Awards case studies 2024

Important note: The MRS Awards judging is a rigorous process that demands a level of information that cannot be included in these published case studies. Much of the evidence used during the judging process remains client confidential and some case studies have been redacted considerably.

Visit here to see past years case studies.

Application of Analytics

Activation of Insight

Applications & Impact of Data

Applications of Research

B2B Network Award for Business-to-Business Research

Jeremy Bullmore Award for Creative Development

Financial Services Research

Healthcare Research

Inclusive Research

International Research

Media Research

New Consumer Insights

Public Policy/Social Research

Sustainability Research

Virginia Valentine Award for Cultural Insights

Application of Analytics

Winner

Thinkbox
Ebiquity
EssenceMediacom
Gain Theory
Mindshare
Wavemaker UK

Profit Ability 2

2017 saw the last comprehensive study of advertising effectiveness. ‘Profit Ability’ was groundbreaking, but that ground has since had earthquakes. Brexit, Covid, wars…

What had changed?

‘Profit Ability 2: The new business case for advertising’ was the first post-Covid analysis of advertising’s financial impact. A vast econometric meta-analysis of advertising effectiveness, it covered £1.8 billion of media spend across 141 brands. Crucially, it matched 53 brands where like-for-like analysis was available for pre- and post-pandemic, allowing investigation of how effectiveness has changed. And it analysed advertising payback at four different speeds, enabling brands to choose the most relevant for their business.

Three months old and it’s already the touchstone for advertising effectiveness. It generated enormous press coverage so far, reaching 2.9 million people. It’s being devoured by its industry: 1,925 watched the launch with a subsequent 17,294 page views and 2,390 downloads.

Celebrated across the advertising industry—including by rival media to TV—it should win because it brought advertising’s collective knowledge bang up to date in eye-watering detail, proving advertising’s incredible strength as a profit-driving business investment. As one advertiser described it: “The best effectiveness research I’ve seen.”

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Finalists

PSA Consultants
Mars Snacking
Radius Insights

Understanding machines to sweeten the human world

As the on-demand delivery (ODD) channel experiences exponential global growth, Mars Wrigley needed to understand how its categories factor into shoppers’ ODD purchase pathways. Radius and PSA Consultants’ innovative solution married qualitative, in-the-moment lifestyle research with data mining of customer opinions and behaviors as observed on digital channels and in traditional qualitative research.

We mined close to 85 million publicly available digital sources to understand customer opinions about ODD platforms, opinions on product purchases, and purchase journeys on these apps in the US and India. Our approach enabled our data-mining queries to understand the ‘minds’ of the algorithms in different locations.

We then mined qualitative outputs from the US, India, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey across text, videos, images, and audio to understand finger movements, time spent on particular parts of ODD webpages and apps, and background comments. Using the insights, we applied generative AI to create product mock-ups, taglines, and marketing posters likely to appeal to Mars Wrigley customer segments, providing another layer of depth to our analysis.

By understanding this emerging channel and its shoppers through our multilayered, iterative research, Mars Wrigley accelerated its ODD global sales year over year by double digits and gained valuable market share.

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Finalist

Curve Analytics
BAT

Digital Track: Advanced Analytics at BAT

BAT's journey to build A Better Tomorrow™ involves switching smokers to reduced-risk alternatives* like Vapour, Modern Oral, and Heated Products. To stay ahead, BAT partnered with Curve Analytics to develop Digital Track, an innovative consumer, category, and brand tracking capability. Using advanced AI models, including Transformer-based LLMs like RoBERTa and GPT, Digital Track transforms unprompted digital data from social media, reviews, and searches into actionable insights.

Digital Track employs cutting-edge analytics, including time series analysis for real-time brand equity measurement and neural network text classification for deep consumer insights. An evolutionary algorithm analyzes predictive search data to prioritize emerging trends, while the Pain-Pleasure-Delight framework quantifies product experiences and guides innovation. These methods enable BAT to stay on top of market dynamics, anticipate disruptions, and better understand adult consumer needs.

Since launching in late 2023, Digital Track has been embedded across 15 markets, enhancing strategic decision-making at board-level meetings and marketing strategy sessions. "The richness of insights is staggering," according to BAT’s Chief Strategy & Growth Officer. BAT’s insights teams now have a robust, scalable tool delivering faster, data-driven insights.

The innovative nature, demonstrable impact, and advanced analytics underpinning Digital Track make this entry deserving of the Applications of Analytics award.

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Activation of Insight

Winner

Fineline mr
NFU Mutual

Understanding the mid-sized corporate insurance market: How shifting the focus from business to human understanding challenged existing strategy and perception of customer research within NFU Mutual.

By shifting from researching the mid-sized corporate market as a ‘business’ to researching it as human decision-makers and putting insight at the center of business prioritization with senior audiences (where previously it had been on the periphery), this project transformed how NFU Mutual intends to prospect, engage, and retain customers.

Insight was initially activated by being at the center of an all-day prioritization session with senior representatives from Sales & Agency, Propositions, Business Architecture, Large Corporate Insurance, Underwriting, and NIS. Rather than being applied in silos, insight has been embedded in collaboration across business areas.

Insight was brought to life through myth-busting to challenge existing perceptions and the creation of four multimedia personas to connect decision-makers to a market they have no direct contact with.

The impact of the research (to date) includes:

• A decision to refocus the marketing strategy away from being sector-specific.
• Plans to redesign the customer contact strategy.
• Identification of a training and development need across NFU Mutual’s 280+ agency network.
• A clear vision of NFU Mutual’s proposition for this market.
• A precedent for putting customer insight at the center of business decision-making.

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Highly Commended

Linney
McDonalds

Customer Quest (CQ)

A yearly event where up to 50 senior leaders, key stakeholders, and franchisees get to look real customers in the eye and find out exactly what they think—this is how the McDonald’s team and their long-term marketing partners at Linney stay close to their audience and ahead of the game.

Like all major players in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) space, McDonald’s needs to keep evolving to stay relevant and grow its market share. Customer Quest is a unique two-day immersion that gets the brand closer to their customers—and their competition—year after year. It harnesses real-world experiences, brings them to life, and applies them to the year ahead using breakout sessions and inspiration from high-level external speakers.

Now coming up to its sixth year, Customer Quest has become such an integral part of the McDonald’s calendar that it serves as a platform to launch the brand’s annual planning cycle.

