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[Bangalore, India, 23 September 2021]: At the ESOMAR Research Effectiveness Awards 2021 last week, Borderless Access and Unilever were honoured with the GOLD award for their collaborative case study based paper, ‘The evolution of brand humanization’ using digital bot-enabled research methodology.

Every year, this prestigious Research Effectiveness Award recognizes the market or social research studies that have contributed significantly to commercial success and society.

Sharing her thoughts on this win, Stacey Grant, Africa CMI Director, Unilever said, “The insights generated by Borderless Access made me strongly reconsider what true purpose and sustainability means for our mainstream citizens in Africa. There is no shortage of opportunities to make a difference in Africa, but there is a shortage of resources to do so. Research like this helps us to identify genuine pain points for the people we serve and build empathy for what will make a real difference in their lives. This understanding is critical in helping us make investment choices.’’

Along with the Gold Award, Borderless Access and Unilever also won prize money of 3000 Euros which both companies have decided to donate it to LIV – An organization devoted to supporting orphans & vulnerable children in South Africa!

Dushyant Gupta, EVP – Borderless Access, extended his wishes saying, “We are proud of our association with Unilever and to effectuate change at such a large scale. The solutions, such as, bot-enabled research, under our research vertical ‘BA Insightz’ are purposed to assist brands with natural consumer interactions that help in insight-driven decision making. We hope to continue supporting brands globally with real human insights to enrich people’s lives”.

About Borderless Access:

How bot-enabled research can help businesses & brands develop a deeper understanding of personal/household hygiene habits in order to meet the needs of African consumers, and increase their business impact.

Many years ago, in the days of one-way communication, brands dictated their terms to consumers, and consumers had no option but to accept them if they wanted to purchase the brand in question.

With the rise of smartphones, social media and the internet of absolutely everything, the communication channels began to sway, shifting the locus of communication control. Two-way communication between brand and consumer was born, with brands starting to listen to their consumers and hear what they had to say. Taking this a step further, brands are now starting to take on human characteristics, from look-and-feel to tone and personalisation to establish deeper connections with their consumers.

The last 10 years will go down in history as the decade when the digital age actually took root. This was the year the world was, for the first time, dominated by internet-driven things, from social media to smartphones; voice-enabled devices to augmented and virtual reality; and everything else associated with them. And their influence on our society as a whole was and continues to be all-encompassing.

Digital online research is taking off slowly in Africa, despite offering the continent so many evident benefits over traditional methods, says Ejaz Mirza, AVP client development of Middle East and Africa at Borderless Access.