The ICG

International Research: Trends, challenges, and opportunities – An ICG expert panel discussion
2024-01-11 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/London)
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Teneo Translations

This webinar is the first part of a series of webinars we’ll be conducting about International Research.
Here, we welcome four ICG international research experts, Muriel Esposito, Nicky Fraser, Rebecca Harrison and Nicolas Kayser, to lead a panel discussion, using stories/real life examples, to illustrate the following about the international landscape…

Changes past and present
Challenges encountered and solutions found
Future opportunities.

Topics that will be addressed within these areas will include AI and digital automation tools and marketing strategies that can affect how work is conducted.
Our Panelists
Muriel Esposito

Muriel, through Esposito Research and Strategy, offers, innovation and strategy and qual and quant services. She is a food research specialist, with over 25 years experience.
Nicky Fraser

Nicky is a skilled and experienced qualitative researcher and trained psychotherapist with a constant fascination for what makes people tick. With 3 decades experience, Nicky brings national and international expertise across a wide range of categories and markets, working for some of the leading research agencies in Sydney and London including The Research Business International, Added Value, Crucible, Kaleidoscope and Heartbeat Trends.
Nicky holds a Masters in Social Behaviour from London School of Economics, including Consumer Psychology and Psychology of Advertising, and is also a trained psychotherapist.
Rebecca Harrison

Rebecca has been a global ethno and insight explorer for over 35yrs and lucky enough to have lived and worked in four continents and travelled extensively, all in the name of research – and my goodness how it has changed! Having worked in a range of small, medium and large agencies, she now runs Mosaik Consulting Ltd from London, specialising in international food and drink innovation and kids research, and partners with a broad network of like-minded agencies and independents on a wide variety of other categories. One thing is guaranteed, there is never a dull moment with international research and that’s why she loves it!
Nicholas Kayser

Nicolas is based in Germany and has a Degree in psychology and further education in innovation/change management (including design thinking), online marketing and healthcare marketing. He has been working for 20+ years in national and international market research with a focus on qualitative methods and analysis (B2C and B2B). In 2017 he set up ‘The Insight Zoo’ – Psychological Marketing Research which he runs from Frankfurt.

Register your place here (Zoom will then send you your login)

ICG Webinar: Transformational Change Dynamics - and The 'S' Word!
2024-01-16 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom – Registration link above
Please join us for this informative webinar by ICG member Paul Vittles, where he’ll be covering;

the language of change and why it scares people
transitional change & transformational change
the 3 Key Dynamics of Change
the role of research in transformational change
mini case studies of major change (inc physical, psychological & emotional)
The ‘S’ Word – suicide prevention as a transformational change challenge
the role of research in transforming suicide prevention
how everyone can help and how you can help!

About Paul Vittles and The Jordan Legacy

Paul Vittles is a researcher, change consultant, coach & counsellor. He began his career with MORI in 1984, has held director level positions with some of the ‘big global research firms’ as well as growing a research business as CEO from 5 to 50 people. Paul has worked agency side & client side, in the UK and Australia. He now works freelance.
Much of Paul’s career has been focused on transformational change projects & initiatives; he lectures at business schools on transformational change; and he’s recently been appointed to the Advisory Board of a new Transformational Change Centre at the University of York.
These days, Paul’s focus is on what he calls “one of the great transformational change challenges of our time” – suicide prevention, or getting the numbers of suicides in the UK down from the level of 6,000+ preventable deaths every year…towards zero!
Paul works closely with The Jordan Legacy which was set up by Steve Phillip after losing his son Jordan to suicide in December 2019. The Jordan Legacy is focused on practical actions to minimise suicides.
In 2023, Paul & Steve carried out action research and published a report – ‘Moving Towards a Zero Suicide Society’ – which many people in the suicide prevention field called ‘groundbreaking’.
Paul is active in the following places:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulvittles/
X (formerly Twitter): @PaulVittles
Medium: https://paulvittles.medium.com/
The Jordan Legacy: https://thejordanlegacy.com/member/paul-vittles-fmrs-fami-frsa-facilitating-transformational-change-to-move-towards-zero-suicide/
REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WEBINAR HERE (once registered your login will be sent to you directly from Zoom)

Award for Independent Consultants 2023: Finalists Share Their Submissions
2024-02-01 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been sponsored by Yonder Data Solutions, who are a trusted fieldwork and data collection company offering numerous services such as UK/International online data collection, advanced analytics, CATI, dashboards and visualisation, AI technology and omnibus services

Come and hear from our 5 Award Finalists from last year about their submissions. Hear more about how they approached their work, the hurdles they overcame, what worked well and less well, and why they chose to enter the Award.
A great opportunity to learn from other consultants and ask them questions. Also an opportunity to find out more about the Award for 2024.
Our Finalists

AWARD WINNER: Untapped Innovation: How research-led innovation helped BookTrust reach disadvantaged children

HIGHLY COMMENDED: PS Research: How PS Research helped Cumbria’s third sector tell the story of their multi-million-pound participant-led employment programme

Moorcroft Market Research: Evolving a charity to meet future needs of people with learning disabilities (for Hft)

Hush Research and Strategy: Codifying connection for a better night’s sleep (for the Mayborn Group)

White Rabbit Research: Helping children play their way (for the Children’s Coaching Collaborative).

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE (Zoom will then send you your login)

Webinar: Financial Planning: A Conversation
2024-02-15 11:00 - 12:00
We welcome IFA Victor Sacks, VS Associates, to talk about some key areas of financial planning relevant to micro-business owners, and answer your questions about this.

Specific areas to be covered include:

retirement planning
financial investments
employee responsibilities.

This webinar is designed to give you some food for thought, rather than individual advice, and will give you a chance to share thoughts with other attendees.
REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE: Zoom will then generate your login.

