John Doe Group establishes research agency

John Doe Group, which has offices in London, Manchester and Glasgow, has established the business in response to what it terms ‘one-dimensional, generic profiles that too often sit at the heart of marketing strategies’.

The business will offer qualitative research, strategy, and creative development and testing, with the aim of helping brands better understand audiences, including what it calls ‘emerging and underestimated’ groups, to inform advertising and marketing approaches.

It will conduct research to inform strategies and campaigns as well as standalone research projects, with a focus.

Elsewhere will use a community panel that it has been building for the past year to surface insights on motivations and trends behind attitudes and behaviours. The company said it would combine ‘peer-to-peer conversations within the network’ with broader data on cultural and social contexts.

Services will also include measurement to analyse the cultural and community impact of client work.

The agency will use film, audio, photography and people’s own words to report back research findings.

John Doe Group managing partner Pamela Scobbie will oversee Elsewhere, which launches with three dedicated staff: director Holly Hunt, who joined the business from its culture partner Platform13; Mercy Abel, previously of equality, diversity and inclusion consultancy The Unmistakables; and culture strategist Lodina Agyeman, who moves over from John Doe.

Scobbie said: “There’s a widespread, underlying challenge in marketing. We’ve all experienced those briefings with bland insights that tell us nothing new, that we could have Googled or guessed ourselves. Too often, target audiences feel like cardboard cut-outs, not real people. It became clear to us that there was a need for a research agency that could bring real wisdom to the table; that truly knows how to understand and connect with a wide range of communities across different identities and interests, across the UK and beyond.

“In a world in which marketing provides limitless opportunities for tailored audience communications, the traditional approach to insight generation is broken. What’s needed is a nuanced, more complex understanding of the drivers behind the myriad of communities and audiences that make up the UK.”

John Doe Group was formed from the merger of London PR agency John Doe and Glasgow-based communications firm Wire Media in January 2021.

Elsewhere is the second new agency the group has launched this year, following the introduction of communications consultancy The Heard in February. 

Group chief executive Magin Trewhella said the new proposition has received a “six-figure investment” and would expand the company’s integrated offer for clients.

Pictured (L-R): Mercy Abel, Pam Scobbie, Lodina Agyeman, Holly Hunt