Black on Black

Foraging for Social Facts: How humans forage for information like animals forage for food

2012-02-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I spent some time chatting with marketing students at a university networking event. Watching the students slowly consume advice from marketing professionals was a lot like watching cattle graze in a pasture; when one student found a tasty source of information, others would follow and cluster around the source. This observation reminded me of some great research on how human

Defining Community at TEDx

2012-02-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

Back in November 2011, I had the opportunity to present on the topic of community at TEDxSFU. Community is an abstract concept, and as an audience member I found it interesting to observe the way in which different speakers attempted to define it. The Definition of Community During the event, some speakers expressed a more traditional perspective on community; while others described

The Five Stages of Travel

2011-12-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Heading into the annual holiday and travel season, I thought you may appreciate a study undertaken by Google on 'The Five Stages of Travel.' While the data itself is relatively bland, the use of infographics managed to engage me in the experience. Happy Holidays. Stage One - Dreaming: Stage Two - Planning: Stage Three - Booking:

The Community Trust Report

2011-12-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

Over the last month, I’ve been involved in a study that explored the topic of community trust in public institutions and political leaders. The Concerto Marketing and Research Now study involved online surveys with 1500 people from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and used a proprietary model (HuTrust) to measure the psychological drivers of trust. Last week, The Community Trust Report was

Digital Moms: The Drivers of Digital E-motion

2011-10-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Back in March 2011, I was involved in a proactive study that explored the online motivations of digital mothers. The Concerto Marketing study involved in-depth interviews and online surveys with 500 North American Moms, and was designed to coincide with a keynote presentation we made at the 2nd Annual Marketing to Digital Moms Conference. While there’s no shortage of metrics and

Think Quarterly: Dedicated to Data

2011-03-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Thought you may appreciate a new online magazine launched by Google, called Think Quarterly. Designed to communicate with Google's partners and advertisers, this first issue has been, “dedicated to data – amongst a morass of information, how can you find the magic metrics that will help transform your business?”

Masculinity in American Culture

2011-03-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the United States – both for business and pleasure. In contrast to many European and Asian countries, one aspect of American culture that always surprises me is the degree to which they embrace ‘masculinity’ in their everyday lives. From the way that meetings are conducted, to the car brands that people prefer,

Three interesting things on the interweb

2011-03-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

In this edition of interesting things on the interweb, you’ll find three different forms of thinking from one source - Strawberry Frog. For those of you who don’t keep up-to-date with the advertising industry, Strawberry Frog is an independent agency which has been described as “waging war against the dinosaurs of advertising - monolithic global networks and their holding companies.”

The NGMR Top-5-Hot vs. Top-5-Not

2011-03-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

As part of the Next Gen Market Research group, bloggers from around the world were invited to participate in a group post on the ‘Top 5-Hot vs. Top-5-Not’ topics in market research. The following is a collection of topics and trends that I feel are important to our industry; it may not add up to ten, but that’s what happens when you ask a qualitative researcher to count.Hot topic 1: Research

Transmission Global Summit 2011

2011-02-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

Last week our team had an opportunity to participate in Transmission Global, one of the most unique and engaging conferences I’ve attended in a while. In my opinion, there were two aspects to this conference that were particularly engaging: the attendees, and the experience design. From an attendee perspective, there was an incredible mix of musicians, gadgeteers and executives who were

The Contagious Report

2011-02-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

This week I wrote a post for the Canadian Marketing Association titled, 'The Contagious Report.' The post shared findings from some recent research we conducted at the 2010 BCAIM conference. If you'd like to read the original post you can view it here; or alternatively you can find a copy below. I'm interested to hear if your opinions mirror those of our research participants... Spending time

Marketing to Digital Moms

2011-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

"My life is the virtual world. If I don't have access [I feel] I'm missing something. I'm a single mom; I don't get out a lot. It's not like I can just get out." - Digital Mom (2009)Making the assumption that any demographic group thinks, feels and acts homogeneously is a mistake. Within any person, or group of people, there exists a repertoire of motivations that can influence their behavior.

