I’m thrilled to announce that Deborah Klotz is joining the Upwords team as a Vice President, Insights. Deborah is bringing over 15 years of experience generating insights for clients through qualitative research in many of the categories that Upwords already works in. What we’re most excited about is sharing her enthusiasm, positivity, laughter and […]
A client who was new in their role called me recently to say they were confused because a moderator on our team was not asking questions in the same order during each in depth interview they conducted. They told me ‘You know, it feels like it’s a conversation rather than research.’ It took me a […]
Last weekend I sat with my family by candlelight as we observed Earth Day. We reviewed the things that we have done as a family to lessen our footprint on the earth. This included things like continuing to focus on supporting small businesses in our local economy, seriously reducing single use plastics, switching to Tru […]
Empathy has been a strong buzzword in corporate boardrooms for the past few years. We have conducted countless projects over the years where the objectives have included helping our clients empathize with their ‘target’; to walk a mile in their shoes. The weight of empathy: Near the end of 2020 I started to become […]
I overheard a conversation this weekend while at our local farmer’s market. A child came running to their Dad and said, ‘Dad, I hurt my finger’. The Dad looked at it and said, ‘That’s nothing; look at what I did to mine yesterday!’, showing a bigger cut on his own hand. The child got quiet, […]
The school of real life and the difference between knowledge, wisdom and insight Looking back on my first couple of months working with Upwords, I have come to realize that there is a difference between what I was taught in class and what I need to know to be successful in qualitative research. I just […]
This weekend someone in my social media feed posted a lyric from the song Colours of the Wind from the Disney Pocahontas movie – they were relating it to the Black Lives Matter and BIPOC movement: You think the only people who are people Are the people who look and think like you But […]
So here we are, reflecting on the past three months where our lives have been turned upside down by COVID-19. So much has been written about this topic, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by it all. One of my favourites summaries is from Siamack Salari who started a global crowd sourced qualitative movement called Not […]
Think about what comes to mind when you hear the question ‘Why?’. When I have asked people about this, many refer to when they were younger, living in their parent’s house…. Why didn’t you clean your room? Why did you leave the door open? Why is there an empty box of cereal in the cupboard? […]
Many brands rely on segmenting their target market to effectively prioritize their marketing or innovation activities and drive greater value. Market segmentation can help a brand ensure that they are not creating one-size-fits-all solutions, which often end up appealing to no one. Which approach is right? There are many different ways to approach segmentation […]