Programme

Why is there an obsession with ‘newness’? In this provocation, Ben Page asks how much is changing ­– and how much isn’t, It’s a wide-ranging analysis of consumers and society over the last year – and the last 20 years. Has Covid19 really changed ‘everything’?

What happens when brands become political? The world has changed, and brands are expected to take a social stance – however, the pitfalls are many, and jumping onto bandwagons can do more harm than good. #doesmytitlematter will uncover a framework for brands to understand when to be political, when to steer well clear and how to drive market success though a sensitive and adaptive strategy.

COVID-19 had some unexpected effects on consumer behaviour – effects that will resonate far beyond the duration of the pandemic. How did behaviours change in the digital world? How did insight and design thinking uncover new learnings for Spotify around content consumption and streaming behaviours, brought about due to the virus. We will also deliver the lessons Sparkler learnt from running a multi-market study using a community method and how it adapted processes for a global client.

To make research more emotionally resonant at a time of disconnect, transformation and uncertainty, we’ve become data journalists. The 3 core storytelling principles that make news so compelling now service the needs of our clients – and our teams - more fully. We call it ‘Buzzing like a newsroom BEE’ – Bad, Entertaining, Empathetic data storytelling. Here’s how to create that virtual newsroom buzz.

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The new Age of Public Consumption has made consumption publicly visible, more fraught and created a whole new range of experts and authorities on what we do with the things we buy. We explore what this means for brands and how we Boots has repositioned itself in this new world.

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Too often those at the coalface of the research industry equate insight with staring longingly at data until magic elves sprinkle insight-dust on them. Quoting from his new book, “InCitations”, Tas will explore how genuine insight connects disparate ideas, why too much domain-specific knowledge amplifies fixation and impairs insight, why our brain needs to incubate “external serendipitous influences” and why we need more humour and impertinence

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Bristol’s Colston Hall, named after slave trader Edward Colston, was for years a lightning rod for the city’s disquiet over its past. This summer, as Colston’s statue was being torn down, Colston Hall prepared to announce its new name; the culmination of three years of research to create a musical legacy of which all Bristolians can be proud.

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Creative development was not immune from the challenges caused by the pandemic. There is more pressure in choosing which ads to invest in as budgets tightened and in launching ads that could be deemed irrelevant. How did artificial intelligence play a significant role with creative executions? And are they really cost and time effective?

Discover how electric car manufacturers worked with Facebook and The Nursery in a global study to understand how consumers really feel about electric cars. Using models derived from behavioural economics and anthropological psychology they were able to find out what’s actually going on inside consumers’ heads and what the auto industry needs to do to unlock the true drivers to purchase.

Many young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are seeing their future blighted by COVID-19. Disclosing their experiences to researchers who seem to have so many privileges can add to the sense of exclusion. Versiti reports on its work to train ethnic minority young people in qualitative research to understand ethnic inequalities in the impacts of COVID-19 and build capacity among ethnic minority young people. The project team and the client, Youth Futures Foundation, will discuss experiences, lessons and key insights.