Webinar: Nowhere Be Like Africa - A Guide To Research
2024-02-28 11:00
This webinar is generously sponsored by Babble viewing facility, West Midlands, winner of the MRS Operations Awards Best Viewing Facility – Experience & Impact

As part of our international research webinar series, we are now proud to introduce three ICG members who’ll give us some cultural insight, do’s and don’ts of doing research, and some great anecdotes, about doing research in Africa.
Our Speakers
Emil Brune, African Grey
30+ years’ experience of growing brands

I’ve been immersed in the world of brands and consumers for 30+ years now. My experience is multifaceted having worked for advertising agencies, brand companies and consultancies. I have extensive global research experience and am equally confident with quant and qual methodologies.
My primary interest has always been to use research as a tool to enable better decision-making, selecting the best methodologies to achieve project objectives. My guiding philosophy is to ‘Get thinking straight before moving to action’. Often, this involves protecting shareholder value by culling poor ideas. Clients compliment me on my ability to get teams to grasp the practical implications from research.
In my previous corporate life at Diageo, I led global thinking on consumer segmentation, portfolio planning, opportunity identification and consumer / shopper trends. I also led their African research teams, which enabled me to build connections and friendships across the continent. I spent the majority of 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after Diageo asked me to go back to Africa to help build capability across their marketing, insights and innovation teams.
I founded African Grey in 2016, having long been frustrated by agencies who charged exorbitant prices, delivered poor quality research and had a lack of empathy for African consumers. The aim was that African Grey would help teams get closer to their target consumers in Africa and hence make better decisions.
Emil’s sector experience includes: APPAREL Sporting and Outdoor AUTOMATIVE Cars, Fuel, Tyres BEAUTY Cosmetics, Skincare DRINKS Beer, Bitters, Cocoa, Malt, CSDs, Energy, RTDs, Spirits ENERGY Solar FINANCIAL Banking, Insurance, Pensions, Investments, Neobanking, Cryptocurrency, Buy Now Pay Later FMCG Dairy Products, Lab-grown meat, Oral Care, Pilchards, Plant-based Products, Tobacco ONLINE Social Media, Search PROPERTY Commercial Retail Ikea, John Lewis SOCIAL Clean Cooking TECH Mobile Networks, SIM Cards, SAAS.
Emil holds an MBA degree from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business and a Sloan Masters degree in Leadership and Strategy from London Business School.
Andrew Onyeagbaku, Mojo Africa

Andrew has 2 decades of experience working in brand consultancy having started his career in Japan and then moved to London where he worked at Flamingo and then Clear before dedicating his focus to the African continent. He is multilingual speaking, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, English and Igbo, which helps when clients from that region look to enter African markets. He runs two companies, Mojo Africa and Kimoyo Insights.
Mojo was founded in 2015 and is a strategic African Cultural Insights Consultancy. Using a plethora of innovative & proprietary investigative means we help clients better understand African markets so they can successfully create better products, services, and marketing strategies attuned to those markets.
We are a diverse group of African aficionados living in and engaging exclusively with the continent and its diaspora 24/7 to offer unparalleled cultural insights and innovation inspiration to help clients take advantage of the opportunities in Africa, one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
We work with multidisciplinary teams, and with people from various African backgrounds to help crack each challenge. Our approach is collaborative with our clients but we are not afraid to challenge and lead where we feel this will lead to stronger and more enduring project outcomes.
We conduct market research qualitatively and quantitatively. We conduct cultural and semiotic analysis of African markets to give clients a culturally informed competitive edge when engaging with local consumers. We guide clients through innovation processes to help them create new products, brands and services.
Some of the industries we have worked in include: automotive, education, non-profit organisations, agritech, bigtech, fintech, edtech, healthtech (social) media, gaming, FMCG, Alcohol, oil & gas, alternative energy, etc
We’ve worked on projects looking at the semiotics of the dairy category in Nigeria, helping clients understand the meaning and relevance of magic in order to inform advertisement. We’ve created video consumer personas for consumers in East, West, NOrth and South Africa for a leading alcohol brand and we’ve helped the Migration Policy institute understand challenges for African economic migrants following the correct proceeds to being able to effectively make remittance to and from Africa.
Kimoyo, was founded in 2020 and also focussed on the African continent. Kimoyo leverages its huge consumer database and AI analytics platform to deliver rapid ‘autopilot’ insights to clients across the globe helping R&D, Innovation and strategy teams make informed decisions about pricing, purchasing and new innovations.
Sharon Matike, Afrique Monitor

An astute Africa business consultant and market researcher with a keen commitment to helping clients navigate complex business environments by providing strategic insights, inputs, and recommendations.
Sharon works to provide on the ground information, comprehensive data,reports, insights and analysis, contact and client tracing for organisations interested in doing business in Africa.
Her company Afrique Monitor based in Cameroon with footprints in over 35 unique African markets provides services such as market entry research, data collection, quality and quantitatively product research, corporate investigations and africa business consulting.
Sharon works with a number of multinational businesses on their Africa strategy and is an associate of Anteris management consultancy based in the UK.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE
LOGIN FOR THE WEBINAR IS HERE

Applications of Behavioural Science to Quantitative Market Research
2024-03-07 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been sponsored by Cxoice Insight Systems from dobney.com – the all-in-one survey and insight platform

Over the past decade or more, many market research agencies and their clients have been influenced by findings from behavioural science. In particular, some agencies have incorporated insights and approaches from behavioural science into their qualitative research offer.
However, while some have also had similar success in quantitative research, there remains significant untapped potential here. A huge opportunity exists for clients to improve their ability to understand, predict, and influence key stakeholder behaviour – through application of behavioural science insights and approaches to quantitative research.
This webinar will provide you with both the theory and tools to rectify this. We’ll first examine behaviour change models in detail. Next, we’ll look at behavioural economic approaches. Finally, we’ll cover personality trait insights.
This webinar will provide both the rationale for why, but crucially also the “how to”. Importantly, everything described will complement existing quantitative research techniques and data collection methods. Therefore, no significant initial investment is required to put any of these approaches into practice.
The webinar will also summarise the highlights from a detailed, upcoming 35-page guide: Applications of Behavioural Science to Quantitative Market Research. A free copy can be pre-ordered here: https://www.activate-research.com/quantitative-research-guide
This webinar follows on from a similar session that Chris ran for us in early 2022, giving us an overview of how the landscape has changed over this period.
Chris Harvey

Chris Harvey is the Founder of Activate Research, which inspires change and drives growth through enabling a deeper understanding of how people think and why they behave as they do. Drawing on an MSc Behavioural Science and 15 years research industry experience, Activate Research adds complementary insights and approaches from behavioural science – and psychology more broadly – to agencies’ research offer. This enables end clients to better understand, predict, and influence target audience behaviour.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE (you’ll then be sent your login)

Conducting Research in Europe: A Panel Debate
2024-03-14 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been sponsored by Rigour Research

Our Panellists
Alexander Ekimov, Kea Solutions Ltd.

