Interview: Hall and Partners’ Vanella Jackson and Richard Owen on The Importance of Connecting, Not Just Collecting, Data

Experiential insights

Hall and Partners’ central Hub is a central engine for collaboration with clients, data sharing and storytelling. It’s often where the cutting edge analysis from experts at the consultancy turns into action.

But the company is continually looking to share insights in new ways that make a meaningful impact with clients.

“Research has always been about ‘gather, distil and inspire’ – but now you have to work much harder and differently than we ever have before,” Vanella tells me. We’re all busy, there are distractions all around us. Increasingly, the agency is using innovative experiential insight sharing sessions that depart from traditional ways of sharing data and insights.

“If you think about how fast our lives are – how challenging it is to do all the things we need to do in our days – making sure that insight and data is seen and that decision making is really driven by evidence, we need to be louder and more creative in order to cut through.”

Richard tells me it’s important not to forget the impact of the physical, as opposed to screen-based interactions.

“You don’t invite people to a three hour research debriefing,” he says, as we discuss the exciting ways Hall and Partners have shared recent research with their clients. “You can even have a mini festival with little stations so people can come into reception in the morning, grab a coffee and absorb these insights almost by osmosis.”

Relationships at the heart

Despite the wild abundance of data available at analysts’ fingertips, the Hall and Partners prioritizes metrics which help businesses understand the relationships they have with their customers.

The agency’s research has always centred on emotional connections between business and consumer, although the methods they’re using are becoming increasingly complex.

New technology and data sources present new challenges, but Vanella tells me that working with her diverse team of experts on creative solutions is one of her favorite things to do.

“I think tech is the opportunity for every brand to become much more service driven and think more creatively about how they build relationships with customers,” she says.

Special thanks to Vanella and Richard for taking the time to chat with the Brandwatch blog.