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Highly Commended

Marks & Spencer (Clothing & Home)

The Customer in the Boardroom: a re-imagined segmentation

In 2023-24, the Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home Insight Team, partnering with Kantar and Jigsaw Research, developed a segmentation based on customer behavior at M&S and across the clothing market. While many can create a segmentation, the true success of this initiative lies in its activation. The segmentation is tracked in real-time using internal transactional data, Kantar market data, Mindshare media data, and YouGov brand tracking data.

Most importantly, this visibility has allowed the team to work directly with the CEO, CFO, and MD to embed the segments into the 5-Year Plan, setting financial, behavioral, and market share targets for each segment by 2029. The segments have been activated across the business with comprehensive communication programs, including presentations to each Business Unit Leadership Team, a microsite on the colleague-facing Insight Portal, a compelling booklet for colleagues, and an all-day showcase customer event featuring live customer focus groups attended by 200+ colleagues per session.

This work represents the most senior-level impact achieved by the Insight Team to date and demonstrates how Insight can drive business and financial KPIs when outcomes and impact are planned from the start.

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Finalist

BBC

On a Mission: Staying relevant in an ever-changing news market

In an ever-evolving news landscape, the BBC News, the world’s largest news organization, faces the growing challenge of staying relevant and fresh—both in the UK and globally.

The BBC News Audiences teams embarked on an ambitious research program to answer the CEO’s question: How do we strengthen our relationship with audiences so we continue to be a go-to source for them in years to come?

Our research with audiences around the world revealed five key pillars that should inform a new BBC News Mission statement in the UK and internationally: Clarity, Courage, Fairness, Respect, and Transparency. These pillars led to the creation of a new BBC News Mission statement, underpinned by the slogan: Trust is Earned. The mission was shared with audiences and rolled out across BBC News, informing upcoming investments and editorial strategy.

The BBC News Mission research is a true example of how insight can be used and activated by senior stakeholders to drive long-lasting change and strategy. In addition to inspiring the revamped Mission statement and the launch of BBC Verify, it now guides all strategic decisions and the day-to-day work of journalists around the world.

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Finalist

IAB UK

The Digital Dividend: Understanding the value of the digital ad industry to the UK’s economy, businesses and people

We all rely on the internet every day. Whether catching up with news, listening to a favorite podcast, scrolling through social media, or streaming that must-watch show, digital media is an ingrained and vital part of our lives—and the majority of it is funded by digital advertising. Without advertising, the internet would change irrevocably, with quality content only available to those who can afford it.

As the industry body for digital advertising, we wanted to quantify the value that digital advertising delivers so we could present this evidence to policymakers, helping to protect the vast benefits of the ad-funded web in an increasingly tough regulatory landscape. This was the driving force behind ‘The Digital Dividend’—conducted with Public First—which, for the first time, quantifies the value that digital advertising contributes to the UK economy, as well as the benefits it delivers for people and businesses across the nation.

We’ve used the results to activate a multi-tier engagement strategy with policymakers, including providing region-specific insights to MPs and facilitating conversations about digital advertising’s impact on local economies between local government and SMEs across the country.

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Finalist

Kokoro
Costa

Winning the high street battle

Costa was facing some challenges. Fierce competition from new challenger brands, the proliferation of independents, and fewer people on the high street wanting to spend money on coffee combined to create a difficult market. This is why it called in Kokoro to help determine what it should change to better meet consumer needs.

Using our weekly consumer sentiment tracker, The Score, along with a quantitative survey, we gathered insights into how people were using the high street and coffee stores, along with perspectives on Costa. Identifying the need to change its in-store environment to better attract future audiences, Costa piloted new store formats focused on better ‘grab and go’ operations, improved seating options with clearer zoning for customer needs, and QR code table service.

Assisted shopping trips and eye-tracking analysis helped overcome the ‘say-do’ gap, allowing Costa to invest appropriately in the stores where changes would have the biggest impact. Senior stakeholders were convinced and quickly responded with store testing, rolling out changes across over 20 UK stores to date and developing global plans.

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Finalist

Redblue
Samsung

How Samsung market market research: The art of selling insights to marketers to maximise campaign effectiveness

Samsung faced new challenges in engaging stakeholders with insights post-pandemic, as traditional methods faltered in the new remote working environment. Recognizing the parallel between their internal communication challenges and the broader consumer landscape, Samsung rethought their approach. In partnership with Redblue, they began to apply consumer marketing strategies to internal engagement to better drive insight activation.

The impact was significant; the winning benefits from the research became the focus of the new campaign, leading to the most effective launch campaign for Samsung, with a peak recall of 32%. The impact didn’t stop there—the insight team started to contribute to retail training, digital experiences, global product decisions, and shared insights with network partners, demonstrating the success of this innovative approach.

Samsung and Redblue succeeded by taking an innovative approach to engaging stakeholders. This involved WhatsApp video invites to insight-sharing sessions, podcast-style ‘Sofa Sessions’ instead of formal debriefs, short-form video content that people could watch at their convenience, an interactive and easy-to-use tool focused on message hierarchies, and even a digital photo frame on the UK president’s desk providing regular updates on how insights are helping the business.

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Finalist

Trinity McQueen
The Very Group

Helping the Very brand to fly: How strategic insights helped Very regain its brand sparkle and be more Flamingo (in a flock of pigeons)

This submission tells a powerful story of insight activation and how digging deeper into data and telling stories that resonate can mobilize a business toward success. Since 2021, Very and Trinity McQueen have forged a partnership around a brand and campaign tracker, but this research has delivered much more.

In 2022, Very was challenged by the impact of a return to bricks-and-mortar shopping and the cost of living crisis. The old ways of activating sales were no longer as effective as before. The tracker revealed a clear opportunity for Very to increase metrics like awareness, consideration, and brand personality.

What happened next was activation borne out of insight. An innovative review of the brand tracker data highlighted a new audience for growth and identified what they wanted from a brand. The new CMO took this insight right to the top, demonstrating how things could be further improved.

With a new brand platform and a shower of flamingos later, the results began to emerge. Very is now on the path to further growth—all driven by insight.

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Applications & Impact of Data

Winner

JCDecaux
Talon
Nielsen

Location Matters for MMM

Measurement of advertising effectiveness has always been a hot topic. The decline in one-to-one attribution has led to a resurgence of Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM). MMM is a methodology focused on using statistical regression to determine the impact of different marketing efforts on incremental sales. Out of Home Advertising (OOH) has never performed well in these models, which prompted us to investigate why this was the case, discovering that the OOH input data was the main issue.