It is now exactly 20 years since I started working in market research with a brief spell in marketing in between. I have worked on a wide variety of projects both in terms of scope and size. Electoral, social, consumer and B2B research in a single country, East Europe and the entire continent. While for the most part I have worked as part of a small team of freelance researchers, I have also participated at the central coordination level for big multinational projects.
Silvia Iranzo Ferrandis, In Market Research

Silvia Iranzo Ferrandis is ‘Director & Consultant’ at ‘In Market Research’ in Spain. A senior expert qualitative research consultant who has been working in multi-country international studies for 19 years now. Always searching for innovative techniques and methodologies she enthusiastically embraced online research over a decade ago and is considered a pioneer and early adopter of online focus groups, blogs and online communities in Spain. Silvia has managed projects for many international research agencies and consumer, B2B and pharmaceutical global brands.
Camille Gerbaud, CG Research

Camille Gerbaud through CG Research helps UK businesses bridge the cultural gap when conducting qualitative research in the French market.
Born in France and living in the UK, Camille has over 14 years of experience as a qualitative researcher & consultant in market research agencies in Paris and London as well as in a freelance capacity.
Camille holds a Masters degree in Social Psychology and is passionate about how social representations and culture shape consumers perceptions and behaviours.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE (Zoom will then send you login link)

Conducting Research in Europe: A Panel Debate
2024-03-14 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been sponsored by Rigour Research

Our Panellists
Alexander Ekimov, Kea Solutions Ltd.

It is now exactly 20 years since I started working in market research with a brief spell in marketing in between. I have worked on a wide variety of projects both in terms of scope and size. Electoral, social, consumer and B2B research in a single country, East Europe and the entire continent. While for the most part I have worked as part of a small team of freelance researchers, I have also participated at the central coordination level for big multinational projects.
Silvia Iranzo Ferrandis, In Market Research

Silvia Iranzo Ferrandis is ‘Director & Consultant’ at ‘In Market Research’ in Spain. A senior expert qualitative research consultant who has been working in multi-country international studies for 19 years now. Always searching for innovative techniques and methodologies she enthusiastically embraced online research over a decade ago and is considered a pioneer and early adopter of online focus groups, blogs and online communities in Spain. Silvia has managed projects for many international research agencies and consumer, B2B and pharmaceutical global brands.
Camille Gerbaud, CG Research

Camille Gerbaud through CG Research helps UK businesses bridge the cultural gap when conducting qualitative research in the French market.
Born in France and living in the UK, Camille has over 14 years of experience as a qualitative researcher & consultant in market research agencies in Paris and London as well as in a freelance capacity.
Camille holds a Masters degree in Social Psychology and is passionate about how social representations and culture shape consumers perceptions and behaviours.
Henrique Savelsberg, Savelsberg Research

Henrique is Dutch native and has 20+ year’s experience in developing and managing international market research projects. Having a strong track record as Research Manager for multi-country studies (especially across Europe and SE Asia) where he works with local senior researchers but also as much as a researcher himself where he is often asked for NL/BE. Henrique moderates (nearly exclusively online) in Dutch and English mainly. Strong on the ground research experience across Europe and SE Asia region. Henrique enjoys deep diving with consumers but picking up technical B-to-B research as much where he often teams up with topic experts whether it may be aquaculture, tires, packaging, adhesives to name a few areas.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE (Zoom will then send you login link)

Research in Asia – Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
2024-04-11 10:00 - 23:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by TTC WeTranslate

Please come and join ICG member Felicia Schwartz and her colleague, Sophie Cox, who’ll be discussing what it’s really like to conduct research in Asia.
Specifically, they’ll cover:

The Practical (holidays, timings, translations …)
The Cultural ( cultural input into every stage of the project )
The Relational (rapport with respondents, research professionals etc

You should join this webinar if;

you’re likely to conduct projects in China or SE Asia
you want to understand more about international or multi-market research projects
you’re interested in culture and cross-cultural work.

Felicia Schwartz, China Insight

Felicia has lived and worked in China for 14 years and spends her time between London and Beijing . She is the founder of China Insight, a qualitative research agency specialised in cultural behaviour. China Insight works across sectors with especially rich experience in Beauty, lifestyle, FMCG, Kids, and automotive
https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-schwartz-70331b/
www.chinainsight.co.uk
Sophie Cox, Firestar

Sophie has lived and worked in SE Asia for 25 years and is currently based in Malaysia. She is MD of Firestar, a boutique qualitative agency, which works throughout SE Asia
Sophie has been helping international agencies with research in the region for the past 20 years, has published an article on the subject in QRCA Views (https://www.qrcaviews.org/2021/11/10/qualitative-research-in-southeast-asia-what-you-need-to-know/) and conducted webinars with researchers and fieldwork partners in UK and Europe offering practical tips on how to manage projects in SE Asia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-cox-7b2435a
https://firestarresearch.com/index.html

REGISTER YOUR PLACE HERE (note earlier-than-usual start time)

Webinar: Semiotics - How This Case Study Brought A Depth Of Understanding For The Client
2024-04-25 11:00 - 12:00
Please join ICG member William Landell Mills, Amaranth Insight, as he uses a recent semiotic case study of his (‘Kids’ Films and Hygiene’) to discuss;

