STARRING: Andrew Gaule, BV Pradeep, Jaroslav Cir, John Kearon, Mark Earls, Michael Spencer. Brought to you by BrainJuicer's Oktoberfest. -----PODCAST----- BrainJuicer's Chief Juicer John Kearon is a regular on the conference circuit. And seeing that many events tend to mainly attract agencies, he began to wonder whether there was a way to significantly increase the client quotient. Well, a few weeks ago he ran his inaugural Oktoberfest, a one-day event in London and Amsterdam with a hand-picked line up of 'innovators' as speakers. Each intimate gathering attracted over 100 clients. The events were free and in true bootstrap fashion John partnered with Unilever and Philips to host the events and provide refreshments. John Griffiths blogged (http://paab.typepad.com/) about the London event. And we were asked to film, the result being the 17m highlight clip below (from 6hrs worth of material) which we hope you enjoy. STARRING: - Andrew Gaule, Founder, The H-I Network (www.h-i.com). - BV Pradeep, Dove team, Unilever (www.unilever.com). - Jaroslav Cir, CMI director, Rexona (Unilever) (www.unilever.com). - John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (www.unilever.com). - Mark Earls, Herdmeister, Herd Consulting (http://herd.typepad.com). - Michael Spencer, MD, Sound Strategies (www.sound-strategies.co.uk).

STARRING: John Grant, Nick Chiarelli, Pamela Hamilton. Brought to you by Consumer Alchemy '08, the trends conference. Visit www.gfknop.com/customresearch-uk/events/consumeralchemy2008/index.en.html for more details. -----PODCAST----- Famed planner John Grant is now well known as a sustainability consultant. But not only in the environmental sense - he holds strong views on the sustainability of brands in an era of greater transparency and accountability. An era in which brands are being compelled to stand for something relevant in peoples lives. John is one of the keynotes at the upcoming trends conference Consumer Alchemy '08. This is a podcast chat with two other keynotes as they discuss trends they are seeing and what brands are doing, and can do, to capitalise on these trends. STARRING: - John Grant, independent brand strategy consultant (http://greenormal.blogspot.com). - Nick Chiarelli, global trends expert, GfK Roper Consulting (www.gfknop.com). - Pamela Hamilton, head of creative development, ITV Imagine (www.itv.com). -----FEEDBACK----- Please comment on our podcasts: letmetalk *at* gmail *dot* com or call +44(0)7092 074262. -----TIMELINE [22:36]----- 00:00 Intro. 01:57 Trends being witnessed: global unevenness of credit crunch; adjusting to new realities; culture clashes as BRIC countries repurpose western values; megacities. 05:09 Climate change and confidence: the year of the small car, no longer eco luxury. 07:28 Consumers want simplicity of choice. 08:19 People want meaning (engagement, co-creation, spirituality). 10:36 Globalisation: developing economies have a huge appetite for cultural globalisation. 12:36 The globalisation paradox in entertainment. 13:46 Implications for brands: shifting from fantasy to authentic stories (Apple, Dove). 16:06 Resolving brand contradictions at Unilever. 17:30 Shifting curencies in an online world (reputation etc.). 19:37 Health: an example of globalisation in an holistic sense. -----NOTABLE MENTIONS----- "The Green Marketing Manifesto", John Grant. Apple. BBC. Brazil. China. Cisco. Climate change. Credit crunch. Dove. Economy. Eric Hobsbawm. GE. Globalisation. Health paradox. IKEA. India. Kodak. Levi. Lynx. Powergen. Prius. Steve Jobs. Trends. Unilever. World of Warcraft. -----MUSIC----- Music courtesy of Jakit Patrick from the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com).

STARRING: John Grant, Nick Chiarelli, Pamela Hamilton. Brought to you by Consumer Alchemy '08, the trends conference. Visit www.gfknop.com/customresearch-uk/events/consumeralchemy2008/index.en.html for more details. -----PODCAST----- Famed planner John Grant is now well known as a sustainability consultant. But not only in the environmental sense - he holds strong views on the sustainability of brands in an era of greater transparency and accountability. An era in which brands are being compelled to stand for something relevant in peoples lives. John is one of the keynotes at the upcoming trends conference Consumer Alchemy '08. Here's a short video teaser we prepared earlier.

