Park Lane Research

Strategic Futurologist Director of the Positive Solutions Boutique

2012-02-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

How do you like my new job title?

If you’ve read other blogs you’ll understand the difficulty I’ve had in the past in actually putting across exactly what I do for a living.

Well I’m wondering if this might be the answer.

You’ll note the exclusion of the words market and research; they’ve never made me that popular at parties for one reason and another.

Then there’s the qualitative word – well no-one can pronounce that for a start and even those who can, have no interest in what it means apart from enjoying the chance to tell me that they know it’s different to quantititititative.

Added to this I’ve been noticing some fancy titles lurking in advertising and marketing magazines recently and I think it’s time I had my own version.

So I’m not re-naming the offices Fruit Towers but I do quite fancy ‘doing an Innocent’ on my job title.

And these new words are not chosen at random:-

I’m ever so strategic – a fancy way of saying I think about stuff I find out and how it might be interpreted.

I’m a futurologist – well, the past, it’s so yesterday. And hey, I’ve always wanted to be involved with an ology.

I’m a director – the most important person in this entire… boutique.

Positive solutions – that negative vibe, man, no-one wants that any more; it’s answers our clients want.

I run a boutique – which is the current way of positioning oneself as a small market research agency. We’re very popular now apparently, low overheads, personal service, what you see is what you get.

So there you go, new title sorted. What next?

Ah, now it’s just a case of finding a large enough business card (or should that be QR code) on which my new title might fit.

Here’s to the future – infinity and beyond!

‘No fuss, no nonsense, no tantrums’

2011-11-07T04:33:00.000-08:00

And there I was thinking it’s time I posted a blog and I get the subject matter handed to me on a silver platter. One of my clients chooses to email me to say that he ‘loves my approach’. And why does he love my approach? Because, in his words, it’s ‘no fuss, no nonsense, no tantrums.’

To say that this response is pleasing is something of an understatement, especially when this quote comes from someone who has worked in the advertising industry for decades and who knows what fuss and nonsense and tantrums can look like and feel like from a client perspective.

Added to this is the fact that without realising it, this person has summed up exactly what I’ve been striving for in all my years in business. It’s what underpins my work; it actually makes up a decent part of my personality.

And then of course I get to thinking… Like all good researchers one needs to fully interrogate this new piece of data.

The other side to making no fuss is that sometimes you don’t get noticed. The other side to no nonsense and no tantrums is that sometimes the hard work which is put into something does not get recognised and does not always get appreciated.

Again this can be looked at from a work and personal perspective.

Another client once introduced me as someone who was brilliant at what he does but ‘s***’ at marketing himself – you see there is a potential downside to no fuss, no nonsense.

In my personal life also I’m often judged as the person for whom things seem to work out fine, as if by magic – but again that’s often because when things are not going so well, tantrums tend to be rare and the hard work that goes on in the background to make things fine is rarely discussed beyond a close family circle.

So let’s weigh up these pros and cons.

Am I happy to be known as the person who makes no fuss, creates no nonsense, and has no tantrums? You bet I am.

Am I bothered if some people choose not to see or acknowledge the work that goes into making things work out from a business and personal perspective? Not really because their lack of acknowledgement probably says as much about them as it does about me.

No, on due reflection, I’m fully content with my newly-coined tagline.

And not that I’m one to make a fuss or anything but this comment comes on the most successful day of commissioning that we’ve had as a business since we started in 1994.

‘No fuss, no nonsense, no tantrums’. Try it; it might work for you as well.

Tuesday - Telling it like it is

2011-07-19T02:43:00.000-07:00

A recent course leader specialising in social media suggested that I was over-thinking when it came to decisions such as who to ‘allow’ into my social network. ‘Consider quantity not quality’ was his mantra for the day.

Well I’ve been pondering on this ever since and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m right and he’s wrong.

Because the quant v qual question has played a large part in my working life and for me the qual word has always held sway.

It’s about the quality of the research, the quality of the researcher that counts; just as it is the quality of the connection and the quality of the relationship that matters in the longer term.

