The Productivity Blueprint by Asian Efficiency: Their Secret to Success

Working in Market Research means living a fast-paced work environment but also doing really focused work. It is easy to get sucked into a vortex, lose focus, and get bogged down. In our attempts to figure out “stress-coping” (productivity!) mechanisms for our “heaviest” days, April introduced us to Asian Efficiency.

Asian Efficiency is a team that has one specific goal – make the world a more efficient place – to go about doing things with the least amount of effort, delivering the maximum output.

During office training and staff development sessions, we have discussed their Productivity Blueprint and Rituals, mainly:

• Productivity Blueprint
  • Beating Procrastination
  • Focus & Self Discipline
  • Distraction & Interruption
• Rituals
  • Waking Up Earlier
  • Morning
  • Meditation
  • Exercise
  • Structural Productivity
  • Breaks & Downtime
  • Evening
  • Studying & Learning
  • Journaling
  • Uninterrupted Time

They have loads of great, free content, and I have purchased quite a few of their programs, and would highly recommend their Productivity course as well as their Rituals Course. They also have loads of good free content on their site. Two of the most helpful rituals we have been working on as a team are – Structural Productivity and Breaks & Downtime.

Structural Productivity is about maximizing your days by planning them in advance. In a way, this is deemed as the master ritual of the 10 listed above because it strings together all your other rituals. If you are able to plan your day ahead, there is less stress and less chance of beating yourself up thinking the day could have gone better. It also allows you to track progress day to day and monitor accomplishments. More importantly, you can iterate and correct problems with the day gone by and get to a point where your days are always productive – both at work and after work. This ritual, based on the premise of planning, also lessens decision fatigue, prioritization of important vs. urgent tasks, and respects time boundaries you have set.

Breaks & Downtime is all about consistently getting the breaks and downtime you need to remain alert and productive. To be honest, taking breaks is a personal challenge owing to the personal belief that taking a break = wasting time. Asian Efficiency tells us that taking breaks or short rests leads to:

• Increased productivity
• Controlled and consistent energy levels throughout the day
• Effective stress management
• Increased motivation 

April gave us timers for time intervals/timeboxes to structure our breaks. I haven’t used mine for fear of disturbing colleagues when it sounds off so I use my phone’s timer to signal if it’s time to break. This is still a challenge for me because I’ve been so used to just churning output however long it took without breaks to ensure I meet deadlines but when I do use “time boxing” or the Pomodoro Technique, I felt re-energized after the quick break and ready to tackle the beast again. You can time box in 2 ways – depending on what works for you:

• 25/5 – work 25 minutes and take a 5 minute break
• 50/10 – work 50 minutes and take a 10 minute break

If you’re interested in learning more about this concept, I recommend reading “The Pomodoro Technique” book by Francesco Cirillo.

Either way, the important thing is to take that quick break and by taking a quick break, it means that you physically have to stop what you are doing and do something else – walk away from your work location! And remember to go all-out on your break, go outside and get some air, get your favorite beverage, or even play your favorite game.

Note the importance of writing down what you’re currently thinking if your break comes up. It will help you to get back on track much faster after your 5 or 10 minute break. It’s just a matter of looking back at what you wrote and picking up that train of thought!

6 Unexpected Learnings from a Family Glamping Trip

This summer, we decided to take some time off and haul our camper up through the Midwest.  As expected, we had a good time, and the small breath of fresh air from our busy lives was refreshing.  However, there were also several unexpected learnings we had along the way.

1.  Glamping is challenging - but worth it.   Ok, so if you know me at all, you know that camping is really not “my thing”.  My thing is more of this. However, once the challenges of setting up a camper are addressed (i.e. figuring out how you deal without the important things you forgot, determining a way to cool the camper down to a bearable temp with a barely working A/C, juggling all your stuff so you can move around, etc., etc.), you can emerge from a hot camper into a quiet “campsite” and feel the breeze, smell the trees, and literally be FORCED into nature – the smell of trees, of laughter around a campfire, of a breeze touching your face.  You can’t do that in a 4 or 5 star hotel…if only they could do something about the shower situation!

