Jane Bainbridge
- Head Of Content, Pumpkin PR
London
Writer, editor, displaced Northerner living in London.
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Articles by Jane Bainbridge
Cannes: Creativity without insight feels totally wrong
Full disclosure: this was my first Cannes and I was anxious. Cannes Lions is a festival of creativity, historically focused on advertising, so the idea of going as a research business has always felt like a leap. Will they want us there? Are we flashy/glitzy enough? I think even for those steeped in advertising it can feel like a lot, so for a novice, it felt downright overwhelming. The reason to go is however important.
Insights at sea: Research reflections from Cannes Lions
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is many things: inspiring, overwhelming, sun-soaked, and at times surreal. It’s where the media, marketing, and tech worlds converge, and this year, I was proud to be in the middle of it. Our clients are increasingly seeking insight partners who understand the nuance, scale, and culture behind international audiences.
AI and creativity take centre stage under the blazing Cannes sun
This year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was as notable for what wasn’t said, as what was. It was as busy as ever. This is the ultimate in Fomo; it doesn’t matter where you are and who you’re seeing, something else is going on and someone will inevitably tell you that’s where you should have been. On the stages, beaches, yachts and hotels, the great and the good of the advertising and marketing world gathered to discuss how brands can thrive.
Seven core ingredients to creating customer-led transformation
The first two ingredients are, perhaps, the most important, in that they are things that all of us need to consider in any design of a customer insight programme or project: how to build awareness and understanding – the winning of hearts and minds – and ensuring we influence decisions across the organisation, not just focussing on the ‘top table’: Build awareness and understanding Every programme needs to win hearts and minds if it is to influence action.
Helping the Lions roar: How insight can be better at shaping creative work
Cannes Lions ‘State of Creativity 2025’ report highlights some serious flaws in the way insight helps (or doesn’t help) shape creative work. With the global advertising industry valued at in 2024, this is a major issue. Half ( 51%) of creatives rate their own insight ability as poor. No need to do the maths to see what this implies. So, let’s review some of the challenges creatives face when trying to shape their work.
Former C Space exec Kathryn Blanshard joins The Good Side as MD
Blanshard previously spent 15 years at C Space (formerly Communispace), including five years as UK managing director. She has been managing director, Emea, for the past three years, leading the formerly Omnicom-owned agency through its acquisition by Escalent Group in 2023. During her time leading the agency in the UK, it was awarded Research Live Best Agency with a turnover above £20m at the 2018 MRS Awards.
Lions report finds lack of quality insight hampering advertising creativity
The State of Creativity 2025 report from Lions Advisory, sister brand of Cannes Lions, found that 13% of respondents rated their ability to develop high-quality insights as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’, while 51% of companies rated it ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. The primary challenge to developing high-quality insights was a lack of understanding and clarity on what constitutes a quality insight, with 18% of brands surveyed and 29% of creative partners citing this as their key challenge.
Women’s football research agency Lunar Insight launches | News
Crudge (pictured) has founded the business after working at Nike for the past three years, where she was director of consumer insights. Prior to Nike, she held insight and strategy roles at agencies Karmarama, Flamingo and BBH London. Speaking to Research Live, Crudge said it is a ‘huge year’ for women’s football, with the Women’s Euro 2025 and Copa America, and the group stages of the Champions League.
‘An art and a science’: Research Live awards judges on how to win | Feature
What trend stood out for you from the judging this year? Seema Hope, global head of consumer research, The Economist I'd say that the agencies are broadly moving in similar directions in terms of work life balance, ownership models, DEI initiatives and career progression, so it makes it hard to stand out and differentiate. Ultimately, it’s a good thing that standards are high, but doing something truly original is now harder – eg a four-day working week.
Criteria Fieldwork moves to employee ownership | News
The company transitioned to its new employee ownership model by way of an employee ownership trust (EOT) on 7th October. Established in 1996 and based in London, Criteria specialises in qualitative fieldwork, sourcing participants for research including online and offline focus groups, ethnography and user experience (UX) testing. The company employs around 20 people.
Elizabeth Vourdas - Research Hero | Feature
What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career? Probably returning to work after maternity leave into a new job – my son had sleep apnea, so I was very sleep deprived. It was also the start of lockdown, so everybody was navigating fully remote working. What will be the next big trend or development in the research industry, and why?
Context makes four new hires | News
Terry (pictured) joins Context as a partner from Kantar. With a background in quantitative research and experience in the consumer tech, telecoms and entertainment sectors, Terry will bring a focus on integrating research into organisational decision-making. The company has also appointed Bowes as a director. Bowes recently returned to the UK from Hypothesis in the US and has a background in both qualitative and quantitative. Green has joined Context as a senior consultant.
