Pioneers

A serial adventurer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes is an inspirational explorer who pushes himself to the limits, walking to both poles, running seven marathons over seven continents in seven days, and more recently being the oldest
Briton to climb Everest.

We conduct research all over the world: optimising new products, new concepts, packaging, examining new global and local opportunities and decoding shopper behaviour.

Explore a world of possibilities with The Oxford Research Agency and Mimosa.

Top 10 facts about Sir Ranulph Fiennes:

1. Sir Ranulph Fiennes was born in Glasgow, Scotland shortly after the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, who was killed in action in the Second World War at Monte Cassino in 1944.
2. He is the third cousin of actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes, and is a distant cousin of Britain's royal family.
3. Fiennes served in his father's reiment of the British army, the Royal Scots Greys for eight years before being seconded to the Special Air Service.
4. He was dismissed from the army following a prank in which he blew up the set of the movie Doctor Doolittle
5. He then moved to the Middle East as a member of the Sultan of Oman's forces.
6. In1969, Sir Ranulph Ffiennes  led a series of expeditions up the White Nile by hovercraft  followed by one Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970.
7. He led his famous Transglobe Expedition from 1979 until 1982 with ex  SAS colleagues, Oliver Shepard and Charles Burton where they journeyed around the world on its polar axiscovering over 50,000miles. His achievemnet can be read in his book To The Ends of the Earth.
8. He sustained severe frostbite in 2000 when he had to abandon an attempt to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole.
9. In 2007 he succesfully climed the North Face of the Eiger.
10. Fiennes became the oldest British person to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 20 May 2009.

Being able to transcend industries such as banking, airlines, music, trains and space travel is all in a day’s work for Virgin and Britain's industrialist Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson. Ensuring that your brand and products have deep emotional benefits requires an equally fresh approach.

The Oxford Research Agency and Mimosa work together to deliver better solutions with fully integrated Qual and Quant Research.

To find out more how a joined-up approach will help you get more from your new brands, products and services go to the mimosa website at: qual-quant thinking or please call Sunita or Emma on +44 (0) 1865 20 84 03 or email info@mimosa-qual.com

Give our team a call to discuss . 

Top 10 facts about Richard Branson

1. At the age of 16 Sir Richard Branson's first successful business venture to publish a magazine called Student.
2. In 1970 he then set up an audio record mail-order business.
3. In 1972, he created Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores. After a management buyout in 2007 these were know as Zavvi which collapsed in 2008.
4. The name "Virgin" was allegedly suggested by a Branson employee as they were all new to business.
5. Virgin Records first release was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. They also signed controversial bands such as the Sex Pistols.
6. In 2004 he set up Virgin Galactic a space tourism venture funded by Microsoft co-Founder Paul Allen and designed by aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan.
7. After meeting Al Gore Branson was converted from being a global warming sceptic and has since created Virgin Fuels.
8. In 2006, Branson formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation focussed on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The Company was founded with author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra.
9. Branson also launched the Virgin Health Bank in 2007 offering parents-to-be the opportunity of storing their baby's umbilical cord blood stem cells in private and public stem cell banks after their baby's birth.
10. There are over 360 companies in the Virgin brand!

Dr. Ruben Rausing’s insight and application has revolutionised packaging across the world, with Tetrapak products in virtually every household in the UK.

Each year The Oxford Research Agency tests hundreds of new structural packs and exterior pack designs, across food, drink, household and healthcare products. We deliver greater standout, higher repeat rates and a validated volume forecast.

To stand out from the crowd talk to us about your next packaging research project.

Dyson took the humble vacuum cleaner and made it cool, efficient and stylish. It’s a classic example of tackling an existing need with a significantly better product.

With our client partners, we develop and test hundreds of new products to care for the home, from paint, detergents, toilet cleaners and dishwasher tablets.

To make your household products perform better call The Oxford Research Agency today.

The Oxford Research Agency has developed unique methodologies for single and multi-country online Packaging and Concept research.

