While moderating groups to cover off the qual for my own projects I’ve noticed that research attendance has gone up a lot in the last 9 months. I know we’re supposed to be coming out of recession, but attendance at my focus groups is now so enthusiastic that I think I’m going to have to … Continue reading it’s geting easier to recruit – but will they play along?
I posted a few weeks ago about what I hoped were the first green shoots of recovery I'd spotted. And since then I'm pleased to report that the local firm who are fitting our new bathroom tell me their enquiries and orders have doubled over the past two months and they've had to take on … Continue reading more green shoots but also gatecrashers
As a freelance, I inevitably get about a bit. So I hear an awful lot about how well (or otherwise) businesses and individuals round my way are doing. I can’t comment on the daily media stories about how the economy is getting better / worse / becoming more unpredictable by the day, but I certainly … Continue reading Northern agency Recession Watch
If I ever get asked to speak at anything like an Interesting un-conference again and have to talk about another of my secret obsessions, I think I’d choose Lists. I love lists and I love list making. The mere act of writing everything down on a piece of paper makes me feel calmer and more … Continue reading An ode to list writing – and why FMCG ad men should take note
I’ve come to the conclusion that we can no-longer talk about ‘normal’. Or ‘average’, ‘typical’, ‘loyal’, even ‘regular’ customers / shoppers / consumers / target audience. You see, the customer, consumer or whatever grew up. They got savvy. The recession forced them to reappraise their shopping behaviour. They started visiting different supermarkets, haggling with furniture … Continue reading There’s no such thing as normal or loyal anymore
by gaptone on flickr Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is my predication for what AgencyLife is going to be like – no, HAS to be like - if the industry is to adapt to the realities of life in 2010. Harder After 2009’s redundancies and cost cutting, there will be less people around to do more … Continue reading Harder, better, faster, stronger
A couple of weeks ago, one of the Account Directors who sits near me at work merrily declared that for the foreseeable future, all weeks would be now be designated Positive Mental Attitude Week. Since then, she’s won two pitches. I’m not suggesting that the two are completely related, but spending every day alternating between … Continue reading its apparently Positive Mental Attitude week – and its catching
In my last (at least for now) series of observations about the New Normal, we come to consumer values. Yes, I know there’s an online movement to eradicate the term ‘consumer’, but to be honest I’ve yet to hear a better alternative – ‘commonalities among people generally, who aren’t customers, but then again might be … Continue reading the New Normal #3 – shifting values
So, after looking at the New Normal of measuring client’s bravery and budget we move on to part two – attitudes towards market research. Desk research tools like TGI and Mintel are becoming increasingly unhelpful as we slide deeper into this recession. Data that was collected twelve or eighteen months ago in happier economic times … Continue reading The New Normal #2 – if it moves, research it
Firstly, apologies for the lack of activity here in the last week or two, the result of being manically busy at work combined with a horse-so-lame-it-has-to-go-to-the-horse-hospital crisis. Anyway. I’ve been thinking a lot about what is the New Normal, by which I mean what has shifted as a resulted of the downturn economy, but isn’t … Continue reading the New Normal – measuring how far client’s bravery (and budget) will stretch