2. People who camp are nice.  Ok, so when you first pull up to a “campground”, you’re kind of shocked at what you see.  I mean, people have built dog pens for their dogs! These people are driving a HOUSE, for crying out loud!  Our little 16-ft camper looked like an ant amongst elephants.  Many campers have done A LOT of work to make a “home” in the wild.  It’s fascinating - and the ultimate in “self-sufficiency.”  They have created their environment and they’re happy in it.  So, I’m not sure if there’s something in the nature of campers that is just genuinely nice or if people get nicer the more they’re outdoors and self-sufficient.  But I love it - our daughter took off into a crowd of girls who put her under their wings and parents greeted us with tactful suggestions and useful objects like a fan and leveler for the “camper newbies” – wow!

3. A “family trip” is not the same as a “vacation”…

a.     “Vacation” connotes something magical, whether it’s full of adventure OR reading on a beach. A vacation is about “me”, “my time”, what “I” want to do. 

b.     “Family trip”, on the other hand, immediately changes my perception of what it is - it’s a time when we are together 24/7.  We’re together no matter what.  It’s negotiating. It’s messy.  Yes, it’s beautiful but it requires effort – in some ways, just like work.

What I realized is that using the word “vacation” when taking a “family trip” sets me up for disappointment - but as with many things in life…these ideas come from experience.  I gave this “vacation” an overall ranking of 6 (on scale of 1-10) but I gave the “family trip” a 9 when I changed my perspective.  Our daughter gave it a 12 :)   

4.    Being Cousin Eddie is kind of cool. This was our first voyage in our camper, and we eventually made our way to visit friends in Des Moines where we parked it in front of their house for several days.  Historically, I’ve assumed that parking a camper in front of a friend’s house was not the best way to keep said friend, primarily after my first viewing of Christmas Vacation years ago.  However, I never really understood the immense value of staying JUST OUTSIDE your friend’s house!  Having some physical separation and some space of your own, even if it is via a camper creates a talking piece, a spirit of adventure and a place to go when you need time alone.  Everyone loved it, and as far as I know, we still have our friends!

5.    It’s Not Where You Are, It’s Who You’re With - When I think of all the places I’ve been on vacation and all the places I want to go, I never really had Des Moines, IA on the radar!  But that’s where our gracious, dear friends live.  It’s true - that where you vacation is less about where you are because I can’t think of a trip I would have enjoyed more when we landed in Johnson, Iowa - a small town outside of Des Moines.  The excitement that week was one of the neighbors had a potbelly pig, Babe, who escaped.  A neighborhood rally occurred to try to find him.  Then, the police got involved when he was found running along the soccer field. Seriously - you can’t make this stuff up.   I’m so grateful to have a family trip that gave me the chance to experience time with my sweet, amazing friends!

6.     Taking Time Away Cultivates Gratitude -  When you run your own business, work doesn’t stop when you physically separate from it.  Sometimes, I get resentful of never being able to “break free” from it.   Typically when I’m on vacation, many of my work worries start to stack up, which stresses me out, and “unstacking them” takes a LOT of intention.  For 8 years I have wanted that to be different.  BUT - for whatever reason (maybe it was my new camper friends or being Cousin Eddy or chasing after a pot belly pig), whatever it was, I decided (I chose) to think about my work differently.  This trip made me more grateful of having work that allows me to do something like take a camper through the hot (and eventually cooler) Midwest, and see friends and frolic in the grass. 

I guess that’s what perspective is all about.  The more I think about it; maybe our “family glamping trip” was a 12 after all!

Using Design Thinking for a Family Glamping Trip

“How can we make our marketing research projects even better?” is a question we often ask ourselves here at April Bell Research Group.  So, it’s awesome when you find a framework to do just that! I first learned about Design Thinking from Lisa Helminiak, founder of a human-centered design firm, Azul 7.   We met at a women-owned business training event, where she turned me on to some great resources from Stanford’s Institute of Design: d.school. 

