In a new regular series, research professionals talk to Duncan Stuart about how they gain insights. We begin with expert political pollster and Director of Baseline Consultancy Murray Campbell, who explains how he tunes in to the information he gathers.
Murray, at a recent Research Association New Zealand conference, you spoke literally of a sense of resonance – a music if you like – that lets you know you’re onto something big. Tell us a bit about that.
Because as researchers, we operate in the realms of other peoples’ worlds, we are attempting to discover what makes those people feel what they feel. Music is a metaphor that enables me to make sense of all the stories and data we hear. So, I know I am starting to make sense of it all when I feel the underlying rhythm, tempo and key of the presentation.
Sometimes this process just naturally flows from the outset. Other times it can take days of rewrites and Post-it notes on the wall to reveal the chorus and key notes of the song we are composing.
What are one or two occasions when you’ve encountered ‘deep insight’?
We were working for an international aid agency on redeveloping the ways that people become life-long donors. The long established ‘business model’ was based on donors developing a bond with a specific individual, usually a child living in very challenging circumstances. Some donors were very drawn to this way of giving as they felt they were building a direct one-on-one bond with a young person in need.
That’s been a dominant business model. How did you come to challenge that?
We discovered, through an array of one-on-one interviews, database profiling and a wider segmentation study of potential donors, another group, who we called “The Builders”. They had reached a certain stage of accomplishment in their lives (for example, they’d sold a profitable business or retired while “still at the top”), where they now gained greatest happiness not from buying more things but from sharing their success with those who would benefit from it the most.
They were interested in not just sponsoring a child, but contributing to the long-term development of their family or village, in a structural way. The Builder segment was more likely to contribute more money over a longer term than any other segment because they wanted to make a commitment to the advancement, and eventual self-reliance, of a community.
It was a very powerful example of Maslow’s self actualisation level in action and this segment represented to the aid agency a strong alternative to the ‘sponsor a child’ model.
How do you extract more depth of insight?
We were conducting a large study into how people made sense of money. We spoke to an array of people from highly successful property developers, to young adults sleeping rough and ex-gang members.
That was one key – getting that diversity.
The next challenge was getting people to open up about their lives and their future possibilities. We actually placed a piece of A3 paper on the table in front of them and ask them to draw and note where they are in their life right now, where they have come from and where they want to go. This simple process opened up so many experiences (good and bad) and sparked conversations that would run for hours. Sometimes we would return to complete the interview.
Many people had never thought about their lives in this way, and certainly had never been asked how they viewed their future.
It was an incredibly powerful way of understanding how people ticked and a shining example of the power of how an honest, open-ended discovery question can benefit the researcher and the participant.
What holds organisations back from attaining a real depth of insight?
I think if an organisation’s business goals, culture, KPIs, recruitment and career advancement criteria are fundamentally at odds with the needs and priorities of the customers they seek to attract, retain and grow, then they will struggle to grow over the long term.
Where do you think the insights profession is heading?
Three directions. First, a growing constellation of specialist niches. Second, internalised within large private and public organisations. Third, toward a post-modern oblivion where AI provides a “good enough” response to the original questions.
Three final questions. Which marketing campaign have you most admired?
A global campign that HSBC ran in the early 2000s throughout Asia and parts of Europe.
It was at a time when Asia was going through a boom of consumerism and the expansion of western businesses into the local Asian economies.
Anywhere you flew around the regions you saw the HSBC campaign on the inside of airbridges.
It juxtaposed two images of Asian culture (food, dance, fashion) and posed the question very simply as to which was modern or traditional, cool or old fashioned, fair or unfair. It never overtly answered the question but let you decide for yourself. And in so doing you realised there are two sides to the dynamic relationships between the West and the East. I thought it was exceptionally clever without being smug or patronising. The campaign had endless possibilities.
What’s the cliché that annoys you most?
If we can trust the polls…
The most sublime musical moment in your life? Live or pre-recorded.
Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett playing at His Majesty’s Theatre. They were taking requests. Someone yelled Twist and Shout… they laughed, and played it with so much joy and everyone danced.
The marketing positioning profile of research and insights professionals
Murray Campbell of Baseline Consultancy has been in the research and insights profession for over 35 years. Over that time his political polling work has been extraordinarily accurate. Yet what drives him are not the cerebral research adventures in data land but the serious search for insights that resonate. He’s no technical slouch, but with his decades of exposure to brand development, customer service and government work, he lives in the top left of our quadrant of insight professionals. Not many marketing or research professional live in this space.
This was first published in the 2024 September-October NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