And yes, it’s good to build on these quality contacts but surely the bullet approach will always be an improvement on buckshot.

So I’ve decided to stick to my guns (ha ha) and continue my journey on the qual over quant pathway.

We will continue to suggest to clients that they don’t just ask how many groups or depth interviews they can buy for a certain amount of money but to also ask who exactly will be conducting those interviews and how much experience do they have of engaging with customers, of dealing with clients.

We’ll also continue to argue that whilst some quant researchers can turn their hand to qual, there are times when qualitative specialism counts, and so too experience.

Spice of Life, Variety

2011-07-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

When asked what I like about my job a stock response over the years has been on the theme of variety. Variety of clients, variety of people interviewed, variety of topics addressed.

It was musing on the third of these areas recently which urged me to look for evidence as to whether I could still justify this response these days. So I’ve looked back just to the start of this year and have been genuinely taken aback by the variety of subjects already tackled in 2011.

I started to imagine a weekend during which I might connect with the products we have been asked to look at, the services we’ve been asked to consider, and the projects we’ve been commissioned to work on. Here’s how the weekend might pan out.

Friday evening fancied a treat, reached for a Gü dessert whilst flicking through some brochures trying to choose our next holiday. Should we go camping this year or maybe a package holiday in the sun? We’ve enjoyed holidays with Keycamp and Eurocamp over the last few years so that’s always a safe bet.

My wife found she was having trouble with the small-print in the brochures so had to wear her reading glasses for a while. She went for Foster Grant this time, bought them at the same time as her sunglasses.

A friend has a caravan we might borrow but he’s often talking about cleaning his caravan and the shampoos he has to buy for it. He says Mer products are great and they work on cars as well. Personally I’ve just discovered G3 so that’s my brand of choice these days for car shampoo.

Of course camping might involve investment in new equipment; the airbed is looking a bit shabby and the sleeping bags also need replacing. As for the tent, we’ve had that for years and it still does the job. I’ve always trusted in the Coleman brand when it comes to camping equipment.

Saturday and up early, thinking about the dinosaur exhibition which might be coming to National Museums Liverpool later this year.

Instead headed for the shops and Aldi first off – needed tea, mayonnaise, peanut butter, bread, biscuits, jam, cereal, fish fingers and some bread for toast

Shopping done, called in at Millie’s Cookies for a muffin and a cookie. Wondering about a barbeque tomorrow so maybe get some quarter pounders and frankfurters too – should I choose a branded option or go own label instead? Wondering about a cake mix as an option too, or shall I just go to the M&S bakery?

Saturday night needed to sort out finances before settling into the evening. Have been thinking about switching banks for a while and wondering about one of those Co-operative Bank Privilege accounts, or is it Privilege Premier, can’t remember.

Sunday morning, we’re off to the show homes down the road. We fancy a new home this time, probably from Redrow Homes; less maintenance and it would be nice to be the first into a property.

Weekend nearly done, I just need to do some online shopping before bed. Oh and I keep meaning to check next weekend’s arrangements for our theatre trip with Superbreak.

It’s been a busy weekend. And so have the last six months.

Here’s to an even spicier second half of the year.

Enigma Farewell

2011-06-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

As many who read this will know, for the last two years we have been running a viewing facility alongside our research business. But this week sees the end of Enigma as we close its doors for the final time.

Reflecting on the experiences we have had, a curate’s egg is the phrase which comes to mind. It has definitely only been good in parts.

Good when we’ve had pleasant visitors and clients who have treated our facility and its staff with respect and a touch of dignity. Not so good when our members of staff have been treated as minions and respect has been notable by its absence.

When we took on Enigma I think I was living under the impression that people who did a similar job to the one I did – moderating groups, often in viewing facilities – were probably all at least a little something like me. I tend to be quite friendly and pleasant to people whom I meet for the first time. It is part of what I think makes me good at what I do.

The reality is that through running Enigma I now realise that I may be a rarer species in the world of qualitative research than I thought I once was.