The Incompetence Paradox

2010-12-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the experience where someone around you is clearly incompetent but appears totally oblivious to their deficiencies? Perhaps it’s a work colleague who consistently makes mistakes on tasks but refuses to change their behavior. Or perhaps it’s a restaurant server who makes mistakes on your order but refuses to acknowledge any error. Not only are these people seemingly incompetent

Tuning in Poland

2010-12-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time in Poland while conducting qualitative research for a global technology manufacturer. Although I can’t share any of the insights we gained from the study, I would like to share an observation we made while wandering the streets of Krakow. Krakow is considered to be the ‘cultural capital’ of Poland, with throngs of University students and

Merlien Institute: Qualitative Blog List

2010-11-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

A few months ago the Merlien Institute, an “an independent organisation dedicated to the advancement of qualitative research in academia, business and policy environments,” set about compiling a list of qualitative research blogs from around the world.For those of you that are interested in qualitative insights and research methodologies, I recommend checking out a few of the blogs on the list.

The Meanings of Home

2010-11-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

“A phenomenological study describes the meaning of the lived experiences for several individuals about a concept… From the individual descriptions, general or universal meanings are derived, in other words, the essences of structures of the experiences.” (Creswell, 1998, pp. 51-54)As human beings we spend a lot of time and energy measuring our experiences in the world. But sometimes, it’s

Motivation in Motion: The psycho-logic of marketing

2010-08-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Back in 2004, I had the opportunity to work on my first morphological studies under the guidance of Barbara Grohsgart from Transform Germany. At the time I felt confident in my understanding of research methodologies and motivational models, but nothing had prepared me for the thinking behind morphology. It is unique in many respects, from its theoretical foundations to its practical outcomes. It

The Human Brand-Aid

2010-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I spent a little time observing shoppers in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall. Whenever I’m working overseas, one of my favorite things to do is observe people in the process of shopping. While shopping centres tend to be homogeneous environments, containing largely homogenous stores, the actual behavior of shoppers can differ greatly by culture and continent.This time around I noticed a

Corporate Castles: A Chinese Perspective

2010-06-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted a few thoughts on corporate castles, and was both impressed and intrigued by a comment it received. I’d like to share this comment with you for three reasons. Firstly, because it was so eloquently written; secondly, because it was written by a friend and fellow morphological researcher Sami Wong; and thirdly, because it provides a different cultural perspective on the idea of

Corporate Castles and the Customer Renaissance

2010-06-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

A few months ago while waiting at the airport, I overheard two businessmen publicly discussing a PR disaster. From what I could ascertain, a woman had eaten at their restaurant chain and had contracted a case of food poisoning. Unfortunately for the restaurant chain this woman was a prominent radio host and blogger, and had begun to lampoon their restaurants in public.“I’ll get in touch with the

The Barbecue: A modern form of meal perfection

2010-04-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air in North America. The sun is beginning to shine, the doors are beginning to open, and the barbecues are back on the deck. It’s a strange object the barbecue. An outdoor oven on wheels, flame in a framework; it manages to hold a special place in our meal-time motivations. The barbecue it is at once egalitarian and aggressive, ideal and instinctive. In fact, the barbecue

Three interesting things on the interweb

2010-04-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

In between depth interviews and brand strategy sessions, I managed to waste some time last week feeding my internet addiction (a diagnosis of the problem can be found here: all consuming internet search). In the interest of sharing this addiction with others, here are three interesting things on the interweb.Interesting interweb one:In a beautifully written post for the Harvard Business Review

Soap, Sex and other Edgy Insights

2010-04-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I wrote a post for the BC American Marketing Association titled, 'Soap, Sex and other Edgy Insights'. The post explored the the value of insights that may, at first, seem a little strange. If you'd like to read the original post you can view it here; or alternatively you can find a copy below... A few years ago I worked on a research and strategy project for one of the world’s largest

Brand Trust, Contracts and the Catholic Church

2010-04-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Watching television this morning, I couldn’t help but notice a distinct tension between stories of spiritual salvation and scandals of sexual abuse. Today is Good Friday in North America, but for the Catholic Church there was very little good news to be seen on the television screen. From a personal perspective, I have no opinion on this topic. However, from a professional perspective, I can’t

The humanity and biology of brands

2010-03-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

This week I wrote a post for the Canadian Marketing Association titled, 'The Humanity and Biology of Brands'. The post was an attempt to articulate my sense of dissatisfaction with many of the methods and models we use to understand brands. If you'd like to read the original post you can view it here; or alternatively you can find a copy below. Please feel free to share any opinions, experiences