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Face speak to Oxford University on social media and new methods of research

  • Date June 15 2011
  • Posted by Sharmila
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This week, Sharmila and Fran were very flattered to be invited back to Said Business School at Oxford University to talk to their MBA students about all things social media and new methods in research.  Save for National Rail’s attempt to stop them getting there (we’re looking at you, Reading rail signal box), the day went really well, as they brought to life why there is a real need for new, evolving research methodologies, and the significant role that social media research can play in the marketing and research arena.  As part of the process, our group of students have now been tasked with carrying out their own social media research using Face’s proprietary social media monitoring tool, Pulsar.  We’ll be back in Oxford next week to hear the results, and we can’t wait.

Blog, Emerging Markets, Ethnography, Insights

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Ethnography: Really Getting Under The Skin of a Culture

  • Date February 03 2011
  • Posted by Sharmila
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Ni Hao!

Greetings from a very very cold Beijing. Face have been working on an extremely interesting ethnography and filming project for the past few months, culminating in a tour of Beijing and Sao Paolo where we’ve been hanging out in people’s homes and professionally filming them to bring them to life. All very exciting stuff, and a truly illuminating experience.

Ethnography has been an approach utilized within qualitative research for a long time now. In market research terms, when we talk ethnography, we’re not talking true, academic methods, where the researcher may spend weeks, months or even longer with their participants. More often than not, we don’t have the time or the project scope to undertake such extended periods of observation. However, the principle of ethnography is still at the heart of this method in qualitative research – by spending time observing our participants’ environments, we ultimately uncover a larger number of richer insights about our target. From seeing how peoples homes are decorated, to how they like to hang out with their friends, we get the chance to really get under the skin of people, and that should really be the ultimate aim of any form of qualitative research.

This project has been a brilliant example of when ethnography proves so rich and eye-opening. Whilst we’ve only scratched the surface of understanding what Beijing,and Beijingers are all about, we’ve got a lot closer than we would do by watching people talk from behind the mirror. From spending time in peoples houses, I’ve come to learn a myriad of things, from the fact that a 10 square metre hudong can sell for the equivalent of £600,000 because of location and “cool factor”, to understanding just how much Chinese people love small dogs. Along the way, I’ve also come to realize just how proud Beijingers are of coming from Beijing and of their identity as cultured, informed people who love to talk about politics and the weighty issues of the world.

All of this insight and more, has reinforced our belief that being able to carry out ethnography is a true privilege for anyone interested in finding out more about any country they may find themselves in. Next stop, Sao Paolo. Amidst the caipirinhas and sunshine, we look forward to finding out more about how Brazilians tick.

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The Perfect Marriage of Form and Function?

  • Date January 27 2011
  • Posted by Sharmila
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In research, methodology is key to ensuring we get to where we want to, and deliver the strongest outputs that we can. That’s pretty obvious. You should always pick the right tools for the job.

However, sometimes there’s picking the right tools, and really picking the right tools. Those moments where by some form of cosmic alignment, the subject matter, objective and methodology all marry so perfectly, that you can’t help but be amazed by the richness of insight and interaction that you can gain.

Such a moment happened a few weeks ago, and I still can’t get over the great project that we ended up with. This project was talking babies. Babies with very pregnant mums-to-be, and mums with newborns. So far, so whatever. Lots of research projects have engaged with mums and mums-to-be. This was one situation though, that really exemplified how much you can gain from just picking the appropriate methodology, and doing it well.

In this case, we ran a 16-day online community with around 30 women on our women’s community, Mindbubble. This made some sense, but it became readily apparent how much sense this made, as we saw streams of incredibly rich content, and interaction generated over the course of 16 days.

Why was this situation so different?

Well, mums and mums-to-be want to talk. They want to find out information. Everything is new, and you’re in a situation where you want to be prepared. Moreover, personal recommendations, and lived experience take on even greater significance. When you’re dealing with one of the biggest changes in your life, hearing advice imparted from other women who have gone through it is invaluable.

New Mums Like to Talk to Each Other.

