Death by PowerPoint is still a killer. The solution? Invest in design
Design is the silver bullet for research. Make your findings interesting, simple and easy to understand and the world will take notice. If it intuitively makes sense your findings will spread like wildfire. If not, it’ll die on the screen.
Recently there’s been a hive of innovation in research: online; mobile; social… the list goes on. But this list is all just different methods of collecting information. What has been more resistant to change is how we present that information.
If research wants to have more impact with decision makers, we need to be more palatable for them. This means translating the findings into something they can intuitively understand. The problem is it is easiest to present people with the same representations used by the research: graphs and numbers. This is not the way it ought to be. We need to present decision makers with information in the format most appropriate to their needs and to the decisions they need to make. What is wrong with a lot of presentations today is their design, which requires people to behave in research-centred ways, picking apart data and numbers, ways for which many people are not well suited. What we find, then, is that the form of representation makes a dramatic difference in the ease of understanding the research.
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There are two tasks for any audience – finding the relevant information and deciding upon the desired action. The design of the research presentation can either help or hinder this process. We believe we must work harder to make sure the design of the presentation does not get in the way; as if designed inappropriately we are at risk of losing the audience and not giving them the opportunity to find the information and make the most appropriate business decisions.
To combat this, we will argue there are three major changes researchers need to undertake:
- Get better at PowerPointToo often the presentation is a data dump of raw findings from the methodology. Little thought goes into how a novice should understand it. Teams need to be taught design theory and trained in how to maximise the potential of PowerPoint. For example, learning about Gestalt psychology will help researchers know how to space, design and layout results.
- Go beyond PowerPointWe need to loosen our grip on PowerPoint and embrace other forms of information delivery. A lot of times a deck of slides isn’t the most appropriate format. Why not put together a video debrief of your findings that brings the information to life? Why not create a bookmark with the top 5 takeaways for your stakeholders? Why not mock up an example advert that best reflects what consumers would most respond to?
- Hire a designerWe believe having an in-house designer is now as essential as having an in-house data analyst. Not only do designers bring a skill set and design experience that they can leverage, they also are unshackled by years of research training and so bring fresh eyes and perspectives to research, making the output they create at once more relatable and accessible for any audience.
We believe that taking on even just one of these changes will greatly enhance the impact and relevance of research to senior decision makers
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We recently had an internal brainstorm around the topic of luxury. One of my colleagues mentioned that they thought that Calvin Klein as a fashion brand was no longer considered luxury but was at the height of luxury in the 90s. Alongside this, if you search for luxury brands in Google you get a list of the top brands by brand value in 2017 which includes the likes of Mulberry. If you looked at this 20 years ago, it would arguably have been different and would have included brands like Galliano or Lacroix that are less top of mind today.
Here at Kadence this got us thinking – what makes a brand ‘luxury’ and why do brands that consumers perceive as luxurious change over the years?
Looking first into what makes a brand ‘luxurious’ – we believe there are three main drivers:
- High price: this doesn’t necessarily mean a high overall price, but a high price compared to other brands within that sector. For example, categories such as soap includes brands such as Molton Brown and L’Occitane that could be considered luxurious but may ‘only’ cost £20 compared to other categories like shoes or watches. As a side note, the quality also obviously arguably need to at least match expectations, especially if customers are spending large amounts.
- Limited supply: luxury doesn’t have to be expensive but it arguably shouldn’t be easily obtainable. Sometimes a luxury brand can be one that not many people know about (like Delvaux or Serapian handbags) – adding to the feeling that you’re special and no one else really has an item like you have. Another example is the long waiting lists for Hermes Birkin bags – by limiting supply, they increase desirability.
