Microsoft Surface Hub sought to elevate the brand’s position as a thought-leader in defining the Office of the Future.
Our research & discovery approach included the following:
+ A large-scale quantitative survey conducted by Forrester + Research (MSFT partner) - 741 business and facilities decision-makers and 1,032 information workers
+ An insights debrief & workshop session
+ A second wave of qualitative, ethnographic interviews conducted with thought-leaders across key categories
+ Interviews with key MSFT internal stakeholders
And what became of this work? Well, Surface had led Microsoft’s non-gaming hardware initiatives across the organization for the past several years. Surface Hub now integrates all of MSFT’s major industry-leading productivity apps and SAS products: Azure, Outlook, OneDrive and Cloud and continues to be the primary source for new MSFT collaborative innovation.
Nike has always been a youth-oriented brand. But lately they felt as though they were losing touch with their collegiate student-athletes and needed a fresh perspective on what's happening on campus.
Our team's goal was to uncover insights that would enable Nike to drive engagement and brand affinity for this very important segment of their market.
I lead a research and insight generation for this multi-market deep dive into college culture, examining many facets of campus life from the perspective of students, student-athletes, faculty, and athletic coaching staff. I also lead early-stage idea generation for brand and product activation programs on college campuses.
The result was a better-informed Nike brand communications team, focused on driving values-based initiatives such as sustainability and corporate responsibility in addition to product-led innovation stories. We also generated a series of new ideas for engaging college students, both on and off the field.
In 2013 Dick's Sporting Goods approached our agency, looking for help to better connect with and support sports at the community level. How could Dick's go beyond just being a sporting goods retailer? How could they serve the athletes, teams, coaches, staff, and families that make local sports such an important part of the fabric of the community? Furthermore were there assets or brand strengths thatDSG was under-leveraging?
We went out into the field and immersed ourselves in these communities at the grassroots level. We went into homes, to schools, to stores, and spent countless hours speaking with these people to learn what it means to raise a young athlete today.
Our insights work informed much of the early thinking and planning that eventually culminated in the creation of Dick's Team Sports Headquarters: a one-stop online resource for youth leagues, providing everything from equipment ordering to registration forms, and everything in between.
I led this project for Bassett & Partners, designing the research approach, methodology, discussion guides, analysis and summarization of the insights into a compelling deck and video story which I presented to DSG senior leadership.
In 2012, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on an ethnographic program for the OneTouch diabetes brand through DDB SF's Remedy agency. OneTouch saw what they believed was an opportunity to shake up their brand's position and its core message to consumers.
At a time when nearly all diabetes products focused their messaging on product features; speed, accuracy, etc. OneTouch wanted to explore different approaches. Rather than a communications platform based on product, OneTouch wanted one informed by emotion, one that aligned with the cultural experience of those living with diabetes, one that resonated deeply with their emotional journey.
We performed in-home ethnographies with persons living with diabetes in four key markets - USA, Brazil, Germany, and China. We went into people's homes, listened carefully to their stories, took tours of their neighborhoods, joined them for workouts.
The result was an extremely rich learning experience for everyone, and even clients who had been working in the category for many years were able to learn something new about the diabetes journey. We returned from the field with deep, emotional insights about the experience of these people, what their barriers are to managing this condition, and what makes them feel empowered and enabled to control it.
"Take Ownership" became the mantra for OneTouch's new brand positioning, and would go on to inform their creative campaigns for 2013 -14.
I was responsible for leading the team in the ethnographic fieldwork, moderating the interviews, managing the client relationship as well as our team of international recruiting and research partners in Brazil, Germany, and China. I was also responsible for leading our synthesis and analysis work, distilling the learning down to the ten most salient insights, informing the creation of the brand strategy brief. I led several presentations back to senior clients on insights and positioning strategy along with Bassett & Partner's CEO Tom Bassett.
I am extremely proud to have been part of the team that developed and designed the first generation Xbox Elite Wireless Controller controller, the first of its kind for Xbox. This product is the result of more than 3 years of deep user research and strategy work.
I was one of the lead ethnographic design researchers on this program, and was responsible for designing the research approach and methodologies, tracking down elite gamers, distilling findings down to actionable insights and key user features, and providing strategic recommendations on the overall controller experience.