We collaborated with CACI and Route to provide higher quality input data for MMM using geolocated sales and media impact. Additionally, we worked with Nielsen to demonstrate that using better data inputs decreased the impact of aggregation bias, which can lead to OOH’s contribution being underrepresented. In the example we ran, the difference in Return on Investment (ROI) between the two models was 42%! This matters because the results of these MMMs directly affect investment in different media channels in subsequent years.

This entry will showcase how we identified a problem, selected and acquired the right data to solve it, and then worked with Nielsen to use cutting-edge measurement techniques to prove the outcome.

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Finalist

BBC Audiences

Getting the measure of BBC Local: Using pioneering local level data modelling to understand the total reach and impact of the BBC’s multi-platform local & regional content and services for the very first time

“To reflect, represent, and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions...” is one of the BBC’s five public purposes and arguably its most distinctive. BBC Local delivers locally targeted content to 39 geographic areas across England and the Channel Islands via linear TV, local radio, podcasts, BBC Sounds, iPlayer, the BBC website, and apps such as BBC News and BBC Sport—an increasingly eclectic mix of linear and digital content delivered to audiences at a very granular local level. Until now, measuring this comprehensively has been a challenge.

Pioneering cross-platform data modeling using multivariate probability distribution enabled BBC Audiences to devise and launch new cross-platform reach and impact metrics, available for every local area of England. This approach allowed us to set audience-centric (rather than individual platform-centric) performance targets and create live dashboards to give over 2,200 local BBC staff access to their data.

BBC Local aims to reach 50% of people each week. This groundbreaking work has provided a guiding light to achieve that. More importantly, it has fundamentally changed the way our local teams work and the content they create for their audiences in ways we never dreamed possible.

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Finalist

Behaviorally

Revolutionizing Data: Behaviorally's AI-Powered PackPower Inspires Innovative Pack.AI & eCom.AI Solutions

Behaviorally’s PackPower Score™ leverages Computer Vision AI, the world’s largest pack design database, and sales data to assess packaging's impact on sales, proving it can affect a brand’s sales by ±5%. This innovative use of AI and data modeling led to the creation of two groundbreaking products: Pack.AI™ and eCom.AI. These tools predict how physical and digital shelf pack designs of varying types impact key KPIs that drive transactions and buying decisions.

The process starts with Computer Vision AI breaking down images into data at the pixel level, classifying them by design elements like colors, shapes, and fonts. By correlating these visual elements with shopper data, the models identify patterns influencing purchase behavior. High levels of accuracy are ensured by rigorous model testing, using 80-85% of data for training and 15-20% for validation. Once validated, the model predicts the performance of thousands of images quickly and accurately.

As an ISO-certified and GDPR-compliant business, Behaviorally’s AI models, built into Pack.AI and eCom.AI, have a targeted Normalized Mean Average Error (NMAE) of less than 10%. Leading CPG companies, including Unilever and others, use these models to achieve business goals and drive sales.

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Finalist

British Gas Services

Using AI to transform complaints root cause analysis

For British Gas Services & Solutions, customer experience is key to our strategy and regulatory obligations. We’ve always invested time in performing root cause analysis (RCA) to understand complaints. However, we needed to create a more effective, efficient way to perform this critical work. The Analytics & Insight team took on the challenge, understanding how we could significantly scale RCA using AI.

Previously, RCA was manual, analyzing just 50 complaints per month. With our innovative AI solution, developed in collaboration with Amazon, we now analyze over 1,800 complaints monthly. The new process increased efficiency by 85%, reaches accuracy levels of 70%+, and scaled RCA output by 20x year-on-year.

Our project exemplifies exceptional application of data techniques through brilliant collaboration, significantly influencing decision-making and outcomes. Key AI-driven changes include refining customer communications and improving processes, leading to a significant year-on-year complaint reduction. These improvements demonstrate substantial business value and improve customers’ experiences, ensuring regulatory compliance and averting potential fines.

We believe we deserve to win due to our innovative approach and the tangible benefits delivered. By automating RCA, we not only improved customer experience but also empowered our team to focus on high-value projects, generating an additional £7m in business value.

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Applications of Research

Winner

CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably)
MoneySuperMarket
UM
Dynata

Money Talks

Since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis, suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) has seen a 43% increase in calls to their helpline regarding financial difficulties impacting mental health. To fulfill their mission to stand together against feeling hopeless and to show that life is always worth living, CALM teamed up with MoneySuperMarket Group, UM, and Dynata to understand how they can get people talking about how financial difficulties are impacting their mental health so that people can get help before it is too late.

The objective was to explore how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting mental health and how CALM and other organizations can help break the societal taboo of talking about finances. The findings uncovered new insights, from which CALM and MoneySuperMarket created an influential marketing campaign to encourage people to start conversations about money and mental health. Key outcomes include:

• 3,000+ visitors to CALM's landing page during the campaign period
• National, regional, and trade coverage of the research results and campaign
• Engaged 2 MPs and 1 former MP (Luciana Berger, who is leading a cross-party government review of suicide rates and improving mental health services across the UK, in attendance at the launch event)

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Highly Commended

Freemavens
GH Mumm

Winning in Ultra-Premium for GH Mumm Champagne

Freemavens, the pioneering partner for insights and strategy, collaborated with trailblazing champagne brand GH Mumm to elevate the brand’s center of gravity from Super Premium to Ultra-Premium. We applied a mix of social listening, social network mapping, and Max Diff analysis through an online survey to identify the most relevant passions for Ultra-Premium Champagne consumers. Additionally, we carried out comprehensive competitive research to reveal untapped opportunities and whitespace, prioritizing the most compelling growth pathways through a deep understanding of the brand and its existing equities.

The culmination of dynamic data analysis, deep insight, and decisive strategy has resulted in the creation of a new cultural platform for the brand via:

• Re-framing the approach to category codes and conventions (i.e., the connection between Champagne and Gastronomy) and changes to key activations such as Le Table des Chefs
• Identification of a new passion pillar in Luxury Boutique Travel, opening an entirely new series of opportunities across Experiences, Content, and packaging to win the Last-three-feet
• Sharpening the activation of passion points such as Golf, focusing on digital engagement in local markets rather than expensive global initiatives and reducing costs

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Finalist

Basis
Gen Digital

Making consumers the cornerstone of brand portfolio strategy at the world’s #1 cyber safety company

NortonLifeLock and Avast merged in 2022 to form Gen Digital, a Fortune 500 business that brings cybersecurity, online privacy, and identity protection to 500 million users in more than 150 countries, through seven consumer-facing brands: Norton, Avast, Avira, AVG, LifeLock, CCleaner, and Reputation Defender. The merger aimed to create a market-leading brand portfolio while unlocking significant value creation through cost synergies.

