Blog

Thoughts on everything that matters right now in marketing, communications, and insights.

Old battles and double-edged swords Posted on October 10, 2023 by Iosetta Santini

Notes from the audience of the Festival of Marketing Picture this: a warmer than average October day, a room filled with marketers from all walks of life, each armed with a notebook, a pen, and a cup of coffee. It’s Festival of Marketing Day, and, as I’ve run out of pages, I’m ready to read out my notebook to who wants to listen. Kill complexity First out to talk to the troops is the fearless marketing maestro Mark Ritson. I’m

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Salience and Staying Power: hear from De Beers, Haleon and Pearson at ESOMAR Posted on August 10, 2023 by Simon Dunn

Researchers face an uphill battle. Decades of data has proven that companies which listen to customers and markets have the greatest chance of success. Yet, for years, debates have focused primarily on how data and insight can ‘get a seat at the executive table’. Indeed, that’s a position of influence and input, but it is not demonstrative of a culture that is truly customer-centric and which thrives on making decisions informed by insight. To achieve this, researchers have to be

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How design principles could have saved the Oscars Posted on May 10, 2023 by Simon Dunn

Here at Mustard Towers, we talk a lot about fame. Maybe we are blinded by stardust, but we think there are important lessons to learn from Hollywood about how we go about communicating effectively. And we apply those lessons – good and bad - when it comes to communicating insights. When we think about bad communication, surely nothing gets worse than the cringe-inducing 2017 Oscars disaster when LaLa Land was inadvertently announced as the Best Picture winner, instead of Moonlight.

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How to win a client’s heart Posted on May 10, 2023 by Braden MacDonald

Insights from Diageo, Under Armour, DeBeers and The Economist on choosing their insight partners. There isn’t an app for clients to swipe to find their perfect insight partner. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get noticed. At IIEX Amsterdam, Colonel Mustard Lucy Davison led a dynamic panel discussion about how end clients find and engage with new insight partners. Panellists, including Efrain Rosario, Head of Global Futures and Shopper Planning at Diageo, Diana Mitkov, Senior Management of Demand Insights

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Attracting and amplifying women’s leadership in market research Posted on March 2, 2023 by Braden MacDonald

Here at Mustard, as a women founded and led business, we foster an environment of diversity. The work of Women in Research and the MRS’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion reports have been vital elements in promoting and advocating for women in insights. As profession continues to evolve, there has been a growing push towards recognising the value of diversity in all areas of business. But we have far to go. MrWeb’s new ‘Raidar’ ranking published earlier 2023, showed that in

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Someone spilt Mustard on the red carpet! Posted on February 23, 2023 by Braden MacDonald

Back in December, we challenged you to find out your communication style with our Hollywood-themed quiz. Well, the results are in of the world’s first and only survey of insights professionals about communication. 260 of you completed our quiz and now we  are opening the envelope to reveal what we learnt about the insights profession. First of all, although the quiz was a bit of fun the issue is no joke: 63% of you stated that communicating data and insights

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