In our Staff Spotlight series, we get up-close and personal with the members of the Listen + Learn Research team to find out who they are and what their job roles involve.
Where are you from and where are you based?
I’m from a little rural village in North West England – I actually used to have goats and chickens growing up! I moved to London as soon as I hit 18, but moved back up North a few years ago – and now reside happily in Manchester.
What do you most enjoy about your job?
I love that it’s still a developing field. I worked in ‘traditional’ market research for years and got bored of surveys!
I enjoy the challenge of trying to work out how to analyse new forms of data – be it Instagram or TikTok or YouTube. And I love that we’re teaching clients about what actually matters to people – the things people care enough to share online, rather than in response to a question on a survey they’re not really invested in.
Describe Listen and Learn Research in 3 words?
Curious, collaborative, innovative
What makes Listen and Learn research different from other places you’ve worked?
The people are always the best thing about working anywhere, but what I’ve noticed here is how much everyone seems to actually like their jobs. It’s refreshing!
What are your hopes for our industry?
I think there’s still a tendency to think of social listening as a way to keep up with brand mentions and campaign performance, or as something that only gives you ‘shallow’ insights. We need to change that perception and teach insights teams to see it as a valuable, meaningful alternative to traditional qual and quant.
What do you enjoy doing outside of your job?
Omg, chance to plug my band – I’m in a mediocre band called Nymph Lodes, check us out: https://soundcloud.com/nymph-lodes. Otherwise – taking endless pictures of my cats, going to gigs, drinking wine, eating pizza, reading and playing squash. And I officially turned old and boring this year when I got really into gardening.
What did you want to be when growing up?
A market researcher. Kidding. It changed a lot – pop star, footballer, poet, actor were the main ones I think!
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