With intimacy becoming the new buzz word in the industry, I believe it is important to step back and think about not only the opportunities we have to promote closer relationships, but also the barriers in front of us by way of past and current practices. That is the thing with buzzwords: they sound great as ideas, but too often reality makes turning those ideas into action difficult. If we are to achieve greater intimacy in our research and with our consumers, then we need to start by thinking about what changes and new innovations are necessary.