Since then, we have used this thinking in many of our research projects.  When I heard about Azul 7’s Design Thinking Workshop/Bootcamp, I decided to trek up to Minneapolis to attend.  I wanted to deepen my understanding and find new ways to implement it into our research practice.  What I discovered is that Design-Thinking is more than a “process”, it’s a way of life.

This mindset includes:

• Focusing on what others need

• Feeling free to experiment while working through a process

• Getting really clear about what you’re trying to solve.

• Having a “bias toward action”

• Radial collaboration

It’s a simple process to reshape thinking. You state the challenge, and then follow 5 steps – Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test – to elevate creative thinking.

“Creativity is an essential skill for leaders trying to make a difference. Yet developing the ability to think and act creatively remains a thorny challenge. While there's a hunger for skill development, elevating creative confidence doesn't happen via traditional modes of executive education.” Tim Brown, IDEO’s President and CEO

Here’s how I incorporated Design Thinking as I planned my trip to the Boot Camp!

State the Challenge:  How can I take 3+ days away for training when I have so many obligations with work and family?

The Steps:

1. Empathize – immerse yourself, observe what people are doing, how they’re doing it and why. Discover other’s views.  Sidenote: this is MUCH easier to do professionally as a moderator than it is with your immediate family!!!  But here’s what I got from the “empathy gathering” stage:

• My husband and daughter didn’t want me to drag them along on a trip where I was unavailable for most of the day.

• They also didn’t want me to go on a trip unless it was a “real vacation.”

• They wanted to go “camping” – I did not.

• I didn’t want to feel guilty about going.

• I wanted to create a great experience for everyone.

2. Define – this is tricky because you’re still not solving – you’re just unpacking what you learned, and getting clarity on WHAT needs to be solved. “Unpack” all of your learnings, then translate these into a Point of View statement – (User) “needs” (Need) “because” (Insight)

• My definition:

  • The Family (User) needs…

  • …to find individual activities while vacationing together (Need) because…

  • …we want to be together yet have our own idea of what “fun” looks like! (Insight)

3. Ideate – our “family” brainstorm looked a little different than the typical innovation ideation sessions we facilitate with our clients but let’s just say our little familia “tried” to build on each other’s ideas.  And we “tried” not to judge each other’s opinions (some of us were better than others but I'm not pointing any fingers!)  And, my 5 year old is DEFINITELY the most creative and best “ideator” of the family!

4. Prototype – You stop talking (and thinking) in this step - and start building.  It’s a challenge because our nature – at least mine – is to get it right, get it perfect before showing others. This step forces the reverse thinking.  To get better, you must build/create something to test SO THAT IT CAN get better for the user!

5. Test – Then, we tested our first ever 10-day Family Glamping + Training trip!  Our user testing was “doing it.”  Would we do it differently next time?  Yes, we would tweak a few things like making sure our A/C in the camper was working properly before departing.  And allowing 2 weeks for the trip, not 10 days…but we learned a lot.  This was our “prototype”:

1. Pull camper from Dallas to Oklahoma, spent our first night in Sequoyah State Park in Hulbert, OK

2. Migrated to Des Moines, IA where we played with our friends, then left our daughter + camper to play longer.

3. Husband and I drove on to Minneapolis where I attended Azul’s Design-Thinking Boot Camp and hubby happily biked in a city with some of the best biking trails in the US.

4. Then, we made our way back home, picking up our daughter and camper in Iowa

5. Spent 2 more nights in Kansas before heading back to Dallas.

Here’s a visual map we made with Fotor, another fun tool we’ve added to our tool kit. That and PicMonkey are both greatat quickly helping you bring ideas to life visually for “quick DIY design needs.”

Loved the Boot Camp. And Design Thinking has not only enhanced our innovation projects but also helped us create a mindset for innovation in our boutique business and even personally!