- Endorsement by celebrities: for some brands it is an A-list celebrity, for others a football player, but an endorsement by a celebrity can make items more appealing for consumers and potentially more ‘luxurious’ in their eyes. Brands do have to be careful though – Juicy Couture were propelled to fame by the likes of Paris Hilton, but that also put plenty of people off the brand too…
But we don’t think it stops there. Other elements can also come into play:
- The packaging: brands are doing some really nice things with packaging nowadays. In Fall 2014, Chanel released a supermarket collection of bags – the packaging that they came in represented a supermarket carrier bag and the tag represented a barcode, all in-keeping with the overall theme of that season. And more broadly, when you buy an item of clothing from Net-a-porter they will put it in a box with a ribbon, and Christian Louboutin shoes come with a lovely red fabric bag. This makes the unboxing and unwrapping experience for the customer more memorable and special and can add that ‘luxury feel’.
- Personalisation: customisation of a product is a great way to make the customer feel special and one of a kind. The fact that you know no one else has a product like yours makes the product a bit more luxurious. Kate Spade and Louis Vuitton are great examples of brands that have done personalisation well – allowing you to monogram your handbags or add a variety of ‘patches’ to them.
Why do brands become more or less luxurious? Michael Kors is a great example of how trying to reach the masses can arguably make you appear less luxurious – they released their ‘diffusion line’ MICHAEL Michael Kors which priced all goods to match the upper end of high street prices to cater for consumers shopping in high-street shops as well as larger department stores. This was very successful for them in terms of sales at first, but they have now slipped down to a more “casual luxury” brand forfeiting sales overall. In June 2017, Michael Kors announced that they been battling declining same-store sales for the past seven quarters with continuing decline into 2018. It was also announced that the retailer would shut more than 100 full-price retail stores in the next two years, and that their share prices are at their lowest in more than five years. In some ways they could be seen as suffering as a victim to their own success.
Brands will need to think carefully about each of these themes as the luxury sector continues to grow and develop, and these elements will differ depending on the product and category, which is where research comes in – we can actually speak to customers first-hand and unpick which elements are most important to them, uncovering brand perceptions and share of the market.
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Nowadays people have very hectic and busy lifestyles – trying to balance work, home and a social life is increasingly challenging. However, companies are becoming more attuned to this and starting to adapt their products to suit.
Lack of time is typically the main reason for lack of participation in sport or gym attendance. However, it remains hugely popular, with the number of people taking part every week reaching around 16 million and the number of fitness centre members in the UK being the highest ever.
Maybe this is because gyms are increasing the number of classes or reducing their length to be more flexible. For example, some gyms are now promoting 30 minute classes, which are easier to squeeze into your lunch break. Some offices even have gyms that you can pop to whenever in the working day to help cater for busy lifestyles. Also having exercise studios entirely dedicated to one activity (such as yoga) means there are more classes for people to choose from.
Participation in high-intensity exercise classes and activities, like spin and boxercise, continue to attract large numbers of people, potentially rivalling more traditional sports such as football, netball and hockey. Outdoor activities such as bootcamp and Parkrun are also increasing in popularity which are seen as a highly sociable way to exercise. Maybe this is people’s way of ticking both the ‘exercise’ and ‘socialise’ boxes on their to-do lists?
More established activities like yoga and pilates are still gaining in popularity as well. These classes are expected to provide both physical and mental benefits – such as increased muscle strength and tone, improved athletic performance, stress relief and encouraging relaxation. People can therefore achieve a healthier lifestyle in a more compact way, which saves time relative to completing several separate activities to achieve the same benefits.
As well as exercise companies, nutrition companies are also adapting to people’s hectic lifestyles. Nutrition is becoming more of a focus and healthy eating is a main element of having a healthy lifestyle. We have therefore seen the rise in trends such as The Body Coach, Joe Wicks, who promises that you’ll be able to lose weight, despite eating more food and spending less time at the gym. He also has a 15 minute meals cookbook that caters for those lacking time in the evenings and suggests quick exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home.
