Churchill does Qual

I've spent my whole working life flying the flag for qualitative research, but little did I know that it had played a part in the downfall of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Then I go and watch Darkest Hour, and all is revealed.

Winston Churchill, supremely well played by Gary Oldman, is in a bit of a tight spot. The war cabinet is putting pressure on him to open peace talks with Mussolini and Adolf Hitler; 300,000 British troops are stuck in Dunkirk; and he’s struggling to find a match to light one of his over-sized, iconic cigars.

And that’s when things begin to change.

It turns out that Churchill has decided that he needs to run a group discussion. And what better place to hold it than on the London underground.

Like all good quallies, he gets lost on the way and seeks the help of a friendly Londoner who sets him on the right track to the District Line where he must travel just one stop to Westminster.

On the tube, he finds the group all waiting for him. Some stand up, others look at each other, not quite knowing when the group is going to begin. The silence is broken, and the warm-up starts once a chap has offered Winston a match; so, he’s up and running, ready to begin moderating.

Recruitment seems to have gone well, that is presuming Churchill has asked for a good cross-section. So, we have men and women, a builder, a lady with a baby, someone going to a job at an office and sure enough, we have someone from the BME community who turns out to be very well read and capable of finishing off one of Winston’s learned quotes. Who’d have thought it.

The discussion lasts just one stop, but it seems tube journeys were slower in those days because, like all good moderators, Winston manages to cram a lot in. It turns out that these ‘ordinary’, ‘salt of the earth’ Londoners would much rather face up to Hitler than to try and negotiate a peace deal. They’ll use broom handles if they need to, if that’s what it takes to defend their country.

Winston’s heard all he needs. He marches back to Westminster, topline findings written on a scrap of card, including the names of the participants, and announces to anyone who’ll listen, that the people have spoken. We shall not surrender.

So, there you have it, in his darkest hour, Churchill knew that qualitative research would give him the answers he required. He decided to consult the public and he did so using a group discussion.

Who knows whether this actually did take place and, in fairness, it was one of the cornier sections within what was an excellent film.

But as a flag-flying qual researcher, who cares?

This was research in action. This was Winston doing ethnography. This was Churchill taking on board the views of the people and using this knowledge to help change the course of history.

Qualitative research, saving the world, one focus group at a time.

The Best of Impact 2017?

For the second year running I went along to The MRS Best of Impact at The Lowry, Manchester last week and I’ve been reflecting on what it delivered.

Firstly, I have to say that the idea of bringing the best papers from the MRS conference to the north-west is one which I fully support. I have written in the past on how London-centric the MRS can appear to be, so it’s great when events like this take place in the regions and are fully supported by key members of staff from the MRS itself.

Secondly, I would also like to say that this was a most enjoyable event, thanks partly to the sponsorship of Join the Dots and to the facilities and support provided by The Lowry, which were excellent.

My main reflections, however, focus on that very word, impact. I had thought the idea behind naming the conference in this way is to help try and promote how much impact market research can have on different industries and on society as a whole. But whilst the papers presented did have impact in themselves, it was difficult to see how and whether any or all the papers have had a real impact on the issues and industries on which the projects were focussed. Certainly not yet anyhow.

There were four papers in total and all were aptly described as quite ‘worthy’ by the conference chairman. One was based around the fashion industry, one centred on financial services, another on recycling and the final one on driving whilst using a mobile phone.

All papers were very well presented and all had impact. We had video footage of Londoners saying why they don’t and may well never recycle; we saw drivers seemingly unable to resist using their phones whilst at the wheel; and we witnessed a moving filmed interview with a participant turned collaborator who has dementia, talking of difficulties when dealing with banks and other financial institutions.

Whilst the papers themselves were all full of impact, the crux for me came when we heard or when we asked about the outcomes from the research. It turned out that we don’t know whether the gamification research has had any impact on the fashion client’s sales. The ‘selfless’ drivers, it was acknowledged, would probably not be affected by the campaign which was designed on the back of the ‘driving whilst using a mobile phone’ research.

On recycling, well, there again, it was unclear as to whether a follow-up campaign to this research was having an impact or would ever have an impact on the types of people who took part in the research.

And finally, admittedly it was early days, but the result of the dementia research seemed to be a series of papers, which may or may not have a long-term impact on financial institutions and how they deal with those people who have dementia.

Here were four ‘worthy’ papers, then, which did indeed have an impact on us as an audience, as they must have had at the main conference earlier in the year.

But as to whether the results from these excellent pieces of work will have real impact on the serious issues they raise, well I for one, would be interested to find out.

In all, then, great event but how are we defining the impact word? Are we saying the papers had impact and that’s enough? Or are we looking towards papers in the future, which don’t just have impact when presented, but can also demonstrate that they have had an impact on the issues and the industries on which they have been focussed?   

Running Groups: ‘I don’t care if you enjoy them, are you any good?’

I’ve decided that this is going to be a key question the next time I’m interviewing someone who fancies a job as a qualitative researcher. Because I’ve run one or two groups in my time and I know that my personal enjoyment is largely irrelevant. I also know that even though running groups has been my main occupation for hundreds of years I’m still not sure if I enjoy running them myself.

