Top tens of 2013: Feature articles

1. Award-winning design
A showcase of eight of the best pieces of data visualisation work that competed in the 2012 Kantar-sponsored Information is Beautiful Awards.

2. Ipsos and Synovate: two years on
“If there is a lesson to be learned… it is that a merger like that of Ipsos and Synovate takes time, even if its physical and formal execution is swift,” said global CEO Didier Truchot.

3. Will Stephen Phillips become the most hated man in MR?
Steve Phillips’s new venture, ZappiStore, is looking to automate and reduce the cost of large swathes of quant work. Clients like the idea, he says – but other agencies might not be so keen.

4. The great Gen Y debate
Generation Y – the ‘millennials’ – are a complicated bunch of people. They are hyper-connected but hard to reach (or should that really be ‘hard to engage’?). They are interested in innovative and quirky things, but want to be associated with trusted brands. And they are definitely not the hedonistic, impulsive generation one might expect.

5. Till receipt surveys get a reality check
It was supposed to be the great innovation in consumer market research; cheap, easy to conduct, incisive. But in reality, the results generated by till receipt surveys have not lived up to expectations, argues Helen Roberts, retail research director at GfK.

6. Practical applications
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all tool for data visualisation work. DataMarket’s Hjalmar Gislason reviews what is available to help researchers find the best solution for their needs.

7. Is BrainJuicer ambitious enough?
Unflattering 2012 results from growth darling BrainJuicer surprised some observers, including Surinder Siama of innovation researchers mngful. So he asked BrainJuicer CEO John Kearon about what went wrong and what this means for BrainJuicer’s future.

8. What does ‘meaningfully different’ actually mean?
In April, Millward Brown released an update to its 20-year-old BrandDynamics service, incorporating its new Meaningfully Different Framework for brand equity measurement. Josh Samuel reviews the work that went in to the creation of the framework, and explains why ‘power’, ‘premium’ and ‘potential’ will be crucial metrics for assessing brand success.

9. How Stuff spreads
Gangnam Style vs. Harlem Shake: An anatomy of two memes, by Francesco D’Orazio and Jessica Owens of Face.

10. Telling tales
There are many good reasons for researchers to embrace data visualisation. One of them is to make people pay attention to the story you want to tell.

Check back tomorrow for our Top 10 opinion articles of 2013