This entry tells the story of how we used an innovative, consumer insight-led approach to define a new brand portfolio strategy for Gen that has resulted in:

• A decision to focus investment on just three core brands
• A new marketing operating model
• A new framework for product development
• A business-wide activation programme

Krista Todd, CMO at Gen, summarises the strategic impact of the project: “Our new insight-led portfolio strategy has improved our focus – we now prioritise driving consideration for our strongest brands and are on course to improve acquisition for those brands.”

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Finalist

The Nursery Research and Planning
Hearts and Science
Go.Compare

The Gio Compario Story: How research can revive the most distinctive of assets

Gio Compario is an advertising phenomenon. In the highly competitive price comparison market, he, and his appeal to “Go Comparrree,” enabled Go.Compare to punch above their media weight to establish itself as the number two brand in the market. As the company noted in its 2009 financial reports: “The [Gio] campaign helped consolidate our position and boosted brand awareness by 450% and turnover up 53%.” Gio is the classic example of a ‘distinctive asset’ (a visual and aural device that instantly brings the brand and category to mind).

However, after 10 years, there was a problem; growth was levelling off. High levels of spontaneous awareness were not converting into sales. Could research suggest a reason why and a way ahead?

This paper will set out how:

• Solid research techniques (a brand tracker)
• Innovative questions (brand, advertising, and asset)
• Clear, data-driven insight, and
• Bold decisions by agency and client

Combined to influence decision-making and evolve one of the UK’s most recognisable TV characters.

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Finalist

The Mix Global

The Future of Pizza

This project demonstrates the impact that a deep client-agency partnership can have when it comes to driving business decision-making. By baking in collaboration from the start, in the form of the innovative ‘Pizza University’ workshop and ‘Pizza Safari’ exercises, the project team ensured that all stakeholders were fully invested in the outcomes and no stone was left unturned when it came to reviewing existing data and previous initiatives.

Collaboration continued throughout the project, with The Mix acting as an extended workbench for the Nomad team and ensuring all decisions were made collectively. Workshop sprints, weekly check-ins, mid-point collaboration sessions, and pre-debrief reviews all contributed to clear communication and ensured an open mind to hard truths, crucial for the project's and brand's success.

Through its multi-faceted approach, combining knowledge review, retailer and expert interviews, digital ethnography, and consumer workshops, the research delivered a comprehensive strategy with clear, actionable steps to revitalise Goodfella's in the short term and drive category growth in the long term. Creative outputs including video, print graphics, and shelf mock-ups helped stakeholders to visualise the opportunity and align on the decisions required to turn the brand around.

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Finalist

Basis
Currys

Currys Stores: Converting spy and try into buy

The Currys’ senior leadership team had identified an opportunity to drive sales growth. Footfall and sales data indicated a large proportion of shoppers visiting stores but not buying. With stores located typically outside of towns and cities, why did customers make the effort to visit but not buy? We were tasked with identifying how to convert those spiers and triers into buyers.

We worked in partnership with the senior leadership team at Currys throughout. Three actions were taken as a result of the research, present in-store today. From new signage, website changes, and customer engagement plans rolled out to over 7,000 colleagues, the insight has driven real action.

Our work went right to the top at Currys. Bruce Marsh, Chief Financial Officer, commented, “The work done by Basis to examine ‘lost sales’ at Currys was invaluable. We’ve commissioned work on this area before, but Basis took in-store research to a whole new level with thoughtful perspectives and insightful suggestions on how we can improve our business.”

Following the success of this project, we are running this project quarterly covering different areas of the country.

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MRS B2B Network Award for Business-to-Business Research

Winner

Basis
Sage

Placing the customer at the heart of strategic decision making at Sage

In late 2023, the leadership team at Sage, the £12bn FTSE 100 technology firm, was running fast to formulate a five-year growth strategy. This entry tells how we used an innovative, multi-modal research approach, including AI analysis of online content, together with a deliberate, targeted stakeholder engagement programme, to successfully insert a customer narrative at the heart of the strategy development process.

And in doing so, how we:

• Won the customer a seat at the decision-making table in a historically ‘engineering-led’ organisation
• Inspired and informed the development of a market-first AI productivity assistant: Sage Copilot
• Provided a new ‘north star’ for marketing and communications at Sage
• Socialised the customer narrative across the organisation and beyond

Jon Cowan, Chief of Staff to the CEO at Sage, summarises the strategic impact of the project: “This insight struck a chord with our leadership… gave us the confidence that the signals we were seeing in the future market were being reflected by the needs of our customers on the ground. In doing so, the insights set the customer imperative for our new strategy and evidenced the headroom potential we can capture in our existing categories.”

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Winner

Opinium
Workspace
Sign Salad

Customer segmentation

Post-pandemic, attitudes towards where and how we work have fundamentally shifted. Factors like fluid working, ‘quiet quitting,’ and ‘The Great Resignation’ indicate a change in our relationship with work life and the role of the office. Recognising this, our client Workspace, London’s leading provider of flexible and customisable workspaces, wanted to understand how changing relationships with how we work have influenced business decision-making.

Often, B2B research focuses on ultra-rational ‘tick box’ factors. This project sought to challenge this precedent, exploring how B2B decisions are far more influenced by changing socio-cultural factors and emotional values than we traditionally acknowledge. The research combined a semiotic and cultural foresight phase that explored the shifting cultural narratives influencing employees and decision-makers in businesses, with an in-depth qualitative phase designed to have respondents react to this—capturing the human element of SME decision-making.

The result is a set of fully rounded, tangible, and realistic customer ‘archetypes’ focused as much on emotional and tonal needs as rational decision-making criteria. These have allowed Workspace to transform how they design and invest in new products and programmes, fundamentally shifting the business culture from a tactical product-first approach to a strategic people-first mindset.

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Highly Commended

VERVE
Sky Business

How to wake up the sleepwalkers
with Behavioural Science

The Sky name is synonymous with media and entertainment, both in the home and the leisure and hospitality industries. Sky Business, a challenger brand launched in 2021, offers a differentiated broadband proposition to the B2B market. However, with switching behaviour relatively sluggish, and with many businesses defaulting to BT, there was a need for insight that would go deeper than usual and unlock evidence-based changes that could be made to genuinely drive switching behaviours.

