Our Commercial Director Jemma spent 2 days at Qual360 in Washington DC – here’s what she had to say about it!
I’ve just spent two jam-packed days at Gallup’s HQ in DC for Qual360, and my brain is still buzzing. With talks from brands like Warner Bros, Hershey’s, Nike, and Mattel, it was a whirlwind of insights. Here are my top three takeaways…
People don’t speak to researchers like how they speak to each other
This sentiment was shared by Rob Gaige at Reddit and Paige Walker at Hershey’s, who both talked about just how much juicy insightful nuggets you can uncover just from observing what’s already out there without needing to run another focus group or IDI.
Rob called Reddit ‘the world’s largest focus group’ – and not just because it’s full of passionate discussions. Turns out, it’s not just for nerdy gamers in their parents’ basements (a common stereotype). 51% of users are female, and there’s a massive mix of age groups and incomes. If you need raw, unfiltered consumer insights, it’s all happening there.
There’s subreddits on absolutely anything and everything, from gaming, to parenting with teens, to retirement. Communities are there for consumers evolving needs throughout their lives. Because of the nature of Reddit, it’s a goldmine for seeing not only what brands people are recommending to each other, but also who the unexpected competitor set might be for a brand in consumers minds. Rob showed us Reddit Pro Trends, newly launched to help businesses tap into the wealth of info out there.
He gave the great example of this joke about Michael Cera which was posted by a redditor 6 years ago… which many of you will remember then made it to a 2024 Super Bowl spot!
Paige from Hershey’s echoed this, explaining how they’re blending social intelligence with traditional qual and quant. Instead of just reacting to what’s out there (as with social listening), they’re using it proactively – to spot trends, test new ideas, and even develop new products. Basically, it’s like being a ‘fly on the wall’ of consumer conversations, minus the awkward eavesdropping.
But naturally, primary qual research is still essential!
Social intelligence is great, but it can’t replace primary research (and this was a qual conference after all!).
Tasja from Mattel kicked the conference off on day 1 with a fascinating and fun opening session talking about the power of play. I’ll talk a little more about their Playful framework later on, but they set out on a huge, large scale study with in-person sessions all over the world, collecting hours and hours of content from watching people of all ages play! This helped them to understand what these universal experiences are that connect all generations to joy, observing the different types of activities that were considered play (from card games, to balloon volleyball, to taking care of plants, cooking, and slime) and crucially understanding what benefits they give consumers.
We also heard from Kimberly Price at Nike about researching difficult topics. Nike took on a big challenge: getting people to open up about mental health—one of the toughest but most important topics in sports and beyond. With top athletes like Simone Biles bringing the conversation into the spotlight, Nike needed a research approach that prioritised trust, sensitivity, and real, honest insights. Team meetings involved check ins to see how everyone was feeling, identifying any topics that were off limits and ensuring everyone felt safe . As a bonus: their team meetings ended with baby animal videos to help everyone decompress – genius, right?
They also built strong partnerships with their research participants, with a consistent moderator who was present across several weeks, regular check ins etc. I thought it was particularly cool how they asked participants to share voice notes with their thoughts and experiences, rather than polished video entries. Voice notes offered a real, raw and intimate insight into the participants’ lives, enabling them to open up more easily. Not only were these great for participant engagement, they were also hugely impactful when socialising the findings internally – creating a more immersive experience for stakeholders.
Haleon echoed many of these themes – they regularly have to research sensitive topics around health and sexual wellbeing. Again building trust with participants is key. They ensure their internal team really do their homework, talking to healthcare professionals and influencers before embarking on consumer qual so they can help put respondents at ease and alleviate any concerns. Often, respondents mentioned finding the experience like a form of therapy.
It really made me think about how we can be more compassionate with qual research across ALL topics, not just difficult topics. Building stronger partnerships with our participants helps them to trust in the process and ultimately give better quality insights.
People remember 60% of the stories you tell, and 4% of the data
Considering this was a qual conference, there was a lot of talk about data (secretly, I was delighted). Data is great, but when it comes to engaging with stakeholders and socialising findings, stories are king.
Both Mattel and TikTok shared the frameworks they’ve used to bring findings to life.
Mattel’s Playful framework was a lovely example. They talked about Play as being ‘universal experiences that connect all generations to joy’ and shared how this offers people growth, connection, wellbeing and expression. Play is evolving, and is important to everyone.
What I thought was particularly cool from Mattel was how they created engaging deliverables to help bring these findings to life, including a board game featuring the Playful framework!
Another highlight was Jacyln and Stephen from TikTok taking us through their ‘Welcoming Newcomers HOME to Canada’ research. From a combination of qual, quant and analysis of their 1st party data, they were able demonstrate just how important TikTok is for the growing number of people moving to Canada.
The HOME framework underpinned their presentation to brands, showing how brands can use TikTok to help consumers by:
- Helping them to set up early – their search data showed that many are seeking out information on TikTok before they even move, so brands can jump in using the #Newcomer hashtag to help consumers out
- Offer value and deals: value for money is obviously important, and moving to a new country can be expensive. Once brands prove their value, newcomers would commit to longer term usage
- Motivate journeys from discovery to action – more than half of newcomers are relying on platforms such as TikTok to discovery new brands, but also to help them in the final purchase decision stages
- Engage in communities to establish trust: newcomers don’t care if the posts they see are sponsored by brands – as long as things feel transparent and genuine, so brands can play the hero and help newcomers by engaging with these communities.
I loved how they fused together their qual and quant findings with 1st party data to show how consumer search behaviours are evolving and people are actively searching for answers on TikTok as opposed to Google!
And finally, on the topic of data and storytelling, our fantastic client Natasha at WBD shared “the One Slide that Changed/ Challenged Everything” – showing how she convinced stakeholders that they should be taking short form video content seriously!
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All in all it was a fantastic few days spent with my Screen Engine/ ASI Colleague Monica Kemp. Looking forward to the next one!