As part of our holistic Packaging research methodology, we have recently launched a uniquely interactive online 3D rotating pack module which provides true-to-life detailed evaluation of new Packaging designs.

Add to this our high specification shelf display evaluation, brand equity and communications sections plus the utilisation of our Volumetric capability, then we believe we have the best approach to Packaging research to ensure your market success.

We also have a unique approach to multi-country Concept screening and evaluation with normative benchmarks applied to our “Concept Potential Measure”. “Hot Spots” and “Visual Verbatims” are two examples of our interactive Concept response and analysis tools.

More and more blue chip FMCG companies are buying into our online Concept, Packaging and Volumetric research expertise.

To find out more please contact John Whittaker on +44 (0) 1865 72 82 72 or at john.whittaker@tora.co.uk

Questioning the relationship between art, the artist and value, ‘For the Love of God’ is a boundary changing piece by an artist who challenges the orthodox view of art.

Understanding value and price is critical for any product. The Oxford Research Agency has developed pricing research directly linked to sales and volume.

The latest research from The Oxford Research Agency, the leaders in FMCG research, shows that 38% of excellent ideas are not progressed as they are tested at the wrong price point.

The Oxford Research Agency’s NPD programme identifies the power of the idea prior to price being revealed; with in-market success rates over four times the average. Read more

The invention of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 took the internet to the masses, allowing simple organisation and visibility of its content.

Today, The Oxford Research Agency uses the internet to test thousands of new product ideas and find the next big idea. We are one of the fastest and most innovative users of the internet in research, testing packaging, price points, concepts and even products online.

To benchmark your concepts against our concept database for better launch diagnostics speak to our team.

Pushing the boundaries, the Guggenheim Museum changed the perception of public buildings, showing that they could enhance the community inside and out.

Our team of social and education specialists research the latest trends, local needs and student attitudes to help policy makers make better decisions.

Within social research we conduct a wide variety of project, from district and county councils through to national bodies and we strive to esnure that we treat each project in this area with the same degree of individuality as we do our commercial clients.

Research into all aspects of the Education sector has proven to be one of the fastest growing areas within The Oxford Research Agency over the past few years, reflecting the increasingly competitive nature of the Education sector and the adoption of a greater commercial awareness by many within this sector. 

If you would like to find out more about how The Oxford Research Agency can help your social or education research needs, please speak Steve King, steve.king@tora.co.uk or call 01865 72 82 72.
 
Top 5 Guggenheim Museum facts:

1. Guided by his art adviser, the German painter Hilla Rebay, Solomon Guggenheim began to collect works by nonobjective artists in 1929.
2. Guggenheim first began to show his work from his apartment, and as the collection grew, he established The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1937.
3. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened its doors on October 21, 1959 in New York City and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
4. It took Wright 15 years, 700 sketches, and six sets of working drawings to create the museum.
5. Other Guggenheim's include:  Venice, Bilbao, Berlin and Abyu Dhabi

“Can you imagine pitching the Argos concept in the Dragon’s Den? ‘It’s this shop that sells everything, but you can’t see it till you've bought it!’" – Sean Lock

Retail already looks very different to the 70s experience in which Argos emerged. Online and offline retailers continue to evolve in a world where the consumer expects everything faster, cheaper, smarter and in every possible colour.

Faced with a two-pronged attack from grocer behemoths and long-tail e-commerce sites, together with the impact of the credit crunch; high street brands must concentrate even more on the ‘social experience of shopping’ to maintain sales, and avoid the early 90’s predictions that online will kill off the high street. The British Retail Consortium reports that online purchases comprise only 4% of total retail sales – but offline sales are declining, whilst online sales are still growing, albeit at a slower rate than in 2007.

Will 2009/10 bring a wave of web 2.0 innovations in retail? We’ve already seen the launch of Ocado’s iPhone App ‘Ocado on the Go’ that lets busy shoppers fill their basket offline, then checkout when an internet connection is available.

The Oxford Research Agency partners retailers in their efforts to stay ahead of the curve and be pro-active, rather than re-active in meeting their customers’ needs. Retail pioneers of the next half century – call our team today.

