The renaissance of qual - and why this is good for brands, baked beans and Ariana Grande

Qualitative research is having a bit of a moment again. This is partly because brands are nothing without emotion.

And when it comes to emotion, there’s nothing like qual research.

How To Do Insight Tutorial #3
We're In The Inspiration Game

The real value we provide isn’t insights, it’s commercial success.

If you want to make things happen, you have to persuade people. And if you want to persuade people, you don’t tell them facts, you appeal to their emotions.

How To Do Insight Tutorial # 2
Seeing Things From a Fresh Perspective

Sometimes you need to look beyond the stuff that people say.

Instead you can find insights by looking behind and around the things you see or hear, finding answers in the unexpected connections between disparate pieces of evidence.

How To Do Insight Tutorial #1
An Attitude of Empathy

Great insight requires empathy.

As an industry we assume we’re good at it - but it doesn’t always come naturally. It’s something you need to remind yourself to do. Or to feel. This is how.

Five Things I've Learnt From A Year Overboard

A year after quitting agency life - and with a little help from a global pandemic - I wrote about brains, proposals, digital techniques, travel and family.