By Danielle Todd
On a warm summer evening, a gaggle of curious market researchers gathered in LightspeedGMI offices near Westminster to be told some stories. Such an event hosted at LightspeedGMI proved to be a fitting location. Walking to the offices on a mild British evening, I took in the grandeur of Big Ben and the House of Commons, home to many great stories. The closer I get, the more impressive the stories got, as I happened upon Dame Emmeline Pankhurst’s memorial, and took a moment to tip my hat to a wonderful orator and political icon.
Storytelling itself is a hot topic in market research. It has come to the foreground in recent months as a necessity within any well-equipped modern market researcher’s arsenal. This fact is deeply recognised by ESOMAR, and as such, ESOMAR UK representatives Lucy Davison of Keen as Mustard, and Crispin Beale of Chime Insight, brought us three wonderful sessions covering the art of storytelling, as well as the science behind it.
Anthony Tasgal of POV kicked off the evening talking to us about the psychology behind storytelling. As humans, we are slaves to numbers; we revere the hard sciences and respect a single number or fact above all else. When really, biology and psychology go a long way to describing and explaining a lot of what we see and do, and therefore could be considered more important. Data favours rationality over emotion. But humans thrive off emotion. Our brains weren’t built to process data in its raw form, but to receive truths via the medium of stories. Stories translate data, or information, into emotion to create empathy. And empathy is vital. Storytelling relies on this empathy, and makes us care. Good branding and marketing isn’t about messaging – the relentless transmission of information – but massaging, using stories we relate to in order to massage our egos, our desires, or how we view ourselves. As Anthony eloquently states, numbers numb us, stories stir us.
Martin Lee of Acacia Avenue was up next sharing some truths about constructing good storytelling. Martin quoted the novelist John Le Carré in saying, ‘conflict sits at the heart of a good story’. Bearing this in mind, the research we design must be in service of the story. For example, research design begins with conflict, such as a new entry to market; then we move through the development stage of the story, the methodology and research; to finish on the resolution, our insight and recommendations. The most apt way to share stories is to show, not tell. Reveal a truth rather than proclaim it and you will persuade your audience. Martin also showed us an example of how to apply stories in our day to day work. In a recent project for a chain of fitness centres, Martin invited participants to write a 300 word story about their experience with gyms. He provided brief guidelines, in that the story needed to have a character, a conflict and have a resolution, and he received rich stories in return, that exposed something they would have never otherwise uncovered; the divergent needs of gym goers. This project helped the client understand how to address this range of varying needs, and reduce churn across its branches.
Caroline Florence, Insight Narrator, rounded off the evening with reminding us of something that is easily forgotten – stories are created by our brains, not inside our laptops! It is our creativity, our thinking and our worldview that shapes and selects to data that makes the best story, and our lives would be easier if we remembered this. For Caroline, it was story first and evidence second. Too often, she said, we sit smugly under the ‘data duvet’ when really we should be focusing on being memorable and being meaningful.
For Caroline, it was important to ask the 6 C’s:
- Context: why is this important?
- Correlation: how does this relate to me?
- Conflict: what is the propelling force of the story?
- Central Question: what will the story help me with?
- Considered Hypothesis: what is the story telling me?
- Checks: why do I believe this story?
The golden thread running through the evening was the irrefutable fact that storytelling can be a useful tool in what we do. While, arguably, storytelling is difficult to apply to all kinds of research, particularly those data-heavy, we can draw upon the principles to help shape our thinking and delivery. Remember, not only do we find truths more palatable during story-telling, but the principles of storytelling lend themselves well to shaping the research that delivers those truths in the first instance. Moreover, storytelling, quite simply, is fun! Whether you are delivering a story, or listening to one, it brings a richness to life that raw data simply cannot. Remember this simple fact before your next 15 market segmentation debrief. Create a strong narrative to unveil truths, stir your audience and tell great research stories!
Danielle Todd, Research Manager, Relish Research
