“Most of our clients are corporates, although we do a lot of work with investors too, and our positioning is all about combining commercial and creative,” he explains. “If you want to make a real difference in terms of redefining brands, you really need both. On the investment side, we help private equity houses with transactions, on both buy and sell side. That’s really about brand due diligence. That might be about standing up a deal – or even helping investors decide whether to explore further, maybe to seek exclusivity.”

In other words, when a hard-nosed private equity firm wants to buy a business, it needs to understand where its brands sit and how they might perform; when they’re selling, they need to be able to make a compelling case for maximum valuation.

“Typically it’s consumer brands that we’re working on – and the investors will have questions about the things they just can’t see in the data room,” Chris says. “There’s so much more to valuation than just the numbers, and we help them plug the gaps as an impartial adviser.”

Private equity clients are sophisticated, he adds, “but they’re not interested in complexity. They just want to be able to see how they might double the business in two years, and what consumer strategy might deliver that. In that sense, they’re quite advanced buyers of insight – they’re not asking for ‘qual’ or ‘brand engagement’ metrics. They want holistic insights that will help them assign potential.”

Qual plays a part in a lot of the work Brand Potential does do. “Clients need a roadmap for growth,” Chris says. “Yes, they need quick wins, too. But a rounded view of the assets includes understanding how the brands work out in the marketplace. Every methodology has a part to play.”

And for qual practitioners, that’s good news. If even hard-nosed investors are rejecting the idea that “the focus group is dead”, then even in the toughest economic climate, we ought to be able to make a case for qual. “Yes, we have more sources of evidence today than even ten years ago,” Chris admits. “It’s great to be applying AI technologies to behavioural data – it’s all interesting. But interpretation is the key, that’s what the research industry excels at. It’s the difference between illuminating a road junction and being able to decide which road to go down.”

In other words, methodology is important. But it’s just a means to an end. It’s the endpoint that needs the tight definition, the quality of interpretation, the compelling story. “You can’t apply the wrong methods, you need the professionalism and rigour,” Molloy concludes. “But it’s the blend of approaches that creates the magic – and it’s the interpretation of insight that adds the value.”

Join the qual debate 'Stories with certainty’ at Insight Alchemy 2023 with Chris and Rhea, along with fellow panellists Ed Nash from Sky and Bridget Dalton of Discover.ai.