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Well, the press releases went out yesterday so now it’s official. We’ve been acquired by SPA Future Thinking.
We’ll continue to operate out of our current offices, with our current brand and current techniques and ‘Essential Way’ of working – but as the latest member of the SPA Future Thinking group, we’ll get access to the resources and support that we need to push on to the next level.
SPA Future Thinking has its own field force, DP unit, Analytics Hub, operations and finance teams, marketing and business development teams, and a team dedicated to developing innovative new quant and qual techniques. We get to use all of these services, to ultimately deliver even better and more efficient research to more clients – while still being us.
So the next phase of our growth starts here.
Thanks Tom and co for organising.
Admittedly these slides may require some explanation – so just shout.
 On this first day of Wimbledon 2011 we’re delighted to say that the BBC has commissioned us to conduct consumer research into their 3D TV coverage of the finals.
Working with the BBC and Sony Professional Solutions, we’ll be conducting research at a number of 3D cinema screenings of the men’s final, as well as some additional qualitative research around the 3D TV screen experience.
As research projects go, it’s a pretty exciting one: a showpiece event combined with a milestone for a major new TV technology. And with the new roof on Centre Court, even the rain can’t spoil it!
We’re delighted to say that ITV and Essential won last night’s ‘Best Research and Insight Project’ award at the AOP Awards. Well done to the team at ITV – not least for squeezing one last bit of value out of our ‘cross platform’ project. Sore heads all round this morning.
 Our ITV Cross Platform study (or ITV’s Got The X Platform Factor, as it has come to be known) is the project that just keeps on giving.
Following Essential’s and ITV’s ‘Best Consumer Insights’ Award from the MRS in December, it’s now been shortlisted for ‘Best Research and Insight Project’ at the AOP Awards. Prizes are announced on the 9th June, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
The Chromebook, Google’s new netbook that is “built and optimised for the web”, launches on 15th June – my boyfriend’s birthday. He’s been dropping hints for months now, so I thought I would check it out. Since this is Google we’re talking about here, I was unsurprised to discover that using a Chromebook means you have to live completely in the cloud, storing your entire life online. Since my boyfriend does this already, it seems like a match made in heaven. However, I was surprised to discover that they are also offering these netbooks to businesses for a monthly subscription fee. You sign a 3 year contract and get an upgrade at the end of the contract, and not only that, but Google provides the support as well.
To me this seems like the biggest and most attractive step so far, in moving computers from a product-based to a service-based business model. The Chromebook is really just a means to an end – to get on to the web. Without a web connection it is really just a glorified paperweight; so why own one? We live in a servicised world, where the focus is on the service rather than the product. If you take me and my boyfriend as an example: we don’t own a car, we are members of Streetcar; we don’t own any CDs, we use Spotify; we don’t own DVDs, we use SkyPlayer; oh, and (in case you’re reading Tom) I want a Kindle for my birthday – good bye books. It is a much more sustainable way of living; healthier for your bank balance and healthier for the environment.
The Chromebook is by no means perfect (it doesn’t have PowerPoint for a start!) but, in my opinion, it’s a step in the right direction.
BrandRepublic has announced this week that Simon is the web’s 113th ‘most influential blogger’ in their BR200 list. Now that’s quite an accolade.
Hopefully this is some compensation for failing to secure one of ten seats on the MRG committee this week. (There were eleven candidates…)
Simon’s blog is here. But you knew that already.
If you are looking for avoidance strategies to distract you from the impending nuptials, you could do far worse than check out the following eight links:
Title: Brands and branding
Link: http://culturalstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brands-and-branding-csg.pdf
What it is: Model for defining brand culture from former Harvard Business School professor
Why you should read it: A succinct method for capturing the nature of a brand
Title: Using discourse analysis to fuel brand strategies
Link: http://www.slideshare.net/merlien/using-discourse-analysis-to-fuel-brand-strategies-by-ray-poynter
What it is: Overview of the strands of discourse analysis, rooted in academia
Why you should read it: Builds upon academic thinking with potential applications for commercial market research
Title: Research Robots: A dramatic new way to conduct research & generate insights
Link: http://www.brainjuicer.com/xtra/BrainJuicer_DigiViduals_Research_Robots_Paper.pdf
What it is: Brainjuicer paper on their digividuals methodology
Why you should read it: A unique method to repurpose existing information on the internet (privacy concerns notwithstanding)
Title: The future of research for consumer insights
Link: http://www.psfk.com/2011/04/the-future-of-research-for-consumer-insights.html
What it is: Summary of a Journal of Advertising Research article on research in a decades time
Why you should read it: Picks out key trends and methods to be aware of, in a more readable format than the original article
Title: The South by South West panels, illustrated
Link: http://mashable.com/2011/03/13/sxsw-panels-illustrated/
What it is: 40 visual summaries of panel sessions from SxSW
Why you should read it: Builds on previous visual notes presentation and provides key info from the event in a succinct format
Title: Soft values, Hard facts
Link: http://thinkquarterly.co.uk/01-data/soft-values-hard-facts/
What it is: Interview with Peter Kruse on tapping into behavioural change
Why you should read it: A unique methodology utilising qual and quant to predict people’s behaviour
Title: Lenny Murphy shares his Thoughts on the Bumpy Future of Market Research
Link: http://www.researcharts.com/2011/04/lenny-murphy-on-the-bumpy-future-of-market-research/
What it is: Opinion on some of the key trends within the research industry
Why you should read it: Convincing rationale on why the research industry might split into three distinct segments
Title: The devil in the details: Qualitative recruitment screeners
Link: http://wipqrtalks.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/the-devil-in-the-details-qualitative-recruitment-screeners/
What it is: Broad overview of the importance of qual screeners
Why you should read it: Comprehensive overview that acts as a refresher for more senior hands and guidance for more junior
sk
We’re doing a couple of focus groups amongst regular users of Sky Player – Sky’s web-based VoD service. The groups are scheduled in for Wednesday 18th or Thursday 19th May, here in the Essential Lounge (SW6 4LZ)
So we are looking for people to take part. We’ll pay £40 cash for your participation. Groups are 90 mins long, after working hours.
If you can help, please contact ellie@essentialresearch.co.uk (Tel 020 7384 1297)
Thanks very much.
Today I am experiencing a combination of jetlag and pride, having just returned from the ARF’s 75th Anniversary Annual Convention in New York.
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.
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