Semiotics and its relationship with Qual
Kids’ films
Hygiene
Moving through space
A wider point about brand as narrative

William Landell Mills, Founder, Amaranth Insight

William started Amaranth in 2017 as a practice that combines semiotics with international qualitative research, mainly focused on brand strategy and design development. Prior to that William worked at both multinational research agencies and boutiques and was responsible for evolving a number of new methodologies. William has presented papers on Semiotic at the Global Esomar Conference, the MRS and Semiofest in Mexico. He has been published in Admap, Marketing Week and most recently in WARC. He won an Atticus for his work on Metaphors in Marketing.
https://theicg.co.uk/member/williamamaranthinsight-com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-landell-mills-94532323/
Register here (Zoom will then send you your login)

What will 2034 look like?
2024-05-16 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar will be presented by ICG member Preriit Souda, Director: Data Science & Strategic Insights, PSA Consultants, and was originally presented at the EPHMRA Conference 2024.

This presentation will start with a question for the audience: What do you think 2034 will look like? Then after this we will move on to address what the future might look like 10 years from now.
Preriit will talk about how society might evolve, how work might evolve, and how consumer behaviors might change. Then, the paper will focus on the possible future of market research/insight – what might happen and where the industry might evolve. What might be the possible strengths and possible weaknesses?
Finally, there will be a discussion on the skills that will be needed and what we can do today to be ready for tomorrow and to succeed in what the coming 10 years might bring.
Preriit Souda
For the last 15 years, Preriit has helped organizations answer different strategic questions by unraveling explicit and implicit human expression through the mining of social and digital data alongside other data sources like Consumer surveys, IoT (Internet of Things) data, CRM data, Mobile behavioral data, Weather data, Locational data, etc. Works with structured and unstructured data analytics, data mining-machine learning, natural language & image processing, etc. Have consulted clients from a range of sectors including CPG/FMCG, Finance, Travel, Telecom, Public Sector, across different geographies like UK, US, China, India, Continental Europe, Asia Pacific, Oceania, Middle East, North Africa.

Register for this webinar here

Webinar: Mushrooms have a branding issue
2024-05-30 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Indeemo

Mushrooms are having a moment. But as the functional shroom category booms (think mushroom coffees, teas, powders, supplements, chocolates, blends and super blends), what does it mean to a myco-curious audience who still associate mushrooms with grilled cheese or magic (the illegal kind)?
In this session, ICG member Jess Jorgensen (Cultural Strategist and Mycophile), with Kim Townend (Social listening-fuelled Cultural and Social Strategist) unpack the order and chaos of functional mushrooms, and how brands can avoid shroom boom… to bust.
Why attend?

Substantial global interest and investment in this fast-growing category (projected $136bn market value by 2032)
Big brand interest in capitalising on mushrooms (e.g. in health & wellness, food, pet food, beverages, apparel, retail, cannabis, beauty)
Niche category exploding into mainstream; learnings can be applied across similar categories
Mushrooms are fun!

More about Jess here
More about Kim here
Register for this webinar here

Five Big AI Trends for Researchers and Insight Professionals
2024-06-06 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Qualzy

Join Mike Stevens, Founder of Insight Platforms and What Next Strategy & Planning, as well as an ICG member, where he’ll talk about developments in AI that will have s big impact on researchers going forward:

synthetic data
AI agents
multimodal assistants
empathetic language models
asynchronous video

Mike Stevens
Mike is the founder of Insight Platforms, the leading online directory, learning and events site for modern research and insights.
He is also a leading consultant, advisor and writer at the intersection of technology, research and analytics.
He has over 25 years’ experience in insight, software and consulting firms including Vision Critical, where he led the EMEA region; and Kantar, where he managed regional business units and global accounts.
His consultancy, What Next Strategy & Planning, helps client teams, agencies and tech firms to develop skills, adopt technology and implement process change.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjbstevens/
Register for this webinar here

How bad are focus groups? Carbon Literacy for Researchers
2024-06-20 11:00 - 12:00
The webinar acts as a bitesize introduction to the full one-day training, Carbon Literacy for the Insights Sector, accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project and starts to answer these questions:

What is carbon literacy?
What does a tonne of carbon look like and what does it mean?
How bad are focus groups? (Clue: Not necessarily that bad)
What about the insights sector – how is it doing?
What steps should we take to reduce our own and our sector emissions?
What types of steps have others taken?
How can we maximise our own and our organisations’ impact?
How can I become certified Carbon Literate?

Why people should attend
Knowing what actions to take that will really reduce our emissions, as individuals, communities and organisations is complex and challenging and can often leave us either paralysed, or potentially making less helpful decisions.
Our role as insight professionals arguably gives us even greater responsibility, as we advise client organisations in our project work.
By becoming Carbon Literate – learning where we have the most impact and what we can do to reduce it – we can start to get our own houses in order and be in a strong position to advise clients, with a clearer understanding of the relative impact of our activities, to make the greatest impact in reaching Net Zero.
Jenny Kedros, Independent researcher (and ICG member) and climate educator, Kedros Consulting Ltd.
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-kedros
https://theicg.co.uk/member/jennykedros-consulting-co-uk/

Jenny is an independent research consultant and climate educator with specialisms in education and sustainability. As Shift Insight’s Research and Insights Director till 2023, Jenny led on education research as well as developing sustainability as a core specialism. She works with agencies and clients on education and sustainability research projects, and continues to create new, and learn existing, climate education courses and workshops.
Jenny completed The Oxford Climate Emergency Programme with the University of Oxford (Saïd Business School and The Smith Institute of Enterprise and Environment) in 2021 and was certified Carbon Literate after attending the Carbon Literacy for Interested Organisations course in 2022. Her organisational pledge was to create a sector specific Carbon Literacy course, which was developed with her team at Shift with support from the Insights Climate Collective. The full training was accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project in May 2023 and has been delivered in-house in agencies and via the MRS.
The current average carbon footprint of a UK citizen is 12.7 tonnes CO2e. At the time of writing in June 2024 the Carbon Literacy Project estimated the amount of carbon saved by delegates’ pledged actions across the whole project to be at least 348,000 tonnes of CO2e.
Register for this webinar here

AURA's Working Well Together Charter: What Is It And How Does It Impact Independent Consultancies?
2024-06-27 11:00 - 12:00
AURA launched its Working Well Together Charter at Quirks London on the 8th May 2024.