The controller has received rave reviews from both critics and gamers alike, has received numerous industry awards, and has consistently been a best-seller and fan favorite at gaming retailers across the world. Many are calling it one of Xbox's most innovative products in years.
In 2012, Bassett & Partners was approached by Marriott Hotels with a unique request - to help them create dynamic experiences for the next generation of business travelers. MHR was facing something of an identity crisis: their product, and by extension their brand, was seen as old and stodgy. A place for the 40 and 50-something road warrior businessman. It was time for a makeover.
With an eye towards the next-generation of Gen-X and Gen-Y, Bassett & Partners helped Marriott create the "mPulse Community" - a private, invite-only online community made up of young, tech and travel-savvy influencers and prosumers from around the US, UK and China. The community would serve as an expert panel, taking part in research studies and exercises over a 1 year period, offering Marriott a unique opportunity to have an ongoing dialogue with their target consumers vs a one-shot dive.
Members took part in a broad range of study topics, from service & hospitality, to style & decor, to media habits and behaviors. Activities ranged from surveys, to digital journaling, to online video testimonials, to photo and video sharing.
With the insights gleaned from this community, Marriott was able to take big steps towards updating its properties as well as its brand image. We helped Marriott understand that this new class of traveler is different from their parents generation. Not as concerned with material wealth and ownership, they're chasing a different definition of success. They want to see, feel, hear and taste things they haven't before. They are the Experience Class.
Today Marriott has seen a significant spike in both mindshare and marketshare, especially with 40 and under business travelers, the very audience they were aiming to connect with. The New York Times even wrote a piece about the transformation. You can read it HERE.
For this program, I was the project lead; managing both the client/account as well as international partners in China and the UK. I was responsible for designing research studies every month, coming up with new and creative methodologies that would not only keep our members engaged in the community, but also yield rich, compelling insights without being there face to face with them.
Bassett & Partners has had a long-standing relationship with the Nike brand, going back to founder Tom Bassett's strategic planning work with Wieden + Kennedy in the mid to late 1990s. My work with with the brand has spanned 7 years and multiple categories as well, having worked on everything from running and training, to soccer, basketball, and football.
In 2011. Bassett & Partners was approached by Nike Golf with a request: to have a longer, more continuous dialogue with their athletes, one that could yield valuable, tangible insights for both product and brand.
Bassett created The Nike Golf Members Club; an by-invitation online community of golfers from the US, UK, and Japan. This community was made up of about 100 golfers who would go on to participate in online qualitative studies over the course of 24 months in topics as diverse as golf balls, drivers, apparel, and golf advertising.
The result was 10 richly insightful studies that informed Nike's product and brand strategies for the next 2-3 years.
As program lead, I was responsible for managing the client as well as our network of international recruiters and community moderators. I was the lead research designer, tasked with creating engaging and insightful user studies given the constraints of time and online attrition. I also led a team of two other researchers in collecting and reviewing study responses, synthesizing learning into digestible reports, and presenting those reports back to Nike.
"Connecting" is a two-part series exploring the future of interaction, connectivity, and user experience design. This project was the result of a long-running partnership with Microsoft Design, whereby Bassett & Partners worked alongside Microsoft Design leadership to create outward-facing thought-leadership content. The films can both be seen for free online.
For this project I was responsible for managing the overall execution of the content - from designing the discussion guides, to moderating many of the interviews with industry thought-leaders, to then distilling the learning into a creative brief and ultimately, a cohesive story.
Connecting was covered by media outlets such as FastCo Design, Forbes Digital, and the Intel Creators Project. I have presented Connecting at many universities and educational institutions, as well as at major industry events including Interaction '14 Amsterdam, Design Point Monterrey Mexico '13, FITC Toronto '14, Maker Faire Bay Area '14, IDSA Austin '14, and the London Design Festival '13.
The mystery box!
What you see on my website here is only a small smattering of my research and strategy work. The truth is there are many, many more examples I would love to share but cannot for confidentiality reasons.
My future concept and product innovation work has included categories such as advanced footwear and running concepts, interactive gaming, future of television, graphic storytelling, productivity, wearables, and many more.
As an ethnographer, I like to think I'm a photographer shooting through the lens of cultural sociology. I think, above all else, being a great insights person means being curious about the world, and being able to see things through a unique lens.
Here's a small sampling of some of my own photo work.
