Blog

Thoughts on everything that matters right now in marketing, communications, and insights.

Category: Keen as Mustard

How design principles could have saved the Oscars Posted on May 10, 2023 by Simon Dunn

Here at Mustard Towers, we talk a lot about fame. Maybe we are blinded by stardust, but we think there are important lessons to learn from Hollywood about how we go about communicating effectively. And we apply those lessons – good and bad - when it comes to communicating insights. When we think about bad communication, surely nothing gets worse than the cringe-inducing 2017 Oscars disaster when LaLa Land was inadvertently announced as the Best Picture winner, instead of Moonlight.

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Someone spilt Mustard on the red carpet! Posted on February 23, 2023 by Braden MacDonald

Back in December, we challenged you to find out your communication style with our Hollywood-themed quiz. Well, the results are in of the world’s first and only survey of insights professionals about communication. 260 of you completed our quiz and now we  are opening the envelope to reveal what we learnt about the insights profession. First of all, although the quiz was a bit of fun the issue is no joke: 63% of you stated that communicating data and insights

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Mind over matter: what we learnt from the MRBA’s ‘Health and Wellbeing’ webinar Posted on January 30, 2023 by Braden MacDonald

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of the Market Research Benevolent Association’s webinar discussing the topic of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, hosted by Jennifer Perry from the MRBA. The panel featured experts from the market research industry, such as James Pickles from James Pickles Coaching, Amanda Hammond from Opinium, Paul Vittles from The Jordan Legacy and Ben Tuttle from Hope Guardians, who shared their insights and experiences on how to create a mentally healthy

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Get on the case Posted on January 25, 2023 by Lucy Davison

How to make case studies work for you in insights An insights company without case studies is like Batman without Robin. Demonstrating your value through a case study is fundamental to thought leadership and growth. Plus, there’s the added advantage that most clients are burning with curiosity and FOMO; the number one thing that they want to know is what you are doing or have done for other companies like them. But producing case studies is often a big challenge

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Discussions and debates at ESOMAR’s UK summer event Posted on August 16, 2022 by Braden MacDonald

We at Mustard Towers were delighted that ESOMAR recently returned to action in the UK with its first in-person event in over three years. As a (somewhat) new recruit in the MRX and insights industry, I quickly realised that ESOMAR has an excellent reputation. In case you didn’t know, ESOMAR is the global community for people working in data, research and insight. I couldn't wait to get stuck in and see what ESOMAR's UK Summer Event had in store for

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Mustard on tour! Posted on March 7, 2022 by Braden MacDonald

The return of in-person events, and where to find us in 2022 A people and knowledge-based industry like research and insight cannot thrive without physical, in-person events. The exchange of ideas, innovations, technology and conversation, never mind friendship, cannot be underestimated. Yes, we all adjusted as best we could to existing in a purely digital way, but now, live events are back, and we are looking forward to them more than ever. We're keen to let you know what events

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ESOMAR Insights Festival: thoughts from an industry newbie Posted on October 6, 2020 by Braden MacDonald

I don’t think any of us expected an international MRX event of the scale of the Insights Festival to be pulled off this year. But ESOMAR has proved that major conferences can still go ahead, albeit digital and totally different, and be a roaring success. As a newbie in the industry and having never attended the ESOMAR Congress in previous years, I had nothing to compare the Festival to, so I was pleased to feel a sense of community and

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Beauty and the Beast Posted on June 30, 2020 by Simon Dunn

Friend of Mustard and insights profession legend Tom Ewing was launching himself as a freelance writer and thinker within the industry. He approached us to develop a logo for his new business. It’s normal for clients to have little idea of what their logo should communicate, so we go through a process of working with them to define their company personality, values and ambitions, which then translates into an appropriate brand. At Mustard we refer to this process as ‘bringing

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Quirk’s returns to London! A review of the UK’s biggest MRX trade show Posted on February 27, 2020 by Braden MacDonald

After a successful London debut in 2019, Quirk’s headed back across the pond this month for their second UK event. It’s well known that ‘seconds’ are notoriously difficult – bands with triumphantly successful first albums often struggle with ‘bad second album syndrome’ and second time novelists with best-selling works of fiction struggle to put pen to paper for their second book. Was London 2020 going to be the Quirk’s UK team’s difficult second conference? In terms of pure numbers, the

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Lucy Davison elected to ESOMAR Council Posted on November 26, 2018 by Simon Dunn

We are excited to announce that our founder and Colonel Mustard, Lucy Davison, has been elected to the ESOMAR Council for the period 2019-2021. Lucy’s pitch for Council was to improve the image of research and insights. This means reaching out beyond MRX and engaging with the media, events and sectors to share the positive stories about what we do.  With her background in marketing and PR, Lucy is very well placed to help ESOMAR do this. “I am really

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