Jimmy Bullard’s call-up this week into Fabio Capello’s England squad for the World Cup qualifiers reminded me of a recent round of research that clearly illustrates how delicately we must handle our editors when their brands are under scrutiny.

The thing is, when you’re creating stimulus material to take into research - new franchises or features usually, sometimes cover treatments - the work you are undertaking is completely counter-intuitive to the brand guardian. He or she has been thoroughly schooled in producing work which completely satisfies the customer - work that answers all the questions, if you like. If they weren’t doing that effectively, let’s face it, they’d be out of a job. (more…)

People are now making what they want of your customer silos. People online have more options than ever before to access the information they want. The tool they most often use is a search engine, and with mission statements like this “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” who can blame them. (more…)

We are constantly being reminded - not least by the current tough trading climate for print brands - that our customers have way more options than they used when it comes to accessing their information and entertainment. And we are quite rightly encouraged to monitor all these choices with a view to making absolutely sure we maximise our opportunities.

In some cases this can mean embarking upon a rigorous course of brand extensions - witness NME’s recent forays into TV, radio and staging events. In other cases, though, it can mean looking at changing your core proposition to try and capture different facets of the market. And herein, if research tells us anything, can lurk very real dangers. (more…)

Reading Mazy’s blog about making happiness your business model reminds me of a series of recent research groups we conducted in deepest sarf London around one of our most esteemed pillar brands.

The brand has heritage, a deep relationship with its readers and a real place in their lives so it was fascinating to hear two groups of ladies - one in their upper 40s to mid-60s, and one in their early 30s to late-40s - talk through the pages. (more…)

OK, so I’ve been exaggerating. Not all of your readers are nuts… but they sure have a knack of tangling themselves up in knots when it comes to research. (more…)

Subsequent to yesterday’s post about reader research, the black art of interpretation and the invention of the “hygiene factor”, I thought you might like to know that research companies have developed further species to explain the frankly inexplicable. (more…)

One of the great things about working in NPD is that I am privileged to attend a great many research groups.

Now, granted, there is very little more rewarding or enjoyable than sitting down in a room listening to your readers/users discussing your brand, but there are odd occasions when the process can be… well, shall we say frustrating? (more…)