I was there to present our paper on “New shopper journeys: the influence of digital media touchpoints” along with our clients on this project, Microsoft Advertising and Carat North America.

It is without doubt one of the most ambitious studies we’ve ever worked on at Essential, having yielded genuinely new marketing and media planning insights for 5 market sectors across 17 different countries.

Perhaps the biggest thing we achieved was disproving the classic “purchase funnel” model, based on three observable truths: (1) purchase journeys are dynamic, not linear; (2) there are three possible types of journey; and (3) journeys don’t just end at the point of purchase.

Please click here to view a handful of slides from our presentation, or get in touch for more information.

We’ve just completed our latest House Special, ‘Brandheld’ which investigates consumers’ mobile habits in the UK. What we’ve seen is there is genuine interest from consumers to engage with brands that they already connect with in everyday life by using mobile internet services as an extension and addition to this whilst on the move.

The research reveals mobile internet adoption is not as prevalent as we might believe. We certainly all know it exists, but right now, the majority of UK consumers aren’t using it. There are a number of barriers for this, but none of them insurmountable. The opportunity however is huge. A staggering 86% of mobile internet users would consume media, such as live TV and radio, in additional to a robust 56% of non-mobile internet users. Sociability, often through social networks, is the biggest driver of mobile internet adoption to date, but our research also showed strong consumer desire for branded services for activities including shopping, banking, location-based vouchers and coupons for example.

The full ‘Brandheld’ report includes findings from our quant survey of 2,018 UK consumers age 16+, as well as qualitative findings and video diary extracts from our ethnographic work, and will be available from mid-February.  If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch with alex@essentialresearch.co.uk to discuss your needs.