OPINION12 November 2009

The Joys of Research

Steve is having a good day remembering why he likes market research so much!

It may be freezing in Moscow but I am feeling pretty happy right now. We are doing a pan European project on bathrooms and so I am here to listen to bathroom customers and suppliers. Not a subject I knew much about before but one in which I am rapidly becoming more expert.

The thing I so enjoy and about research, and why I have stuck with it, is you get these opportunities to explore new categories, places and people. As ever I am struck by how much more binds us than separates us as I listen to bathroom buyers across Europe talk about themselves and their homes and tell their bathroom purchase stories. It reminds me, sorry to get sentimental but it is 20 years since the wall came down, of the old Sting line “I hope the Russians love their children too” which I can assure you they do!

It is always good to get these moments, especially in tough times, when you can honestly say that our industry is both fun and interesting. For anyone with a basic curiosity about the people and the world around them, there is not another profession to rival it!