A view from Cannes: Insight takeaways from La Croisette | Feature
If you want to know what’s occupying the collective consciousness of the advertising and marketing industry from a global perspective, come to Cannes. What’s worrying them? The same as what’s worrying everyone else – what does the future hold? Here, that can be summed in up two words: artificial intelligence.
Opinium names staff equity partners | News
Founded in 2007, Opinium has teams based in London, New York, Amsterdam and Cape Town. The company originally had 28 investors who agreed to release up to 50% of their equity to be offered to individual employees when revenue and valuation targets were met. The 10 equity partners bring the total number of employee partners to 21. Opinium said it aims to be 50% employee owned eventually.
Opinium names staff equity partners | News
Founded in 2007, Opinium has teams based in London, New York, Amsterdam and Cape Town. The company originally had 28 investors who agreed to release up to 50% of their equity to be offered to individual employees when revenue and valuation targets were met. The 10 equity partners bring the total number of employee partners to 21. Opinium said it aims to be 50% employee owned eventually.
Macy's future: Can iconic department stores rebound? | Article | Quirks.com
The challenges and strategies that could redefine department stores Editor’s note: Jane Bainbridge is head of content at Pumpkin PR, London and New York. Macy's, once an iconic cornerstone of department store shopping, recently announced plans for widespread store closures. The retailer is at a critical juncture, with discussions of potential buyouts raising questions about its prospects.
Celebrating the industry’s changemakers | Feature
The most recent winner of the MRS Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) Changemaker award, Shivonne Gates, along with finalists Katya Des-Etages, Christina Lai and Tom Richer, shared their insights on championing change, in the session chaired by Truth’s Mark Thorpe. The changemakers concurred it is about creating space for others to exist and influencing those in power.
ITV merges research and data teams to form ITV Insights Group | News
Mortensen (pictured), previously director of audiences, takes up a new role as director of the team, the ITV Insights Group. Mortensen has been with the broadcaster since 2015, and prior to that, was director of research and planning at Thinkbox. The combined department will be tasked with generating audience-centric insights for teams across the business and responding to a greater demand for business intelligence and insight.
Swift Research shifts to employee ownership | News
Founded in 1985, the full-service agency, based in Wetherby on the outskirts of Leeds, offers qualitative and quantitative research and works with clients in the sensory and fragrance, personal care and automotive sectors. The business became employee-owned on 24th November 2023, after owners Sandra Penfold and Martin Penfold sold their shares to an employee ownership trust (EOT). The EOT will hold the shares on behalf of Swift’s employees.
MetaBrain Labs appoints COO to lead growth | News
Hammond joins the business from the startup investment sector, where he has held various business development and strategic roles, working with organisations including SoftBank, Amazon, and ExxonMobil. At MetaBrain Labs, Hammond will lead fundraising initiatives while overseeing the operational management of the company. The business said the appointment is a ‘strategic move’ to achieve its vision of applying neuroscience insights to improve mental and physical health.
Scientists map the human brain | News
The studies are published across 24 papers in the journals Science, Science Advances and Science Translational Medicine. The work is part of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), which started in 2017, initially to generate a brain cell atlas for mice. Published on 12th October, the new BICCN studies detail the complex diversity of cells in the human brain, and identify similarities and differences in how cells are organised.
UK more liberal in 2023, finds British Social Attitudes study | News
The study, run since 1983 by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), found that attitudes towards many sexual and family issues have become markedly more liberal, with the proportion of people believing same-sex relationships were always wrong dropping from 50% to 9% over the 40 years of the survey.
Former FA insight exec joins Kadence | News
UK – Data and insight agency Kadence International has appointed Harriet Jowett as insights director and head of people and culture in the UK. Jowett joins Kadence from the Football Association (FA), where she spent four years, initially as behavioural insights lead and then as acting head of behavioural insights and analytics. Prior to the FA, she held various roles at Sparkler and FreshMinds.
Report highlights re-selling and repairing in the UK | News
Over half of respondents to a survey ( 57%) stated that they intend to repair items in the next 12 months, while another 55% reported that they plan to buy items from second-hand shops. The report is based on a nationally representative survey among a sample of 2,000 UK adults aged 18 and over. The survey also found that 71% of respondents plan to give away items to charity, family and friends over the next year.
New hire for One Minute to Midnight in New York | News
US – Market research and insight consultancy One Minute to Midnight has expanded its US team with the appointment of Regina Ma. Ma (pictured) joins One Minute to Midnight as a research executive, after previously interning part-time with the agency between October 2021 and January 2022. Ma joins as a full-time member of staff after graduating from her Master’s degree in Consumer Psychology at New York University.