Yes, I enjoy them if I’m in the middle of one, which feels like it’s going well and it’s one in which everyone seems fully engaged and on track with the objectives. And yes, I enjoy the feeling when a group has clearly gone well and I feel that the client is going to be impressed with the end results.

But I don’t enjoy the pre-group experience when you don’t know who is going to turn up or indeed if anyone is going to turn up. And I don’t enjoy the worry around whether I have a group’s objectives fully in my head and the stimulus material all lined up and ready to roll. And I don’t enjoy the pressure around ensuring that everyone in the group contributes fully, everything runs to time, I’ve managed the whole process, making it seem like the job is easy and that anyone could do it because I’ve made it looks so enjoyable they could probably do it too and they would probably be very good at it…

Ay, there’s the rub. And there’s the irony I’ve been faced with all my working life.

When groups go well, they can look so easy and look such fun that even I can sometimes look like I’m enjoying the process. But we’re talking swan on water here, my feet are going like the quackers!

Because a group can turn in a heart-beat; one minute they’re all there with you, you’re swimming for England, together, in formation; next minute, they’re all looking a bit drowsy and you’ve still got half an hour of the group to go.

And this is another time when the enjoyment can be halted and the hard graft and commitment really must kick in. You owe it to the client, you owe it to the participants, you owe it to your professional self and to the project as a whole.

Turn that around and post-group enjoyment might, just might, be your reward. But that won’t guarantee that your next group will be any more enjoyable.

I can’t decide if I’m becoming more envious of people who say they enjoy running groups or whether I’m becoming more suspicious.

Because groups for me are unpredictable and groups for me are really hard work.

And irony of ironies, that’s why I have enjoyed running them over so many years.

But only when they’re finished and I feel I’ve done my best.

And only when I’ve come to terms with the fact that just as you’re at your most self-satisfied and content, there will always be someone there to tell you how lucky you were that the group was so engaged and so willing to contribute.

Cue that swan again...dying.

Smart Retail for Post-Brexit Britain

This week I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast seminar hosted by McCann Manchester on Retail in Post-Brexit Britain.

Whilst the prospect of a debate around Brexit might not sound the most riveting, the event turned out to be both illuminating and entertaining, this largely helped by three splendid key contributors.

So, we heard Richard Perks from Mintel, Tom Woodham from PWC and sandwiched in-between, a slice of Jamie Peate from McCann Manchester.

Richard began by talking us through some retail stats for Christmas 2016. Here we learnt that Ted Baker continues to thrive, whilst Asda took a bit of a dive. Tesco and M&S appear to be on the up, whilst Shop Direct is also performing strongly.

Richard threw in a reference to the ‘Titanic Syndrome’, a new one on me, to describe how some shoppers may have spent more on Christmas 2016 on the assumption that Christmas this year might not be so good. If nothing else, the year ahead is looking uncertain, a theme which emerged throughout the talks of all three speakers.

Interestingly, Tom Woodham suggested that economists are now predicting a soft landing post-Brexit. So potentially no recession but challenges may well come as inflationary pressures rise and the pound remains weak. He referred to Theresa May’s ‘JAMs’, those just about managing, a sector which may well struggle further, especially if interest rates go up.

Tom also cited how, when asked, consumers say that they imagine spending more on food this year and less on ‘big ticket’ items and hospitality. This was felt to reflect the notion that post-Brexit could well mean higher prices, especially for groceries.

His advice was to plan and prepare for Brexit, not just sit and wait and hope for the best. He provided us with an interesting anecdote too, saying how he’d recently visited a company in Kettering where 137 out of 150 workers were from Eastern Europe. He wondered what effect Brexit might have on an employer such as this.

Jamie gave us an acronym which seemed to sum up many of the views of both Richard and Tom. This was again something I’d not come across and now I’m telling the world about it! It’s not a particularly nice-sounding expression but it’s called VUCA. It suggests that post-Brexit means we’re living at a time which is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. I don’t think anyone in the room or indeed outside the room can argue with that.

From this potentially gloomy outlook on life, Jamie took us on a retail safari which was both fascinating and good fun. He donned his Snapchat glasses with which he’d been filming the dubious goings on at Bonis Hall; people sitting at desks and everything. He showed us pictures of a colleague who’d been ‘virtually’ dressing up on a phone app. He told us of an app in Japan which can show a ‘made-up’ version of oneself on a video conference call, handy if you’ve just dragged yourself out of bed and haven’t had time for face-paint.

In amongst so many great examples of how the retail world is changing, Jamie had three key themes which punctuated his talk. One, that companies should deploy their assets and go where their customers are. Two, that retailers should do everything they can to keep emotions alive for consumers. And three, that there should be purpose in all retail activity, marketing and advertising included. 

So, a fine morning was spent and the breakfast was excellent too. Marian Sudbury ended the session with some words and then a video about the Northern Powerhouse. This reminded us all how fortunate we are to be living and working in the north of England.

Hats off to McCann Manchester, here’s to the next event and thanks for having us.

LinkedIn & WhatThen?

For whatever, I’m sure, deeply psychological reason, I embraced the social media age a number of years ago. So I’m an active Facebooker and I tweet, therefore I am. I’m also LinkedIn and have linked with a wide range of colleagues, ex-colleagues, clients, ex-clients, suppliers, potential suppliers, friends, potential friends, you know the kind of mix.

