Follow Us
Comic Relief - Community Spirit - July 2011
We were excited to receive an email from Lenny Henry recently thanking everyone on the huge success of Comic Relief's fundraising this year - a record-breaking £102,166,598. This is particularly impressive when you think that we are in the grips of a recession and there are so many reports of people suffering financially.
So why is this the case? A couple of years ago, we were asked to look at this very question globally and we spoke to head fundraisers in a number of large charities about how they raise their profile and generate funds during hard pressed times.
It seems that when people are struggling, they empathise more with those less fortunate and are happier to dig deep. For Comic Relief this year, there was the added bonus that people are cutting back on socialising and making their home the focal point for entertainment – the perfect environment for seeking support for a worthy cause. And of course, there's a cultural trend towards community, both in the real and virtual worlds – perhaps not Big Society but certainly a sense of sharing and putting something back.
Our involvement with Comic Relief also begins at home. We're proud to have supported them for a number of years, both as a charity and as a client. We're currently running an on-line community, made up of about 100 supporters, for both Red Nose Day and Sport Relief, to find out about real life experiences and reactions to fundraising ideas.
It's no surprise then that we wanted to enter in to the spirit of Red Nose Day, with a back to school theme. As always, we had some serious fun and saw the bright side of the recession. Well done Comic Relief for giving us great entertainment and raising such a fantastic sum.
Travel blog - Diary of a Researcher
Entry #02 - Honduras – June 2011
Whenever possible, at Leapfrog we like to immerse ourselves in the culture of the country where we are conducting research. Sue went to Saudi and I went to Honduras for the same project. What struck me on the drive from San Pedro Sula to my hotel was that Latin America is a world of extremes - luxury just out of reach of shanty towns, plantation owners and their privately guarded mansions less than 5 minutes from handmade homes with dirt floors. There isn’t even an attempt to hide the disparity.
We spent several days in what Americans would consider a very sub-par facility. Security was a major consideration and we weren’t even allowed to walk to the Quiznos for lunch for safety reasons (American chain restaurants - are they everywhere now?). When we travelled to the wholesalers market, sadly my English attracted too much attention, so we had to cut the visit a bit short. Fortunately, I managed to see where the food I was eating at the hotel was coming from as well as the products we were testing. A little shocked at the fact that fish was sitting out without ice, and a gentleman was taking a nap on a pile of grain, but fascinated still.
One of the most interesting parts of the journey came when we went out for some store visits to find the product we were working on. It’s the biggest brand in the category so there was no shortage of awareness. What surprised me compared with more established markets was that this awareness was pretty superficial and that shop owners and assistants didn’t actually understand how the product works, what the ingredients are, or the difference between variants. And, often times, they made things up in what seemed a very impromptu fashion. Through our focus group discussions, which echoed our shop visits, it became clear that the brand needed to focus on very basic messaging to reach out to consumers and meet them where they are. The experience with store owners, in this case, was invaluable. Simplicity is important here.
And that leads me on to another interesting learning that came thanks to Pepsi. Pepsi has taken it upon themselves to paint the entirety of Honduras, in their famous red, white and blue of course. Every few feet, it seems, some surface or another has a Pepsi logo hand painted on it. Even when driving through areas where you can’t imagine anyone even has a refrigerator, Pepsi is advertising. Coke is doing its best to catch up, but their advertising takes the form of professionally printed plastic signs. Much more expensive, and less agile than Pepsi’s stencil painted logos. In emerging markets, you have to stay nimble.
Mayan ruins, Copan:
Nathan
Travel blog - Diary of a Researcher
Entry #01 - Saudi Arabia – March 2011
Well, I’d be stretching the truth if I said that I was looking forward to my first fieldwork session in Saudi Arabia. I’d been in the Middle East fairly recently, last year I went to Abu Dhabi to talk to overseas travellers about high end hotel choices. Yes, it was an interesting trip, getting a glimpse at a very different culture than we’re used to in the West and seeing the sheer opulence that Dubai and Abi Dhabi has to offer, but I did feel on familiar territory in some ways, it’s not too far removed from the West and what we know.
But Saudi did feel like a very different kettle of fish. At first I was assured that, as a lone woman, I’d never be permitted a visa, but I was, so I had to get my head around the concept of visiting a country that felt culturally so different to my experience as a working western woman.
But I bought my abaya and headscarf and mentally tried to prepare myself for the trip, largely by focussing on the research and technical process rather than the place I was visiting. But as more information came through from our local Saudi research partners, I couldn’t ignore it and had to focus on the learning about the culture and the do’s and don’ts, and I started to get a bit worried.
Trying the abaya and scarf on in the office before the trip was another hurdle, watching my colleagues as I walked in the room and seeing the shock on their faces. And the stranger that stared back as I looked in the mirror. As someone that has a healthy dosage of vanity and values her individuality, the ‘uniform’ was a hard pill to swallow.
As the day approached I got a nagging worry about the experience. What if I innocently and naïvely said or did something offensive? What if this had an impact on the research project or how I was viewed by the clients or our research partners? Getting into the car to the airport the driver was outwardly shocked when he heard I was going to Saudi, he’d never taken a woman on her own, gulp.
But the experience was so very different from my fears. Yes, I’d never get used to that abaya, it felt odd and awkward and ironically made me feel more rather than less visible and conscious; I kept tripping over the hem and the scarf kept slipping off my head or dropping over my eyes, leaving me either ‘exposed’ or blind! But the people and their humour, generosity and kindness, I’ll always carry with me. On several occasions I was asked by the respondents in the groups whether I’d like to visit their homes for a meal. I would have loved to do that, but sadly my tight schedule didn’t allow it. Wherever I went I was offered delicious sweet and savoury snacks and well it’s an insult to refuse, so what could I do? It’s heartening to come across such warmth, interest and openness, that is something that you don’t experience in the UK, certainly not where I live in London anyway!
I spoke to women in their homes about their lives, saw them without their ‘outside outfits’ on. And in their ‘personal clothes’ they are very feminine, dare I say it, even sexy. I felt privileged to be in this situation and the women really opened up to me. And beyond the differences in how we are expected to behave and dress, I was surprised by the amount of similarities we share. Whilst talking to women about their lives, we asked what stressed them, and one of their first responses was ‘my husband’ and ‘dealing with the kids’. So not so different from the comments that you’d get from women in the ‘burbs in the UK. It’s reassuring that some things are the same the world over, regardless of a gulf of differences in culture and social norms.
New theories in happiness and brain development have shown that it isn’t money or success that makes people happy and fulfilled, it’s their personal connections, relationships and community. Saudi may be a restrictive culture and is most definitely against my values as a modern, independent woman, who really enjoys and values her freedom, but I did come away respecting the focus on relationships. And given the research that indicates the key to happiness and fulfilment is connections and relationships, maybe this is something we can learn from in the West and even something that brands need to take on board going forward.
Sue
