01/06/2020
Around 9 weeks ago my inbox started filling up with invitations to attend webinars and to access various data sources that were dealing with the emerging global situation. As time ticked by, rather slowly, more and more invitations landed. And as working from home continued, I soon realised I couldn’t possibly attend every session or analyse each new presentation or data set that became available, as well as keeping abreast of the usual Twitter and LinkedIn persons of interest while carrying on with day to day agency life. So, I decided to focus on a small number of the most valuable, insightful or challenging sources and follow these each week. Some of these now have a wealth of data, able to track how things have changed or stayed the same during Covid-19 lockdown.
We’re entering a really interesting period of environmental change in the UK. As we see lockdown restrictions relaxed, it will be fascinating to see how these changes affect human behaviour and sentiment and specifically how we can use this data to help clients approach the near future as fully informed as they can be.
As there’s so much data out there I thought I’d share the sources I keep returning to, some of which now have a clear story to tell as behaviour and attitudes have flexed over the last couple of months. All of these sources are free, some require some form of registration, others are accessible with a quick follow on socials.
> Really useful tracking study by Kantar that has recently been focusing on the changing wants and needs of the Tribes segments they identified at the outset of Covid-19.
> Ipsos updates offer a great way to keep abreast of broad public opinion on current events on a range of topics – how confident people are in travelling again, their views on how the government is handling the crisis and little nuggets like Britain leading the globe on increased alcohol consumption during lockdown. There’s also a fortnightly global coronavirus digest called Signals which covers a lot of useful ground.It’s also well worth giving Ipsos head honcho Ben Page a follow on LinkedIn for his take on specific data points.
> Very nice weekly catch up on advertising-specific insight from one of the leading advertising research companies, System1. Their fantastic Ad of the Week newsletter includes ads that are new to air during Covid-19. The latest winner’s a really cool user-generated homage to the iconic Honda ad – you’ll know which one I’m talking about as soon as you see it.
> No list like this would be complete without referencing Mark Ritson’s and Helen Edwards’ Marketing Week columns which always give food for thought – follow on LinkedIn for access to the articles without a subscription.