When I think about these three ways of ‘communicating’, however, it’s LinkedIn that leaves me more confused than the other two. Facebook keeps me in touch, and has put me in touch with a wide range of current and past friends and connections. Through Twitter I’ve engaged with a few ‘famous’ people and exchanged pats on the back with clients and the like.

But how does one ‘connect’ with those one connects with on LinkedIn?

I get the general idea – make links and you’ll end up just one link away from Sir Richard Branson – a number of people seem to have that ambition.

But what about the actual connections you make – WhatThen?

I’ve connected with a few new people lately so now they’re ‘in my gang’ but what happens next? Do I give them a ring and welcome them in? Do I send them an email and say, hey, thanks for linking? Or do I just let them sit in the gang with the rest of my gang members, seeing my occasional foray into the LinkedIn world, maybe even commenting on the odd post I might offer?

As I say, I get the idea, I’ve heard LinkedIn’s great if you’re looking for a job, for example – but I’m not looking for a job. So what am I looking for?

In essence, and when I look at my current LinkedIn connections, the main thing these people have in common is that they’re not just linked with me, they’re liked by me – maybe I should patent LikedIn?

So I have liked dealing with them, I like the idea of dealing with them again. But is it enough to sit there linking and liking? Or should I be ‘working the room’ in a more active way?

I have no answers to these questions, I’ve Googled, I’ve Wikied, I’ve Siried even, no-one and nothing seems to know.

We link, our gang gets bigger, we measure out our lives in LinkedIn connections.

Does anyone out there have any answers? I’d be grateful for some feedback…maybe we could link in?!

Well there’s your traditional qual, and then there’s your online…

I attended the BIG/ICG Northern Forum last night, an excellent evening hosted by Acumen and the Fuller Research Group. The theme was online qualitative research and I tweeted in advance that I thought it might change my life. On reflection, I think it might well have the potential to do just that.

You see online qualitative research these days is not necessarily about running group discussions online. As it happens the person presenting to us is clearly not a big fan of this particular methodology.

No, it turns out modern day online qual is more about encouraging participants to express themselves in any and every way in which the internet can facilitate.

So it’s send us a diary of your past week using your new slow-cooker. Send us a picture of your house and your partner so we can fit that into the context section of our presentation. Upload a video of you looking at irons in John Lewis. Go on our version of Facebook and join in a conversation or ‘forum’ about where you like to eat out.

Yes, it appears that actually interviewing real people in real time doesn’t have to take place at all.

Oh but you do have to be good at analysing the ‘data’ you get sent apparently. And try not to let the client get their hands on that data before you’ve had a chance to collate said data and use your well-honed qualitative skills to imagine why participants have chosen to upload that particular video of them swimming with dolphins in Miami.

Now I’m at risk here of sounding Luddite-like and this really is not the case. The truth is what got my goat last night was the early comparison made between running two group discussions and obtaining information from sixteen people online.

Surprise, surprise, some group attendees didn’t get to say much, or got away without saying much, depending on your point of view. And surprise, surprise, there were some amazing pictures sent in of people, houses, cats, budgies, cars, planes, automobiles, the lot. And imagine how they all looked collaged up for the debrief.

I’m not saying that the information generated online wasn’t impressive, and I’m not saying that they wouldn’t add a great deal to a final presentation or report. What I am saying is that at no point did we hear about how this new ‘data’ was to be interpreted. And at no point did we hear of what, if any, interventions might be made between providing instructions to participants and using what they then provided to form a debrief.

Twenty plus years of experience tells me traditional qual has been hard graft – it’s not just about travelling up and down the country, it’s about working your socks off in groups and in depth interviews, to get people to open up. Drive, agonise, analyse, interpret, report.

By comparison, at times last night it felt that online qual might offer a slightly more comfortable way to forge a career. Instruct, collect, collate, collage, present.

There is definitely room for all of the techniques shown last night, and I came away convinced that there are probably even more than five wonders of online qual research. But let’s not blur the lines between collecting diaries and pictures, and conducting excellent groups and depth interviews.

And let’s not lose sight of the fact that insight generated via groups and depths can feel just as rich, if not richer, than giving people the power of the internet and asking them to upload a video of themselves feeding their guinea pig.

Me, Me, SurveyMe

I’ve been accused in the past of being an out and out ‘qually boy’, and that’s how a former colleague still refers to me. In fairness, I have been known to fly the qualitative flag for all its worth. For me, market research has always been about quality, not quantity; why talk to people at all, if you’re not going to talk to them in depth?!

But I’ve come to the conclusion recently that we’re all allowed to adapt and change. And I’ve decided to respond to the way in which the world of research has changed too.

There are three key strands to my thinking, all of which have combined to encourage me to invest in a new research tool, currently taking the world by storm.

The first is the current call for research which is carried out ‘in the moment’, so at the point of purchase or at the point of a consumer or business person, experiencing a particular product or service.

The second is the explosion of research which is now being carried out via a mobile device or an app, be it a smartphone or an iPad or other tablet equivalent.

And finally there’s the aspect which has always been a big part of qualitative research, rewarding participants immediately for helping you with a survey, surveys which in this case are providing real time feedback.

