Specialising in the technology, media and telco sectors

Services

We are a pair of seasoned insight professionals specialising in the technology, media and telco sectors. We have helped some of the biggest global brands answer strategic business questions, rooting our recommendations in the realities of people's lives. Our ethos is to 'Get Closer, Go Deeper' - that means pushing the boundaries in data collection and analysis. Then we communicate the insight through beautiful, professionally-designed creative outputs.

In terms of data collection we focus mainly on qualitative and ethnographic techniques, using traditional and more innovative methods to deliver bespoke, ad hoc research solutions. We often conduct longitudinal studies, staying with participants for long periods of time to truly understand them, their needs and their behaviours. Techniques we employ, often in combination, include:

• Our proprietary EyeCam methodology, shortlisted in the Best Innovation catgeory at the MRS Awards 2014
• Filmed ethnography
• Self-ethnography
• Online and smartphone app-based data collection
• Face-to-face qualitative techniques e.g. depth interviews, focus groups etc
• Supplementary quantitative methods

For analysis purposes we often involve experts from across academic disciplines, thereby applying different lenses to look at data from multiple specialist perspectives. Disciplines we have worked within include anthropology, psychology, behavioural science, linguistics, semiotics and sociology.

In terms of creative communications we work with professionals to deliver films, dynamic web portals, websites, infographics, booklets and traditional presentations. You can see some of our output here and here.

Speciality

Our sector specialism lies within technology, media and telco. Within those industries we undertake a wide range of work, informing:

• Distribution strategies - optimising products and content across devices and platforms
• Content and editorial strategies - across broadcast, mobile, print, digital and social platforms
• Sales and commercial strategies - driving monetisation, incldiing through pricing and advertising research
• Product development - helping our clients to develop and refine products that meet real-world needs
• Brand and marcomms development - proposition development and positioning studies, brand audits and ideation

Background

Craft is a partnership between Konrad Collao and Alex Charlton. We’ve been working at the vanguard of media and technology research for more than 15 years and have held senior positions at organisations including BBC, Unilever, Ipsos MORI, Sparkler and AMV BBDO.

We are used to being in the public eye, with our work regularly published and/or presented by clients at industry events. We ourselves are regular speakers at conferences on all matters media - we have graced BAFTA, the MRG Annual Conference, Mediatel Connected Consumer, asi TV Symposium, ESOMAR Global Qualitative and IAB Engage.

We’re delighted to say that our hard work has paid-off in terms of recognition. Our proprietary EyeCam ethnography technique was shortlisted for Best Innovation at the 2014 MRS Awards, we as a team were shortlisted for Best Research Team at the 2015 and 2016 Mediatel Research Awards, and we won ‘Best Research Project/Initiative’ at the Mediatel Connected Consumer Awards in both 2015 and 2016. We were also shortlisted for New Consumer Insights at the 2015 MRS Awards and at the 2015 Media Week Awards.

Konrad Collao started out his career at Ipsos MORI before moving into planning at AMV BBDO. He then moved on to Sparkler before founding Craft with Alex Charlton and is a seasoned media researcher for clients including all the major UK broadcasters, many international ones, platform providers and technology service companies. He holds a BA (Hons) in Human Geography from the London School of Economics and an MA (First with Distinction) in Geopolitics, Territory and Security from King's College, London.

He is a regular speaker on media-related topics, having spoken at Mediatel’s Connected Consumer conference, MRS events, the MRG Annual Conference, asi Europe and ESOMAR Global Qualitative; and having been published recently on Mediatel Newsline.

After a client-side career spanning the BBC, Fairfax Media and Unilever, Alex Charlton was one of the founders of the award-winning Essential Research. He has over 16 years’ experience working in the TMT sectors, working for broadcasters, telcos, distributors to identify emerging strategic threats and opportunities. He has spoken at conferences including Cannes Lions, ESOMAR and ARF, as well as closer to home at MRS and Marketing Week events.