What I Valued Most about a Boutique Agency's Values

Going in to my internship at April Bell Research Group (ABRG), I didn’t know what to expect. I liked that ABRG was part of a Women in Business (WIB) cohort in Dallas because as an Economics and Math major, I see myself in business. What I didn’t know was how interning at a Marketing Research boutique agency would correlate with my strengths, interests, and plans for the future.

What I discovered during my internship with ABRG is that I had found a place to combine my strengths with the company’s values, and it was a great experience!

Learning for Growth

“Learning to grow” was one of the values practiced continuously at ABRG, and I was lucky enough to be a part of applying this learning process. 

Specifically, many of the projects I worked on this summer involved growing ABRG’s online presence. They included the following:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • SEO increases your ranking and visibility in Search Engines, predominantly Google. I learned and executed my learnings about SEO on ABRG’s website in hopes of propelling ABRG’s online presence.  

• Affiliate Linking

  • April and her team enjoy sharing with other women, small businesses, researchers, etc. what they have learned.  And many online resources encourage sharing by creating a way to earn a small commission for services and products they believe in.  Her favorite affiliate to share is Asian Efficiency’s productivity content– specifically their Ritual Course has been the backbone of a lot of the team’s growth over the last year.

• Online Courses

  • ABRG has been asked by researchers the past few years to teach specific moderating and facilitation skills. I worked on researching the technical ins-and-outs of creating an online course so that when the time comes, ABRG can move forward with launching a successful course for researchers!

“Pit Crew” Teamwork

It’s clear that April & co. work well together as a team.  They often refer to themselves as a “pit crew”!  The company-wide effort to re-do ABRG’s website this summer involved a lot of teamwork. Everyone’s strengths were utilized for different parts of this project and we relied on each other to understand the bigger picture. The video below is the inspiration behind how ABRG aspires to work together in the most efficient manner.

The Championship winning F1 team Red Bull Racing practice their pitstop. They manage it in a flying 2:05 seconds. Absolutely mental. Watch it in slow-motion! Subscribe for more: http://link.base79.com/polepositionsub Pole Position is the place for motorsport fans and petrol heads covering the very best races, teams and drivers from around the world.

This Summer, teamwork looked like:

• Being OK with Not Knowing
  • Sometimes asking for help is hard, but I found it beneficial to our overall goal because I learned more when I asked. This new definition of teamwork – the one open to asking for direction – has reframed my thinking about asking questions and given me a new perspective on collaboration.
• Getting Unstuck Together
  • A lot of the online work I learned about was not only new to me but also to ABRG. When none of us knew how to do something or what to do next, we brainstormed. This helped me because it provided direction to move forward. Recognizing that being “stuck” is part of the process to move forward early on this summer helped me be successful at ABRG.
• Meeting Participation
  • Having everyone else’s perspective as well as my own at our meetings helped move along projects effectively and efficiently. Thus, teamwork is also about being open to other’s perspectives AND offering my own ideas, which helps a project be as successful as it can be.

ABRG utilized teamwork to raise the bar on what it could do for its new website and yielded successful results.

The projects I worked on this summer had many values instilled within them. The values of “learning to grow” and “pit crew teamwork” have taken on new meanings for me and were key to the positive experience I had in my internship. Because these values were at the core of ABRG, they were also instilled my mindset and my work, and I feel like I flourished this summer. 

By: Cecilia Esquivel, 2016 ABRG Summer Intern, Emory University

5 Ways to Work it Like a (Go) Pro

We love doing in-context or ethnographic research.  It’s so fun to immerse ourselves into a respondent’s environment and learn “what’s really going on” vs. “what respondents say” in a focus group setting. And, yes, video is a great way to effectively capture the interviews – it provides authenticity but also comes with some drawbacks. Regardless of someone’s moderating skills, it’s more awkward for a respondent when you add a video camera to the mix.  For the last few years, we rarely take video during our ethnographies due to the “cumbersome nature” of the equipment.

