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?!