Jade On – research hero

What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career?
I would say my biggest challenge was the transition after 13 years in operations into a direct sales role. I grew up as an introvert, and in my teenage years and adult life became more sociable and discovered my extrovert side. However, I initially never thought I could do such a role and believed only those with certain personality traits could make it.

Fast forward 10 years and I’m so happy I made the jump and pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. There definitely have been challenging times, but I’ve been very fortunate to work with a lot of fantastic, talented and supportive people in the industry who I owe an extreme amount of gratitude too.

This is very personal to me but I wanted to share in case there is anyone out there who has doubts. Regardless of your background, gender, age or sexual orientation, if you want something, don’t let anything or anyone (that includes yourself) hold you back. I’ve learnt and grown so much as a person and professionally as a result so by sharing my story, I hope it may encourage others to do the same.

What will be the next big trend or development in the research industry, and why?
I think an area that is still somewhat untapped is augmented and virtual reality in market research. Pre-Covid, there were some fantastic success stories and I think nothing can rival the power of immersive ‘in-the-moment’ experiences.

This would be especially beneficial in behavioural and sensory research and I think can provide a much more cost and time effective solution versus actually building multiple layouts of a store or multiple concepts, for example. Pre-Covid, Perspective conducted a study to gauge what emotions people felt in different scenarios to help our client develop a new marketing campaign. We used virtual reality to immerse participants into different environments back to back which would not have been possible physically and photos only tapped into the visual senses, not sounds or movement.

Who inspires you as a researcher? 
After Covid, I must say my team. Our heritage is offline data collection methods so when in-person was put on hold for a while, I’m extremely proud of how we remained nimble and supported each other through the rapid changes and challenging times. The bond we built as a team remains today and remains a huge inspiration to me.

Historically, I’ve had some fantastic mentors as well. Adam Fortey during my CATI interviewing years helped me grow, which led me onto managing complex international projects. I then got to work with an amazing exec, Sam Scott, who I worked with closely on complex international B2B projects; her tenacity, drive and creativity inspired me to want to grow in the same way. Today, our managing director, Paul Russell, is a huge inspiration, and I think I can confidently say from us all at Perspective that his vision, drive and courage to take us as a company and as individuals from strength to strength inspires us all.

View the full list of Research Heroes 2023