STARRING: Murti Hussain and Simon Chadwick, Peanut Labs. Peanut Labs (www.peanutlabs.com) has an innovative take on a pretty unglamorous but fast-changing part of the research industry: online panels. Unlike other panel providers, they generate sample on-the-fly through social networks. As a result, not only can they source difficult-to-get Gen-Yrs, you can also think of them as Google Adsense for social networks, i.e. a powerful monetisation engine that social networks seem to love. They're doing pretty well - created only 14 months ago, they already have an annualised turnover of $10m. Not bad for a company started by a bunch of twenty-something college dropouts. Based in Silicon Valley, we managed the above quick chat with founder Murti Hussain, and newly annointed part-time CEO Simon Chadwick (the adult supervision!) during a recent trip to London. We cover a number of key strategic decisions they've made including why Simon is joining now, their strategy for maintaining the fast growth, hiring tactics, barriers to entry, mistakes, exit strategies and who we think will end up buying them. On www.researchtalk.co.uk you'll find some more info on their background and ambitions (based on a profile we wrote for trade pub Research World). BTW, props to the wonderful folks at Starbucks in Wardour Street for cutting the background music while we chatted - much appreciated.

STARRING: Alan C. Middleton, Grant McCracken and Richard Eisermann. Brought to you by ESOMAR's 2008 Congress Event in Montreal. Visit www.esomar.org for more details. -----PODCAST----- "I think all the research industry should adopt a CFO, because what the CFO wants to know is not whether that ad. tested better than that ad., but does the whole program move us ahead in making brands more valuable in peoples' lives and therefore dropping to the bottom line." (Alan C. Middleton). In this preCast, ahead of this year's Congress in Montreal, BrainJuicer Chief Juicer John Kearon chats with three of the keynotes about how cultural and technological changes are impacting peoples' lives, and how the disciplines of marketing, branding and research need to adapt. Joining John is former senior JWT ad. executive Alan C. Middleton, popular anthropologist Grant McCracken, and design entrepreneur Richard Eisermann. STARRING: - Alan C. Middleton, Assistant Prof. of Marketing and Executive Director, Executive Education Centre, Schulich School of Business, York University (http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/SSB-Extra/Faculty.nsf/faculty/Middleton+Alan). - Grant McCracken, Anthropologist, Research Affiliate, MIT (http://www.cultureby.com). - Richard Eisermann, Co-founder, Prospect (http://www.prospectdesign.eu). - John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (http://www.brainjuicer.com) (host). Get more podcasts in this series @ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/esomar. -----FEEDBACK----- Please comment on our podcasts: letmetalk *at* gmail *dot* com or call +44(0)7092 074262. -----TIMELINE [27:20]----- 00:00 Intro. 03:10 Brands as a shared construct (incl. 2-way conversations). 03:38 University of Edinburgh's research into the role of political brands (Alan). 04:52 "Designers will increasingly be providing the tools and methodologies for people to provide their own answers...the challenge is trying to provide a business model" (Richard). 06:20 Mass ethnography (Grant). 07:14 "In an experiment...noticed that everyone in a bar stopped drinking at the same time, even when they were blind!" (Grant). 07:33 Open-source branding (Grant). 08:29 User-created content is changing media consumption patterns (Alan). 10:10 Engaging people in the marketing process ("Marketers are becoming a symmetrical party in the relationship") (Grant). 11:17 In a more complex world, research should be seeking themes and inspiration, not discrete answers ("Stop using research to invent products!") (Alan, Richard). 13:38 Marketing needs to know when a prosumer vs consumer approach works (i.e. co-creation vs. prescriptive) (Alan). 14:30 Why ethnography can be more inspiring than traditional research approaches (Grant). 15:56 Designers need to understand 'meaning' and direct contact with consumers is the only source of this (Richard). 16:52 The need for 'whole human research' (Alan). 17:47 Innovation happens at the fringes, but most research doesn't go there (e.g. off-road bicycles). 20:16 Overcoming risk-averse behaviour in corporations ("the high risk of not taking a risk") (Alan). 21:59 Overcoming risk-averse behaviour in the MR industry (balanced score cards). 24:52 Wrap-up. -----NOTABLE MENTIONS----- Andrew Keen, "Cult of the Amateur". Co-creation. David Weinberger. Design Council. Disintermediation. Economic downturn. Ethnography. IDEO. JWT. Naomi Klein. Neil Gershenfeld. Sid Levy. Whirlpool. -----MUSIC----- Music courtesy of Theatrimus from the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com).