Because at Enigma I’ve had people grunt at me when I’ve offered to make them some labels. At Enigma I’ve had people telling clients that they’re ‘stuck with’ our facility because there aren’t many places like ours in the north-west. And that was before they had walked through the door.

At Enigma I’ve had someone ring to ask directions saying that she thought she was nearby because she’s just turned into a road which feels like ‘Stig of the dump’ land.

So not too many tears will be shed as the keys are turned for the final time. The state of the economy has meant that this has not been the most successful venture we have undertaken. But possibly equally as depressing as that has been the insight this has given us into the way some researchers operate when they use viewing facilities like ours.

Come on qually types – some of you are giving us a bad name…

Spies Like Us

2011-04-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have written before about my career-spanning dilemma about how to explain what I do for a living. Do I answer in one sentence, tell people ‘I’m in market research’ and run the risk of being viewed as a slightly geeky type, obsessed by clip-boards? Or do I try and take up more of their time and outline a typical week in which I might be interviewing an artist in New York one day and delivering a boardroom debrief at a supermarket client’s head office the next?

A current project, however, is about to change all of this because I now have a brand new answer at my disposal. Next time someone asks what I do, I’m going to look them in the eye and say, ‘I’m a spy’.

Then it’ll be their choice won’t it. They can go for the longer explanation of my job in which I’ll say I do some undercover work testing whether members of staff are implementing a new training scheme which is being rolled out by a new client. I can back this up saying I’m in possession of a new ‘spy camera’ which I can hide about my person and later produce DVD recordings of the staff encounters I have had.

Or they can stick with the one word answer of ‘spy’ and conjure up their own image of me sipping shaken not stirred cocktails, whilst parachuting down to a snow-capped mountain, at the bottom of which awaits my latest flame in the passenger seat of my personalised number-plated Aston Martin DB7.

Not a bad choice, I believe, because either way I think I’m going to be a winner.

In the longer answer I get a chance to explain why I’ve been doing this job for so many years and why I still find it a most interesting and rewarding profession.

And in the shorter answer I’m no longer geeky clipboard boy who hangs around on street corners.

But Hawker, Barrie Hawker, double o seven and three-quarters, licensed to thrill…

Another option lurks too of course; I can point them in the direction of our new website at http://www.parklaneresearch.co.uk/

A Brief Meeting & Meeting a Brief

2011-01-14T05:02:00.000-08:00

In my early days as a researcher I was asked by a senior executive from Barclays Bank at the end of a presentation, whether I felt the project had answered the original research objectives. Strange though it seems now, it was a question which I hadn’t specifically addressed in my final summary and conclusions. In the nervous moments that followed I returned to the objectives and was able to explain how each aspect of the brief had been addressed and this seemed to satisfy the client enough for him to commission more work at a later date.

Since then I’ve always been conscious of drawing attention to how objectives have been answered and how briefs have been met before I finish any debrief or presentation.

I mention this point because our recent experience of having a business make-over and investing in a new website has focused my mind again on how important it is to meet a brief. And indeed, how satisfying it can feel, as a client in this instance, to see a brief being met.

This project began with a brief meeting. Here, the design agency, Pitch & Co. (http://www.pitchandco.com/) urged us to tell them what we felt was different about our company and what we felt set us apart from our competitors. These were questions I’m more used to asking than being asked, so the meeting didn’t feel the most comfortable.

That said, between us, we came up with some key words which we felt summed us up, and some key aspects of our business which we felt we really wanted to be put across through our new look and our new website.

A couple of weeks later, we were being shown ideas for a new logo and having chosen that, we were then onto website design.

It is fair to say that before the launch of our new look, we were becoming giddy at the prospect of revealing all to our clients and our peers. But whilst we were excited, we hadn’t envisaged the reception we were about to receive from those who had not been involved in the briefing and design process.

The feedback we received, and continue to receive, suggests that not only did we put our message across to the designers, but the designers totally and utterly took it on board and ran with it. One brief meeting led to one brief being fully met.