Research highlights socio-economic barriers to advertising careers | News
Almost a fifth of young people ( 18%) surveyed reported that being unable to afford a move to London stops them from considering creative careers, with the figure increasing to a quarter in some regions, including the West Midlands, according to the survey of 2,000 16-24-year-olds in Britain.
ICM Unlimited rebrands to Walnut Social Research | News
The company’s public sector and social researchers will now be known as the Walnut Social Research team. Walnut Unlimited announced the news to mark its fifth anniversary, saying the rebrand reflected changing client needs for more multi-disciplinary insights. Walnut Unlimited was formed in 2017 when holding group Unlimited Group, formerly known as Creston Unlimited, merged the company’s insight agencies, including ICM and neuroscience specialist Walnut.
Andrew Tenzer to leave Reach | News
UK – Andrew Tenzer, head of market insight and brand strategy at publishing group Reach, is leaving the business after six years. Tenzer (pictured) joined Reach – then Trinity Mirror – as head of group insight in 2017, and has been in his current role since 2020. During his time at the publisher, as part of his role, Tenzer led a brand experience team responsible for creating brand-led content for the group’s titles, including the Mirror and Daily Star.
Research highlights socio-economic barriers to advertising careers | News
UK – Quantitative and qualitative research commissioned by advertising agency VCCP and member organisation Account Planning Group (APG) has highlighted the barriers to working-class young people in pursuing a career in advertising.
Over-55s underrepresented in TV advertising | News
UK – One-fifth of the top 1,000 highest-spending TV adverts feature people aged 55 and over, despite the demographic accounting for two-thirds of TV viewers, according to a report from System1 and ITV. System1 analysed the top 1,000 ads of 2021 based on UK media spend, coding work from 422 brands based on age and gender. It found that despite viewers aged 55 and over accounting for 65% of TV impressions (according to Barb data), only 23% of ads in the study starred people aged 55 and over.
The power of keeping it simple | News
UK – Rejecting an overly complex business model and embracing simplicity has served the family-owned Timpson Group well over its almost 160 years of operation, CEO James Timpson has revealed. Interviewed by Louise McLaren, managing director of Love Brands, at the MRS Impact conference 2022, Timpson (pictured) said that his company constantly receives pitches for new merchandise ideas. “We get pitched ideas all the time and I’m always wary.
The power of keeping it simple | News
UK – Rejecting an overly complex business model and embracing simplicity has served the family-owned Timpson Group well over its almost 160 years of operation, CEO James Timpson has revealed. Interviewed by Louise McLaren, managing director of Love Brands, at the MRS Impact conference 2022, Timpson (pictured) said that his company constantly receives pitches for new merchandise ideas. “We get pitched ideas all the time and I’m always wary.
How to translate happiness into commercial advantage | News
UK – Feeling happy can drive consumer confidence and, therefore, economic growth, according to a conference debate looking at the importance of happiness from a business perspective, chaired by Jenny Lindsay, client service director at Buzzback. To feed the session, held during the MRS Impact conference 2022, Lindsay explained that original research had been conducted with consumers across four markets – the US, the UK, China and Brazil – in order to explore different dimensions of happiness.
How to translate happiness into commercial advantage | News
UK – Feeling happy can drive consumer confidence and, therefore, economic growth. This was one of the findings of a debate looking at the importance of happiness from a business perspective, chaired by Jenny Lindsay, client service director at Buzzback.
One Minute to Midnight expands in UK & US | News
UK & US – Market research and insight consultancy One Minute to Midnight has made two appointments in London and New York. announce two new hires at both its US and UK hubs. The company has appointed Dianna Feng (pictured) as senior research manager in its New York office. Feng joins One Minute to Midnight from Olson Zaltman, where she was senior insight manager, working with pharmaceutical firms and non-profit organisations. George Clapp has also joined the London office research manager.
UK gender pay gap system will not solve the problem, finds study | News
UK – Gender pay gap legislation is focused on monitoring the problem but not fixing it, according to research by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and the Fawcett Society. The study analysed gender pay gap reporting systems in the UK and Australia, France, Spain, Sweden and South Africa. According to the research, the UK ranks joint last among these countries for the strength of its system.
Wellbeing struggles persist among UK researchers | News
UK – Over four-fifths of researchers have experienced poor mental health during the past year, but three-quarters feel their employers have handled the pandemic well, according to the latest Mental Wellbeing in Research survey by Opinium and the Market Research Society. The annual research found that 87% of researchers had experienced poor mental health over the past year, up from 83% in the 2020 survey.
Insights Association launches inclusion guide | News
US – The Insights Association’s Idea (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) Council has published an inclusion toolkit for the market research sector. The first edition of the ‘Guide to inclusion, diversity, equity and access’ publication sets out a framework developed for organisations and includes links to resources. According to the guide, organisations should identify a baseline to work from, before developing goals and committing to action.
