Senior Researcher at DataDiggers, was proud to join the new generation of students at the Strategic Marketing Master’s programme at ASE, this time as a guest speaker and as an alumna of the programme herself.

It was a great opportunity to bring the world of market research closer to the classroom, share practical perspectives from our industry and meet the students who are just beginning this stage of their professional journey.

We were also delighted to reconnect with the Dean, professors and academic community, and to celebrate an important milestone together: 22 years of the Strategic Marketing Master’s programme. 🎉

For Mădălina, returning to a programme that contributed to her own development made the occasion even more meaningful.

Thank you to everyone at ASE for the warm welcome, the conversations and for continuing to build strong connections between academia and the business world.

Here’s to the next generation of marketers and researchers. 🙌

05/10/2026

We are proud to support Esomar Connect 2026 Bucharest once again as a sponsor. 🇷🇴

On November 4, the research and insights community will come together at the Sheraton Hotel Bucharest, and online, to explore a question that is becoming increasingly important for our industry: How do we understand consumers when their journeys are no longer linear?

This year’s theme, The New Consumer Logic: Hybrid Journeys in a Fragmented World, reflects a reality we see every day. Attention is fragmented, decision journeys are more complex, and the ways people discover, evaluate and choose are constantly evolving.

For us at DataDiggers, this makes high-quality research more important, not less.

Technology, AI and new research approaches are creating powerful opportunities to understand people faster and from new perspectives. But innovation has to go hand in hand with methodological discipline, transparency and trust.

That balance is central to how we see the future of market research, and one of the reasons we value opportunities like Esomar Connect to exchange ideas with researchers, clients and industry peers.

A big thank you to SORMA, the organizing committee, speakers and fellow sponsors for bringing the community together.

📅 November 4, 2026
📍 Sheraton Hotel, Bucharest | Hybrid

We look forward to seeing you in Bucharest!

🚀 Join us at Esomar Connect 2026 Bucharest!
🔗 Registration is now open: https://sorma.ro/esomar-connect-2026

📅 November 4, 2026
📍 Sheraton Hotel, Bucharest | Hybrid

This year's theme, "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜: 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝", explores how consumer behaviour is evolving in a world of fragmented attention and complex decision journeys.

The full programme and session details can be accessed here:
https://sorma.ro/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Esomar-Connect-RO_Programme_4-Nov-2026.pdf

Why join us?
✔ Discover fresh perspectives and practical inspiration.
✔ Build meaningful connections with clients, peers, industry experts and future collaborators.
✔ Explore new opportunities for collaboration, learning and professional growth.

Featuring speakers from leading research organisations and client companies, including a keynote by Nigel Hollis (UK).

The event will be made possible by our sponsors:
AHA Moments, Daedalus Online, Data Dive CSOP, DataDiggers, Exact Business Solutions - Research & Consulting, Kantar Romania, iSense Solutions, ISRA Center Marketing Research, Mercury Research, NIQ, BloomRoot

The conversations will be led by our speakers:
Nigel Hollis
Catalina Ifrim
Rodica Popescu, PhD
Alina Dincă Stănescu
Manuela Mancas (Danila)
Cosmin Constantin
Mihaela Alexandru
Adina Ghiocel-Pascu
Andra Constantinescu
Radu Voicu
Laura Rosca (Golet)
Valentin Chiribuc
Daniel Enescu
Bogdan Cocoş
Alexandra Chirilov
James Pitcher
Liviu-Teodor Micu
Lukas Ionescu
Ana Albu
Daria Ciubotariu
Alina Serbanica, PhD

Our participants are what make the conversation meaningful.

Thank you to the organizing committee:
Rodica Popescu, PhD
Alina Dincă Stănescu
Carmen Patrascu
Bianca Nicolescu
Alina Serbanica, PhD
Daniel Enescu
Ellis Suban
George Ganea
Ioan Simu
Mihaela Bute
Manuela Mancas (Danila)
Julien Zidaru

We look forward to welcoming you to Esomar Connect 2026 Bucharest.

29/09/2026

When we talk about AI in market research, the conversation usually starts with speed, scale and efficiency.

But there’s another question worth asking. What does AI-moderated research mean for the people actually taking part?

From what we’re seeing at DataDiggers, the answer can be very positive.

For members of our MyVoice community, AI-moderated interviews can create opportunities for:
→ Better rewards when participation requires more time and effort
→ More freedom to explain what they really think
→ More natural ways to respond through text, voice or video
→ More responsive, conversational research experiences
→ More opportunity for individual stories to be heard

That last point matters. A respondent is more than a demographic profile or a number on a scale. Behind every response is a person with experiences, context and opinions that do not always fit neatly into a checkbox.

Used responsibly, AI can help researchers capture more of that depth, at greater scale, and responsibility remains essential. Transparency, consent, privacy, participant choice and sound research design need to evolve alongside the technology.

We explore that perspective in our latest blog. article written by Madalina Mirigel. Read more on our blog.