To solve one of these problems, we could enlist the help of our clients. However, walking them through operating a camera is technical and takes away from the ‘in the moment’ learning. 

At ABRG, we found a small and mighty answer to this multi-layer dilemma. Insert GoPro Hero 4 Silver! We chose a GoPro because its versatile capabilities allow flexibility for any ethnography or in-context research situation. 

1. Mounting accessories:  we love the Go Pro’s various accessories and bought the suction cup, flex clamp, and hand grip. These make it easier to walk with it or mount it wherever you need to take video – bathroom, kitchen, etc. The clamp accessory especially, is useful doing in-homes because furniture can easily become camera equipment.
2. Size:  It’s tiny, which is another asset when recording. Because it’s not bulky, respondents don’t notice it when they are being interviewed – it fades into the background. 
3. Great quality video at close proximity – the video quality on a GoPro is stellar, especially when it’s put on the “narrow” setting.
4. Mark-up ability: it is easy to mark up interesting, noteworthy parts of the interview in the moment!  This makes sorting through footage later so much less painful! 
5. Remote control via iPhone app: the GoPro contains a remote feature that allows you to control angle, start/stop, etc. from your iPhone, which is awesome.  If needed, the interviewer can both record and conduct interviews without enlisting the help of another team member or client.  

All of these features are great but getting up to speed and feeling comfortable with it requires bit of “ramp up”. We believe in creating step-by-step Process Documents to keep us from reinventing the wheel so we put all our knowledge into words in the format of a laminated Process Document containing the ins-and-outs of “how to use a GoPro.” To easily access this guide when we are in the field, we made it so that it easily fits inside the GoPro’s case and color-coded it based on topic. Additionally, the GoPro, its parts and mounting accessories are labeled and correspond with the user guide as reference.   In conjunction with the process document, we also labeled all of the parts of the GoPro and the different mounting accessories. Wherever the GoPro goes, a user-friendly guide goes with it. 

To GoPro or no?  That is the question.  So far, we’re loving it.

Uncharted Territories for Prestigious Summer Art Exhibit

ABRG BLOG

Jeffrey Johns of Northstar consulting recently presented on “Using Insight Innovation to Re-Invent a 247-Year Old Institution” at the 2016 QRCA Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research. His investigation piqued our interest and made us want to dig deeper to understand his methods and findings. The Summer Exhibition at London’s Royal Academy  is one of the most significant and unique visual experiences in the world due to the combination of works from emerging and established artists. However, since its inception in 1769, the structure of the exhibit has remained largely unchanged. But for the upcoming 250th Summer Exhibition, London’s Royal Academy intends to make changes that incorporate the needs of a new generation of visitors as well as other trends from our changing world.

Consulted for their expertise on customer-related research, Northstar was brought in to help The Royal Academy as it moves forward with its redesign. Northstar’s undertaking of this project was unique because The Royal Academy had never consulted with researchers before, thus making the collection and presentation of findings original and unfamiliar. In fact, Northstar’s insights were reflected in the 247th Summer Exhibition in 2015 and visitor volume and art sales were noticeably higher; a good indicator of the impact they will have on the 250th anniversary. The study itself was unique because of its short timeframe and methods used, unlike those commonly used in ethnographic research where experiments are long and data collection is extensive. Northstar’s goal with this immersive research was to provide consumer insights that could make the Summer Exhibition more popular and enjoyable.

Northstar conducted its research within the institution and yielded 16 hours of data and 400 photographs. Their qualitative, ethnographic approach included methods such as listening in on visitors’ conversations, observing gestures/interaction of visitors with art, and conducting ‘non-interview-like’ conversations with visitors. The research uncovered trends such as “Visitor control”, “family”, and “divergence” which rose to the top across many exhibit visitors. But how does this help the London Royal Academy? What do these trends mean? “Visitor control” meant that visitors liked that they weren’t guided through the exhibition and were free explore on their own. “Family” referred to the fact that the exhibition has become well known to families who have made visiting the exhibition a tradition. “Divergence” showed that the combination of both emerging and establishing artists is a positive for the exhibit because it reflects inclusivity. By understanding these trends, the Royal Academy will have a better understanding of what is needed for the redesign of the Summer Exhibition.