On another level, a community gave participants an opportunity to engage with other adults, in an adult environment, focusing on issues to do with them. From the feedback we received, it was clear how much the majority of the participants got out of the whole exercise. So, happy participants. But…

What did this mean for the project outputs?

Well, happy, engaged participants ultimately mean richer content and deeper insight. Which invariably leads to better (and more enjoyable!) analysis, and better recommendations. It might not sound that complex, but it’s amazing how many times this can be overlooked, in the push to shoe horn an objective into a methodology.

What we should always be asking ourselves, is:

    Is this a great marriage of form and function?

And…

    Does it make the most sense for all involved?

When the answer to both these questions is yes, you know you’re onto something fantastic.

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Don't Talk To Me About 'My Generation'

  • Date September 27 2010
  • Posted by Sharmila
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On a grey September day, Face headed East to check out the latest event by The Albion Society – Gen Y Activists and Entrepreneurs: The Death of Teen Rebellion.

The role of this event was to host a panel of Gen Y game changers and commentators, showcasing the differences evidenced within this demographic, and the implications of this on wider society. This is an area that Face have been interested in over the past couple of years, and culminated in our study, 9 Lives.

From all the work we’ve been conducting with the teen and young adult demographic, it’s evident that this is a group within society who are increasingly enterprising, risk averse, unafraid of failure, and willing to take non-traditional routes to success. This paints a pretty different picture to that of the apathetic, knife wielding teen that we see with depressing regularity.

These were all points that were reinforced by The Albion Society’s event, which reminded us of many of the amazing things evidenced by this demographic.

Eliza_024

Eliza from Lives Not Knives - Inspirational

On the bill were Eliza Robeiro, a pretty amazing 17 year old who set up her own charity, Lives Not Knives in the Croydon area at the age of 14, after after getting kicked out of school and involved with gangs. Having now been canvassing for three years, Eliza is looking at rolling out the charity on a UK-wide basis if it succeeds in Croydon. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was incredibly inspired by the level of commitment and savviness that Eliza displays.

Alongside, we had the uber-entrepreneur, Emi Gal, who started his first business at the age of 10, and has been turning ideas into reality ever since. Emi exemplified the risk-averse, unafraid to fail attitude that is more evident with many young people.

Emi Gal - Serial Entrepreneur

This presents exciting implications for the future – will we see a wave of young entrepreneurs, carving out their own niche in society within the next few years? From our own work, we wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case.

What both these examples highlight is the ease with which young people can turn interests and ideas into active pursuits is increasing. Digital technology obviously facilitates access to information, but also makes networking, and making your presence known much easier than it has ever been. Alongside this, we are in a situation where young people can absorb a range of cultural reference points, setting up identities that are increasingly fluid, individual, and less defined by absolute cultural entities.

In the face of this increasingly fragmented construction of identify, should we be talking about a “generation” at all?

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The Face Forum: 9 Lives

  • Date June 30 2010
  • Posted by Sharmila
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Last week Face descended on The Groucho Club to run our latest Face Forum. The focus this time around was 9 Lives; specifically, the lives of young British people aged 16-24. The late teen/young adult demographic is one that is particularly significant for many brands. However, this is a demographic which is shrinking over time. As a result, the need to understand and engage this demographic is more pressing than ever.

So, how did we go about finding out about the lives of this demographic? We commissioned nine people, aged 16-24 to make films about what their lives are like in the year 2010. In addition, we also ran an online community with our Headboxers, and posed the question: “If you had to leave yourself a message for yourself in 10 years time, to remind you what it feels like to be your age in 2010, what would it be??”. From both, we discovered a wealth of information about this demographic, and it’s clear that, whilst many things about being young stay the same, a lot of other things are also changing.

It proved an incredibly enjoyable and thought provoking night, which gave many people a lot of food for thought. On a side note, this was Face’s first foray in using Prezi. However, it most definitely won’t be the last. Whilst still a work in progress, it is clear that a lot of potential lies in using Prezi as a presentation medium.

Check out the Prezi for the night without video clips below, if you would like to see the full presentation and check out all the media from the 9 Lives project please head over to out 9 Lives site – Click Here

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