As delegates learnt from Magnus Lindkvist on day one of MRS Conference, the average life of a company is about the same as a woodpecker: 12 years. The case studies heard in day two’s session on The Business of Change showed how research can be a driver for innovation which allows businesses to survive in increasingly competitive markets.

“McDonald’s, for the first thirty years of its life, had a relatively easy task,” explained Tom Peck, director of consumer insights at McDonald’s Europe. “Round about the year 2000 things started to change; it got a lot harder to grow the business by opening new restaurants so we had to target same-store sales growth.”

“We had to focus more on what consumer’s want, why do they want it and how we can react to that.”

Melanie Johnston, qualitative director at TNS-RI showed how the agency used multiple research methodologies in its work for McDonald’s to generate data and, importantly, to “turn that data into insights, and those insights into actions that would benefit the brand”.

TNS-RI used exit interviews, static cameras, accompanied trips and observations to track customer journeys. They were able to see and hear the customer experience through the eyes and ears of a child by using cameras mounted in glasses worn by a six-year-old. “It is quite astonishing how something you think you have designed to be very exciting is actually pretty dull when you are the size of a child,” Johnston said.

McDonald’s used these insights to brief a design team so that they could build a prototype store in Milton Keynes. Peck said: “We replaced the rather staid, boring, 70s-style with a new, wonderful experience.” Stores incorporated digital entertainment for children, flexible seating and unobstructed sight lines so parents could see their children playing.

Building prototype stores was a great research tool, said Johnston. “We had this marvellous opportunity with pilot stores actually up and running so you could see the results of our insights. Instead of asking customers, ‘What would you do, if…’ we could see how they behaved in a real environment.”

Guest post by Alastair Heggie