Northstar’s innovative research methods provide d actionable insights for an institution that did not formerly utilize qualitative research. Utilizing qualitative research may be something that the London Royal Academy will continue to do given its increase in art sales and visitor volume since changes reflecting the trends of control, family and divergence were made. Entering uncharted territory was a success for Northstar because this unique methodology resulted in positive outcomes for their client; indicating that innovative methods could be advantageous and should be implemented in other non-typical areas.

Online Qual Methodologies

Is online qualitative research as effective as in-person research? We’ve had some of our long-term clients wanting to explore different ways to “replicate” in-person focus groups online. Surprisingly, this is being driven not only by time and money constraints but also by scheduling conflicts. Although in-person qual facilitates the kind of rapport and connection that is challenging to replicate online, we also believe conducting online qual can give insight – if you use the right methodology and platform for the objective.

We currently have a great bulletin board platform (Recollective) we use for gaining in-depth exploration into consumer’s habits and practices – it’s a great tool and we use it often as a supplement to in-person.

But finding the right tool to “replicate” an in-person experience – where stimuli can be shown and feedback can be given in context requires a synchronous platform (not a bulletin board – asynchronous platform)

So we recently renewed our discovery process to review new platforms and we were pleasantly surprised by how advanced the technology has become. Although not perfect, it’s clear that many of them have become more “researcher friendly.” So, while it can seem overwhelming based on the number of options available, we found the following process can help narrow the choices in order to choose the best platform for your needs.

Envision the Experience: With so many bells and whistles, it’s easy to get swept away with a lot of the features available. We found as we were doing demos, that clarity was found if we focused on what the experience would look and feel like as we were conducting the study.

Decide: Asynchronous or Synchronous?  There are pros and cons of each but both can be beneficial based on what you are trying to learn. For example, Asynchronous is great for “exploration” or “going deep” with individual consumers while allowing flexibility for both the researcher and respondents; however, the analysis is typically more disjointed and time-consuming. Synchronous platforms, on the other hand, require a specific “meet up” time. They work well when you want group feedback (ex: stimuli) because they allow data to flow in context – and the analysis is easier.

Decide: Text only or Webcam? This is an important step when determining which platform to use because some platforms are better at conducting Webcam interviews/groups (Intervu by FocusVision) while others provide a great Text Chat Group feature (Inside Heads and Visions Live). Again, there are pros and cons to each method that should be carefully evaluated based on your client team’s wishes. For example, Text Chat Groups do not allow you to see and hear respondents while Webcam groups require much more technology requirements.

Creating an “evaluation process” not only helped us identify the right platform for the need, it also helped us overcome technology “overwhelm” and create excitement for a shiny, new research tool!

Using Improv Principles when Ideating

“I’m not creative”,“I have a hard time brainstorming in a group”. So many people, including me, feel this way. In the increasing number of new product development ideation sessions we conduct with our clients, we are finding that the “set up” process is just as important as the actual ideation. “Using improv principles” helps us guide the team to think outside the box and successfully build off one another’s ideas. Here is a list of Improv Principles that we regularly use and believe help create successful ideas during an ideation or brainstorm session:

1. Yes And…
2. Be Present
3. Have Fun
4. Be Open to Failing
5. Adapt
6. Justify Other’s thinking
7. Trust the Process…and yourself

The first and most important principle to follow is justifying others thinking by continually saying “yes, and….” We have found that by using this technique, it allows team members to build ideas, not kill them. It makes each team member feel comfortable and open to sharing his or her ideas – no matter how outlandish they may be. In an article titled 4 Improv Principles That Could Skyrocket Your Career, the founder of Improv on the Job, Taren Sterry states, “this principles is about accepting and building on what is offered. It’s about listening fully, then responding. It’s about investing in what’s happening in the now.”