Adapting to hectic lifestyles has also paved the way for food companies such as HelloFresh or Gousto. Their USP is that they deliver fresh ingredients and healthy recipes straight to your doorstep. This means you can get back from a busy day at work and have your dinner all bought and planned out for you – all you have to do is follow the recipe. The next step on from this is Deliveroo that actually delivers healthy food options straight to the doorstep of either your home or office ready for consumption! So now when you get home from work late and cooking is the last thing on your mind, instead of the traditional Chinese or Indian takeaways you can now get Pho or Sushi delivered to your door!
So having a healthy lifestyle doesn’t appear to be a fad or a trend, it’s the way things are nowadays. We have already seen intersections between health and exercise but this also begs the question – where will this go? What’s next for healthy lifestyles?
Maybe exercise and retail companies will start partnering up. For example, introducing grocery stores at the gym to save having to do a food shop later that evening. Or they could pair up in a totally different way. It may be counter-intuitive but BeerYoga is something that I stumbled upon recently where attendees can drink beer whilst doing yoga. Now this ticks all the boxes – social, mental and physical. Will that mean that WinePilates or SushiSpin emerge as trends as well? It’s fair to say some of these may seem slightly odd now but many fads do before they become accepted into society.
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There’s a great book by Columbia Business School associate professor, William Duggan, called Strategic Intuition. The book posits that intuition is ‘the selective recombination of previous elements into a new whole.’
One of Duggan’s examples of intuitive thinkers is one of Napoleon’s early campaigns. When ordered to re-take the port of Toulon from the British invaders via frontal assault ‘with the sword and bayonet’, Napoleon suggests an alternative strategy; to take the smaller fort of L’Agiuilelette, which overlooks the port of Toulon. Against the received wisdom of his peers and commanders, Napoleon goes ahead with his plan, takes the fort, and in doing so terrifies the British into leaving Toulon and sets his path for Emperor of Europe.
What’s interesting here – and why Duggan raises this example from history – is how Napoleon came to his plan, by bringing together abstract parts of his memory and experience: his reading of the contour maps on the area of Toulon; his knowledge of how best to deploy light cannon and his understanding of past British defeats. The contour maps showed him that the fort of L’Aiguilette occupied high ground over Toulon; from his light cannon experience he knew he could take the cannon up to the fort and deploy them overlooking Toulon and the British fleet; and his understanding of past British defeats at Yorktown and the Siege of Boston taught him that the British would never again risk being cut off from their navy.
None of those thoughts – contour maps; light cannon; British defeats – were taught to Napoleon together. Instead, as Duggan argues, it is the ‘selective recombination of previous elements into a whole.’
Have you ever had an idea flash into your mind? A random thought disconnected from what you’re trying to concentrate on – that’s strategic intuition. And it’s proof that our brains are non-linear. Try as we might, we struggle to focus on a single thought for a long period of time. Rather our brains are adept at working in our subconscious and delivering fresh ideas and insights at a moment’s notice.
You can’t help but think of multiple things at once, or just as likely thinking multiple things about one idea at once. In contrast, however, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, by their very nature, are linear. Word splits information over different pages, PowerPoint chunks information in slides and Excel breaks then across tabs. And all are subject to the limitations of screen size. This linear function is in direct odds to the brain’s non-linear thinking, forcing you to work to their restrictions.
By chunking information into different pages, slides or tabs it also forces the brain to change its functioning. When all the information is displayed at once, the brain can focus on analysis and connecting information. We can tap into the very strength of our brain – making random, subconscious associations. However, when chunked over different pages, slides and tabs the brain must first remember all the information it has been exposed to before it can then begin to analyse and connect it. This exerts increased cognitive load on the brain and causes a significant break down in your brain’s ability to create those connections.
So, what if we moved away from linear formats and embraced our brain’s capacity for non-linear thinking, for sparks of insight. This is where the power of Post-It notes – or record cards, or just scraps of paper – come in.
