We explore and discover why people think, feel and act the way they do, and help our clients connect with these people, creating a better future for both
‘We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality’. - Iris Murdoch
Explore and Discover With Us
Your success in business, marketing and communications demands an understanding of the people who matter; to connect with them for mutual benefit.
We’ll get this for you – delivering rich, clear insights about why people are thinking, feeling and acting the way they do and about what they’re likely to do next.
Curiosity takes us beyond the ‘good’ reasons people offer to discover the ‘real’ reasons. We ask ‘why’ as well as ‘what if’ in many different ways and get to the depth of meaning you need to complement the reality of your big data.
This lively understanding informs, guides and inspires your brand positionings, value propositions, innovations, comms strategies and creative directions…
We’ll take you deeper, faster and with greater clarity of direction – we can promise this because we’ve been doing just that at such a high level for so long.
A Team of Experts
We will bring together the right team of experts to get your job done. We work across the UK and internationally.
Bespoke research designs
- qualitative conversations, ethnographic explorations, customer journeys, user experiences, demand space and people illumination (including film output) + concept co-creation sessions…Face to face or digital
– with individuals, pairs, groups
In UK and internationally
- collaborating with trusted friends and colleagues around the worldWith experts, consumers, stakeholders
– we’ve talked with, watched and listened to thousands over the years, we know how to make sure everyone has the most positive, productive experience
Desk research
– if it’s out there, we’ll track it down for youData reviews
- you’ve got lots of it, we’ll dive right in to find the answers to those new questions.
Think and Create Together
You drop us in wherever we can add most value in the team, enhancing your in-house resources. We’ve been guiding strategic plans and inspiring creative output for decades; we understand the processes and relish the challenges.
Strategic planning expertise: as a stand alone consultancy service or to add value to our research across the entire development process of ideas and initiatives.
Creative workshop facilitation
- we draw on the expertise of people who know (clients, their colleagues and agency partners) - to inform plans, reach consensus, bring the future to life with inspiring, workable concepts for products, services, brand positionings, communications ideas… and often going on to explore and co-develop these further with target people.
‘Concept’ refinement
- taking ideas and rearticulating them for exploration, validation or implementation.
Briefs and briefing
- we are skilled in distilling thoughts about brands into briefs for creative teams of communicators, regardless of medium – using client templates or one of ours. And we can help inspire the team at briefing and through the creative development process.
Who We Are
Margaret
Managing Director
I love being a detective for businesses and organisations. Walking round the issues, clarifying the challenge; making sense of the cultural and personal context of people lives; sometimes discovering things hidden in plain sight; logically and creatively pulling all the strands together to get at truths; all with the aim of guiding clients on how they can deliver what people will value.
I’ve been doing this across many commercial, public and third sectors for over 20 years; working in some of the world’s best research, innovations and comms agencies.
I first learned how to root around for answers and draw out narratives logically, clearly and creatively at Edinburgh University with a first class MA in Philosophy.
Nic
Director
You need to turn those unwieldy piles of information into something you can really grab hold of and work with.
I have over 20 years of experience of finding the vital, engaging patterns and stories hidden in those multiple, diverse treasure troves of information that most organisations are blessed and cursed with.
For 10+ years I worked as an agency researcher, a client researcher and a marketeer; and subsequently as a freelance consultant on all sorts of research and marketing information projects.
I have an MA in English from Cambridge University.
Clients Come
To Us Because…
We’ve been helping commercial and social marketing clients get results for many years.
‘I have worked with Margaret on a number of successful projects – from concept development right through the NPD process – and ultimately to TV advertising research prior to launch. Her expertise in insight and planning is not surprising given her breadth and depth of experience. What sets Margaret apart from her peers, however, is her relaxed professionalism – and her ability to adapt to any organisational dynamics to ensure that genuine consumer insight and understanding are used to inform all key decisions. She helps her client deliver results, and for me that will always be the acid test’.
- Marketing Director, international beverage company
‘In our world, successful brands require to be researched, particularly NPD. Having sat in many focus groups throughout the years I have met some good researchers, however Margaret is the only one I would recommend. Apart from being a skilled researcher and facilitator, Margaret has a real talent in being able to clearly interpret the findings in a way that gives real direction and confidence going forward’.
- Director of External Affairs, national NGO
‘Nic was a huge asset for our team. He expertly handled a load of different data sources across a dozen different markets to produce real knowledge that was immediately useful to all sorts of managers right across our client’s business’.
- Managing Director, global research agency