Why the pitch goes in without a consumer in the room
A retailer review, an advertiser upfront or a sponsor renewal has a date, and the date does not move. Commissioning a study the usual way means a brief, an agency, a fieldwork window and a deck, and the answer tends to arrive after the meeting it was meant for.
So the pitch leans on syndicated numbers everyone else in the category also has, and on the seller’s own word. The buyer across the table has heard both before.
A buyer remembers the consumer who said it longer than the chart that summarized it.