22/09/2026

Valencia is still giving us reasons to look back!

Esomar has released the official Esomar Congress 2026 aftermovie, bringing together some of the moments, conversations and energy that made this year’s event so memorable.

And if you watch closely, you might spot a few familiar faces. 😉

Daniel Dunose, Paula Elena Pislaru and the DataDiggers booth all make an appearance.

Here’s a little challenge. Can you tell us at what second you spot them?

🎬 Watch the full Esomar Congress 2026 aftermovie here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_-PvjqkIzE

Thanks again to everyone who made Valencia such a memorable Congress!

16/09/2026

“A cyber incident may be just one point in a statistic. For the company affected, it can be devastating.”

Last week, at Radiografia Securității Cibernetice în România, 2026 by Fort.ro and promocrat, Liviu Micu, Research & Insights Manager at DataDiggers, shared some of his conclusions from the analysis.

One message stood out: cybersecurity is not only an IT responsibility.

Every employee can strengthen an organization’s defenses. And every employee can also become a potential entry point.

The research highlighted a significant gap:
▪️ Around 70% of participating companies rely on critical applications without which their activity could be disrupted.
▪️ Only 45% reported a sufficiently high level of cybersecurity maturity.
▪️ When looking beyond declared maturity to actual preparedness, that figure dropped to 27%.

And as AI tools become part of everyday work, clear policies, employee awareness and responsible use become even more important.

Cybersecurity is ultimately about more than technology. It is about preparedness, visibility and people.

🎥 Watch Liviu share his perspective from the event.

10/09/2026

“No incidents” doesn’t always mean “no problems.”

Yesterday, our colleague Liviu-Teodor Micu, Research & Insights Manager at DataDiggers, joined the launch of “Snapshot of Cybersecurity in Romania”, an event organized by Fort and promocrat.

DataDiggers was glad to support the analysis of the research, conducted among more than 200 decision-makers in Romania.

Some of the findings deserve attention:
▪ More mature organizations report 5.5× more cybersecurity incidents than vulnerable ones: 22% vs. 4%. Not necessarily because they are attacked more often, but because they are better at detecting what happens.
▪ Organizations that train their employees report phishing incidents more than 7× as often as those that do not.
▪ Around 70% say they rely on critical applications without which their activity could be disrupted.
▪ Yet only 45% report a sufficiently high level of cybersecurity maturity, while the share drops to 27% when looking beyond declared preparedness.

As Liviu highlighted at the beginning of the event, cybersecurity is not exclusively an IT responsibility. Management decisions matter, but so does the awareness and behavior of every employee.

Thank you to Fort and Promocrat for inviting us to contribute to this conversation and for bringing together experts from across the industry to discuss what cybersecurity preparedness really looks like in Romania.

08/09/2026

What happens when you ask the same market about the same brand, but change how you ask the questions? The answer can be surprisingly different.

At Esomar Congress 2026, Issam Ali presented on the Discovery Stage a new DataDiggers research designed by Liviu-Teodor Micu:
“Metamorphosis”, they said...

We compared two approaches. One questionnaire followed a more traditional structure. The other was shorter, simpler and more conversational.

A few findings caught our attention:
▪️Current usage shifted from 57% to 45%, depending on how usage was defined and asked.
▪️All-time usage moved in the opposite direction: from 79% to 92%.
▪️Awareness looked different too: 91% aided awareness in one approach versus 100% total awareness and 96% informed awareness in the other.
▪️With a more natural recommendation question, 56% described Brand X as a “Top Choice”, while another 37% called it a solid option.
▪️The shorter questionnaire took around 4 minutes instead of 8, yet 100% said the questions were clear, 98% found it friendly, and fewer respondents felt it took too long.

The point isn’t that one question is universally “right” and another is “wrong”. It’s that questionnaire design shapes the answers we collect.

Sometimes, research metamorphosis starts not with a new technology, but with reconsidering something as familiar as the way we ask a question.

Want to see the complete experiment, methodology and results?

👉 Download the full presentation here:
https://www.datadiggers-mr.com/insights-library/metamorphosis-they-said

04/09/2026

That’s a wrap for Esomar Congress 2026. 🇪🇸

What a few days in Valencia!
1,365 delegates. 80 countries. 200+ client brands. 94 exhibitors and sponsors. 170+ speakers across 4 stages. And, of course, plenty of conversations, ideas, new connections and memorable moments along the way.

A big thank you to everyone who visited DataDiggers at Stand #21, joined our presentation, stopped for a chat, challenged us with a question or simply came by to say hello.

And a special thank you to our team for representing DataDiggers, sharing ideas and making the most of every conversation throughout the event.
▪️ Daniel Dunose
▪️ Paula Elena Pislaru
▪️ Issam Ali

We’re leaving Valencia with new perspectives, new connections and plenty to think about.

Next year, Esomar Congress heads to Canada for a particularly special edition, as Esomar celebrates its 80th anniversary.
See you in Montréal!