Maybe you’ve been there: On the brink of a brainstorming session, someone asks you to stop. Hold on, they say. New ideas are not necessary. Others have worked on this…

Consumer research is dangerous.  We all know the upside — how research can unearth insights to transform a campaign. But let’s pause for a moment to consider the risks: How…

In 1955, the legendary Chicago ad man Leo Burnett wrote to the advertising director at Philip Morris to defend his agency’s hold on a new account — Marlboro cigarettes.  The…

There are a ton of ways to botch a focus group. But let’s pause for a moment to ask a baseline question about the world’s most common qualitative method: Is…