New CEO at Ipsos | News
FRANCE – Ipsos has appointed L'Oréal’s Nathalie Roos as chief executive officer, while company founder and current chief executive Didier Truchot takes up the role of chairman. Roos joined L'Oréal in 2012 as chief executive for Germany, and in 2016, was appointed managing director of the professional products division and joined the executive committee of the L'Oréal group. Prior to L'Oréal, she was president of Europe at Mars. Roos takes up the role from 28th September.
Report highlights lack of inclusion in social research | News
UK – Social research has ‘far to go’ to represent wider society, according to a report on the profession’s diversity and inclusion from The Young Foundation and the Social Research Association. The study, 'Far to Go: Diversity and inclusion in UK social research', found that social researchers from marginalised groups tend to have more negative experiences of working in the profession, while inclusive research practices can be hampered by issues such as cost.
DJS Research moves to employee ownership | News
UK – Market research agency DJS Research has announced it has become employee-owned, with immediate effect, 20 years after it was founded. The company’s shareholders, founder and managing director Danny Sims and director Ali Sims (pictured), have sold the majority of the business to the staff, who will jointly own it through an employee ownership trust. DJS Research has offices in Stockport and Leeds and a network of remote staff, and employs around 100 people.
Gender pay gap guide published | News
UK – Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership (Wacl) has published a toolkit aimed at helping organisations to report their gender pay gap as calls grow for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. The group has produced the toolkit with the aim of helping businesses to effectively interpret and use the data they report.
Less gender diversity within smaller company boards, finds study | News
UK – Fewer than half of the companies listed in the FTSE All-Share index have met the target of 33% women on boards, according to analysis from Women on Boards UK. The report on diversity in the FTSE All-Share, excluding the FTSE 350, found that 31% of board members are female. Only 48% of companies have met the target of 33% female board directors, compared to two-thirds ( 65%) of FTSE 350 companies.
Market research wellbeing study launched | News
UK – The Market Research Society has begun its annual survey on mental wellbeing in the market research sector. The survey, conducted in partnership with Opinium, will explore wellbeing, the effects of Covid-19 restrictions and evolving workplace practices. It is the third time the study has been carried out, after launching in 2019. Last year's research found that over half ( 57%) of survey participants had told someone at work about a mental health struggle, compared with 36% in 2019.
In conversation with Colour of Research: 'If you're passionate about something, you can do it' | Feature
It’s been almost one year since Colour of Research (CORe) was founded to address the lack of ethnic minority representation in the research industry. Research Live spoke to two of the group’s co-founders, Theo Francis and Sia Najumi, about how it has grown to a network of over 500 members and what more needs to change in the industry. Colour of Research (CORe) launched last summer. What’s the background to the group?
Coca-Cola world's top FMCG brand | News
UK – Coca-Cola is the world’s most popular fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand for the ninth year in a row, according to Kantar’s Brand Footprint study. The study also found that Dettol, Vim and Lifebuoy were the world’s fastest-growing brands, with India and the US accounting for 55% of brand growth in 2020. Brand Footprint is based on analysis throughout 2020 of one billion households in 52 countries across five continents, covering 85% of the global GDP.
Ipsos Mori publishes ethnicity pay data | News
UK – Ipsos Mori has published details of the company’s ethnicity pay disparity for the first time, identifying an average gap of 16.2%. The company published the figure in a report that also includes its 2020 gender pay gap, which businesses of over 250 employees have been required to report on since 2017. Organisations in the UK are not currently required to publish their ethnicity pay gap data.
Gender pay gap enforcement delayed for six months | News
UK – Mandatory gender pay gap reporting will resume from October this year, the government’s Equality and Human rights Commission (EHRC) has said. Companies employing 250 or more people are required by law to publish their gender pay gap figures – the difference between the average (mean or median) earnings of men and women across a workforce – but enforcement was suspended in March 2020 due to Covid-19.
'Keep listening and take a stand': research with trans people | Feature
UK – Expensive sample is just one of the challenges facing the sector when it comes to market research with transgender people – but it is incumbent on researchers and brands to be inclusive, according to speakers at a recent MRS Pride event. The virtual summit on 18th February focused on trans insights and explored the issues facing trans people as well as how to conduct inclusive research, including challenges around sampling, recruitment and balancing inclusion with representation.
Calls to reinstate gender pay gap reporting | News
UK – Women in Advertising and Communications (Wacl) has called on the government to reinstate mandatory gender pay gap reporting, which was suspended in 2020 due to Covid-19. Wacl is one of several organisations to have signed a joint statement pushing for the reinstatement of reporting, led by the Fawcett Society and including the Chartered Management Institute and TUC. “Decades of work to close the gender pay gap is at stake if this flagship report is shelved,” Wacl said in a statement.
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