The Charter is founded on the belief that the way clients and research agencies work together can make a
real difference to people’s confidence and well-being. AURA members who sign up to the AURA Working Well Together Charter have committed to a set of standards they will live up to when you work with them.
AURA Working Well Together Charter May 2024
This webinar will shed more light on what the Charter is and how this will be impact on independent consultants.
It will be led by AURA representative Ruth Hinton and ICG member Nick Bonney, who was instrumental in its design.
Ruth Hinton

With a career in client-side consumer insight spanning over 20 years at a variety of major retail and hospitality brands, and a background in psychology, Ruth Hinton specialises in understanding the people behind the numbers and collaborating with colleagues to drive improvements for customers.
Ruth is currently Group Head of Customer Experience at Vue International, and also Chair of AURA, the UK’s biggest community exclusively for client-side researchers – providing content, events and peer-to-peer support, to inspire insight and drive impact within organisations.
Register for this session here

Everything you wanted to know about Marketing (but were afraid to ask). A Q&A with two Marketeers (who are not afraid to answer)
2024-07-04 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Teneo Translations
Teneo Presentation – The ICG July 2024

Join this Q&A style webinar with marketers Chantal Cornelius (Appletree Marketing) and Paul Griffiths (Client Advocates) and ask them any marketing-related questions you may have, such as;

I know what I should be doing but I just can’t seem to do it; why?
What’s the best way to promote my business? Phone, email or social media?
What can I do to make my business stand out?
I don’t know where I should be marketing and to whom?
Is marketing really all it’s cracked up to be; isn’t word of mouth more important?
I don’t know how to differentiate myself….

Chantal and Paul are no strangers to the ICG. Both have presented individually to our members several times.
This time, we bring you both of them together for their combined expertise.
Chantal Cornelius

Chantal Cornelius left the corporate world in 2000 to set up Appletree Marketing. It was the second best decision she’s ever made.
Since then, she’s filled her time helping hundreds of coaches, consultants and trainers to grow their businesses. Her marketing advice is bossy, practical and down to earth. She’s written two books and her third one might even ready, by the time you read this!
Now she spends her time showing her clients what marketing to do, simplifying how they promote their businesses. She is straight talking and will give her honest opinion to any question she’s asked.
Paul Griffiths, Client Advocates

Paul helps owners of Market Research and Insight Agencies to grow revenues by implementing proven growth strategies.
For more than 20 years he’s helped grow research and insight agencies. In that time he’s sold research projects, managed clients and spoken to many Heads of Insight. He understands the challenges of growing a research business while also being a practitioner within it.
Paul knows what great client growth strategies look like and how to implement them in a way that is both effective and efficient. He’s seen what works, what doesn’t, and how to engage with your clients and market to win work. He can help you grow your research business more effectively and more quickly.

Register for this session here

Survive and Thrive: Motivation Hacks for Independent Researchers
2024-07-16 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar is generously sponsored by Indeemo

In this webinar, we welcome ICG members Steph Holland (Hush Research and Strategy) and Joe Bonnell (Open Questions) who’ll share 1st hand experiences of what they have done to stay motivated, upskill and generate new work when the going gets tough. This includes talking about tangible examples of how they brought together teams of experts from within and outside the ICG to deliver proprietary research to build expertise and open new doors.
Why you should attend this webinar
If you’re dealing with the ups and downs of research, have some spare time to fill, or just need a boost of inspiration, this is the place for you. Steph and Joe will share ways to stay optimistic, find new opportunities, and keep your research game strong. You’ll walk away with fresh ideas and new ways to connect with other ICG members who get what it’s like to navigate these difficult times.
There’ll be an opportunity during the webinar to share experiences so that everyone can learn from each other. A great way to meet fellow members at the same time.
Steph Holland

Steph spent the 1st part of her career leading sales, marketing and insight teams in Mars, Pepsi and GSK before taking the family to Hong Kong where she kick started her entrepreneurial journey. Now a seasoned researcher and brand strategist, she heads HUSH research and strategy. This was established to bring together global experts, ensuring clients receive unparalleled service without compromise.
Joe Bonnell

Joe is an Ethnographer and Qualitative Researcher, Visual Anthropologist and Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker.
He designs and conducts context-rich and person-centred qualitative research in the UK and internationally. His approach is characterised by collaboration, curiosity, empathy and in-depth analysis.
Register for this session here

Understanding ESOMAR UK and how it can help you
2024-07-24 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Opinion Hub

We welcome ESOMAR UK rep, Lucy Davison, to talk about how ESOMAR can really help UK-based consultants.
Specifically, the webinar will cover;

An over-arching view of what ESOMAR does and its purpose
UK specific activities and why they’re beneficial for micro businesses
How insight consultancies in the UK members can get involved
More about a deal that ESOMAR UK have agreed to apply to ICG members.

