Three years after our last participation at the ESOMAR Congress — back in 2023 when we arrived in Amsterdam with all our startup enthusiasm — three members of the Sicché team flew out to Valencia.
We set up at Booth #54 with one certainty: the market research world moves at lightning speed, but you won't lose your way as long as you stay grounded in strong methodological roots. Being back in person at an event of this scale allowed us to take stock of where things stand, exchange ideas with international experts, and truly understand where online qualitative research is heading.
Here is a quick recap of what we learned, observed, and experienced during these intense days.
While walking around the booths or attending presentations, you heard almost exclusively about generative AI, synthetic data, digital twins, autonomous agents, and virtual moderators. Yet, the real-world feedback from actual people told a very different story.
Many of the professionals, clients, and researchers who stopped by our booth shared a common need: a desire to return to the basics and prioritize the human factor.
While automation certainly streamlines processes, accumulating indiscriminate AI-generated data risks diluting insights. Visitors at the Sicché booth particularly appreciated:
At Sicché, we firmly believe that technological innovation should empower the researcher, not replace them. That is the real secret behind the quality of our work, our platform, and the services we deliver every day to institutes and brands.
Compared to 2023, the landscape has changed dramatically. Years ago, we had to explain the value of asynchronous research; today, everyone who visited Booth #54 knew exactly what they were looking for and what problems they needed to solve.
Tools like online diaries, insights communities, pre-tasks, and asynchronous research are no longer seen as "experiments" or niche solutions: today, they represent an essential methodological standard for any research agency or team. Alongside traditional focus groups and IDIs, they form the backbone of modern qualitative research.
Conversations became exceptionally concrete, and the questions asked were genuinely insightful. The most frequent ones?
"How are you different from Recollective?", "We use Qualzy—what sets you apart?" ... and so on.
Questions like these are music to our ears. They prove that the market understands the category and recognizes its value, while actively looking for reliable alternatives, new methodologies, and flexible tools. And that is precisely why we are here: to offer an excellent alternative, built by people who conduct research and live it every day.
In fact, it is from the frustration with existing tools that Sicché was born, evolved, and continues to take shape.
We launched as a startup back in 2000, and for years, we focused primarily on developing our technology. Going to Valencia reaffirmed that we are on the right track and that our ecosystem of products and services is recognized and valued internationally.
The most rewarding moment? Having international moderators and researchers come up to our booth just to compliment us in person. Many of them had recently worked on the Sicché platform for multi-country projects (in some cases, without us even knowing!) and wanted to share how much they enjoyed the experience.
Spending hours in front of a screen is part of our daily routine, but connecting a face, a handshake, and an informal chat to that online feedback is an invaluable experience.
A special thanks also goes to Alberto and Ennio, who gave us the opportunity to strengthen connections with Italian colleagues and professionals whom we hadn't yet met in person.
Attending an international event isn't just about PR or collecting leads; it's also about experiencing work differently with your team.
Between shifts at the booth and attending sessions, we carved out some time for ourselves. We took full advantage of the pool table in our apartment for ongoing challenges, explored beautiful spots around Valencia, and shared a laugh over the unexpected surprises only travel can bring — like coming across an undeniably Italian graffiti tag reading "Pisa Merda" carved into a wall in central Valencia. We honestly couldn't believe it!
We returned from this ESOMAR Congress energized, packed with new ideas for the future of the platform, and confident that qualitative research has a bright, solid future where technology serves the human element.
