2015 ushered in a new era of industry insight
Opinion
Trade body research in the past decade shows that no medium is an island and we work better together. Denise Turner reflects on a changing of the guard and insight lessons from these 10 years.
It seems we all love a bit of nostalgia.
Just look at the success of Abba Voyage — it’s 50 years since they won Eurovision and they’re more popular than ever. And did you know they only decided to sing Waterloo in English on the afternoon of their iconic and life-changing performance in Brighton on 6 April 1974?
I’m sure, like me (or people of my age), conversation in the last few days has been dominated by where people have been in the online queue for Oasis reunion tickets — just under 30 years since the release of Wonderwall.
My guilty nostalgia pleasure happens every Saturday on BBC Radio 2: Pick of the Pops. It’s now presented by Mark Goodier, following the sad passing of Steve Wright earlier this year. The format is simple: the best-selling singles from two different years, taking you back to fondly remembered times.
So how about a “research pick of the pops” year? Mine would be 2015: a significant year for research and insight.
It was the year that the Adwanted Media Research Awards launched (the AMRAs are now in their 10th year) and head judge Belinda Beeftink celebrated them last week in a piece for The Media Leader.
It was also a year of change and transition for trade body insight leads.
Mark Barber from Radiocentre had been flying the flag for radio for some time. Tim Elkington led a stellar team at the IAB who were then joined by a new crew. Matt Hill took over the reins from Neil Mortensen and Dave Brennan at Thinkbox in early 2015. I joined Newsworks in April that year and Anna Sampson joined Magnetic in October. We were privileged to follow on from and be part of an amazing research and strategy collective.
Anna talked recently about the role of trade body research, especially the storytelling opportunity. Matt’s comment on his appointment at Sky, about having a new set of toys to play with, reflects the curiosity that is needed in all of these roles.
As I look forward to judging the 2025 AMRAs and reflect on the changing of the guard, I have three observations about the great privilege of working in insight.
What is an insight?
As an industry, we are obsessed with the shiny new thing. We expect an insight to be a light-bulb moment — something completely new.
But here’s a thing: it says in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 1:9, that there is nothing new under the sun.
That doesn’t mean that it’s the same old stuff, though. Back in my agency days, I developed a definition of an insight that I loved: it’s a fresh perspective on the relationship between people and brands that offers an opportunity for brand growth.
That’s what it’s all about, after all — we advertise to drive growth.
Your AI initiative is only as good as your expert researcher
Homophily and recombinant innovation
I’ve recently been reading Matthew Syed’s book Rebel Ideas. There are so many learnings I’m taking into my own sphere of work, but two really strike me as important for the development of insight that makes a difference.
The danger of homophily — the tendency for people to seek out those who are similar to themselves. Counter to homophily, Syed introduces the concept of recombinant innovation. This occurs when ideas from different areas come together to create something new.
If we are to achieve breakthrough in how we communicate brands to people, we need to draw on lots of views and encourage cognitive diversity and a variety of ways of thinking and approaching a problem.
It is vital for those of us who work in insight to actively do this. My very first project at Newsworks involved working with the wonderfully named Professor Bas Verplanken, an expert in habit formation. We need to find people who work in different fields, who challenge us to think differently.
Together we are better
Mark, Matt, Anna, Tim and I, plus many more, were working to market and promote particular channels. But we knew — and still do — that no medium is an island, the days of separation are long gone and content is consumed in multiple ways.
You just have to look at all the amazing trade body research over the last 10 years and earlier — it’s not either/or, it’s and. Channels are better together — and so are we.
I truly believe that we introduced a new era of trade body research, where we made each other better, challenged each other and worked together to promote the value of insight.
The mark of a great insight person is the ability to keep asking why, stay fresh and remember why we are here. We are people who promote brands and products to people (like or not like us).
Denise Turner is CEO of Route and a judge at the 2025 Adwanted Media Research Awards