Praise for the new look and the website has been fulsome. And certain comments made have matched sometimes word for word the points we made at the first briefing meeting.

The most recent phrase someone used was ‘it’s very you’, exactly what we had asked from the designers. Another ad agency client commented how he felt the new website ‘lifts your spirits’, and proceeded to commission a piece of work which has already helped pay for the website itself.

Others have also claimed it makes them smile, it cheers them up.

We feel the website conveys much more than just fun, however. It also clearly addresses some serious issues we wanted to raise about research generally and about the Park Lane Research approach to research specifically.

A key aim was to say that the world of market research doesn’t have to be dull. And that those working in it aren’t necessarily dull either.

Another aim was to say that we work across a number of key sectors, and what better way than to invent a virtual

Park Lane

on which many of our clients are seen to reside.

Our continuing delight with the new look and the new website has helped us to look forward to 2011 with added vim and vigour. We feel Pitch & Co, not only helped us develop our brief but also then went on to meet it, to smash it even, I’d say.

So here’s a toast to a new year, a new look and a new us. And here’s to brief meetings and meeting briefs.

And if you haven’t done already, take a look at our new website for yourself at http://www.parklaneresearch.co.uk/

From Clipboard to Focus Group

2010-11-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Spending my career in market research has never been an easy one when called on to answer the “and what do you do for a living” question. Say ‘market research’ and the image in everyone’s head is immediately one of middle-aged women standing on street corners with clipboards. An image underpinned and, from my point of view, made worse by a Victoria Wood sketch from the 1980s featuring a ‘typical’ market researcher asking questions about mayonnaise.

Fast forward a number of years and now we have The Apprentice chipping in with its version of market research. Last week this consisted of people rushing round supermarkets looking at packaging, and conducting ‘focus groups’ with mums and toddlers.

Now I’m not going to knock Lord Sugar for being seen to support the idea of using market research to help in the process of creating a brand and developing an advertising campaign. I especially like the way in which the budding entrepreneurs consider the competition through shopping the category before trying to decide on what a new product might look like and feel like within it.

What I would take issue with, however, is the image the programme purports that ‘focus groups’ can be done on the hoof and that whatever gets said in a focus group should be immediately transferred into brand strategy and advertising development. It’s what we in market research would call reportage.

For me, this came to a head in the boardroom as Alex blamed Sandeesh for not telling him the ‘focus group’ said pastel colours were better colours than red and black when considering a kitchen cleaning product. We saw it again when one phrase used by a mother in a ‘focus group’ was used to become the basis for the naming and the advertising of the kitchen cleaning product for the opposing apprentice team.

Again here I have no argument with candidates listening to consumers and searching for the authentic consumer voice. What I would like to point out, however, is that there is a gap between gathering information in the form of quotes from mums, and using it to have a direct impact on a particular course of action.

This is a hole which we would see as the interpretation gap. So we use group discussions, depth interviews and a range of other interviewing techniques to gather insight. We then use this insight as the basis for our interpretation. This will then help us come up with recommendations for what might be new packaging, new advertising, a new range, a re-launch, re-brand, whatever.

This brings me back to my initial point of how to answer when people ask what you do for a living. A knee-jerk reaction these days might be to say I do ‘focus groups’. But then I run the risk of being associated with doing groups like they do on The Apprentice. And these, in my view are the same sort of ‘focus groups’ which John Humphreys used to castigate on the Today programme. In other words, talk to a few random people, take what they say literally and do what they say also literally.

What I want people to understand is that there is a difference between seeking people’s opinions and using these opinions to impact on decision-making in whatever area of business you happen to be.

The ladies with clipboards and the people who run focus groups play invaluable parts in the market research process. But it’s a process which is only reliable when its planning is thorough and its execution is watertight. Only then can real insight be obtained. And insight alone will always struggle without interpretation.

It’s market research, Lord Sugar, but not always as you portray it.

New Website and Identity launching soon

2010-11-11T02:05:00.000-08:00

The New Park Lane Research Identity and website will be launching in November.