Lindsey Annable

‘One of the clearest and most insightful debriefs we’ve seen and we see a lot of debriefs.’  Amex particularly liked the clear narrative we provide in debriefs.  We pride ourselves in delivering impactful findings that consistently land our message with insight teams as well as key stakeholders who may not have a research background.

We do this across the full range of types of research in the UK and internationally, covering both new and traditional approaches to qualitative and quantitative.  We understand budgets are becoming increasingly tight and research is stretched across the growing number of methodologies available. Therefore, our approach is a pragmatic one and we only use the latest tools when they are fit for purpose AND add genuine value, rather than window dressing to win a proposal.

We also run strategy workshops to help organisations through challenges such as brand positioning or alignment around new corporate objectives.

Our heartland lies in international and qualitative work.  We’ve worked in over 40 markets to date and have research partners across the globe.

That is where we started in 2008 but have continued to grow and embrace other methodologies. Our clients have been so impressed by the quality of our work and have asked us to do more.

Other than that, we’d say our speciality is providing outstanding pieces of work.  For us it is not all about how you approach the research but what you do with it.  Businesses want answers fast nowadays but it’s important they are intelligent answers with commercial impact.

An outstanding linguist to best newcomer award at The Research Business International to being rated as ‘excellent’ in the Unilever accreditation scheme as Project Lead and Moderator – my career is marked by achievements of the highest quality.

I bring a rich background to my work with Free Spirit:

• Time in both research and management consultancy which has allowed me to take a more strategic view of customer insight
• Experience of running a department of sports media researchers which has taught me the need for responsiveness and timeliness
• A couple of secondments on the client-side (Amex and The Telegraph) giving me an understanding of client-side insight teams and the level of clarity required to meet stakeholder needs.
• Extensive global travel for research from Indonesia to Israel managing the more simple to logistically and politically complex projects

I am also a trained workshop facilitator, not just a researcher who runs workshops.

My view on today’s need for insight: many people say ‘good enough is good enough‘.  I firmly believe it isn’t.  Nowadays we need to deliver clear answers more quickly and coherently than ever before so that commercial decisions can be made.  That means working fast, intelligently and efficiently and providing clear and impactful answers to inspire and engage.