Upskill: Future-proof your market research career using semiotics

This webinar is generously sponsored by Talkback Studios, Nottingham – Celebrating 20 years of supporting the qualitative research industry.

We are delighted to have Dr Rachel Lawes presenting this important webinar.

Marketing is changing. Market research is changing with it: this was true even before the pandemic. Clients think they can do their own research in-house. They are by-passing the traditional interviewer. They are no longer impressed with long market research reports, they want quick answers. If you are a market researcher, especially if you are an independent without the security of a large organisation behind you, this can be very scary. How will you stay relevant and stay in business?

There are some bright aspects to this landscape. The marketing industry has become quite good at collecting ‘things’ (attitude statements, videos of people’s homes, photos of their possessions) direct from consumers using digital tech. But the question arises of what to do with them. Most brand owners don’t have a clue what to do with qualitative data, especially visual materials. What’s more, the ability to have new ideas about marketing strategy is never going to go out of style. Here is where you can solve a problem for the people who used to buy market research and are now doing it themselves.

But wait – where are you going to get this near-magical ability to find original insights in qualitative data that other market researchers can’t see? And how are we suddenly going to become experts on marketing strategy when the entire MR industry has traditionally been focused on discussing consumers rather than businesses? The answer is found in semiotics. It is not just a research method but a quite large set of tools for thinking and generating new ideas. Now, for the first time, there’s a book on semiotics written especially for marketers, which takes you through the entire business cycle of semiotic research, from conception to commercial application. It’s a self-contained course that anyone with a basic grasp of marketing can use to teach themselves and set themselves apart with robust skills. Best of all, there’s no requirement to physically go out and spread coronavirus among consumers.

Are you ready? The book “Using Semiotics in Marketing” will boost and future-proof your career in market research and this webinar, developed exclusively for the ICG, is where your journey begins.

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About Rachel

Dr Rachel Lawes is a social psychologist specializing in the interface between individuals and consumer culture. She has supplied brand strategy and consumer insight, using social psychology, semiotics and discourse analysis, to brands in 20 countries, mainly via Lawes Consulting Ltd (established in 2002). Her academic career started with a PhD from Loughborough University’s internationally renowned Discourse and Rhetoric Group and recent academic positions include that of Principal Lecturer in Marketing at Regent’s University London. For more than 10 years she has convened the Advanced Qualitative Methods Masterclass for the Market Research Society in the UK. Her extensive publishing history includes over 40 conference papers at the annual conferences of the Market Research Society, ESOMAR, IIEX, Qual360, the Social Research Association, QRCA (USA), AQR (UK), ASMRS (Australia), Social Intelligence World and many more. Her writing spans marketing industry trade journals, academic publishing in psychology and market research, and journalism. She is the author of some of the most well-known methods papers and case studies in semiotics, including ‘Demystifying semiotics’ (2002), ‘Futurology through semiotics’ (2009) and ‘Rebranding Charmin’ (2011). She is recognized as one of the original founders of British commercial semiotics and is known for her engaging style and ability to make difficult concepts and theory accessible to non-academic audiences. Rachel is a Certified Member of the Market Research Society.

Rachel’s new book, ‘Using Semiotics in Marketing’ (2020) is the first book to set out a step-by-step course in semiotics for marketers. It is available worldwide from Amazon and Kogan Page.