Another similar principle we try to encourage during ideation sessions is “justify others thinking”. Most of our clients spend a lot of time having to justify their own thinking but when we brainstorm, the opposite is needed. Justifying others thinking helps everyone to get into the spirit of opening up so that ideas flow more freely.

To Build off this principle, another important thing for teams to remember is to “be present and in the moment” when ideating. It is hard for employees to shut off for an entire day, but if they are distracted by their phone or answering emails it negatively impacts the ideas generated and doesn’t help to solve the problem at hand.

Lastly, “openness to failing” is a very important principle. If members are worried that their idea will be mocked or dismissed, they are likely to retract and not offer additional ideas. If everyone is in agreement that “there are no bad ideas” the ideation session will have a positive spirit that encourages sharing and building ideas.

While all the improve principles listed above are important, we have found that the few described in detail have the biggest impact on successful sessions and help create an atmosphere that best fosters brainstorming. The key is getting team members to open up, trust the process and most importantly HAVE FUN! Once the team does this, they will trust themselves and produce better ideas.

Invoke Solutions

It’s not very often that we get to see how our qualitative research work move forward.  So much of the research we do is during the beginning stages of product development but recently, we were able to see some of the ideas we helped create move forward into further testing via an Invoke Live Session. Invoke Live is a large scale online focus group that allows researchers to interact with 30-300 participants for 45-90 minutes to gain in the moment insights. This methodology provides real-time feedback from target consumers in a hybrid qualitative/quantitative fashion.

For me, one of the highlights of this experience was that we were able to have the moderator, client and advertising agency together in one room, simultaneously viewing the online discussion. I was intrigued by the interaction of these parties and their ability to immediately extract useful insights. It was beneficial to have multiple eyes on the data because different people can pick up on different responses. I also found it interesting to see how specific questions worked or did not work; as well as the clients ability to probe and/or re-ask questions in a different way to get more impactful responses.

Invoke has been used in the following ways:

1. Communications Testing
2. Package Testing
3. Name Testing
4. New Product Development
5. Website Usability
6. Shopper Insights
7. Employee Sentiment Program

This was an exciting experience for our team and we hope to use this platform in the future. The ability to gain such a large amount of qualitative and quantitative research through this portal would be highly beneficial for clients trying to reach many consumers at once. We look forward to seeing how the results of the session play out in our client’s media campaign.

Advice You Would Give To A College Freshman

Recently, we conducted an ideation session with one of our corporate clients to help them create promotional concepts for their next media campaign. We began the session with a practice brainwriting topic on “advice you would give a college freshman”.

All teams had 3 minutes to write as many ideas as possible on Post-its. After the brainwriting exercise, each group converged the ideas, narrowing them into themes. Below are some of the key themes based on the team’s ideas:

1) Don’t Lose Who You Are:

• “You are smart enough…”
• “Do the right thing”
• “Don’t worry about what others think”
• “Do what makes you happy”
• “Be present”

2) Don’t Forget Who Got You Here:

• “Call your mom”
• “Call your dad”
• “Take your laundry home”

3) Practical Tools To Get You Through:

• “Learn to powernap”
• “Coffee”
• “Don’t buy books- rent”
• “Join groups on campus”
• “Find a mentor”

4) Be Adventurous:

• “Travel overseas for class”
• “Live in the moment”
• “Seek out people not like you”
• “Go where others are not”
• “Meet different people”

5) Stay Motivated And On Track:

• “Keep your eyes on the goal”
• “Be honest about real goals”
• “Look ahead”
• “Don’t procrastinate”
• “You can change the world”

This practice brainwriting session was a great way to get the participants thinking creatively and helped lead the group through a successful ideation session. We also came away with great advice for those entering their freshman year of college. Now that I’m thinking about it...this advice would have been valuable to know when I was a college freshman!