Market Research & Stakeholder Engagements
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. As a person is a person only through the eyes of others, so it is with a business, a brand, a city, a government or corporate policy.
Freedthinkers see things through many eyes and we listen to many voices - from the captains of industry and mandarins of policy, to youth, the rural unemployed & all the in-between layers of our multicultural society.
The mass of data is first analysed and then synthesized, in a two-stage process that distils the essential insights. These are woven into a visual story that will confirm some of your beliefs and confound others.
Market and Change Dynamics
There are two things research does very well. It can give you a full-colour picture of your marketplace, consumers and brand; it can also give reveal the changing thoughts and feelings of your stakeholders helping you secure your high ground and repair the sinkholes.
Consumer Research
In-depth & group research amongst your consumers & prospects, utilising BrandView, an analytical framework developed by Freedthinkers, that examines Awareness, Affinity, Trust & Territory.
Whilst some projects are best served by conventional focus groups, we constantly search for new ways of gaining insights that include quick intercepts, intimate friendship circles at home & regular wisdom councils with a panel of consumers.
We also undertake psychographic segmentation studies that go far beyond income & Living Standards Measures to cluster via beliefs, desires & needs.
Recent research undertaken for DStv, MTN, Nestle.
Ethnographics
Ethnography goes deeper than in-depth interviews to reveal in-depth lives. The fieldwork involves going into our subjects’ natural settings, engaging in dialogue with them and those close to them. We ask respondents to keep a diary of relevant thoughts and feelings. We may film them or ask them to take photographs of things they find meaningful in their lives.
Ethnographics is where anthropology meets research. Where strategies to create change are rooted in a deep understanding of human behaviour.
Recent ethnographics undertaken for BBC Worldwide, Sunday Times.
Stakeholder Engagements
Encompass staff, leaders, shareholders, suppliers, media, influencers & society at large, in rounded views of organizations, places, reputations, policies & realities.
How well aligned are your shareholders, management & staff – and what are the disconnects? How do South Africans view the environment? How can the formal & informal economies become more synergistic? These are some recent questions that Freedthinkers have been asked to answer.
A cost-effective way of tracking the dynamics of change is by setting up a dedicated Panel or Wisdom Council that is reached through a combination of group discussions, telephonic dialogues and the Internet.
Recent engagements undertaken for Cape Town, Hip2B2, SA Government, Sunday Times
Brand, Culture & Social Vision Audits
How strong is your culture, how powerful is your brand, how integrated is your social vision & how well do they align? What needs to change & what should become stronger? We offer an independent, in-depth critique of all culture & brand elements.
Recent audits undertaken for Mindcor, Unilever, Virgin & Webber Wentzel
Players & Gurus Dinners
Players are in the market, gurus know the market. We put them together with good food & wine & facilitate an enlightening conversation where everyone contributes, everyone learns. The collective wisdom is priceless. Recent dinners were held for Nestlé Professional, Women’s Health.
When we know what is, we move onto What Can Be