New FreshMinds director: going beyond ‘elegant observation’

How did you get into market research?
I first started in market research, perhaps without realising it, when I joined a new and fast-growing strategy consulting firm. Its USP was to use associates to dig out information on which it could base its recommendations, rather than rely solely on its partners. Now I’m joining another consultancy that shares the belief that multiple sources of insight provide the best foundation for business decisions.

What is the most challenging research project you have worked on?
Usually the really tricky challenges aren’t the technical design and execution aspects – provided you have the right expertise and experience there’s always a fun way to solve those seemingly difficult issues. For me the biggest challenge is making sure that the value of any research project gets fully realised – it’s very easy for it to fall through the cracks between the agency, the insight team and line management. Both agency and clients have to be better at resolving those challenges.

Are the boundaries between consultants and researchers becoming blurred?
Not quite enough. There are some honourable exceptions on both the research and consultancy side but still too much consulting is based on telling clients what other companies have done in the past and too many research projects are content to stop at the point of elegant observation. In order to improve, companies need to learn from what they do. As a researcher, my role is to help clients understand in as near real time as possible how their efforts to serve their customers are faring. On top of this, I have a responsibility as a consultant to help my clients translate these insights into new actions though which their learning can continue. Real value lies in helping clients close this loop.

How were the blue-chip companies you’ve worked with affected by the recession?
They’ve all suffered hits to profitability, share price and reputation, and in some cases this is still going on. But most clients I’ve been involved with will survive and go on to be very successful again. One consequence of any ‘market correction’ is that management teams take the axe to any discretionary spends. As a result, good projects have gone along with bad ones and it may take a while for some companies to feel able to switch on their research programmes again in spite of the fact that they are all saying that we are in a time when being close to customers and markets has never been so important.

You’ve worked a lot with oil companies and banks, who are often cast as villains by the public and the media. Are they aware of this and do they care?
Yes and yes. Clearly negative public perception is bad for business as BP’s challenges have illustrated earlier this year. But in oil companies in particular, people at all levels work hard in demanding jobs to produce a product that the world relies on. They are more aware than most industries of the consequences of their mistakes but are also required to defend themselves just for doing their jobs well and profitably.

If you could turn back the clock and start again is there anything you would do differently in your career?
If I could start again, I’d become an architect. It’s the perfect combination of science and art combined, form and function and appeals to both my creative side and the need to see tangible results from my efforts.

What was the last thing you spent too much money on?
I’ve spent amounts of money on things I’ve struggled to explain to other people. The last thing was a sub-woofer for my home cinema system: expensive, heavy and produces sound at frequencies you can’t actually hear. But it’s beautiful.