Lucy Davison

Lucy Davison FMRS is a strategy and communication expert with over 30 years’ experience. She founded Keen as Mustard Marketing in 2006 to provide communications for clients in data, research and insight. Working with insight teams from global companies such as Adobe, Bic, JPMC, and Purina Mustard gets long-term impact for their work, while also helping agencies like Hotspex and InsightsNow raise awareness. With a background in both journalism and design, Lucy started out in insights in 2000 as global marketing director of Research International, working in over 55 countries. She is an award-winning writer and presenter and a sought-after keynote speaker.
REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE
ESOMAR UK invite you all to their summer party, 9 July: https://esomar.org/events/esomar-uk-summer-event-2024

WEBINAR: The impact of gambling in everyday life on children and young people
2024-09-18 11:00 - 12:00
Join Nicki Karet (Sherbert Research) and Hanna Chalmers (CultureStudio) as they talk about their interesting study for GambleAware.
Back in 2023 Sherbert and CultureStudio were commissioned by GambleAware to explore the perception of gambling among Children and Young People and to look at how this is different from adult perceptions – looking at the ‘grey areas’ in gambling/gaming and the impact on their perception and attitudes towards gambling. It was a fascinating study with a report being published earlier this year… we will take you through the main headlines and discuss some of the most interesting findings.
So, if you are interested in finding out what CYP know, think and feel about gambling come along and join us!
Nicki Karet

Nicki is the Managing Director and founder of Sherbert Research, an agency she established in 2003. With over 25 years of experience, Nicki has spent her career focusing on understanding and engaging with children and young people and those within their worlds. Her work covers a wide range of topics from media, sports, and mental health to the effectiveness of ad campaigns and new product launches/development in both the UK and internationally.
Hanna Chalmers

Hanna is a cultural expert, a skilled and instinctive strategic researcher with endless enthusiasm and curiosity to make sense of what is an increasingly complex world. At CultureStudio, he combines both extensive commercial acumen with an enduring interest in culture and society. Hanna spent the first half of her working life at two of the world’s most powerful and influential cultural organisations, BBC and Universal Music. After some time abroad she returned to London moving agency side working first as a global insight director at a media agency before joining Ipsos Mori as a senior director in media and tech. In 2020 she took all this experience and learning to bring together a unique offer – always thinking culture first to help organisations, businesses, brands and charities, harness people understanding to do things better.

Register your place here

Colour of Research and the Importance of Representation in Research
2024-10-03 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar is generously sponsored by Yonder Data Solutions who are a trusted fieldwork and data collection company offering numerous services such as UK/International online data collection, advanced analytics, CATI, dashboards and visualisation, AI technology and omnibus services

Come and hear from Daniel Singham (Yonder Data Solutions) and ICG member Sonal Malkan, about:

Who and what Colour of Research (CORe) is
How CORe supports the industry and inclusive research.

A bit about CORe

CORe advocates for the inclusion of ethnic professionals in the market research industry. We aim to provide guidance and encouragement while forging meaningful connections to enable growth and development.
Daniel Singham

Daniel is the Commercial Director at Yonder Data Solutions, on the steering committee for CORe, and represents CORe on the MRS EDI Council. Daniel has been in the industry for 19 years and his specialism is in all things quant.
Sonal Malkan

Sonal is a qualitative researcher and behavioural science consultant with experience across private, public and third sectors. She’s passionate about using research to make a difference to groups considered to be marginalised in society.
Further info

CORe: https://www.colourofresearch.org/
YDS: https://yonderdatasolutions.com/
Daniel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-singham-2288346/
Twitter: @DanielSingham

Register for this webinar here

Taking it apart, putting it back together: A brief introduction to semiotics and cultural research
2024-10-31 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Indeemo

The webinar will introduce and expand on semiotic analysis and cultural research techniques, and how they’re used in commercial research contexts – drawing on Canopy’s recent look at some of the changing cultural meanings of ownership in UK and US markets to illustrate what these methods look like in practice.
Why should you attend?
You’ll gain a clear introductory grounding in what semiotic analysis and cultural research look like in practice, why they’re valuable for clients… and how you can incorporate them into your own research projects.
Natalie Edwards

Nat Edwards is the co-founder and Managing Director of semiotics and cultural research consultancy Canopy Insight, where she works with clients to develop culturally meaningful and commercially viable product designs, innovations, market strategies and communications. She has a PhD in media, politics and cultural studies, and an enduring interest in the construction and evolution of meaning in cultures. She is also an ICG member.
LINKED – https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-edwards-106a8337/
WEBSITE – https://canopyinsight.com/
Register for this webinar here

Default Mode Network – the brain’s house of habit – what every researcher ought to know
2024-11-28 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Norstat

Whilst we’ve all been having our head turned by the latest in AI, we should be paying attention to neuroscience too.
Kath Rhodes from Qual Street will take you through her understanding of the ‘DMN’ and make the case that knowing about the DMN is foundational qualitative insight. You’ll learn what the DMN is, and how it’s important to our qualitative understanding of ‘what’s going on’.
Bonus offer – it’s pretty useful to know/ recognise the DMN in ‘real life’ too…
Kath Rhodes

Kath describes herself as a qualitative enthusiast and runs Qual Street. She loves to dip her toe into the latest learnings on neuroscience, psychology and social science – using them to evolve and improve qualitative methods and approaches.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/qualstreet/
www.qual-street.co.uk
Register for this webinar here

Insights Ignite: Cultivating a Growth Mindset
2025-01-09 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Norstat

Join ICG member Lara Meyer in this webinar designed to kick-start your new year.

In this session, we’ll dive into the power of a “Growth Mindset” and why it’s a game-changer for both work and life! Lara will reveal simple, actionable ways to nurture your growth mindset while uncovering those sneaky traps that can pull you back into a fixed mindset (without you even realising!). Get ready for inspiring case studies and real-world examples that will spark fresh ideas and show you exactly how to apply this mindset shift to supercharge your success.
Why you should attend:
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a loop of ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m just not good at this,’ then it’s time to break free! Join this session to discover how you can transform obstacles into opportunities for learning and growth. It’s not magic – it’s science!
Lara Meyer
Lara is a researcher turned coach for leaders in the insights industry, helping them and their teams find the sweet spot between high performance and happiness. She offers 1:1 and team coaching, training and motivational talks to support positive wellbeing.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lara-biddiscombe-meyer/
Register for this session here

Award for Independent Consultants 2024: Finalists Share Their Submissions
2025-01-30 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Norstat

Come and hear from our 4 Award Finalists from last year about their submissions. Hear more about how they approached their work, the hurdles they overcame, what worked well and less well, and why they chose to enter the Award.
A great opportunity to learn from other consultants and ask them questions. Also an opportunity to find out more about the Award for 2025.
Our Finalists

AWARD WINNER: Futuresight: Rob Waddington:
Exploring experiences of communications services amongst consumers, citizens and microbusinesses in the UK.

