A Q&A with RUSS ONISH, PRESIDENTWhy do you use a 'Choice Architecture' theme for your strategic solutions?'ONISH: The architecture theme in our solution branding evokes collaboration with our clients toward building something useful. We pair that term with "choice" since that is ultimately what our clients must influence to gain market share or competitive advantage with their products.Practically speaking, we approach traditional spaces of CPG market research with broad, holistic solutions that often reframe the competitive landscape and the opportunity spaces for our clients. For example, Category Choice Architecture takes the traditional decision tree research space and adds much more value to encompass the omnichannel shopper journey with elements of attitudinal segmentation, category need states, retail choice rationale, attribute saliency, shopper navigation, and product loyalty and affinities. We include all these elements in a unified framework. We've demonstrated the efficacy of this technique in dozens of categories, including broad-based studies of alcoholic beverages, frozen foods, household cleaning and fresh meat.How does your company plan to use its P2PI membership resources?ONISH: Although I've personally been involved in your conferences in the past, Vista Grande is new to P2PI. We are tremendously impressed with the content library, both in its breadth of retailers and categories and in its depth of topics. We want to be active members who participate in the leading conversations in our industry. We have a unique and authentic voice that I believe will be of interest to some of your membership whether they might initially agree with us or not. We also want to hear from others and think through the evolution of our own services based on what your members need to compete effectively in the future.What is your current view of the CPG industry, and how can you help brands during this time?ONISH: I've been steeped and entrenched in the CPG industry for a long time. I think it's a fascinating space where shifting winds and tides can cause incredible disruption, turmoil and opportunity. Nobody should get too comfortable and fall out of touch with the consumer and the shopper. Finance and procurement departments have important jobs to do, but they are not going to keep CPG companies aligned with emerging trends. Although companies often default to the marketing function to drive strategy,I've always seen big opportunities for partnership and programs with leading retailers coming from the sales, category management and shopper marketing teams working collaboratively to improve the shopper experience. That's where Vista Grande can help our clients succeed.We received more than we could have ever imagined working with Vista Grande. In a category hard to understand through traditional data sources, Vista Grande’s Category Choice Architecture addressed critical blind spots. Its shopper insights expertise has helped us make favorable business decisions and recommendations to our retail partners. The process was smooth and the deliverables were comprehensive. We will get a lot of value from this study across functions at Tyson and with our customers.–Kathy Rietschel, Director, Shopper Insights & Category Leadership, Tyson Foods