The answer to the three issues raised above, so real time feedback, via a mobile device, in this case through an app, for instant rewards, has been brought to my attention by a company relatively new to the world of research, namely SurveyMe.

Using their new product and encouraging people to download their app, I’m now able to create and conduct surveys quickly and efficiently. Results can be provided back in real time at the touch of a button or a click of a mouse. The product creates great looking charts too, and full data that can be downloaded via Excel or via a PDF.

So there you go, ‘qually boy’ is embracing the future. And whilst still believing in the power of qual, he’s also connecting with the power of now – instant feedback, instant rewards, on the move and via an app.

Take a look, you might be sold too www.survey-me.com

Ideas Worth Spreading - TEDxSalford

In the office we’ve booked our tickets for TEDxSalford, and I am all the more excited this year having had a taster of the event last year. I was only able to attend a few hours of the last event, but it made me understand why the TED organisation as a whole, and all of its break-out events, attract so many guests, and such a high calibre of diverse speakers.

TED is a global foundation committed to sharing ‘Ideas worth Spreading’, and this is done through conferences and online content. 

Ideas are a currency, and it is through ideas that great things happen and great inventions are made. At a grassroots level, ideas fuel the actions we take day by day. 

Ideas are, in the world of market research, the basis of our toolkit. We test their strengths, their weaknesses, their appeal and their potential. 

And often we’re surprised. A favoured idea of a client may be eschewed by potential customers, and the wild card may come out on top. 

The spreading and sharing of ideas is what helps thoughts and concepts to shape and grow. 

The unique experience of a TED conference is in the variety and the unexpectedness of certain topics. Last year, amongst other things, I heard about training voices in the head, rather than treating them as an illness; the roots of Indian music; the power and potential of a £1 coin; and the power of the mind explored through optical illusions. 

And when you deal in the collection of, and interpretation of stories, being open to a range of experiences and situations should come with the territory. Arguably it’s a lack of open-mindedness that may lead some to ignore a TED event. As if not knowing the history of every speaker makes their words somehow less worth listening to. 

So we’re looking forward to the words of Belle du Jour and Caprice. We’re ready to dive into the minds of a hacker, a mathematician, and a complex systems theorist. We’re ready to be fascinated by the insights of a development psychologist, a psychoanalyst, an entrepreneur and a teenage inventor and cancer researcher. We’re ready to enter the creative minds of a singer/songwriter, a comedian, an author and a reporter. And we’re prepared to open our minds to the worlds of a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a conceptual artist and the founder of the World Toilet Organisation. 

TEDxSalford, we’re ready.  

See you in two weeks.

Step Aside, This Question is Loaded

As regular readers of this blog will be aware, this is a special year for Park Lane Research as we celebrate being in business for twenty years. So we’d like to think we’re pretty good at what we do - answering questions and getting questions answered.

But even after two decades, there are still three questions that make us feel a little bit nervous and a little ill at ease. Because they aren’t just questions - they are loaded questions. And they aren’t just loaded questions asked by anyone - they are loaded questions asked by clients and potential clients.

They all sound very innocent when said out loud. Take the first one, very topical at this time of the year; “Hi Barrie, have you been away?” Well, this might sound friendly and innocent enough, but I’ve had clients who’ve sounded me out about potential projects on the basis of whether or not I’ve already been on holiday that year.

So what am I meant to say? I have been away but actually I’m going away again late September (but it’s only for a week!). It might just be a friendly question but I have to consider how my response might fit with whatever he or she might or might not have in mind.

Next there’s the experience question; “Hi Barrie, have you done any work on suspended ceilings?” If I say yes, and divulge my previous client, might this make me more or less relevant to the potential brief? If I say no, does this make me seem like I wouldn’t know how to conduct (or construct, ha ha) a project on suspended ceilings?

And finally there’s the killer question; “Hi Barrie, are you busy?” This is by far the trickiest one to answer. Answer yes and the client or potential client might decide to go elsewhere, assuming I don’t have time for their potential project. Answer no and I sound like I have no clients, no work, and probably no friends either.

So there you have it - three loaded client questions and, even after twenty years in business, I still don’t know how to answer them!

By the way, just in case you’re a client or potential client, I’ve been away, I’ve probably got at least some experience in whatever sector you care to name and I’ve been, well, busy enough…    

One Client, Twenty Year History

Celebrating twenty years in business inevitably means that you look back at what you’ve achieved and who’s helped to make that possible. And one of the stand-out features of this is realising just how many clients have been working with us for so long.

Take National Museums Liverpool, for example, or NMGM as they were known when we started working together. Here’s a group of museums and galleries we have been working with for the whole of our time in business. And that’s a lot of years and a lot of projects.

During that time we’ve worked at all of their venues too, sometimes on quantitative projects but often on more qualitative challenges surrounding visitor experience, and idea generation and development.

So we’ve developed names for World Museum and Seized! and what used to be National Conservation Centre. We’ve helped in advertising testing/development and gallery design at International Slavery Museum and worked on exhibitions like Plantastic!, Only a Game and The Beat Goes On at World Museum too.

