Dream Decade: Ten Years of Tapestry

In a decade of joyful landmarks – which included a Happy Pharrell Williams storming the charts – a much happier event made its mark on our industry, namely the birth of Tapestry, which took place on 1st January 2014.

Tapestry’s founding fathers, Ian Wright and Kevin Thompson, were joined by Stewart Thomson and together the triumvirate built a team which would use its agency experience to create an approach to market research intent on making the complex beautifully simple.

Over the last decade we’ve expanded from three to nearly 40. We survived, nay thrived, through the pandemic and ensuing global economic uncertainty, and now we’re arming ourselves for the challenges posed by AI, and other global phenomena dictators.

Ian describes the original thinking behind Tapestry:

“After spending 20 years working in other people’s agencies, we were clear on how we wanted Tapestry to be different. We were very focused on making a difference in the wider industry too – ideas such as employing a poet to deliver memorable debriefs didn’t stand the test of time, but plenty of other ideas such as joining together big data with semiotics, biometrics and survey findings have.“

So, how has the industry changed over the past 10 years?

Kevin says: “When I started it was all face-to-face, telephone or even postal surveys. It took a lot more arranging. As a result, I think market research was as much about the mechanics as the output – the industry was kind of the gatekeeper to finding out what people thought. Now you can’t move for people telling you how they feel – it’s much more about the interpretation and narrative you weave around the cacophony of voices. Having said all of that, some of the mechanics are still far too similar to what they were 25 years ago. It still feels like there is a revolution to come.”

Not content with being good enough, as part of our evolution, in 2017 Tapestry took on the bold step of creating an in-house Data Analytics team.

Stewart explains why: “We toyed with outsourcing all of that but preferred to keep it in-house, where we can have more control and pivot more easily.”

Dan Webb chose to join Tapestry in 2022 primarily because of the people and the inclusive nature of the company. Dan chose the MR industry because he “loved the idea that no day would be the same, there is always something new to learn and try to discover new ways of doing things”.

Improvement and inclusion have long been at our core; Tapestry’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) team meet regularly to create opportunities and initiatives; signing the pledge further cements our focus. We cultivate an environment of value, respect and empowerment and break down barriers to success.

Making a difference matters. Kevin says: “We’re here to empower organisations that are striving to make a positive impact and to give our employees the opportunity of a long and rewarding career at the heart of decision-making.“

We’re not pretending for a moment that the next decade will be any less complex, but with such a great team and positive client relationships we’re all aboard to forge a simply fabulous future.