For more information, contact Steve King, Research Director or Noreen Kinsey, on +44 (0)1865 72 82 72 or email steve.king@tora.co.uk or noreen.kinsey@tora.co.uk
 

Controversially, Dolly the sheep opened up a new branch of science which promises to change our lives forever. Further advances by The Roslin Institute and others promises significant advances in healthcare.

Here at The Oxford Research Agency we’ve have created a new and better approach to OTC research to ensure that we can continue to meet the ever increasing needs of this sector.

We have recruited a highly experienced team of healthcare research specialists and adapted our trusted specialist techniques and best practice in FMCG, retail, transport and social research to the OTC sector.

We now cover a wide range of OTC research from Consultant and Patient research through to testing new products, packing, pricing and in-store satisfaction research.

To find out how we can provide outstanding insight into the OTC sector contact Tim Douglas or call 01865 72 82 72.

Michael Marks and Tom Spencer were pioneers in delighting customers with simple yet effective pricing, excellent product offering and clearly displayed product. Value, quality and innovation were at the heart of the business from the first research lab set up by a UK retailer (1934) to develop fabrics, through to its online web portal going live in 1999.

Marks & Spencer is held as an iconic brand by shoppers, and is often cited as a benchmark of quality, although this status has wavered (remember Paxman’s leaked e-mail to then-boss Rose, bemoaning the store’s ‘lack of support’ in its pants!). Following a period at the beginning of this decade when it was ‘all things to everyone’ and suffering a decline in like for like sales in the last quarter of the year, the retailer seems more recently to be meeting its customers’ expectations - responding to difficult economic times (dine in for a tenner) and to customer pressure (scrapping and publicly apologising for the surcharge on bra cup sizes above DD).

It has never been more important to meet, and exceed customer satisfaction; customer relationships are key in driving the value of your company. Customer experience will impact customer loyalty. The BBC’s Watchdog consumer affairs programme reported survey findings at the beginning of May suggesting nearly three quarters of us think that customer service is getting worse. Over 3,000 of the 7,000 plus people who responded to the online survey claimed they came across examples of poor customer service every week!

The Oxford Research Agency’s Retail and Shopper Insight Temperature Check will identify what your customers think of your brand, your store environment and/ or the service provided by your staff – at every channel and interaction touchpoint where your brand is experienced. It will highlight those areas where your customers believe you need to improve to ensure repeat or increased custom. Research has demonstrated that it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than to maintain an existing customer.

• £5,000 provides you with feedback from 300 customers – we’ll tailor the approach to suit your needs. (You might choose to research 14 stores, UK-wide, or 3-4 strategically important stores, or one flagship/ trial store).
• We’ll draft a questionnaire to investigate what matters to customers.
• Profile your customers based on recency/ frequency of visit, profile first-time visitors.
• Evaluate mission purpose (destination, browse) and conversion to purchase.
• Appraise friendliness, speed and competency of staff service.
• Evaluate where (if?!) you are ‘delighting’ the customer and distinguishing your brand from competitors’.
• Establish key drivers of satisfaction and repeat purchase

For more information, contact Steve King, Research Director or Noreen Kinsey, on +44 (0)1865 72 82 72 or email steve.king@tora.co.uk or noreen.kinsey@tora.co.uk

The small print!

• £5,000+VAT to conduct research with 300 customers
• Face to face ‘store exit’ interviews
• Quotas set to reflect your customer profile. Target segment boosts possible with a reduced overall sample size
• Bespoke questionnaire designed to reflect your business goals • Maximum of 2 open-ended questions – full verbatim responses supplied
• Free, full presentation

Few products break new ground and target a specific consumer need better than Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain. In tackling missed breakfasts, Nutri-Grain is one of the few ground-breaking products to grow into its own retailer category.

Predicting the future sales and opportunity from new ideas is at the core of what we do. Unlike the majority of agencies we have the in-house expertise to ensure volume, sales, price, product, packaging and marketing plans are optimised.