Futuresight documented the experiences of these audiences in 3 ethnographic short films – from inner city estates to the wilds of the Shetland isles. The films helped the Communications Consumer Panel (CCP) connect the individuals and communities they represent more directly with industry, civil society and government, resulting in the CCP having to do less to initiate policy change.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-waddington-2348b04/

Citrine Research: Kate Turner and Julie Irwin:
Breakthrough Research Rapidly Enhances Customer Experience

Citrine Research undertook powerful, in-depth research that went viral across Legal & General. The results were actioned at unprecedented speed delivering an immediate positive impact on customer outcomes, as well as boosting the profile of the internal Legal & General insight team.
Kate Turner (CMRS) | LinkedIn Julie Irwin (FMRS) | LinkedIn

The Word Is Out: Dan Parker-Smith:
Customer Closeness Videos

Dan started working with Futures Housing Group (FHG) on a four-month customer closeness project, bringing to life existing segments of customers living in FHG properties. The project evolved into a near 20 month deep dive into peoples’ lives delivering our insight using a selection of short-films. The outcome was transformative for FHG, as the films got the emotion of living in social housing across, leading to positive change for their customers.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danparkersmith/
Wren Insight: Hannah Beech and Jude Terry:
The power of closeness-led insight to build influence in businesses

Wren use interactive experiences, events and customer story films to create big shifts in customer EQ, giving Insight teams wider reach and greater influence to create change. Their projects help clients give insights a louder voice, and have lead to greater investment in seasonal marketing and retail transformation at the John Lewis Partnership and changes to working culture at Penguin Random House.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-beech-9bb60752/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jude-terry-b68b6914/

Register for this webinar here

What are explainer videos and how can we use them to help activate insights?
2025-02-13 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Norstat

For researchers, it’s tempting to think that the project finishes with the debrief. But for our clients, the debrief is only the beginning. The hard work comes with getting the insights understood by the business and used to influence decision making. As a result, clients are looking for new and exciting ways to activate their insights – often asking agency or independent partners for help.
There’s a growing realisation that video is part of the solution – quallies will recognise how the energy increases in the room when clients see some group or vox pop footage of real consumers. But to date, that has been pretty much it for video content as part of the debrief – separate clips of qual research participants or, at best, a reel combining multiple respondents.
Outside of the market research sector, things are different. Explainer videos are everywhere – especially in journalism and marketing. For example, the Netflix series ‘Explained’ by Vox, or the short-form videos created by news outlets such as the BBC and The Guardian to help us understand complex news stories around politics, science and more.
In this webinar, the Explners team will explore the rise of the explainer video through some of our favourite examples, deconstruct what makes explainers so powerful, and share some case studies of how the market research sector can adopt the explainer video to help clients activate the research projects that they (and we) have put so much hard work and investment into.
After attending this webinar you will:

Understand the different types of explainers and how they differ from other video content
Be able to spot the types of projects that would benefit from this type of video output
Know what to propose when a client or a brief says “we are interested in innovative ways of activating the output of this project.

Judith Rose (formerly Staig):

Judith has worked in research for more than 25 years, initially agency side. For the last ten years she’s been a content consultant and insights storyteller, writing copy and long-form content to help researchers bring insights to life and get them to land effectively with stakeholders. In 2023 she co-founded EXPLNERS a business that helps brands, agencies and businesses activate insights using explainer videos.
Mark Whalley:

Mark is a food & drink strategist, specialising in long-term category vision and innovation. A former Head of Food & Drink at GlobalData Consumer, and Insight Controller at Greencore, he understands how things work on both the agency- and client-side. Mark also excels in insight delivery and impact. A huge believer in the value of storytelling, he runs presentation skills workshops and is a co-founder of EXPLNERS.
Dan Parker-Smith:

Dan is a specialist filmmaker with a research background who understands how to balance research project goals and high-quality, video production storytelling. He was recently shortlisted for the MRS ICG Award thanks to his video work. Dan is a co-founder of EXPLNERS which fuses his experience in market research with his skills in film making.
Register for this session here

EXPLNERS: Activate your insights

In the right ballpark
2025-03-13 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Choice Language Services Ltd. Unlock the power of global insights with Choice Language Services.

This webinar will be run by ICG member Dan Young and will focus on two things:
– how to be brave telling stories with incomplete commercial data
– how to engage a senior audience using a simple narrative arc
Car buying journeys have become less linear. The Close Brothers insight team wanted to engage its Executive Committee in new routes to market and help them understand how to reach new customers in the future. The team worked with Shed Research to make estimates and assumptions when synthesising a huge number of sources. We used Brent Dyke’s narrative arc to keep Exco engaged with the bigger picture rather than getting bogged down in micro details. And this put us in a strong position to have meaningful strategic conversations and drive decision making.
Dan Young

Dan runs Shed Research. As far as he’s aware, it’s the only customer insight agency focused solely on insight synthesis. Dan helps insight teams do more with their existing research – either synthesising their insight, or training them to do it themselves. In 2020, he was the proud winner of the MRS/ICG Independent Consultant award.
www.shedresearch.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-young-shed/
Register for this webinar here
(Note that this session WON’T be recorded to attend it if you don’t want to miss out).