Combining Verve’s B2B expertise with our in-house Behavioural Science capabilities, we undertook carefully structured depth interviews across the SME market. Making use of the COM-B model of behaviour change, we explored the Capabilities, Opportunities and Motivations involved in switching broadband provider, as well as using laddering techniques to understand how to talk about benefits and business outcomes, and how to disrupt the ‘default to BT’.

This innovative approach to B2B research unlocked a genuinely game changing set of principles and behavioural nudges for Sky Business, which has allowed the business to develop campaigns in an evidence-based way. This means campaigns are focused around what customers want to see, hear and feel, in order to minimise barriers and galvanise them into switching.

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Finalists

Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Northstar/HarrisX

How innovative brand research helped the English brand of Cambridge University Press & Assessment capitalise on an opportunity to keep growing the world of English Language Learners

In 2022, Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUP&A) English launched Brand Cultivator (a brand tracker) to enable CUP&A English to grow their brand by communicating their history, ongoing innovation, and a customer experience (CX) that made the process of learning and assessment simple and accessible.

Brand Cultivator achieved this with an innovative method, combining:

• The laws of brand growth and behavioural science to inform communications, helping retain distinctive assets that signalled history, quality, and trust.
• CX measures inspired by the EAST framework to identify which CX touchpoints impact behaviour and inform new CX principles.
• Understanding how brand and CX worked together to drive increased perceptions of being ‘digital’ and ‘easy-to-use.’

Brand Cultivator united CUP&A English around insight, with over 100 attendees at debriefs (including board representatives) and more than 300 absorbing insights at a global insight event. As a result, Brand Cultivator influenced decisions regarding:

• Brand objectives
• Creative briefs
• Brand cheat sheets
• Research needs
• CX principles
• Onboarding processes

Brand Cultivator helped CUP&A English increase their number of brand users year-on-year (YOY):

• Brand users up by 7 percentage points YOY
• Brand consideration to usage conversion up by 8 percentage points YOY

This correlated with increasing revenue by 15% and operating profit by 31% YOY. Brand Cultivator should win this award for connecting innovative research, influencing decisions, brand growth, and business performance while helping CUP&A English grow English language learners' worlds.

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Finalists

Kantar
Google

SMEs Fight Back: How Google and Kantar are empowering SMEs against Cyber Baddies

Imagine if 43% of homes in Europe were burgled — a staggering statistic demanding action. That's the very real threat SMEs face online: our research revealed that 43% experienced a cyberattack in the past two years, costing the European economy billions annually. These businesses recognised the power of digitisation but were held back from reaching their growth potential due to fears of becoming more vulnerable online.

Google partnered with Kantar to go beyond alarming headlines and understand the specific challenges hindering SMEs, offering support while taking action by building tools to combat cyber threats. Our agile multi-method research revealed that a critical lever in enabling businesses to embrace digital growth was building skills and education within cybersecurity. This fueled a three-pronged action plan:

1. Raise awareness: We engaged industry leaders and policymakers to raise awareness of the urgent need for collective action and championing stronger SME cybersecurity.
2. Equip businesses: We addressed the skills gap head-on by launching a multi-level training programme, from free introductory courses to professional certifications, and support for cutting-edge security startups.
3. Build for the future: Google established a dedicated Safety Engineering Center driving European cybersecurity research and development through partnerships with universities.

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Finalists

Sage
STRAT7 Jigsaw

How Sage’s B2B community helped SMEs on the path to Net Zero

Sage wanted to get closer to its SME customers to help improve customer centricity. A community seemed to be the answer, but these are difficult to achieve with SMEs. Communities are generally the domain of consumer research and are often discounted for B2B because they’re too expensive or too difficult. A digital B2B community with this audience was ground-breaking.

Strat7 Jigsaw was able to set up an innovative SME community that was effective at improving customer closeness and providing impactful results. The online community used best-in-class and innovative approaches to ensure high levels of stakeholder engagement, effective participant recruitment (using a three-stage process), and effective participant engagement (utilising varied and relevant tasks, feedback, and incentivisation).

Critically, it produced actionable insights as demonstrated by the Sage Earth project (effectively a ‘community within the community’). This project was critical in helping Sage develop, test, and then launch a service for SMEs to track and reduce their CO2 emissions.

Sage’s B2B community is a great example of how what is often seen as a consumer methodology can be used for B2B research, providing a cost-effective, action-focused resource that had a tangible impact on Sage’s vision to help SMEs become carbon neutral.

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Finalist

Thinkbox

Cracking Creativity

Creativity is the gift that earns advertising its welcome. But creativity was failing. While advertising had been data and tech obsessed, creativity took a back seat and started to nod off. Thinkbox was guilty too.

We needed to re-equip the advertising industry with the means of selling commercial creativity – and its finest canvas, TV – to its clients. To do this, ‘Cracking Creativity’ employed a kaleidoscopic approach:

Advertising strategist Laurence Green’s practitioner-led qualitative study distilled wisdom from decorated creatives about how to foster environments where creativity can flourish and provided practical advice.

Accelero’s Paul Dyson quantified the financial reward of investing in creativity to provide marketers with evidence that executive boards appreciate. Neuro-Insight analysed their advertising databank to identify the creative variables that generate better results – arming creatives with science to help weave magic.

‘Cracking Creativity’ received enormous industry trade press coverage; 1,222 have watched the launch event; it’s been downloaded 1,720 times; it has graced influential stages across the globe.

It should win because creativity was declining, and this work thrust it into the limelight and, based upon research amongst and specifically for advertising practitioners, it armed the industry with the means to make creativity thrive again.

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Jeremy Bullmore Award for Creative Development 

Winner

The Ministry of Justice
His Majesty Prison & Probation Services
Thinks Insight & Strategy

A bold approach to recruitment: attracting and retaining HMPPS staff

We took an innovative in-situ approach to inform the creative development of a recruitment campaign for HMPPS, attending prisons and probation offices to interview and observe staff in the workplace and with the target audience who could be open to applying to these roles.

Since the campaign launch, the Ministry of Justice has seen the following impacts:

• A 200% increase in views of the prisons and probation jobs home page during the campaign period compared to the pre-campaign period.
• A 15% increase in those among the target audience who are considering the role, as measured in campaign tracking in March 2024.
• An increase of 138% in prison officer applications to high-priority prisons, where there was increased campaign spend.

