All creativity is simply a reworking of existing ideas. In the art world this process is called influence. Matisse influenced Picasso; Marlowe influenced Shakespeare. As Aaron Sorkin once put it – ‘good writers borrow from other writers, great writers steal from them outright.’ This, in itself, was influenced by T.S. Elliot (‘immature poets imitate, mature [...]
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For the most creative solutions look within your existing data
September 7th, 2009 by PatrickIn this recession size does matter
September 2nd, 2009 by PatrickIt is difficult to decide just how critical the current situation is in which market research finds itself. The larger agencies seem to be having the hardest time in the recession, in large part because they have a comparatively inflexible approach to market research. Smaller outfits are having more success in the downturn as they [...]
Co-creation – the crocodile smile of conformity?
June 22nd, 2009 by PatrickJohn Steinbeck once said that ‘nothing was ever created by two men.’ Yet according to some, co-creation – the production of something new by a group – is one of the most successful outcomes of the internet age. Indeed, it was quite heavily championed at this year’s MRS conference. Charles Leadbeater defended the benefits [...]
DVL Smith is on Tour!
June 22nd, 2009 by adminWe are delighted announce that David Smith – the Director of DVL Smith Ltd and ESOMAR’s UK Representative – has been asked by ESOMAR to give a number of lectures in Thailand and India on the emerging frontiers of market research.
The aim of the tour is to help spread the word about the new [...]
Excuse me – do you have anything on Market Research?
June 18th, 2009 by PatrickMarket Research seems in dire need of a makeover. Not in terms of its practices or workings, but in how it presents itself to the outside world. Research does not appear to have shaken off the ‘50s stereotype of bobble-hatted researchers standing on street corners with a clipboard or, worse still, thin and somewhat peculiar [...]
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler
June 8th, 2009 by Patrick‘Writing’, explains Don Norman, ‘is a cognitive artifact’ – a man-made tool developed to aid memory and strengthen mental powers. In fact, writing is an example of a particularly good artifact: an Experiential one. Experiential artifacts can be easily understood, used or applied. We do not have to decipher the words or sentences used in [...]
Thinking time
June 2nd, 2009 by Patrick‘Added value’ is close to becoming a research cliché, if indeed it hasn’t already. At the BIG Conference this year, for instance, there was an emphasis on maximising and integrating data, on having the ability to connect different pieces of evidence and present them as a whole. However, very few of these presentations seemed to [...]