Clientside life in 2025: closing the empathy gap to work well together
2025-04-03 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by Field Sauce

Consultation by AURA with insight clients, agencies and micro-businesses identified that lack of understanding for each others’ challenges can cause unnecessary pressure, waste and stress in research and insight work. Both clients and agencies referenced the ‘us and them’ culture as a barrier: partners on the supply-side don’t always have sight of clientside pressures; and clients often under estimate the impact on their research partners when projects change.
Following our webinar last year to introduce AURA’s Working Well Together campaign, AURA is returning to this topic, and this time focusing on understanding more about clientside life in 2025. Armed with this additional context, ICG members will be better placed to develop great relationships and collaborative approaches that truly support their clients.
Clients from AURA (the UK’s biggest community exclusively for clientside researchers) will share their experiences, plus the findings of a recent survey with AURA members – which can also give clues for when clients will or won’t be more open to working with independents; and ICG members will have the opportunity to ask questions or make suggestions. This discussion will feed into the Working Well Together Team, who continue to develop resources and content to support this campaign.
Our Speakers
Ruth Hinton – Group Head of Customer Experience & Insight

With a career in client-side consumer insight spanning over 20 years at a variety of major retail and hospitality brands, and a background in psychology, Ruth Hinton specialises in understanding the people behind the numbers and collaborating with colleagues to drive improvements for customers.
Ruth is currently Group Head of Customer Experience at Vue International, and also Chair of AURA, the UK’s biggest community exclusively for client-side researchers – providing content, events and peer-to-peer support, to inspire insight and drive impact within organisations.
Nick Bonney – Deep Blue Thinking (and ICG member).

Nick has been a member of the ICG since 2018 when he set up Deep Blue Thinking. As many of us can probably relate to, Nick has seen the research industry from many different angles. He has had roles as an interviewer, a field manager, an agency exec right through to MD and worked a client for nearly 20 years, serving on the AURA Council . Based on those experiences, he saw the AURA Charter as a chance to get the industry to work more effectively together and volunteered to get involved.

Register for this webinar here

Reframing the role of automation in data storytelling
2025-05-01 11:00
This webinar has been generously sponsored by YouScan, social media listening with visual insights. Lunch&Learn from YouScan recording available here .

When we think about automation in quant reporting, we often picture it handling repeatable reports—trackers, multi-market studies, and templated solutions. But automation has evolved. Increasingly, it’s being introduced much earlier in the research workflow, not just as a reporting tool, but as a way to explore data, uncover insights, and shape narratives more efficiently.
Join us to discover how automation can enhance—not replace—your research expertise, and how you can integrate it into your workflow beyond templated outputs.
This session is led by Adam Baker, who brings nearly 15 years of Market Research experience and now leads Customer Success at Indico Labs, helps research agency leaders and consultants significantly reduce the time they spend on manual report automation, combining a “done with you” approach to reporting efficiency with self-service reporting software. Adam has a deep understanding of researchers’ needs and is driven to solve the toughest operational challenges.

Includes a special offer for ICG members.
Indico Labs
Offer for ICG members
Register for this session here

Commercial semiotics - IN ACTION!!!
2025-05-22 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar is generously sponsored by InsightX Research Solutions , specialists in designing custom fieldwork and data collection strategies to meet the unique needs of each client. Whether it’s B2B or B2C, Quant or Qual, CATI/Online/Mixed-Mode, Locally or Internationally, their omni-channel approach fosters authentic participation and ensure the collection of high-quality, representative data.

We welcome ICG member Ashley Mauritzen to present this webinar.
Commercial semiotics – IN ACTION!!!
A hands-on guide to integrating commercial semiotics and cultural analysis into your research practise.
Semiotics and cultural analysis have so much to offer – but if you’re struggling to get your head round them, how do clients stand a chance? This webinar gives you the practical grounding you need to integrate this powerful methodology – with its unique capability to surface hidden meanings and make sense of the cultural noise.
How? We will be going low on theory and big on application. Getting beyond how it works to how it’s used. With a total absence of jargon, some interactive decoding and plenty of case studies along the way.
Come along if you’re curious to know:
⁃ When could semiotics add most to your project?
⁃ How can you sell semiotics to clients?
⁃ How can semiotics work alongside qualitative and quantitative research?
… and plenty more.
Ashley Mauritzen

Ashley Mauritzen has been helping brands decode consumer culture and future-proof their place within it since 2010, working across brand positioning, product innovation and creative development for some of the world’s biggest brands.
With a background in journalism, her practice is distinct for its emphasis on demystifying semiotics, producing clear, provocative and actionable strategic insight with plenty of personality.
A seasoned independent consultant, Ashley partners with big agencies and boutique outfits – from proposal right through to client presentation.
(12) Ashley Mauritzen | LinkedIn
Register for this webinar here

Click, connect, engage! Using cyberpsychology to motivate participants online
2025-07-03 11:00 - 12:00
This webinar is generously sponsored by InsightX, specialists in designing custom fieldwork and data collection strategies to meet the unique needs of each client. Whether it’s B2B or B2C, Quant or Qual, CATI/Online/Mixed-Mode, Locally or Internationally, their omni-channel approach fosters authentic participation and ensure the collection of high-quality, representative data.

Do you want to know why participants in an online community won’t engage with each other? Why online focus groups feel so much harder to get going than face-to-face ones? Or why your participant happily videoed himself in the shower for a pre-task? Cyberpsychology has the answers – and more! In this webinar, Dr Jo Meredith – who previously worked as an academic in the field of cyberpsychology – will talk through the high level theories that explain online behaviour, and give insight, tips and tricks into how to make sure you can get the most out of your participants online.
Dr Jo Meredith

Dr Jo Meredith is Associate Director at Magenta Research. With a PhD in Social Psychology and a specialism in cyber and media psychology, Jo has focused predominantly on understanding online behaviour and communication. She has published peer-reviewed academic papers in the specialist journals, and worked in the highly regarded Cyberpsychology Research Unit at the University of Wolverhampton. Since joining Magenta, Jo has made good use of her background in cyberpsychology, working on projects on high media literacy and AI.
About Magenta

Magenta is a multi-award winning full-service global consumer insight agency. Magenta is a team of passionate senior researchers with diverse expertise, from anthropology to AI, cyber psychology, semiotics and discourse analysis, using innovative approaches to push boundaries and access how people truly think and feel. We foster an environment of curiosity, challenging norms and brave thinking. Our mission is to bring real voices to the forefront, unbound by methods, choosing approaches that get closer to the consumer. Our visual storytelling will share a story you’ve never heard before.
(3) Joanne Meredith | LinkedIn
Jo@magentaresearch.co.uk
Register for this session here