When first planning or thinking of an idea or concept, a good idea is to plot your thoughts on Post-It notes. Each one holding one thought. And filling your table, or wall, or desk with them. The beauty of this is that it embraces our non-linear brain. A random thought or idea can be jotted down and placed to the side, not distracting your attention by needling your mind but also addressed and captured quickly during it’s fleeting appearance. Overall, Post-It planning seems to help in three main ways:
Making connections
Post-It notes and record cards allow for the creation of non-linear narratives. With the use of Post-It notes, or record cards and a box of pins, you can map out an entire concept visually, highlighting interconnecting thoughts and relationships – celebrating the very non-linear thinking our brains champion and computers cannot copy. As an individual activity working with Post-Its allows us to re-arrange ideas as we go. Once we have captured all our thinking on multiple Post-Its we can then begin to rearrange them over and over again, in different orders and ways until we are happy with our outcome.
A free-form structure
By filling a wall with Post-It notes we are avoiding a linear path through the information, rather we are creating a free-form structure. Every time you look at the wall, or return to the room, you can look at the Post-It notes in a different order. And perhaps draw out new meaning or sense from it. It also means you’re not enforcing a structure on others, they too can create their own path through the information – a very effective element when developing ideas and concepts with others.
Fostering collaboration
When working together, cards and post-it notes invite displayed thinking. By committing our thoughts to paper and then arranging them on a wall we can easily invite others to see our thinking; but just as easily others can begin to add to, edit or rationalize our thoughts, so that together we can create a shared cognition about an idea and together create a common understanding. This shared activity fosters creativity, especially as any person can re-arrange cards.
So, before you next fire up your laptop ask yourself, would I be more creative if I used Post-Its and embraced my brain’s non-linear thinking?
Amy Lo explores her personal experiences growing up across two vastly different continents and how these have shaped her insight career.
When I was 12 my Dad announced I was to leave my home in Taiwan to attend boarding school in England. The resulting 10 years were to shape me in a way neither he, nor I could ever have imagined.
Growing up across two continents that are so vastly different in terms of culture, climate and consumption meant living in a state of perpetual adaptation, seeking ways to adjust to the environment around me, both at school and then back at home during school holidays.
I think this constant need to adapt to my surroundings is the reason I first started to closely observe the people around me, their behavior, their motivations, the things that made them similar and the things that made them different.
Skip to the present and as it turns out my fascination with people, their stories, backgrounds and culture has influenced me in my choice of career. As a qualitative market researcher it is my job to investigate the beliefs, perceptions and essential truths behind people’s behavior – and establish patterns amongst them.
I love this career for the opportunity it gives me to gain insight into our respondent’s lives and, of course to deliver Insight Worth Sharing to my clients.
There is also a lot of variety; during my first role as a Graduate Insight Executive in Taiwan I spent time with a wide variety of respondents from tech-savvy consumers aiming to optimise a mobile-friendly home page for Yahoo to new mums sharing all about their nappy usage. One weekend we would be speaking to HNWIs about luxury holidays and the following weekend, accompanying Chinese teenagers on their hunt for the perfect pair of jeans!
During a recent project in my current role at Kadence International in London I found myself face to face with my two ‘home’ nations. The study, for a luxury technology brand, involved investigating some of London and Shanghai’s wealthiest individuals and uncovered some vast and fascinating differences in priorities, preferences and behaviours of the Chinese elite against their UK counterparts.
This study motivated me to understand more about today’s Asian consumer. How can brands adapt their approach to suit this vast and lucrative market? And, how can we as researchers select the best methodologies in order to gather the richest, most valuable insights?
Growing up across two continents that are so vastly different in terms of culture, climate and consumption meant living in a state of perpetual adaptation. I love this career for the opportunity it gives me to gain insight into our respondent’s lives and, of course to deliver Insight Worth Sharing to my clients. With over 700 million Internet users and a little shy of 600 million smartphone users in China (as of 2016), the future of online qual is extremely exciting.