As for the newest venue, Museum of Liverpool (see picture below), we were invited to look round this wearing our hard hat prior to this venue being fully constructed. This in preparation for internal and external work on its branding and marketing, which has proved so successful since its completion.

 

We’ve worked at Merseyside Maritime Museum, we’ve done projects at Sudley House and The Walker Art Gallery, and we’ve now completed several jobs at Museum of Liverpool too.

Coming right up to date we’ve recently completed a project at Lady Lever Art Gallery, interviewing visitors and potential visitors about the development of the south end galleries at this magnificent venue on The Wirral.

Such a wealth of experience then, for such a supportive and valued client for Park Lane Research. We can only presume that they’re quite partial to the work we do too. Well they have been commissioning work from us since 1994.

Here’s to the next 20 years of working together and here’s a big thank you to National Museums Liverpool.  

Real Life, Real People, Real Understanding

Working in market research provides an opportunity to find out about a huge range of products and services and sectors. This variety helps us to stay fresh for each new project and provides continuous education for us and for the clients with whom we work. Whilst we relish all areas of our work, it can feel even more rewarding when a project is so closely in tune with ‘real life’ and indeed with improving the products and services provided for ‘real people’.

Over the years we have worked on projects involved with alcohol dependency, with smoking cessation, with teenage sexual health and with specific health issues like stroke, diabetes and cancer care.  These projects are not only rewarding in themselves, they also teach us about aspects of some people's lives we as individuals had not previously appreciated nor understood.

Most recently, two projects, one about adoption and one about foster care, introduced us to worlds we had not been a part of before and worlds inhabited by caring people, many of whom we felt privileged to meet. Many invited us into their homes and told us their experiences, giving us an honest glimpse into a mind-set, an attitude, a way of life.

Their situations were different, their stories were often very moving and the insight we gained have helped our clients move forward in their quest to improve their offer and the promotion of these real life services for real people. 

The fieldwork for such projects is obviously very important in terms of how interviews are conducted and ensuring participants are handled with sensitivity and with respect. But the debriefs for these pieces of work are also crucial in ensuring that the research is not only understood but is also delivered in an empathetic fashion.

A couple of years ago we were involved in a piece of work on post natal depression, the debrief on which saw some members of our audience moved to tears when they heard about the people we had interviewed and the tales they had to tell. Again in our debrief on foster care, one client commented that she felt the work had been ‘beautifully presented’ and another said that the messages delivered were ‘clearly heartfelt’.

We thrive on the continuing education which working in qualitative research can provide. This all plays forward, meaning every new brief, for any industry, is approached from a perspective of everything we have learnt before. Techniques, empathy and understanding can only improve with every single project, and that's what we pride ourselves on delivering.

Fostering Fortnight, which is running until this Friday, gave us the chance to reflect on what we have learnt during our work on foster care, and then on our work in other related sectors. Real life, real people, real understanding.

The Qual-Quant Debate

 

The Qual-Quant Debate

Since this is my twentieth year running Park Lane Research and my nth year as a researcher, I think I’m probably experienced enough to be allowed a view on the qualitative versus quantitative research debate.  I used to work at a place where I felt qual was under-valued and it’s made me slightly nervous about sharing these views with a wider audience.  But here you go, I’m going to do it anyway.

In the agency to which I refer, qual researchers were sometimes viewed as being akin to the awkward squad – when I wasn’t in the office, clients were told ‘oh he’s coming back from somewhere’ and that was usually when I’d worked all day and all evening, as well as travelled to some far off place to run groups.

In more recent times, I’ve been more than happy to combine quant and qual techniques within my work and have come to realise how valuable both can be in the wider scheme of things.  This is especially the case, I feel, when both can be brought together within the same project.

When it comes down to it, however, I think I’ll always be a qual researcher at heart, and here’s my ode to why I think that might be the case…

Ode to the Qual

What you need will be the quant, what you want will be the qual,

What brings knowledge will be quant, what brings understanding will be qual,

What provides a structure will be the quant, what will tell a story will be the qual,

What draws interest will be quant, what brings engagement will be qual,

What will show value is the quant, what will add value is the qual,

What informs will be the quant, what excites will be the qual,

What you’ll like is the quant, what you’ll love is the qual,

What brings pleasure will be the quant, what provides passion will be the qual.

Your choice, you decide…

 

Food & Drink Research – Recipe for Success #PLRat20

Over the last twenty years, we’ve come up with lots of new recipes to give our clients exactly what they need. That juicy quote, tasty insight and slap-up conclusion that leaves them wanting more, and ready for their next course of understanding. All this experience of serving up results has left us confident we know the ingredients for a successful piece of research in the food and drink industry. Here we’re going to share elements of that recipe for success.

Ingredients:

A client – manufacturer, retailer, supplier or marketing agency is ideal

A brief – the tastier the better

A product or category – a whole line or an individual flavour, a packet or a logo

A budget – we can create a mouth-watering debrief tailored to the budget in hand 

1. Take a client, and listen carefully to their requirements. Where do they sit in the food supply chain? What do they want? Where are they hoping the research will lead? Throughout the noughties we helped Tesco re-launch their own range of sushi, we helped them re-shape the yogurt aisle, we studied all aspects of the Finest range and made it even finer. Meanwhile we were helping some suppliers, like Samworth Brothers take control of the premium sausage market, hold sway in pork pies, dominate sandwiches bought in the likes of Waitrose and M&S. Chopping carrots and onions and potatoes into the mix, we worked with both suppliers and retailers, and helped them understand people’s vegetable buying habits in more depth. 