"The biggest challenge is not the technology, but in changing peoples' habits" (Julia Hailes). -----PODCAST----- Former BT futurologist Ian Pearson recently joined a futures consultancy with a bang when he put out the provocative report "Achieving CO2 reductions in the UK by using technology instead of muddled thinking" (www.futurizon.com/articles/carbonfeb08.doc). The report suggests, among other things, that the rush to save the world from dwindling energy reserves, global warming etc. is forcing policy makers and other stakeholders to make poor decisions. Sustainability consultant and author Julia Hailes MBE kindly agreed to put Ian on the spot in this quickfire conversation to discuss Ian's analysis. As expected, the two don't agree on much, but there is some common ground. STARRING... - Ian Pearson, Futurizon (http://www.futurizon.com), personal website and blog (http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.pearson). - Julia Hailes MBE, sustainability consultant (www.juliahailes.com), and author, "The New Green Consumer Guide". Listen to other podcasts featuring Ian (http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/index.php?s=Ian+Pearson) and Julia (http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/index.php?s=Julia+Hailes). -----FEEDBACK----- Please comment on our podcasts: letmetalk *at* gmail *dot* com or call +44(0)7092 074262. -----TIMELINE [32:08]----- 00:00 Intro. 00:55 Ian: We shouldn't be rushing in to solve Climate change. Waiting for future technology can help to better solve the problem. 01:55 Julia: The more we do sooner...the better it's going to be. Not convinced that technology is the answer. 03:11 Ian: Rushing generates a negative impact (eg. wind power case study). 04:05 Julia: Wind turbine early adopters started to become more aware of their energy usage and reduced consumption as a result. 04:50 Ian: Better to capitalise on peoples' emotional commitment when technology/things do work. 05:27 Ian: Landfill and recycling policies need to be thought through much better (danger of alienating tax payers). 07:12 Julia: UK suffers from different recycling policies throughout country. Need for more centralised thinking (causes issues when advising supermarkets). 08:10 Ian: Centralised thinking is a boon for scientific approaches. 08:30 Julia: Futurizon report does not cover packaging sufficiently (P&G detergents spend disproportionate amount of time worrying about packaging). 09:41 Ian: Better for brands to be seen to be doing something. 10:19 Julia: Report in danger of being in a fantasy world (eg. shooting nuclear waste into space, diluting Uranium a better idea!). 10:36 Ian: Believe this will be do-able in the future (via space elevator). 12:00 Julia: Against nuclear power because it offers a poor return. Other technologies are more cost effective (wave, tidal, solar power), yet receive a fraction of the investment. 13:18 Ian: Agree. Nuclear has probably reached the end of its use by date as solar power prices could match conventional power by 2016/17. 14:31 Julia: More sensitive solar film being developed. Challenge is to manufacture in scale. 14:59 Ian: Oil companies have a vested interest in pushing technologies that can scale. 15:41 Julia: Bio fuels - a red herring as not a practical alternative to oil. 16:21 Ian: Agree. An example of scoring quick political points without adequately thinking through the solution. 18:20 Ian: Suggestion - creating carbon reefs with plastic waste. 19:06 Julia: Prefer glass to plastic. 20:07 Ian: Transport idea - apply Internet protocol/packet systems to the road to maximise use with electronically driven 'pods' (road trains). 22:54 Julia: Would be a challenge to use in rural areas. 23:17 Ian: EU initiatives are already in progress to automate highways. Also a social solution. 25:03 Julia: The fact that people can be tracked may raise privacy issues. 25:23 Ian: "Privacy issues are being eroded whether we like it or not." 26:30 Julia: Disagree with Ian that people should not be encouraged to reduce consumption, e.g. reduce air travel. 27:06 Ian: Soon planes may be able to run on batteries, thereby assuaging the CO2 concerns of air travel. Plus, air travel is a small CO2 contributor and contributes alot via taxes. 28:48 Julia: Report makes some big assumptions and is overly optimistic. Energy rationing is the status quo. 29:31 Ian: While there is a strong case for reducing demand in the short term, long term needs will be more than satisfied with new technologies. 30:21 Julia: Not as optimistic as Ian. 30:47 Ian: Closing comment. -----NOTABLE MENTIONS----- Air travel. Big brother. Biofuels. Biogas. Climate change. Nucleur power. Privacy. Solar farms. Solar power. Superconductivity. Sustainability. Transport. Wave power. -----MUSIC----- Music courtesy of Theatrimus from the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com). -----THANKS----- Thanks to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the outro.

