As the government’s Budget 2012 sets out plans for public finances in the coming year, Define have been looking to understand attitudes and behaviours towards personal finance through a bespoke MROC. A typically sensitive topic, we stretched our expertise in new directions, building upon traditional research approaches to ensure the…
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Hooked on the language of addiction; talking about social media
It is not surprising that over recent years there has been a growing abundance of articles, research and general commentary dissecting and debating our relationships with new forms of media and information technology. The changing landscape of our personal and professional networks via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter,…
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Date: 15 March, 2012
Urban Swell
Cities are getting bigger. Fact. By 2050, here in the UK, 88% of our 64 million population will be living in urban areas (compared to 77% in the 1970s). Unicef’s Urban World Map illustrates this is a worldwide trend, so clearly one that merits discussion. Originally, it was assumed this…
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Date: 14 March, 2012
Random acts of kindness – a good news story
“Perform random acts of kindness”, say The Kindness Offensive. “Our aims are to have fun, be kind and inspire as many people as possible to do the same”. Nice remit! Since 2008, TKO as they are affectionately known, have been pursuing their own and the public’s ideas for random acts…
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Date: 9 March, 2012
Ego socialism
The concept of ‘ego-socialism’ is indeed a thought-provoking one. When I read an article posted on the ‘Research-Live’ website about ‘ego-socialism’, I imagined uncontained Hun-like hordes of consumers swarming the urban landscape, brandishing cheque-books, credit cards and wallets crammed with cash, demanding that brands give them what they want, or…
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Date: 9 March, 2012
KONY 2012: A victim of its own success?
This week’s reaction to Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 viral campaign, which aims to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war in Central Africa, embodies a long debated dilemma in the charitable world. Charities need to spend a certain amount of money on raising awareness around topics…
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Date: 9 March, 2012
Making the world a better place can be child’s play?
So, at Define, we are researchers. But we are also people – with families, consciences and ideals, and we’re trying to have a positive impact on the world. Linked to our desire to understand and represent the voices and needs of young people, and help make the world a better…
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Date: 8 March, 2012
How big is your (donation) button?
I recently had to make donations to twenty different charities using their online donation facilities (not personally, I might add – so sadly my halo remains veiled). It made me wonder why I didn’t conduct the exercise when I worked for a charity myself. Or, even better, fill a research…
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Date: 23 February, 2012
The end of an era and surviving the next
I recently went to a talk at The School of Life, a high-street philosophy faculty running short courses about the important questions of everyday life. It left me thinking and thinking as philosophy intends to. The session reiterated something I’d picked up on a while ago in Daniel Pink’s book…
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Date: 20 February, 2012
Sexual Coercion of Teens
We brought our communications expertise and solid background of working creatively with hard to reach groups to a challenging and important project for the Home Office (HO). We’ve been working with HO to help inform a new campaign to reduce negative trends in sexual coercion amongst teens! Against a background…
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Date: 9 February, 2012
Health of the Nation
We know making manageable healthy changes is often an attractive, yet illusive personal goal; so getting beyond the reasons for unhealthy habits can be tricky for the researcher and just down-right hard work for the individual! We recently completed an exciting piece of conceptual and creative development work for the…
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Date: 8 February, 2012
The Olympics are coming, what’s it going to be like getting to an event?
We’ve worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and M&C Saatchi over a series of projects to plan and develop a high profile behaviour change campaign for travel optimisation at the 2012 Olympics in London. We probed key business audiences and the general public for feedback on creative concepts and…
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Date: 7 February, 2012
Health Foundation Perceptions Audit
The Health Foundation was looking to refresh its communications strategy and develop their business planning tools. Working in partnership with BDRC Continental, we needed to understand Perceptions of the Health Foundation by key audiences in healthcare, government, media and across their educational programs. We spoke to a range of Health…
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Date: 1 December, 2011
Listening to children’s voices, playwork and the ‘imperative’
Children’s Society Director of Policy, Enver Solomon, recently blogged that UNICEF UK’s Children’s Well-being Report 2011 insufficiently identifies key concerns and influencers of children’s happiness and wellbeing. He cites a number of Children’s Society research findings. Herein I respond briefly to his specific point that it is ‘imperative’ that we…
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Date: 20 October, 2011
Can charities afford to be anti-social?
A hunch of mine was confirmed last week by research showing that whilst the majority of charities are ostensibly involved in social media activity, their commitment to fully embrace the spirit of online social culture is debatable. This led me to wonder – why would a sector so dependent on…
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Date: 5 October, 2011
A little something for all those with an inner kylie
Date: 19 September, 2011
Quote Junky – lost causes
On a recent piece of exploratory work talking to smokers, I met with some interesting people. What would you have said in my shoes? Moderator: Talk to me about this idea of ‘responsible smoking’, what does it mean to you? Respondent: Nuffin Moderator: So the idea that smokers nowadays smoke…
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Date: 10 September, 2011
Eradicating Noise
How do we wade through the thousands of messages that bombard us daily? Let alone make sense of them? How do we facilitate meaningful dialogue with consumers given this all pervading bombardment ? How do we help clients make best sense of the noise in this age of multiple channel…
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Date: 18 May, 2011
Quote Junkie – Love & Lust in South London
“You gotta hide that you want it from birds… can’t let them know you want to f**k them because then they got the upper hand, innit? So I act cool and then – BANG!” – 15 year old boy to friend, London. Ignoring knee-jerk reactions for a minute (and the…
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Date: 23 March, 2011
Political Science for Dummies
DEMOCRAT You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone. REPUBLICAN You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So? SOCIALIST You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it…
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Date: 13 January, 2011
Break the chain
Social marketing research isn’t a catch-all therapy blanket, it’s a sharp-edged tool getting to the heart of some of the big issues in society, and then making recommendations that make a difference. Can it be anymore than that? At Define we certainly think so however, taking this approach has considerable…
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Date: 7 January, 2011
‘It’s all about functioning beauty’
Date: 12 December, 2010
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Define Research & Insight Ltd
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EC2A 4RR
United Kingdom