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Finalists

BAMM
McDonald's
Leo Burnett

Insight for Change. How Behavioural Science-infused qualitative research reframed the Trust challenge for McDonald’s, creating an outstanding and effective creative campaign

Too often, the research industry is guilty of the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So the question becomes: how do you design insight for change?

In July 2023, 25% of the UK public were sceptical ‘fence-sitters’ (skewed 55+) regarding McDonald’s food quality, clinging to opinions formed in the 90s. The authoritative, persuasive, facts-based communication model was struggling to move the dial. Research was stuck in a post-rationalised rut.

Starting with the established Behavioural Economics Trust Framework “Competence; Benevolence and Integrity,” the research identified the levers that could shift people from an ‘Avoidance motivation’ to an ‘Approach motivation’ to build trust in McDonald’s food quality.

The research showed that three key shifts were required:

• From convincing to norming
• From brand voice to customer voice
• From facts to entertainment

Armed with this knowledge, a radically different creative idea was formulated. The campaign showcased negative views of McDonald’s food quality as comically out-of-date, revelling in the imagery, behaviours, and iconography of the 90s and 00s. It was rad!

This shifted McDonald’s Endorsement Score for ‘Good Quality Food’ among 55+ from 31% in July 2023 (pre-campaign launch) to 38% in January 2024 (post-launch).

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Finalists

Buzzback
Mondelez

How Philadelphia’s fortunes were transformed by reorienting the brand from a functional product-led positioning to a more meaningful human-centred proposition.

This is the story of how Philadelphia reversed declining share and penetration by reorientating the brand to a purposeful positioning and co-creating a successful creative platform, “You’ve Got a Friend in Philly.”

Applying transformative strategic thinking and engaging consumers far earlier in the process than had been done before, the team (Mdlz x buzzback) used innovative behavioural techniques (e.g., buzzback’s eCollage) to evolve a human-centric positioning that delivered both functionally and emotionally.

This was critical to Philadelphia’s success, as previous positionings and subsequent campaigns had failed to engage audiences due to being perceived as too cold and product-focused. The new creative platform was built on Philly’s product truth of being comfortingly creamy and its emotional benefit of helping create moments of closeness and connection.

The resulting campaign achieved breakthrough pre-test scores, delivered an uptick in both consideration and resonance in post-tracking results, and was deemed the most effective ad in its category, ever tested!

Within six months of launch—and amid a severe cost-of-living crisis—Philly reversed its long-term decline in market share and is already seeing increases in consumer penetration.

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Finalists

VCCP
Cowry Consulting

From insights to action: transforming smokers’ behaviour through a creative communication campaign

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the UK, comprising 66% of all litter. Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) aims to reduce this littering by 20% by 2025. To better understand smokers' implicit motivations, KBT commissioned the media company VCCP and Cowry Consulting, a behavioural science consultancy, to develop a behaviour change campaign using cutting-edge behavioural insights.

The research sought to identify barriers and drivers for littering, the most resonant messages for behaviour modification, and perceptions of the final campaign. Our approach combined qualitative and quantitative methods, including in-depth interviews with facial expression analysis and implicit response testing. This multimethod strategy identified key motivators and emotional triggers, revealing a disconnect between explicit environmental concerns and stronger implicit social connections.

We developed six creative ideas, testing their impact through self-report measures and emotional responses. The successful campaign message, combining humour, empathy, and social connection, was: “We know you’re not a litterer, but cigarette butts are rubbish.” This empathetic yet assertive approach effectively changed attitudes and reduced littering intentions by 57%.

The campaign was well-received, shifting public opinion and demonstrating that innovative research methodologies can significantly influence creative ideas and drive impactful behaviour change.

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Finalists

Basis
CRUK

Life is worth Racing for: Creating a bold new advertising route for Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life

Since 1994, more than 10 million people have participated in Race for Life, raising £970 million for Cancer Research UK. By the time you read this entry, participants will have covered distances of 3k, 5k, and 10k to fundraise this year.

In 2023, Basis collaborated with Cancer Research UK and its agencies to develop a new brand identity and launch a major new campaign for Race for Life. Together, we tackled the challenge of shifting deeply rooted perceptions of a well-known brand while remaining true to its essence to reach wider audiences.

Ultimately, Cancer Research UK was presented with two different routes from its creative agency, Anomaly: a radical change or a smaller refresh. Each performed well in qualitative testing, but based on what we heard from consumers and using a range of analytical tools – from archetype analysis to our creative evaluation framework – Basis built a strong recommendation for a bolder choice.

The brand relaunch and new campaign have driven increases in awareness, brand association, and consideration, and especially among key audiences, we’ve seen increased revenue from Race for Life.

This entry tells the story of that journey and how the final creative route was chosen.

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Financial Services Research

Winner

Gallup
World Bank

Global Findex

Financial services are essential to helping low-income households manage money and build wealth by facilitating safe, inexpensive, and convenient transactions, as well as investments in health, education, and businesses. For decades, however, there was no accurate or globally comparable source of data to quantify financial inclusion and identify gaps in access, especially not for underserved groups like women, youth, and rural residents.

Since 2011, the partnership between the Global Findex and Gallup has filled that data gap. It is the only global source of gender-disaggregated, harmonised, comparable insights into the financial challenges and opportunities facing people across the world. Updated once every three years, the Global Findex includes hundreds of indicators based on interviews with more than half a million people in over 140 countries.

The Global Findex database has become an invaluable source for development institutions, including the United Nations, which uses it to establish and track progress on the Sustainable Development Goal 8.10.2 on financial inclusion; the G20, which uses it to monitor progress in member countries; and over 20 nations, which use it to define their national financial inclusion strategies and track progress.

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Finalists

CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably)
MoneySuperMarket
UM
Dynata

Money Talks

Since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis, suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) has seen a 43% increase in calls to their helpline regarding financial difficulties impacting mental health. To fulfill their mission to stand together against feeling hopeless and to show that life is always worth living, CALM teamed up with MoneySuperMarket Group, UM, and Dynata to understand how they can get people talking about how financial difficulties are impacting their mental health so that people can get help before it is too late.