"True leaders tend to be successful at pretty much whatever's given to them." (Philip Barnard). -----PODCAST----- In this edition of The Leadership Show, Simon Chadwick chats with four leaders who have spent the past five decades successfully building substantial entities. Folks such as Jay Wilson (http://www.consultcambiar.com/jay.htm) who built Roper Starch (sold to NOP World), Bill Pegram (http://gravitas-partners.com/biographies/bill_pegram.html) who co-founded and built Pegram Walters (sold to Synovate), Philip Barnard who built Research International from its founding days as a division of Unilever (sold to WPP), and Tim Bowles who built IRI Europe. This is one of the most fun podcasts to listen to thanks to Simon and his guests. BTW, Simon wrote and presented an excellent paper at ESOMAR '07 for free download entitled "Leadership - The Men and Women Who Shape Our Industry" (http://www.consultcambiar.com/Leadership_-_The_Men_and_Women_Who_Shape_our_Industry.pdf). STARRING... - Bill Pegram, Bill Pegram & Co (http://www.billpegram.co.uk) and gravitas (http://gravitas-partners.com). - Jay Wilson, Wilson Connexions (http://www.wilsonconnexions.com) and Cambiar (http://www.consultcambiar.com). - Philip Barnard, former chairman and CEO, Kantar Group (http://www.kantargroup.com). - Tim Bowles, former head, IRI Europe (http://www.infores.com) and former CEO, West Europe for Synovate (http://www.synovate.com). - Simon Chadwick, Cambiar (http://www.consultcambiar.com) and gravitas (http://www.gravitas-partners.com) (Host). Get more podcasts in this series @ http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/leadership. -----FEEDBACK----- Please comment on our podcasts: letmetalk *at* gmail *dot* com or call +44(0)7092 074262. -----TIMELINE [35:12]----- 00:00 Intro. 02:08 Framework for good leadership (profit centres, giving responsibility to those who can handle it). 02:50 Encouraging entrepreneurialism (freedom to make mistakes, having a vision). 03:46 Are entrepreneurial leaders different/better than corporate leaders? 04:19 A creative excitement with the current generation of emerging agencies. 05:39 The 1970s and 1980s - the age of 'gentleman amateurs' (jewellery store anecdote). 07:45 Challenges in managing widespread change in the industry (change of ownership, bankruptcy). 10:00 Getting rid of 'dead wood'. 11:34 Avoiding motivation systems that reward people equally (print department anecdote). 12:54 Being willing to challenge the conventional wisdom (pituitary glands of newts anecdote). 14:51 Filling leadership positions externally versus internally. 15:20 Thoughts on people who these leaders nurtured (Ed Keller, Nigel Spackman, Richard Silman, Michelle Norman, Barbara Martin, John Samuels). 17:36 The challenge of the american 'can do' attitude. 18:57 As a leader, 'knowing what to do' is not difficult if you listen carefully and can sell the message (IRI pricing anecdote). 20:39 Difficult moments (telephone company anecdote). 21:41 Deciding to start a company - Bill Pegram. 23:18 Resisting corporate creep (organisation chart anecdote). 23:59 Leadership heroes (Mark Abrams, Elmor Roper, Starch, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Michael Vaughan, Richard Silman, Brian Goschalk, Dilbert, Philip Barnard, Doug Brown, Paddy Ashdown, Tony Blair, Eileen Cole, Stephen King, Jeremy Bullmore, Charles Darwin). 30:32 What the leaders are currently involved in (cottage building, archeology, snowshoeing). 33:17 Regrets. -----NOTABLE MENTIONS----- Aegis. AGB. Alan Walters (Pegram Walters). Art Nielsen. Barbara Martin. Birdsye. Brian Goschalk (Ipsos). Charles Darwin. Dilbert. Doug Brown (founder, AGB). Ed Keller (Keller Fay Group). Eileen Cole. Elmo Burns Roper, Jr. George Gallup. Harry Truman. INRA. IRI. Jack Welch. Jeremy Bullmore (WPP). John Betjeman. John Samuels (ex. BMRB). Mark Abrams. Michelle Norman (CEO, Synovate UK). Nigel Spackman (chairman, TNS UK). Paddy Ashdown (former MP). Pat Dowding (Pegram Walters). Red Mottley. Research Bureau. Research International. Richard Silman (CEO, Ipsos UK). Ronald Reagan. Roper Starch. Simon Chadwick. Stephen King (ex. WPP). Synovate. Tony Blair. Trevor Richards. Unilever. -----QUOTES----- See www.researchtalk.co.uk. -----MUSIC----- Music courtesy of Steffen Coonan and Theatrimus from the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com). -----THANKS----- Thanks to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the outro.

