In recent years, clients have become ever more insistent in their demand that researchers deliver results in a way that engages the audience. Researchers can respond to this demand in a number of ways, including the use of storytelling, workshops, and data representations that are visually compelling. Anything that  helps engage people with research findings - what they mean, and what marketers should do as a result - is a good thing, but a recent experience of my own made me wonder if the need to tell stories is at odds with the need to present statistics. By writing this post I hope to explore the issue further.

Last week my post about research metrics and pre-testing drew Jacob Wright, senior strategist at Mother in London, into the debate. Kudos to Jacob for putting his viewpoint forward, even if I cannot agree with some of his assertions. But the real question is, why is he so convinced that pretesting is bad for creativity?

Thinking about the debate, it seems to me that Jacob’s commentary reflects a longstanding friction between researchers and advertisers that is as much due to mindset as methodology. It is one that I am familiar with from my time living and working in the UK. But now I wonder how many people still share Jacob’s viewpoint. Could it be that this antipathy to pretesting is uniquely British and perhaps outdated?

Yesterday I attended the annual meeting of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. When I had my first contact with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) about ten years ago, it was a relatively modest operation, less than a fifth of its current size. What impresses me even more than the sheer growth of GMCR is the fact that the company has achieved financial success without abandoning its commitment to social and environmental responsibility. In fact, that commitment may be one of the more important drivers behind the company’s business success.

I just read an article in AdAge by Patrick Sarkissian with the provocative title, “Why Metrics Are Killing Creativity in Advertising.”  The basic point of the article was summed up in the subtitle: “When Marketing Decisions Are Based on Numbers, We Lose the Desire to Be Creative.” The author seems to assume that creativity applies only to ideas and not to numbers. If I’m reading him correctly, I believe he is wrong and that his clients are missing out.

All eyes are on Toyota right now and not for reasons the company appreciates. A series of faults have led to the recall of a wide variety of car models. Sensing blood in the water, Toyota’s American competitors are seeking to lure people away from the Japanese brand. Which companies are likely to benefit the most?

Emboldened by Toyota’s problems, American rivals are offering disgruntled Toyota owners cash discounts to trade in their old cars for new domestic models. Among these players is Ford, a company that claimed for years that quality was “Job Number 1,” yet watched people continue to flock to imports with better reputations for quality.