Our method

Clarity

Our entire working method is about using robust, reliable research tools to understand perception and using the insights to drive message and action. We start as a traditional pollster might – but we don’t stop at merely identifying ‘what’ and ‘why’. To deliver real value for our clients, we identify the ‘what next’.

In our experience, good strategy is about identifying the obstacles and devising a programme of focused, coherent action to overcome them. In campaigns, that means obtaining a very clear understanding of perception and testing our propositions in advance of the creation of our messaging.

Campaigns that do not do this invariably fail, because people do not respond or behave in the way we expect them to. Money spent on campaigns where the message has not been tested is usually money down the drain.

And a campaign with the wrong message cannot have the right strategy.

On the other hand, organizations have the need for integrating in IT departments new technologies often using cloud services and other ways of direct access to the web. This pressure for IT departments to give answers to the business may lead to a less effective analysis of the weakness of the systems.

With this is mind, our process is as follows:

  1. Establish a baseline of opinion: We start with a survey – usually conducted by phone or online – with a statistically robust sample of our audience to establish the baseline of opinion (known as quantitative). This tells us what’s going on and whether our initial assumptions are correct.

 

  1. Diagnose the challenges & opportunities: We then seek to dig deeper, using statistical analysis of the survey results (known as regression) and focus groups (known as qualitative). Here, we seek to uncover what is driving perception and understand the obstacles that we face. Only by understanding the challenges, no matter how uncomfortable they are, can we devise an approach to overcoming them. We also look for opportunities – which parts of our audience are already well disposed to our proposition?

 

  1. Form a theory and test it: We use the data from the survey analysis to form our initial insights and recommendations. A crucial part of this is writing the draft narrative we believe will work. But we don’t just unleash that on our marketplace – we test it with focus groups to make sure the reaction is as we expect. If it isn’t, we keep testing until it’s correct.

 

  1. Design a set of coherent actions for the campaign: The whole process is designed to take us to a point where we say, with certainty and specifics, what needs to be done. We produce a final narrative that becomes the campaign message, and we recommend focused actions for the campaign in order to drive support and neutralise opposition.

“A good strategy does more than urge us forward toward a goal or vision. A good strategy honestly acknowledges the challenges being faced and provides an approach to overcoming them.”
– Richard Rumelt