Archive for the ‘Face’ Category

Blog, Co-Creation, Face, Forrester, Interesting Stuff

Independent Research Market Overview: Co-creation Vendors 2011

Date February 07 2011
Posted by Matt
Tagged with

We have just been included in Forrester Research, Inc.’s January 2011 Market Overview: Co-creation Vendors 2011 report!

Billed as ‘An Introduction for Consumer Product Strategy Professionals’, the report is a comprehensive look at co-creation and the industry that is being built around its core values… working with people, not at them.

Focusing on the companies who live and breath co-creation, the good people at Forrester included us in their breakdown of consultancies who offer in-person co-creation engagements:

Based in the UK, Face offers a wide range of co-creation engagements internationally. As social technologies have taken hold, Face has built out its capabilities to include listening to and monitoring online conversations, as well as crowdsourcing initiatives within its expanding list of private communities. Face also offers interested product strategists the opportunity to conduct face-to-face innovation and consumer immersion sessions. Some of its clients have found the face-to-face co-creation experience to be the most valuable method for interacting with consumers to develop new product concepts.

It’s a fascinating look at how co-creative techniques are being used and adapted by different agencies and people to achieve a common goal: getting closer to your audience. To find out more information and purchase/download the Co-creation Vendors 2011 report click HERE.

We would like to send a big thanks to Forrester for getting us involved, especially Doug Williams who penned the piece. Cheers Doug!

Blog, Conferences, Face, Insights, Meet Us At

Esomar Insights 2011: 27th February – 1st March

Date January 27 2011
Posted by Matt
Tagged with

On the 27th February the research world will be descending on Brussels for Esomar Insights 2011: A New World Order In Shopper Marketing. The main aim of the conference is to ‘explore the crucial role of consumer insights in unlocking the new mindset of shoppers while focusing on leveraging business opportunities for brands and retailers around the world.’

Andrew, who is one of the conference chairs, will be introducing the Business Opportunities Through Insights section on Monday the 28th. This section of the conference will see Face research director Philip McNaughton presenting with Beth Corte Real from Coca-Cola.

Philip and Beth will be showcasing some of the findings from our ongoing work with young people. Their presentation entitled ‘ Project Shopper 360: How On-line Community Research can Help Brands Keep Their Finger on the Pulse of Shoppers Decision Making’ focuses on our innovative work within research communities.

Project Shopper 360 shows how brands can respond to the challenges of the post recession shopper landscape through continual dialogue with consumers. This presentation will show how cutting edge community research combined with on the go mobile and video research can get under the skin of how shoppers make decisions across a range of retail environments.

The conference runs from the 27th February to the 1st March and is sure to be full of forward thinking ideas and innovations. As well as our own contribution there will also be presentations from Forrester, Kraft, Nielsen, PepsiCo and Heinz.

Early bird tickets are still available for the conference, click the banner below to find out more information and register!

Blog, Communities, Face, Infographics, Innovation, Insights

Face’s Top 5s of 2010: Developments

Date January 27 2011
Posted by Matt
Tagged with

In 2010 technology, the internet and social media have really led the way, pushing boundaries and creating exciting talking points. The speed in which the research and innovation industry is evolving and changing is both breathtaking and hugely exciting.

There have been so many interesting developments this year it is hard trying to decide on the 5 most pertinent. In the end the decision came down to the 5 things that have created the most conversation in the Face office this year.

Here are Face’s Top 5 Developments of 2010:

Game Over?

This time last year FourSquare was dominating a lot of talk with their really cool and innovative use of badges and gaming mechanics. This sparked a flurry of gamification and it became the flavour of the month; 12 months on and there is an ongoing conversation about gamification and how it should be used.

Naturally FourSquare’s success led to a flood of apps and sites using games as a way of engaging users, some of them were fun and interesting, others just didn’t really make sense. People like playing games but there has to be an actual game to play for them to engage, you can’t just tag badges onto something and expect people to like it.

The conversation still continues about when games are, and aren’t, appropriate – something we’ll be keeping a very close eye on in 2011.

See: Is Gamification the Cure to Boredom

When Social Media Met Research

Social media research, real time research, social research, social media analysis, tracking… or however you might describe it has been one of the biggest research developments this year.

Measuring sentiment and online visibility has opened up new doors for companies allowing them to react quickly to the conversations taking place about them. This has led to a more adaptable way of doing things, allowing audiences to have a constructive input into how brands should interact.

There is a wider internal debate going on within the industry about the rules and regulations regarding SMR, something that will carry on into 2011. One thing is for sure though, real time research is here to stay and will continue to give brands valuable insight.

See: Social Media Monitoring: From Data to Insights

Digital Going Physical

So now that the internet has digitalised everything, what happens next? Well according to a lot of people, it’s all going to physicalise again. This means the internet and social media will be in all the objects around you, whether it is TV becoming more social, or your alarm clock waking you up with tweets, the digital world is going to be integrating into the physical world around us.

The wider conversation surrounding this topic revolves around whether people actually want to be constantly in touch with their digital lives. Are we at the stage where digital life is now fully integrated with the ‘real’ world or do we still want distance between the two?

See: Incedental Media: Devices Won’t Be Passive Anymore

Beautiful Stats

Infographics and data visualisation is something we have been banging on about for ages (and a lot in this top 5 series). However in 2010 the volume of brilliant visualisations has massively increased with some stunning infographics being produced over the 12 last months.

This rise in good looking data has been joined by Prezi’s popularity increase. Prezi is trying to take on PowerPoint in the presenting software world, a battle that a lot of people would like to see them win.

The increase in the use of infographics and visual storytelling has made the output of research a lot more interesting for audiences and long may it continue!

SEE: Why Researchers Should Be Using Infographics

The Socialisation of Brands

Up to now brands role within the social media universe has very much been a trial and error process. Initially brands used social media to try and encourage traffic to their own websites… However now with companies and agencies starting to understand how social media can create mutually beneficial relationships, brands are becoming fully social.

There are no set guidelines on how brands should interact and act within social media so it really is an open playing field. What we are seeing now (and will continue to see) is brands becoming confident using social media and start to create some interesting and exciting content, which will in turn create unique and lasting relationships with their audiences.

SEE: Wave.5 The Socialisation of Brands.

So there we are, the end of our top 5s for 2010. A top 5 of top 5s if you will.

Here’s to 2011 and another year of interesting and exciting developments!!!

research +