Why Research?

I got asked recently why I enjoy research. A good question, to which I probably gave a garbled answer. So I’m going to have another go.

First of all, it’s something inside me. I was a curious child (as many people have remarked). I went on to study Maths and Physics. I spend an unhealthy amount of time listening to Radio 4 and bumbling around Wikipedia. I like to know stuff. And everything thing that I learn just opens up another dozen lines of inquiry. It’s ongoing, and I love it.

It’s the right commercial thing to do too. A base of knowledge brings me closer to my clients, to understand their problems, to be able to represent them as they really are, and to show them things that they are too close to see. For me, the best client partnerships are built on this depth of knowledge; it builds genuine, mutual trust and credibility.

And the value of research cuts both ways. Clearly there’s a margin to be made in research. But when the eventual outputs are brands, communications, leadership and engagement activity – there’s hundreds of possible solutions, and what might take best effect can be trial and error. A depth of research gets you to the right solution in a far shorter time, cutting through the multiple proposals, moodboards, pilots.

There’s a reason consumer marketing invests in perpetual research - the investment is paid back straight away, and continues to be paid back every time you and your client work together. And having got your client a great solution, why wouldn’t you work together again?

And, for me, it’s the right emotional thing to do. I work in employee engagement, organisational culture, employer brand. They’re all about getting the right people doing the right things for all the right reasons. They’re about making the working day more interesting, exciting and worthwhile. And if I can make someone else’s working day better, that’s the best working day for me.