Big Data, Big Changes?
What will the entry of Google into market research mean for the industry? Google Consumer Surveys is a deceptively simple product. Limited questions, simple (and low) pricing, and the promise of...
View ArticleAsking Questions Without Asking The Question
Curiosity has it’s own reasons (Einstein) The lifeblood of market research is curiosity and curiosity is a great thing in all aspects of life (as Einstein said so eloquently on several occasions)....
View ArticleSigns that Matter (Introduction to Semiotics Part 2)
“Consumers shop for meaning, not stuff” Identity matters The world is full of signs, and our brains constantly use mental shortcuts to simplify and manage the world in all its complexity. Many of these...
View ArticleMeanings in Time (Introduction to Semiotics Part 5)
The times they are a changin’ I’ve been busily preparing myself for the new James Bond film later this year, by spending each weekend rewatching one of the films (in order). What has struck me most...
View ArticleSquaring the Circle (Introduction to Semiotics Part 8)
Western thought has always sought to categorise objects as either one thing or another (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, Kierkegaard) and the concept of binary opposition is central to much of semiotic...
View ArticleStaying Afloat – Keeping Dry in the Data Deluge
Yesterday’s MRSS Asia Research Conference focused on the the coming changes in market research and particularly the role of big data. Interestingly, many of the papers came back to the same Vs...
View ArticleThe Explorer (Archetypes #3)
“I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward.” - David Livingstone “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” - Edmund Hillary David Livingstone and Edmund Hillary (along with Sherpa...
View ArticleStar Wars, Story and Market Research
Every market researcher dreams of the ideal client, the successful project and the satisfaction of truly understanding the client’s customers to inform a successful business strategy. What could...
View ArticleLessons from the Master of Deduction
“Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” – W.H. Auden In Mastermind, Maria Konnikova uses the stories of Sherlock Holmes to lay out best practices for deduction,...
View ArticleFilm, Co-creation and Story: Making Research More Emotional and Impactful
The need for emotion The problem with data is that it is, well, data. And data in itself, however prettily presented, always lack a certain something. Even the best use of powerpoint, prezi, or any...
View ArticleReview of Language: The Cultural Tool by Daniel Everett
In Language: The Cultural Tool, Daniel Everett argues that language is a tool developed by humans to communicate, in the same way that we have developed other tools to help us cook, grow plants and...
View ArticleAsking Questions Without Asking The Question
Curiosity has it’s own reasons (Einstein) The lifeblood of market research is curiosity and curiosity is a great thing in all aspects of life (as Einstein said so eloquently on several occasions)....
View ArticleSigns that Matter (Introduction to Semiotics Part 2)
“Consumers shop for meaning, not stuff” Identity matters The world is full of signs, and our brains constantly use mental shortcuts to simplify and manage the world in all its complexity. Many of these...
View ArticleDesigning Presentations in a SNAPP
In 100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People, Susan Weinschenk outlines many behavioural triggers and barriers in the context of successful presentations, covering how people think and...
View ArticleThe Quest for Beautiful Questions in Outer and Inner Space
In The Martian, the stranded astronaut Mark Watney has to use his wits and scientific knowledge to overcome hostile landscapes and environment, tragic accidents and the loneliness of being the only man...
View ArticleLet The Hands Speak
“Language is inseparable from imagery” argues David McNeill (quoting from Antonio Damasio) in his revealing book on the relationship between gesture and language. Moreover, gestures actually help us to...
View ArticleWhy Culture Sense for Brands?
“People have become so fixated on numbers that they can’t see anything outside of it” (Tricia Wang) TapestryWorks believe that understanding human behaviour is ultimately about understanding meaning....
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