Five Years of Insight250: Elevating the Insight Industry

The fifth annual Insight250 awards are set to be revealed on Tuesday, October 21 at 3pm CEST  with a special online announcement (register here to view the Winner’s Announcement online).

Insight250 features leaders, innovators, visionaries, and pioneers focused on elevating and enhancing market research, enterprise intelligence, and data-driven marketing. This list spotlights 250 of the world’s premier innovators of insights across academic, enterprise, agency, technology, consulting, and media realms. Upon the announcement, the complete Insight250 list will be available at Insight250.com.

The 2025 Insight250 features innovators and leaders from over 60 nations spanning six continents and 220 organizations, including Coca-Cola, Clorox, Colgate-Palmolive, Google, Haleon, Microsoft and Mondelez, to name just a few.

To get a better of idea of what we can expect from this edition of Insight250, I sat down with Mark Langsfeld, Co-Chair of the awards and CEO of mTab.ai.

CB: It’s amazing that Insight250 is now in its fifth year. Can you tell us about the evolving importance of Insight250 to the overall industry and what it has done for insights over that span.

MH: “Traditionally, researchers and insight professionals were experts ‘behind the curtain’ in supporting roles of critical decisions, tactics, strategies, and innovations for companies. The Insight250 placed them center stage in the spotlight to celebrate their accomplishments.

It’s an ever-growing network of professionals who share their perspectives, expertise, and insights. It’s amazing to see how it continues to unify and connect the industry worldwide.”

CB: The inaugural awards in 2021 took the industry by storm with 20+ million impressions online in the launch week alone. The interest and expanse of the awards has grown every year since then. Where is the 2025 edition of Insight205 at currently?

ML: “Insights needed something to bring together experts to celebrate wins and expose advancements. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement around the initiative with thousands of nominees. We had hoped for this type of excitement and interest when we first devised the idea, but it happened much faster than we expected. Even more fantastic is that many individuals nominate their colleagues and co-workers for their innovation and leadership, so it's creating a culture of support and connectivity across the industry, which is fantastic to see.”

CB: How has Insight250 evolved and what do you see as the next step for Insight250?

 ML: “This year we have seen a much larger cohort of experts focused on developing and applying AI to insights. Technology is always at the forefront of these awards, but this is a paradigm shift unlike any we have seen. We’re experiencing this first-hand at mTab.ai with our clients, but it's fantastic to see these advancements elevating insights across the industry and around the world.

In terms of what’s next…this is always a big question for us. We will sit down as a team and start working on the 2026 edition in short order. Many of these discussions will take place with ESOMAR’s leadership, where we will talk about different ideas on how to increase exposure and further elevate the industry. It will certainly be an exciting discussion. This really is a year-long process that involves so many experts.”

CB: What do you hope Insight250 does for the industry?

ML: “I think our team hopes it continues to showcase how critical market research and consumer insights is to organizations worldwide. For too long, insights and research have often been backroom aspects of business. Insight250 has put them front-and-centre to be celebrated for their vital contributions.”

From all of us at ResearchWorld, ESOMAR, mTab and Insight250, GOOD LUCK to everyone nominated for 2025. Don’t forget to register now at (register here) to view the 2025 Winners’ Announcement online.

Nominations for the 2026 Insight250 Awards will reopen later this year. Visit Insight250.com for the latest details.