Arts and Science alumnus Josh Rosenblum recently spoke to A&S News about how his sociology degree has continued to help him in his career in market research. Rosenblum still feels very connected to the Sociology community and uses the skills that he developed in the classroom in his work for Synqrinus. For advice, Rosenblum tells new grads to think of the power of 'snowball sampling' as a way to build and form professional networks. You can read the full story on the Arts & Science news site.
Rosenblum, a University College alumnus, studied Sociology as a specialist for his honours bachelor of arts degree in 2006. Graduating from U of T with high distinction, he now works as the vice-president of Synqrinus, an agency that focuses on addressing economic issues through creative and personalized research solutions.
A&S alumnus advice to sociology students: 'snowball' your network
June 11, 2020
What is the most effective way to advertise a product to consumers in less than 10 seconds? One strategy, according to Faculty of Arts & Science alumnus Josh Rosenblum, is a competition between Graphics Interchange Format animations — better known as GIFs.
As a member of University College, Rosenblum studied in the sociology specialist program for his honours bachelor of arts degree, graduating from U of T on the Dean’s List with high distinction in 2006. Today, he is vice-president at Synqrinus, a Toronto-based agency specializing in creative and innovative market research solutions.
“We do all things client facing,” he says. “Designing questionnaires, listening for cues about how we can best find a method that will address a client’s business problems. It’s a lot of what I learned in sociology, which I love and always wanted to stay close to.”
When one of Synqrinus’s clients, a packaged food company, asked to use video footage of their product to create the most appetizing, seven-second ad possible, Rosenblum was faced with a challenge: what footage should appear in the ad? Market research suggests that if he were to ask a group of consumers to rank a list of ingredients from one to 10, they would rank sweet ingredients above nutritious ones. Therefore, an ad highlighting sweet ingredients would theoretically receive the most positive reception.
"But this product is more than the sum of its parts,” he says. “You can’t make an ad about one aspect of it because it would be misleading, and it wouldn’t be as relevant to the product’s benefits. It doesn't tell the whole story.”