In true millennial style, I started my investigations through my own social network. My friends from Asia were always posting in feeds, reviewing the latest products they have tried. I observed a willingness to share allegiances to particular brands, which doesn’t represent brand loyalty per se, simply that they are not afraid to share their opinions. Many of my female friends have their own blogs, discussing their views on the latest trends in clothes and make up and my feed is regularly inundated with ‘outfit of the day’ posts with links that take you to web shops where you can make a quick purchase from the endorsed brand or seller.
Surprisingly for China, a country where censorship is widespread, opinions and voices on the Internet are loud and plentiful. Unlike Western countries, there is little trust in traditional media sources such as TV, press or radio. Instead, word of mouth is an increasingly powerful tool, as people use social media platforms to personally share information and opinions with friends and family.
This trend has been identified by brands in China, who have made it their priority to create intelligent, comprehensive digital campaigns to facilitate the spread of their products or services. This is also why brands are carefully monitoring their e-reputation. Product reviews on the web have a growing influence on people’s decision making. Brands understand the need to nurture advocates within each and every social circle to build credibility and customer proximity.
Back to my professional experience, working closely with a wide range of Chinese audiences both in Asia and in the UK, I have learnt that I most enjoy using methodologies that give me longer and closer contact with my audience, these allow me to really get to know each and every one of their stories, background and culture.
Market research online communities offer a highly effective way for UK researchers to gather insight from Chinese audiences. Logistically simple (no working around time differences); methodologically effective (tap into natural online behaviours to provide a truthful engagement with our target audience) and financially efficient (no expensive flights and hotels!).
Chinese audiences can often be more comfortable providing their opinions via the Internet particularly with certain more sensitive or divisive topics where they can retain a sense of anonymity. With online research methods, there are fewer concerns about their voices or faces being identified – and therefore a greater willingness to share.
With over 700 million Internet users and a little shy of 600 million smartphone users in China (as of 2016), the future of online qual is extremely exciting for me. Mobile devices are the main mode of Internet access and instant messaging is the top online activity in China. Apps such as WeChat are used on a daily basis, just as you and I use WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends and family. WeChat has evolved from a pure instant messaging app to (quoting the FT in April 2016) an app that is a phone, messenger, video conference, ecommerce platform and gaming console, not to mention noodle delivery service, for a nation of people in love with their smartphones.
Some companies are already using WeChat as a data collection tool for short quantitative surveys, tapping into its mass user base and taking full advantage of its ability to provide instant responses.
And given that the app is already in most people’s pockets means we can largely conduct many of the conventional qualitative methods through WeChat as well. We’re already gaining insights through both interaction and observation, from in-depth interviews to accompanied shopping, to digital diary logging. It’s amazing – but we’re able to follow the steps of Chinese respondents through the lenses of their smartphones from the comfort of their chairs in London.
The casual nature, accessibility and users’ familiarity with WeChat helps encourage user interaction, engagement and participation, thereby improving our capability to obtain accurate and honest insights.
The opportunity to use social media platforms for qualitative research is not completely unique to the Chinese market. We know some have been doing focus groups on WhatsApp, and some are using Facebook as a research tool. There is no reason why something similar cannot become a more prevalent research method in the West, provided we have a similar multifunctioning social media platform and the same abundance of users already familiar with the platform.
Personally, I find the possibility of conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews from my iPhone a very exciting prospect. With social media platforms such as WeChat, in a click of a button, I’m in touch with a group of people 5000 miles away, tapping into every aspect and every minute of their lives and uncovering trends through my very own device. I can do this whilst on the go and, when something I see on the street suddenly inspires me, I no longer have to wait until Monday. I can simply pop a question to my group and wait 5 seconds to see what they have to say.
Looking back, whilst my 12 year old self may have resented my Dad’s decision to send me away from Taiwan to the UK, in hindsight, it was the best decision he ever made.