The Youth of Today – Firefish at the Research Youth Conference 2009
posted 24 Jun 2009Firefish’s origins as a youth agency are well know, we were conceived at a time when even improbable brands seemed to be courting the young-bucks’ bucks! There has been much water under the bridge and much greying of hair since then, but the energy and creativity of the youth audience remains vital to dynamic brand and marketing activity. The recent Research Youth Conference 2009 provided an opportunity for clients and agencies to share some exciting thinking on, amongst other things; co-creation, the research/ marketing divide and exposing youth myths. It was a fascinating and inspiring day and Firefish were out in force. Sam Buckley, Head of Youth Research, joined a panel on the subject of redefining ethnography in the commercial context – sharing some Firefish thinking around the challenges of engaging young people in the research process and how technology can remove the ‘judgement of the researcher’.
Sam Buckley - Head of Youth Research (sam@firefish.ltd.uk)
Getting Inside the School Gates…
posted 24 Jun 2009
Firefish recently conducted research inside 6 primary and secondary schools talking to kids, teachers and parents. Aside from the hilarity trying to squeeze ourselves into seats made for 5 years olds there were real merits to the approach and lots of learning’s for future.
Getting inside schools to conduct market research can be a tricky business. There are several logistical barriers to overcome and ethical judgements to be made in contemplating this approach. However, when a project contains a common motivation for understanding and offers benefit to the school and the participants, conducting research inside schools can offer the richest context, uncovering insights that would be missed in a typical offsite setting.
Firefish recently conducted a project involving six separate schools of varying types and locations inside and outside of London. We used our company network to target potential schools & the research and field team combined forces to recruit volunteers inside each school that would help us logistically & set up the research sessions.
Conducting the research would not have been possible without our 'inside contacts' working alongside the Firefish team. Schools can be sceptical of marketing companies so having a strong inside link helps to offset fears and gives you a real advocate on the ‘inside’. The teachers we worked with were natural organisers and enthusiastic recruiters, quickly adapting their skill set to the task in hand and providing us with learning’s that fed into the research and analysis along the way. It was vital to this project to work with teachers from their territory and this offered a holistic approach from the outset.
Being inside schools gave us valuable insights we would not have got if we had conducted the research in a viewing facility. It captured teachers in the rush of their everyday lives, made the kids more comfortable to speak freely and confidently and put the whole school life into real perspective for us, the researchers. Not only did this process offer and deliver some great research findings but was also a valuable lesson in the benefits of getting inside the school gates to both recruitment & research.
To talk more about research with children contact:
Rebekah Yock – Head of Kids Research
rebekah@firefish.ltd.uk
Royal Ascot
posted 24 Jun 2009
The finest day of the year so far, the opening day of Ascot and 10 smartly dressed lucky Firefish and clients all meet under the big clock at Waterloo on a school day to make our merry way to the races – none of us knew much about horses, none of us had been anywhere close to the queen but luckily one of us had bought some sun cream to share… oh and one of us tried to wing it with the dress code, only to be told ‘Sir, Can you please put on your tie’. After a marathon walk and many ‘helpers’ sending us in the wrong direction, we got to where we were supposed to be, we had a fantastic lunch, a fantastic afternoon tea, won a bit on the races (Alison won the most with £71 on the nose with Judge The Moment), we got a sun kissed glow and we were all very excitingly were a stones throw away from the queen. A very civilised day out was had by all. Oh, and we discussed and co-created the wonderful world of qualitative research…
The Lives of Others - Lifelogging and New Ethnographic Practice
posted 24 Jun 2009
If you are still blogging you are possibly living a little behind the times when it comes to life online. Lifelogging (whose practitioners are also known as ‘lifegloggers’) traces its roots back to 1994 – but is now becoming increasingly popular as technology evolves to support it. For the uninitiated, lifeloggers capture their entire lives using webcams that then store these for posterity online – remember Jennicam anyone?
Well, now in 2009, Firefish are entering the world of lifelogging – though don’t worry, we are not expecting the world to be tuning in watch endless days in the life of a qualitative researcher.
Thanks to a prototype camera that we have recently been loaned we are able to experience the world through the eyes of other people – going where they go, seeing what they see. Already we’ve been using it as a positive evolution of more traditional ethnography and a way of making people more self aware (in a good way).
We’re really excited about it and looking to do more with this as soon as possible. We are very interested in talking to clients with ideas for pilot studies that really put it through its paces. If you’re interested contact Bob or Daniel at Fish HQ. It’s definitely the next big thing – until the next next big thing.
Dr Bob Cook - Head of Ethnography (bob@firefish.ltd.uk)
Daniel Frampton (daniel@firefilms.co.uk)
Advanced Semiotic Training
posted 24 Jun 2009
When not extending our knowledge to others, Firefish is also committed to keeping ourselves up to date with all the latest thinking in the research world, honing our professional skills and widening our interests. As a team, Firefish are derived from a variety of backgrounds, and relish the opportunity to bring any previous academic knowledge into our projects. For many of us with histories in literature and literary theory Semiotics has always been a subject of great interest, and we have been committed to understand how it can be of greater use to us in the workplace.
At the end of 2006 many of us were privileged enough to be tutored by Virginia Valentine - one of the leading thinkers and practitioners of semiotic techniques who has pioneered their application to qualitative research. Having attended this course, Francesca Alberry has recently built upon this knowledge by attending an advanced course in Semiotics, held by Malcolm Evans (another first generation semiotician) in association with the MRS. We are now keen to apply our understanding of this inspiring discipline to a variety of upcoming projects.
Francesca Alberry – Head of Semiotics (fran@firefish.ltd.uk)