STARRING: - Mary Beth Kemp, report co-author and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) - Tony Effik, Head of planning, Publicis Modem (www.modemmedia.com). Tony also blogs about the social graph (http://socialgraph.blogspot.com) Forrester Research recently published an 18-page report/detailed thought-piece (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,43875,00.html) provocatively titled 'The Connected Agency', discussing the model they foresee successful advertising agencies migrating towards to overcome many of the disruptive influences and changes in consumer behaviour we're seeing. Needless to say we were interested in exploring these issues and challenges with one of the authors of the report. And we roped in Tony Effik, planning head at a digital agency, to better understand the ramifications not just for the advertising world but also for brand marketers, and for media, marketing and research agencies. It's not a pretty picture... UPDATE: In the podcast we mention that the report's free. Actually, that's a bit misleading because it's only free to clients - oops! -----FEEDBACK----- Please comment on this podcast: letmetalk *at* gmail *dot* com or call +44(0)7092 074262. -----THANKS----- Freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the outro. -----MUSIC----- Courtesy of Theatrimus from http://music.podshow.com.

STARRING: Gian Fulgoni, Chairman and co-founder, comScore. As well as popping into see Max during our recent US trip, we also caught up with Gian Fulgoni of comScore in the Chicago office (their HQ is in Virginia where CEO Magid Abraham and much of the engineering team is based). comScore is one of the main providers of internet measurement and competes with Nielsen Online (formerly Nielsen NetRatings), Compete.com, Hitwise, and Quantcast as well as others. That said, comScore and Nielsen are generally considered the bigger boys of the bunch given how often their share data is cited in the media (e.g. monthly shares in the lucrative online search market). The internet measurement sector is very technology-hungry. In the early years, comScore literally ate up millions of dollars to get its IT infrastructure established and working right. It has one of world's largest databases as a result of the oceans of data being sent back daily from panelist PCs (a widget records their internet activity, with their permission, and siphons it, along with detailed transaction data, over to HQ). These efforts were rewarded when, in 2007, comScore was annointed one of 47 technology pioneers at the WEF in Davos. 2007 was arguably a good year for comScore's initial investors. 2007's IPO provided for a much-needed liquidation for this band of investors who backed the firm since 2000, including after the dotcom bust when venture financing virtually dried up. At one point comScore's market cap hit $1bn; it's still pretty amazing to think that a company that has only been trading for around seven years is already worth over half as much as TNS, a widely admired and solid growth firm, but one still largely based around traditional research techniques. In this short chat with Gian, we discuss an area that he's passionate about: why ad. dollars are only slowly moving online. It's that old chestnut: online finally commands a significant amount of consumer attention (compared with other media such as tv), and yet still only commands a fraction of the advertising dollars spent on tv and other mass-market media. We also ask him about whether Facebook is worth the reported $15bn, the conversation having taken place shortly after Microsoft made its investment. comScore is Gian's second business success. Prior to this, both him and Magid led IRI through a period of rapid growth. And in-between, he found time to invest in Gibsons, a successful steak restaurant in Chicago (which we, of course, had to sample - very yummy!).

STARRING: Praveen Gupta, Director and co-founder, Cross-Tab On a recent trip to India we were keen to learn a bit more about the state of the research industry there and were pleased when Praveen Gupta invited us over to Cross-Tab's Bangalore office for a chat. Must admit that not having been to India for a long, long time, we didn't know what to expect in terms of the state of development there. You hear about a sub-continent that is home to both extreme poverty and some of the most technologically advanced organisations in the world as a result of churning out probably more science graduates than anywhere else on earth. Bangalore is one of three cities, alongside fellow southern cities Hyderabad and Chennai, vying for the super high tech crown. There's an incredible buzz as you travel down surprisingly modern streets from the airport. We later learn that the local mayor did this strategically to give the impression that all of Bangalore was like that whereas this is only the case for certain 'key routes'. We got to know about Cross-Tab when we wrote about them hiring a global CEO from Microsoft (Kumar Mehta, a former top executive there). Cross-Tab's claim to fame is both as a pioneer in MR outsourcing and, apparently, 'the only full service online research agency in India'. In this short chat with Praveen, a co-founder and modern-day Indian entrepreneur, we hear about: - MR outsourcing (and how this accidentally became one of their strengths) - Online research in India - The middle class - The super rich - Indian entrepreneurism - The market for MR - Future challenges - Blog mining The full chat with Praveen was quite a bit longer and highly informative and stimulating. We'd like to thank him again for the warm hospitality.