Congratulations to ICG member Dan Young of Shed Research Consulting as the winner of the MRS/ICG Award for Independent Consultants 2020!

Dan’s submission was called ‘You don’t need new research to generate growth: how we used insight synthesis to help Primark address its biggest strategic challenge’.  It was based on the old maxim of ‘use what you’ve got’ but with a very modern take. 
 
Primark sales in Germany were down 3.2% – unfamiliar territory for a brand used to exponential growth – and the business had many different hypotheses as to why this had happened. Dan helped Primark build a “single version of the truth” by visiting past research, drawing on external data, identifying gaps, and recommending what needed to happen. This led to Primark improving its in-store experience, investing in ATL advertising for the first time in its history, and ultimately led to a reverse of this sales decline.
 
Of Dan’s submission, the judges said ‘This is a great example of investigative prowess using Critical Thinking in a very focused way to find the key insights and create a compulsive story to drive action.  This is a sign of the future, and how research users will have to adapt to succeed.’
 
It also underlines the skills, knowledge and expertise available in the independent sector and especially from the ICG – a group of over 400 independent research consultants.

Well done Dan!

https://theicg.co.uk/member/dan-young/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-young-shed/
https://theicg.co.uk/mrs-icg-award-for-independent-consultants-2020-finalists-announced/