The objective was to explore how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting mental health and how CALM and other organizations can help break the societal taboo of talking about finances. The findings uncovered new insights, from which CALM and MoneySuperMarket created an influential marketing campaign to encourage people to start conversations about money and mental health. Key outcomes include:

• 3,000+ visitors to CALM's landing page during the campaign period
• National, regional, and trade coverage of the research results and campaign
• Engaged 2 MPs and 1 former MP (Luciana Berger, who is leading a cross-party government review of suicide rates and improving mental health services across the UK, in attendance at the launch event)

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Finalists

Fair4All Finance
NatWest Group
Ipsos UK
ClearView Research

Levelling the playing field: Building inclusive access to financial services for people from minority ethnic groups

Around one in five people from minority ethnic groups have experienced discrimination due to race when dealing with financial providers (22%) or have friends or family who have done so (24%)*. Viewing financial services through this lens is sobering and required a different way to research consumer experiences. This work was a collaboration driven by Fair4All Finance, alongside NatWest Group, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and StepChange Debt Charity with research firms Ipsos UK and ClearView Research.

Objectives:

• Improve understanding of the financial lives and needs of minority ethnic groups
• Explore how financial services can be more inclusive
• Gather evidence on what works well

The research had multiple strands to form a 360 view. This included quantitative and qualitative techniques but also ‘Exploration Labs’, expert interviews, literature review, knowledge audit, and co-creation. In addition, two strands focused on driving action:

1. A lived experience advisory group made of participants representing minority ethnic groups who informed each phase, providing accountability and insight throughout.
2. A practitioner group comprising the main banking providers and challengers who participated in the research process, and subsequently meet regularly to share best practices and implement the findings to ensure change.

*Source: IPSOS Minority Ethnic Groups Research

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Finalists

Lloyds Banking Group
Dectech

An understanding of understanding: Measuring and improving comprehension of financial communications for the Consumer Duty

This project showcases a unique, customised approach to evaluating consumer understanding of financial communications. Developed in partnership between Lloyds Banking Group and Dectech, we have built a science-backed, rapid, scalable, objective test to evaluate consumer understanding of both the purpose and language of financial communications. The test is suitable for a wide variety of communications and audiences. Innovative methods, including AI-powered summaries and heatmaps, have enabled tailored feedback on a high volume of communications.

The test has been deployed in a bank-wide program of testing, covering hundreds of communications and tens of thousands of consumers. Regular reviews and meta-analysis of the testing data have been used to drive continuous learning and improvement in communications across the bank, which will lead to better outcomes for customers.

This project not only meets the requirements of the FCA's Consumer Duty and benefits LBG in terms of improved standards of communication with their customers, but also sets a benchmark for the wider market and consumers, showing that clear and comprehensible communication in the financial sector is achievable. This project has set the standard for objectively testing and improving consumer understanding, which is why we believe it should win this award.

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Finalist

VERVE
Principality Building Society

Climbing the Ladder: Exploring the highs, lows and experiences of aspiring homeowners on their journey to property ownership.

Verve collaborated with Principality Building Society to tackle the growing challenges faced by first-time homebuyers in today's challenging market. We launched a multifaceted research programme to explore the homebuying journey and ensure the needs of aspiring homeowners were embedded into PBS's strategy.

Key components of our approach included an in-depth cultural analysis of the homebuying landscape, a 4-month online community providing real-time insights into the homebuying process, and depth interviews and focus groups with a diverse cohort of participants. Critically, our innovative use of Artificial Intelligence ensured that the insights would live on far beyond the final debrief, with our bespoke AI model facilitating ‘interactions’ between PBS stakeholders and the five homebuyer personas to foster empathy and guide product development.

Our research highlighted the emotional and financial challenges faced by first-time homebuyers, the importance of nuanced support, and the need for inclusive, representative marketing. The insights we provided are driving new product propositions and have already influenced PBS's approach to supporting aspiring homeowners.

By combining innovative methodologies, stakeholder engagement, and cutting-edge AI, this programme positions Verve and PBS as leaders in understanding and meeting the needs of first-time buyers in the financial services sector.

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Media Research

Winner 

Internet Matters
BMG Research

The Digital World: A New Framework for Measuring its Impact on Children

A new framework for measuring the impact of the digital world on our children

The digital world offers children creativity and fun, yet many face online harms, including bullying and exposure to extreme content. Addressing these dangers while preserving the benefits of digital engagement is a key policy challenge of our age.

Children’s online lives are often discussed simplistically—as unequivocally good or bad. Together Internet Matters and BMG Research have changed that through a unique and holistic mixed-methods study. It is grounded in academic thinking and uses a 360-degree perspective to assess the digital world’s impact on emotional, social, developmental, and physical wellbeing. It combines parent and child perspectives and the positives and negatives.

BMG has made the index information accessible to non-technical audiences, highlighting the key stories emerging from index shifts. The index findings have been further brought to life by targeted qualitative research showcasing young girls’ experiences.

This study is truly a unique resource. As the Online Safety Act is enforced, the findings have garnered significant media and policymaker attention. The study has informed Internet Matters' advice to parents and driven action from tech companies and regulators to make the online world a safer place.

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Finalists

MESH Experience
Boots Media Group

The 170-Year-Old Influencer – rethinking the role of retail media for Boots Media Group

Retail Media is a hot topic! Whilst historically perceived as a lower-funnel activity, FMCG marketers are increasingly interested in its role within the path to purchase and opportunities for building brand equity.

Boots Media Group (BMG) wanted to explore the impact its media had on four beauty brands using an innovative Real-time Experience Tracking approach.

We discovered that marketers are missing out! This 170-year-old Trusted Influencer brings such credibility that after AdCard customers have heard Boots mention a beauty brand, they’re twice as likely to become recommenders when compared with those who have not heard about it from Boots (NPS).

Not only does retail media build partner brands’ equity, BMG builds it in an extraordinarily powerful way, impacting their NPS.

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Finalist

Mindshare UK

Unlocking Audience Insights & Multi-Channel Activation with Geo

In today’s fragmented media landscape, where traditional targeting methods are losing effectiveness, this project presents a groundbreaking solution: leveraging geo-location data as a powerful tool for understanding and reaching audiences. Recognising that location serves as a proxy for consumer mindset and behaviour, we've developed a methodology that transcends the limitations of single-source data.

By unifying diverse datasets through a common geo-identifier, we maintain audience consistency throughout the entire media planning and buying journey, ensuring that insights remain sharp and actionable. This enables truly holistic multi-channel activation, with demonstrably powerful results.

For example, an FMCG brand achieved a remarkable 100% sales uplift. This success stems from the precision targeting, dynamic creative optimisation, and robust measurement capabilities unlocked by geo-data. Our approach represents a futureproofed solution for navigating the complexities of the modern media landscape, delivering superior results, and setting a new standard for data-driven media strategy.

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Finalist

MTM
BBC

TikTok: behind the filter – is it an opportunity or a threat to the BBC?