2. Carefully add some quantitative work. Done in the right way, a simple questionnaire can reveal a lot. Have people heard of a certain own range product? Do people ‘like’ this product as much as they ‘like’ the competitor? Extra prizes here if you can figure out the retailer we’ve been working on taste tests for… 

3. Lightly dust some assisted shops into the pot. When considering store layout, competitors, or packaging, what better way to see how customers react than to be there with them as they experience it first hand? This is something that we have used more and more in recent years, and being in the store environment can lead to some revealing insights. 

4. Add in some tempting qualitative work. Considered a real specialty of the company, we are big advocates of the group discussion and depth interview. Bakemark (now CSM) has enlisted our help over a number of years to explore the world of muffins, of doughnuts, of cookies, of brownies, of cup cakes, of basically all things headed ‘sweet treat’.  

5. Serve beautifully. Packaging should not be underestimated, and has formed a huge element of our work. So we’ve helped Princes with new bottle shapes and new designs for its entire range of own label carbonates. We helped Cott develop the first double concentrate squashes for Sainsbury. We had the pleasure of working on the packaging and in-store layouts for the Christmas and Easter product range at Thorntons.

 

With over twenty years of experience, we look forward to much more work in the food and drinks industry, and the chance to cook up more recipes for success. Go on, try us. As they say, the proof’s in the pudding.

Well Hello 2014!

I’m willing to acknowledge that there’s nothing original about reflecting on the year that’s passed and thinking about the year ahead. But I’m going to do it anyway. And I’m doing this not least because 2014 marks a significant milestone for Park Lane Research.

It was twenty years ago this month that I decided the time was right to start my own business and twenty years ago this month that I set up shop at 352a Park Lane. In that time we’ve gone from renting an adjoining ‘shack of dreams’ (see below) to owning the whole building, and in that time we’ve worked with an array of amazing clients, some of whom have supported me from the start to now.

 

It seems strange to consider that the time at which I set up in business was potentially quite precarious from a family point of view. There was I the main ‘breadwinner’ selling the idea to Claire that of course everything would be fine with the new business. I’d worked out a ‘survival budget’ and once we’d passed that, it would be plain sailing…

And there was Claire, coming to terms with cutting back her working hours in order to cope with our first baby. That was baby Sophie of course, who has recently joined me as a Marketing Executive in the business. That was baby Sophie who we forgot we had one night and nearly ended up going out for a meal forgetting she was upstairs asleep.

It’s easy to say now but from my first day in business, there has never really been any looking back to a time when I might not be working for myself. I remember the first groups I ran in Norwich in my first week – driving home and rather than bemoaning my misfortune at another late night, thinking this was my choice and this was how I wanted things to be, this was for me, this was for my family.

So it’s not always been plain sailing and starting a new year has always felt daunting. Will anyone ever want to work with me again? Will this year be as good as the last? These are questions that continue to haunt my January days.

And so far the phone has continued to ring; the jobs have continued to come in. But that doesn’t stop you wondering, and doesn’t stop you being grateful to those who do still recognise you’re committed to what you do – and appreciate you’re pretty good at what you do too.

So here’s to the special year for us which is 2014, and you’ll be hearing more about our anniversary celebrations in the coming year.

In the meantime, I genuinely hope this can be a successful year for whoever chooses to read this blog too.

Cheers! Barrie

Onwards and Upwards (Sophie Hawker)

Having worked extensively with museums and galleries in the past, we recently took a stand at the Museums Association Exhibition and Conference. It was a great opportunity to talk to people involved in all areas of the museums and galleries sector, from directors to curators and suppliers to volunteers. Not only did it help re-establish some existing relationships, it also helped lay the foundations for creating new ones in the future.

What it also did was help us to re-evaluate and re-confirm the key roles which are now developing at Park Lane Research. Three months on from my first day, we can now plan to use these more effectively. 

We realised at the conference networking events that I was much more comfortable than Barrie at approaching people I didn’t know, and finding common ground. In the exhibition environment, there was a need to take the plunge, to make that first approach, and to welcome people onto our stand. 

My role as student manager for the English Department at University of York has clearly stood me in good stead for this. It meant I was forever at open days, showing round prospective students and their parents and ‘selling’ the university and the course I loved. This experience was boosted and enhanced by the work experience I then gained at PR and Advertising agencies once I had graduated.

Barrie’s nature and general approach meant that he was more likely to take a step back at the conference, especially when confronted with new people at our stand. He still tells the tale of how a favoured client at Tesco once introduced him by saying, ‘this is Barrie, he’s brilliant at what he does but he’s s*** at marketing himself.’

Over the years, this has never been a major issue from a company success point of view – Barrie has been happy with how things have gone – he’s built long-lasting relationships with clients who have come back again and again and again.

My appointment, however, is a recognition that the company does not have to continue to hide its light under a bushel. My role is about marketing the company and playing to my strengths, as well as promoting Barrie’s.

