I study what people want, and help align brands with what matters.

Setting up a communications research practice to help people live happier, healthier lives.

Managing Director, Comms Planning

Syneos Health, 2018-now

Owner

Consumetrix, 2017-now

We design recipes for robust DIY research for marketers who need consumer insights but think they don't have the budget for anything "scientific":

  • questionnaires
  • interview scripts
  • focus group activities
  • observation checklists
  • psychometric scales
  • experimental designs
  • data extraction rules
  • analysis plans

SVP, Director Of  Insights

Origin @ Hill Holliday, 2011-2017

 

 

Created and headed up a group that handled all insights work for Hill Holliday and its clients.

Created a social data practice that sold a suite of syndicated intelligence products based on advanced social media research methods: graph analysis to identity interest clusters, audience engineering, purchase barrier analysis, influencer targeting, consumer needs profiling, and motivation analysis.

Designed, conducted, or directed more than 200 national and global research projects: segmentation studies, brand trackers, user research, creative tests, social media monitoring, and analysis of online reviews for Fortune 500 clients (view Work).

Developed proprietary frameworks and methodologies for evaluating brand equity and brands' alignment with consumer needs.

Recent Clients

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VP, Media Research & Innovation 

Hill Holliday, 2009-2011

Cut people's cable to research cord-cutting. Made people pay for watching their own TV to research how people choose what to watch. Watched people share a Jersey Shore app to measure media virality. Counted the number of ads an average person sees daily. Prototyped future things. Co-founded the content practice.

Researcher, Emerging Media

Hill Holliday, 2006-2009

Convinced the Boston Police Department to run a police truck selling ice cream as their community outreach program (still running), hired customers to blog on a brand's behalf (still blogging), created a branded mobile app before the iPhone was a thing, used real estate listings to promote an Ed Hopper's exhibit,  launched the agency's blimp in Second Life, explained to people what Facebook was. 

 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MSc in Comparative Media Studies (2004-2006)

Co-founded the Convergence Cultures Consortium to advise brands on emerging media practices

A wearer of many hats at this Balkan outpost of Grey: a brand strategist, an account executive, and a digital media planner. Directed national advertising for P&G, HBO, and Wyeth. Ran a national mystery shopper program.

 

Account Planner

Grey Sofia, 2003-2004

A jack-of-all-trades at a busy web studio (née Netage Solutions). User research, PR that won national front page coverage, web copy, site architecture design, analytics, SEM/SEO. Pioneered social media listening for corporate reputation management.

Researcher

Netage Solutions, 2000-2003

American University in Bulgaria

BA in Business Administration and International Relations (1996-2000)

Research Expertise

A chart of methods I use to answer some of the most commonly asked questions about marketing communications. (Click to make larger)

Types of Research

  • consumer needs and motivations
  • user experience
  • consumer journeys
  • personas
  • purchase intent and barriers
  • sources of influence and competitive analysis
  • segmentation
  • testing (concepts, products, packaging, names, ads)
  • pricing and price elasticity
  • brand positioning and brand equity
  • brand tracking
  • campaign effectiveness
  • customer experience
  • voice of the customer research
  • NPS and other key metrics
  • media research  

 

Data Collection Methods

  • qualitative
  • quantitative
  • observational
  • experimental
  • conjoint
  • projective techniques
  • subconscious / neuro methods
  • surveys (online, mobile, street, mail-in)
  • card sorts
  • web intercepts
  • field research
  • lab-based research
  • ethnographies
  • interviews
  • deprivation studies
  • web analytics
  • social data
  • web scraping
  • location analytics

 

Technical Skills

  • Design of questionnaires, experiments, diaries, interview scripts, and moderator guides
  • Creation of research stimuli
  • Survey programming, UX, and optimization for online, mobile, street, and mail-in
  • Advanced digital and social media research methods: graph analysis, photo analysis, and digital ethnography
  • Clickstream and search query analysis