Our database containing thousands of already tested new ideas, and our validated volume predictor, allows us to test your concepts faster, better and cheaper than ever before.

With validated volumetric models achieved to within +/-9% for new launches and +/-4% for re-launched products contact Chris Sinclair (01865 72 82 72) today to launch the next wave of your ground breaking products!

Top 10 Cereal Bar Market Facts!

The UK cereal bar market is a fast moving, highly innovative category:

1. Kellogg’s kicked off the cereal bar market when it introduced Nutri-Grain in 1997, targeting consumers who would otherwise skip breakfast.
2. Sector saw a 66% growth – 2002 to 2007.
3. Currently £300 million + category.
4. This market is highly fragmented with over 120 SKU’s currently on shelf. The top 10 brands account for less than two-thirds of the market.
5. The leading manufacturers are from the breakfast market, with Kellogg and Weetabix covering much of the market.
6. Own Label has just 8% of the market.
7. Special K & Eat Natural are growing fast.
8. During the week, consumption of cereal bars peaks at breakfast-time. However, at weekends they tend to be eaten as a post-sport snack.
9. The number of people missing meals was about 14% in 2007, according to TGI. This has led brands to increasingly target their cereal bars as snacks.
10. Market is now targeting occasions outside of breakfast, along with healthy and indulgence products.

The mechanical Bread Slicer, invented by Otto Fredrick Rohwedder, went on sale in July 1928. Being one of the first products to truly deliver convenience to the consumer, it was at first derided but was copied the world over.
The phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread" is commonly used as a means of praising a good invention or development. It has been said that "the phrase is the ultimate depiction of innovative achievement and American know-how"! Sliced bread has been adopted as the benchmark against which later inventions should be judged.

The Oxford Research Agency partners with the biggest brands in FMCG to deliver award-winning new products, as well as improving existing ones. Every household in the country contains a product tested by The Oxford Research Agency.

Top 10 facts about sliced bread!
1. Rohwedder was born in Davenport, the son of Claus and Elizabeth Rohwedder. He was the youngest of three brothers and one sister.
2. He lived in Davenport until the age of 21, attending Davenport public schools and then becoming an apprentice to a jeweler.
3. Otto graduated in 1900 with a degree in optics from the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology and Otology in Chicago.
4. The first slided bread machine prototype was built in 1917, but was destroyed in a fire. It was not until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully working machine ready
5. Their product, "Kleen Maid Sliced Bread", proved a success. Battle Creek, Michigan has a competing claim as the first city to sell bread pre-sliced by Rohwedder's machine; historians have produced no documentation backing up Battle Creek's claim.[
6. ”Kleen Main Sliced Bread” was advertised as, "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped."
7. The first commercial use of the machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, which produced their first slices on July 7, 1928
8. St. Louis baker Gustav Papendick bought Rohwedder's second bread slicer and set out to improve it by devising a way to keep the slices together at least long enough to allow the loaves to be wrapped. After failures trying rubber bands and metal pins, he settled on placing the slices into a cardboard tray. The tray aligned the slices, allowing mechanized wrapping machines to function.
9. During 1943, U. S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure.
10. Today in the UK alone, sliced bread outsells unsliced bread by 7:1

Call Chris Sinclair or Andrew Tharme on +44 (0)1865 72 82 72 to identify whether your next idea ‘is better than sliced bread!’

Decoding and understanding the human genome is opening the doors to a new generation of medicines and treatments that will enhance everyone’s lives.

Since the discovery of DNA, scientists have been examining what makes us the people we are. Many different elements of our make-up are related to our genes and for some, even our behaviour, preferences and beliefs can be related to our genes.

It is debatable whether our genes play a role in what we buy, the foods we prefer, or how satisfed we are with a retailer or service. However, using ground breaking research techniques, The Oxford Research Agency can help you solve your business issue.

Our market researchers specialise in understanding what drives consumer appeal, be it of a product, a concept, a shopping trip, new packaging, a journey, a university career or a new range of products.

Speak to The Oxford Research Agency. Seeing Further. Thinking Deeper