About Forrester
Forrester Research, Inc. is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology.

Vikram leads the forecast team, which is responsible for producing all forecasts within M&S research. He is focused on the consumer commerce areas including retail, travel, and financial services. He is keenly involved in understanding the evolution of consumers' online behavior and technology adoption.
Vikram came to Forrester Research through its acquisition of Jupiter Research, where he started in July 2000. Prior to Jupiter, Vikram worked at IRI, a leading market research company, where he worked closely with some of the leading CPG companies.
Vikram often appears on TV, radio, and comments in the press on the US online retail and travel industry. He has been quoted in The L.A. Times, Business Week, The New York Times, CNN Money, and American Banker. He has also appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and Radio, NPR, Fox Business News, and ABC.
Vikram earned an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech and a B.Com from N.M College in Mumbai, India.
Road Map: The Marketing Mix Optimization Playbook
Marketing mix optimization (MMO) has become an indispensable discipline for marketing leaders because it helps in effectively allocating marketing budgets across an increasingly fragmented media and...
Road Map: The 21st Century Brand Marketing Playbook
Once the brand has its strategic bearings laid out — the North Star, the experience map, and its brand compass — it's time to cast off and start thinking about how to plan for the brand...

Forrester's research with senior marketing leaders shows that enterprisewide commitment and engagement are critical to successfully building a brand in the 21st century. But this is also marketers'...
A Road Map To Making Your Brand Greener
Marketing leaders navigate a risk-reward tightrope as consumer demand for environmentally responsible, or green, products grows and competition for such marketing offers heats up amid increased...
Benchmarks: The 21st Century Brand Marketing Playbook
In 2012, Forrester surveyed marketing leaders to get a pulse on their progress toward successfully building 21st century brands. The results show that marketers are in the early stages of 21st...
Generation Z, the generation born after the Millennials, are true digital natives who have grown up in the age of technology. The only world they know is a digital one — where they can connect...

Audiences are fundamentally changing the way they watch TV. Viewers are now active on a second screen — a tablet, PC, or mobile device — at the same time that the big screen is turned on....
Follow The Customer Life Cycle To Influence Pre-Store Purchase Decisions
Shopper marketing is expanding beyond the brick-and-mortar world as frugal and in-the-know consumers use technology to inform their purchases. This shift will create a proliferation of marketing...
Offline And Online Paid Media Placements Will Drive Earned Media Success
Earned media is exploding. Born from traditional public relations (PR), its rapid adoption by marketers is being driven by new opportunities to drive word of mouth through social media. But earned...

Women have the potential to drive a brand's reputation online because, compared with men, they are more connected with each other and like to talk about brands and products, especially in social...
In addition to the variety of media options that the digital age has brought forth, TV is the next medium to get a digital makeover. New access points to the living-room screen and the invasion of...
Assessment: The 21st Century Brand Marketing Playbook
Today's digitally empowered consumers have more opportunities than ever to voice their wants, needs, and expectations, forcing marketers to rethink the way they build successful brands. This report...
New Digital Platforms Have To Wait Their Turn, As Traditional Stores Stay Critical
CMOs of business-to-consumer (B2C) companies have lately called on shopper marketers to address the growing complexity of the impact of digital on in-store purchasing. Forrester recently conducted a...

Social media has fundamentally changed how consumers interact with each other and with brands. As a result, marketers tell us that they now consider this new channel to be a critical component of...

The death knell of TV advertising's rule over the marketing landscape has often been rung as digital media's reach, effectiveness, and measurability have grown. But the fall 2011 TV upfronts indicate...
Landscape: The Marketing Mix Optimization Playbook
Marketing mix modeling is no longer just a tool for consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers to measure the effect of traditional marketing on overall sales. Today, marketing mix modeling can help all...

Business Case: The 21st Century Brand Marketing Playbook
In the age of the customer, brand building is more important than ever to differentiate offerings and create long-term customer value. However, marketing leaders still need to convince their C-suite...
Which Digital Shopper Marketing Tools To Invest In And Why
Forrester's TechRadar methodology provides a framework to aid decision-makers in prioritizing investments and tools related to their discipline — in this case, shopper marketing. Consumers are...

As the economic malaise lingers on, marketers face increased pressure to prove the value of their marketing programs. And while many CMOs believe that future success will be judged on return on...
Digital Media Spending Surpasses That Of Traditional Media, But Marketers Wait To Commit Spend
As the economic recession lingers on, marketers remain cautious. Forecasts show that budgets are on the rise, but marketers are reluctant to commit. A more pragmatic marketer is emerging who wants...
A Traditional Channel Gets An Interactive "In Person" Makeover
Adding digital to traditional out-of-home has transformed a stagnant medium into a fast-growing channel with significant upside for marketers as small screens grow ever-more cluttered. The landscape...
Use Technology To Move From Experimentation To Driving Results
In 2012, CMOs will need to embrace technology to help them handle big issues like: 1) addressing the maturation of social media from cool tool to critical connector with customers; 2) determining how...

Traditional marketing vehicles are becoming less effective in capturing and engaging the attention of today's perpetually connected consumers. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) must adapt their...