So far as we’re concerned, we’re starting to become the dream team – I’ll help generate more contacts, more business; Barrie will continue to deliver high quality research, underpinned by more than twenty years experience.

Oh, and considering he’s my Dad, we seem to get along quite nicely too!

Hawker's Epiphany

No, I’m not going to write about the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi.  I’m going to concentrate on the other definition of epiphany; a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation.

Because as some of you may know, this month I attended a conference in Liverpool, and it’s fair to say that this is where my most recent epiphany occurred.  I was listening to someone involved with designing museums and galleries (Christian Lachel) and a key part of his address was to say that one should always ‘start with the heart, and then move outwards’. 

His claim was that through understanding people’s emotions, or indeed their personal story, we could begin to design around it to ensure that what was designed chimed perfectly with what was felt.

And there it was; a paper amongst many papers, a suggestion amongst many other suggestions.  But here was one that cut to my heart; here was one that I totally ‘got’.

It brought home to me what I actually try and do as a qualitative researcher – because I too attempt to find out what is in someone’s heart in order to understand what might explain their story. 

And yes, sometimes this is built around what some might say are more mundane products; a paint brush, a car shampoo, an electric cooler even.

But at other times, the topic is more intense; teenage health and wellbeing, post natal illness, heart disease, adoption; all of these sensitive issues I’ve researched quite recently.

And what do both sets of subjects involve; they involve me trying to get to the heart of the matter; trying to unravel stories which I can later use to build strategies around whatever marketing problem I’ve been asked to address.

Regular readers of my blogs will know that I have sometimes struggled to explain to friends and family about what I do for a living.  In their eyes, even those who have known me for a long time, I’m convinced their image is still of me standing on street corners with a clipboard.  And whilst in fairness I’m still heavily involved with that type of data capture, I’ve never actually stood on street corners with a clipboard myself.

Following my epiphany, though, I’m now thinking of another line to explain what I do to those who are interested enough to ask.  Now I will announce that “I find out what’s in people’s hearts”, now I shall state that “I’m a storyteller and a collector of tales”.

I’m aware that some might still find this explanation a tad obscure.  But in my view not only does it add a touch more romance and mystery, it also provides a more accurate portrayal of what I think I’ve been trying to do all my working life.

Here’s to your next epiphany!

The Making of Mer

Working on a one-off project can be very rewarding but getting involved in an ongoing project can be even more so – especially when you see a brand transformed and a range of products earning its rightful place at a premium level in-store.

And this has been the case with our involvement with Farécla and one of its key brands, Mer.

Mer is a range of car care products and has been around for years, gaining a huge number of supporters who regularly tweet and blog about its quality and effectiveness.

But when we were first asked to research the brand, its look was not exactly sending out the quality cues which many of these same supporters have long eschewed.

Enter a design team specialising in automotive work, WDA-automotive and cue more research looking at how Mer might throw off its old clothing and start to compete on a level playing field with the likes of Auto Glym.

And the key to unlock this Mer potential turned out to be the genuine heritage it holds in terms of the product itself and how it was originally developed.

Here we found that a certain Franz Billich was the original inventor and here we discovered its genuine German credentials which have now been used to amazing effect in the new range.

There followed more design work and more research in testing packaging which drew on this German-ness, along with a classy look and feel that looked capable of helping the brand emerge from the car care shadows.

The results, I’m sure you’ll agree, are stunning. And if you wander along to your local Halfords store you’ll see they look even more stunning in real life.

So our most recent work has involved interviewing people in-store and checking what they think of the new look Mer. This, as well as testing more ideas on how we can improve the brand still further.

As things stand, it looks like the making or re-making of Mer has been a great success.  It’s not only drawing in many new customers, it’s also keeping its loyal followers loyal – quite a feat in such a crowded marketplace.

And Mer’s been helped along by outstanding design work as well as various stages of research, including groups discussions and face-to-face depth interviews in-store.

So here’s to Mer and here’s to Auto Shine Technologie, a key element on which the new Mer range has been built.

'The Big Do'

Sometimes a project comes along which makes you feel a little warmer on the inside.  And this was the case with a recent project we worked on for The Christie charity in Manchester. We have the utmost respect for The Christie and the work it does, and this job gave us the chance to try and help them raise more money to help with future research on cancer, a disease which we are told now touches around one in three members of the population of the UK.

Working closely with Music, The Christie’s branding agency, we were tasked to uncover insight that would inform a new campaign brand and ‘big idea’ for fundraising for The Christie. 

The brief was broad, the questions were mainly open and the scope was wide.

So we interviewed current fundraisers for the charity, current fundraisers for other charities and current staff at The Christie who came from a wide range of disciplines and departments. 

The research that followed highlighted the passion many felt for the hospital itself but this was sometimes linked with a greater need for clarity and consistency when it came to how the brand was depicted and used in its publicity. 

Research also suggested that if we could improve some of these issues and come up with a great ‘big idea’, then support would follow and response would be excellent.

Insights were many and various as we discovered that all three parts of our research sample had quite different perspectives on The Christie’s approach to fundraising today and how this might be improved for the future. 

Once our work had been completed and presented to The Christie, it was the turn of the creative minds at Music to translate our ideas into a reality. Not that we saw our work as base metal but the team at Music does seem to have been able to turn it into gold. 

