Simon began his research career at GfK NOP Media. He has a First in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St John’s College, Oxford and has completed the Market Research Society Professional Development Scheme.

And in a first for Essential, news of Simon’s appointment was broken on the blogosphere.

Simon’s blog is at http://curiouslypersistent.wordpress.com.

Rebecca Morrison has joined us as our new Office Manager. Rebecca has a Masters degree and, shortly, a Doctorate in Sociology from Canada where she studied consumer culture, ethnography and media studies.

And it was to 300 people at the MRS conference.

Quite how you follow that, we don’t know. But it seems only fair that Kat picked up a ‘Special Contribution to Conference’ award at the Research Awards in December, as part of the group of young researchers who took part in the popular Petcha Kucha session. Well done to Kat – and to all the others who made it such an enjoyable part of the conference

It’s a place for us to think, read, brainstorm and write our proposals and debriefs away from the noise of our main office.

But it’s also a place for you.

We’ve recently used the Lounge for client meetings and debriefs and have found that the Lounge helps us to run focus groups in an environment that puts respondents at ease, and even allows you to take part. And it also saves you around 50% on the cost of standard London viewing facilities.

But what’s more, you can now hire the Lounge for your own away days, brainstorms or training sessions, or for filming and photography. (Apparently the light is very good…)

So if you’d like to hold your next meeting with us in the Lounge, just let us know. And if you’d like to book the Lounge for your own purposes, just email us at lounge@essentialresearch.co.uk or call Rebecca on 020 7384 1297. 

It’ll cost you £395 per half day or £595 for a full day (+VAT) 

On Sept 2nd we’ll be revealing the findings from our in-depth study of VOD  from the consumer perspective. If your organisation was involved in the consultation phase, you should already be sending some attendees to the initial debrief, and a report / on-site debrief will be available to purchase thereafter. For everyone else, we’ll be making the report available in the autumn. Either way, if you want to know more, please email Stuart Knapman

Essential field trip to Henley Royal Regatta. Stripey ties, sports jackets and hats were the order of the day.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a104645/women-rush-through-sex-for-tv-shows.html