Music created ‘The Big Do’.

 

And it’s a Do which has its focus on a day rather than what was once a month; and it’s a Do which is inclusive and fun, other important factors which came out of the research. 

The orange provides distinction and stand-out and incorporating The Christie ‘embrace’ within the new ‘The Big Do’ identity is yet another part of what we see as its genius. 

So The Big Do has been launched and the big day is Friday 1^st November.  We’re looking forward to supporting The Christie further, if not with more research, then certainly in our next company fundraising exploits.

What’s going to be your ‘big do’ this year?!   

Une Entreprise Familiale

I’ve just been reading the air freshener can in our bathroom (as you do) and discovered that the makers of Glade use the above as the strapline for their company. The can reads – Johnson, A Family Company, Une Entreprise Familiale.

This is a timely discovery I feel, since in two weeks Park Lane Research also becomes more of a family concern. Adding to the team, which already includes my wife, Claire, will be my daughter, Sophie, who has just graduated from the University of York with a 2:1 in English Literature.

I have to confess that this has not been an easy decision from a dad or daughter perspective. I don’t want to be seen as someone who only offers ‘jobs for the boys’ (or in this case, girl); and Sophie doesn’t want to be seen as someone who’s run back to her parents for a job.

The reality is that the appointment of Sophie makes sense in all kinds of ways. She’s perfectly capable of finding her own way in the world and will continue to do so no matter how long she remains working with me. But the jobs for which she had started applying matched perfectly with the kind of role which I need doing here.

So what started out as a tricky decision slowly became something of a no-brainer. I get a bright, intelligent graduate whom I already know quite well (!). She gets a job doing something she already knows a lot about, which should act as a platform from which to launch her career in marketing or even marketing research.

We’re gradually both getting over the idea that we might feel guilty about this new arrangement – it’s a mutually beneficial situation and it’s one which will help Park Lane Research move to the next level.

The irony of it all is that when I started the business nearly twenty years ago I decided I couldn’t work from home because we’d just had a new baby. Now that same baby has grown up and she’s coming to work at the office with her dad.

And if it’s worked for Johnson and Glade, why shouldn’t l’enterprise familiale work for the Hawkers too?

 

Welcome aboard Sophie, you’ll be great, and here’s to the next twenty years plus!    

“Gizzajob, I can run groups, go on, gizzajob”

I have recently been drawn into an online debate on the topic of DIY research and it has reminded me of one of my favourite dramas from the 1980s (yes, I’m that old).  It was a series written by Alan Bleasdale called Boys from the Blackstuff.  In the most memorable episode, a main character (Yosser Hughes, played superbly by Bernard Hill), rampages around the streets of Liverpool asking unsuspecting workers to give him a job. 

At one point he follows a council groundsman trying to draw white lines around a football pitch.  As Yosser becomes more manic the white lines become more jagged with the workman becoming more and more nervous as Yosser taunts him menacingly saying, ‘Gizzajob mate, I can draw lines, go on, gizzajob.’

This particular drama came to mind, not just because it is a particular favourite but also because I think there are parallels to be drawn with running groups and indeed with qualitative research as a whole.

And one of the key points surrounding this, I feel, is that sometimes as qualitative researchers, we can become the victims of our own success.  We run groups and conduct interviews so well that at times it probably looks as easy as drawing a straight white line along a football pitch.

This in itself of course ignores the fact that, as I have found to my cost, drawing a straight line along a football pitch is no mean feat.  And whilst Yosser might have felt himself well equipped to draw the lines, one wonders how he might have coped with other aspects of this particular groundsman’s role, such as perhaps looking after the pitches in general, cleaning out the changing rooms, being available all weekend to open up, clean up, close up etc.

By the same token, observers at groups might also be forgiven for not considering what has preceded the group in terms of designing a topic guide, recruiting the ‘right’ people, designing the project as whole.  They might also fail to acknowledge that this running of the group is just one part of the qualitative process, which will later involve analysis of what has taken place in the group and the crucial aspect of interpreting just what has been said and how it has been said.  Then the writing of a document and delivering a debrief, with strong conclusions and actionable recommendations.

Just like Yosser then, the danger is that an observer at a group sees what they want to see – great respondents (‘weren’t you lucky they were such a good bunch’), a discussion which flows (‘wasn’t that fortunate how you were able to bring that topic into play at that particular time’) and a group that bonds (‘it was great how they all felt able to say what they thought but they listened to each other as well’).

I’m not suggesting that all of the groups I have run have followed this particular pattern but when they have done so the result has been that some observers have suggested that what I did was easy and that how I did it was perhaps something they could do for themselves.

And there’s the rub – when we make things look easy we lay ourselves open to the likes of Yosser suggesting he too could do it himself.

So what’s the answer here?  I’m not suggesting we over-dramatise what we do (although I’ve seen many a qualitative researcher in action who already does just that) because that might suggest we protest too much.  But what I am saying is that we need to try and put across to people that there’s a lot more to qualitative research and running groups than turning up, having a chat with a few people and going home.

And what I’m also saying is that the more we educate clients and potential clients along these lines, then the less likely it is that they will ‘do a Yosser’ on us.  Surely no-one wants that!