TikTok has changed the face of social media, shaking up how people consume content which informs, educates, and entertains. This directly challenges the BBC's core mission – making TikTok a potential existential threat to the organisation. The BBC and MTM worked together to examine the challenge thoroughly, using rigour and innovative bespoke techniques, identifying how to extract better value from the platform.

The impact has been far-reaching, being referenced in the House of Lords, presented to the BBC Director General and Executive Committee, showcased across the organisation, and workshopped with product teams so that the insights can be implemented. This has led to new ways of thinking in terms of how the BBC creates content for TikTok and the way that it extracts value from it – leading to record-breaking results.

This research has instigated a cultural change within the organisation – from the content creators to the highest echelons – and dramatically transformed the BBC’s content and performance on TikTok.

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Finalist

Tapestry
BBC

BBC Media Moments: When content meets people

In a diverse and competitive media landscape, how can The BBC be chosen more often by more people in a wider variety of situations? The BBC has the envious USP of being Netflix, Spotify, Sky News, and The Athletic all rolled into one. Having a common understanding of the media decision-making drivers, and how a range of formats differently meet similar needs, is central to leveraging that competitive advantage.

Indeed, this research shows that the competitive set for any media no longer resides in a single medium. Understanding common needs across formats therefore gives the BBC a competitive advantage in trying to be chosen more often by more people, within that platform-agnostic media moment. It’s a simple question, but it required a mix of ideas, techniques, advanced analytics, and tools from the past and all the way to the cutting-edge present to answer. It’s not the first time this topic has been researched, but it is – we believe – the first time it has been done with this fantastic array of approaches and concepts. It’s also the first time it has such a broad lens, encompassing all media formats with an almost crazy sense of ambition.

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Public Policy/Social Research

Winner

Verian

Video Sharing Platforms – helpful or harmful?

Video Sharing Platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok present content which entertains and informs, but unfortunately also includes depictions of violence, hate speech, and other items that risk causing psychological, physical, or financial harm. Ofcom oversees the regulatory regime which requires UK-established VSPs to include measures and processes that protect users from the risk of viewing harmful content. However, there is limited evidence about how effective VSPs’ measures are, how users interact with them, and what works best. To provide this for Ofcom, Verian developed a cutting-edge VSP simulation to research users’ real behaviours in response to a range of interventions.

Our experiments showed that introducing new elements to the VSP environment can enable more informed viewing choices and encourage reporting of potentially harmful content, but also that standard features of existing VSPs may mitigate against these protective actions. This entry is award-worthy because the studies used a highly innovative approach to answer important public policy questions that could not be tackled through traditional methods, as well as contributing to the evidence base that Ofcom is building to inform the Online Safety regulatory framework. These online randomised controlled trials also established a strong framework for Ofcom’s further experimental work.

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Finalists

Verian

Amplifying the voices of social housing residents in England to deliver social housing reform

The Grenfell Tower tragedy and the death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak due to damp and mould are shocking examples of the worst consequences when residents’ voices are dismissed by landlords. While social housing should provide comfortable and secure accommodation, many residents live in substandard and unsafe homes. In 2021, the Prime Minister acknowledged failings in the sector and announced wide-scale reforms to improve the quality of social housing. To give residents a voice in the future development of policy, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities created the Social Housing Quality Resident Panel, a panel of 250 residents from across the country. It was vital that the design of the panel demonstrated to residents and the wider sector that this was not a ‘tick box’ for resident engagement, but a genuine listening exercise to shape government policies. This groundbreaking panel gives residents the unique opportunity to speak directly to government about key issues impacting social housing quality. To date, the panel has helped shape much-needed policy reforms that will both give greater powers to those living in social housing, including Awaab’s Law and the Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRS).

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Finalists

Impact on Urban Health
Opinium
ClearView Research

A community-led approach to understanding health and wellbeing in Lambeth and Southwark

Impact on Urban Health works to improve health equity across Lambeth and Southwark, but were missing granular data on the relationship between health outcomes and social inequalities. The challenge was to design a research programme to achieve breadth and depth on a sensitive topic in two of the most diverse parts of London, and to fulfill Impact on Urban Health’s mission to improve health and wellbeing without being extractive.

To involve the community from the start, we convened a co-creation group, recruiting residents as community researchers to inform the research focus and design, topics, and even question wording. Qualitative exploration labs ran alongside a mixed-methods survey employing CATI, online panels, and an extensive community outreach programme. Researchers engaged charities and civil society organisations to reach those they support and hear from people of all backgrounds. The sample of 5,300 covered every ward in each borough.

The results were presented at events open to the community and local organisations. It will inform Impact on Urban Health’s work for years to come as well as the health strategies of both councils. The project represents the power of community-led research, bringing those most affected by decisions into the rooms where they are made.

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Finalists

Lacuna Agency

Removing the roadblocks to self-driving

Imagine being in a self-driving car, tempted to play a computer game while the car takes over the driving, yet required by law to be ready to take control. It’s like having a chauffeur demanding you keep your hands near the wheel constantly. In the world of automated vehicles, understanding what passengers can safely do while their car drives itself is crucial. The Department for Transport (DfT) needed to identify tasks safe for passengers and those too immersive to ensure timely takeover.

In collaboration with UCL and Loughborough University, Lacuna Agency (formerly 7th Sense UK) created an innovative metric for assessing Situation Awareness (SA) during the takeover phase. Our novel approach combined eye-tracking, in-cab GoPro observations, and driving performance metrics to build a holistic picture of drivers' SA. We ranked non-driving activities (e.g., watching documentaries or doing a wordsearch) from most distracting to least, by evaluating whether drivers checked road signs, glanced at mirrors, and fully disengaged from non-driving tasks when taking back control.

Our findings will inform the development of government policy on self-driving vehicles.

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Sustainability Research

Winner

Mindshare UK

Accidentally Sustainable: Unlocking the Power of Unintentional Green Behaviours

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Finalist

CSpace
Jaguar Land Rover

JLR & Sustainable Modern Luxury – a new paradigm for autobrands

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has launched the REIMAGINE initiative to embed ethics, sustainability, and social impact into their strategy. C Space contributed a human-centric perspective to this, focusing on JLR’s shift from Premium to Modern Luxury. Our research addressed key questions about the role of sustainability in modern luxury, engagement in the powertrain transition, brand-specific approaches, and JLR's corporate role.

We found internal resistance to electrification, so we aimed to inspire both consumers and JLR employees about its benefits. Our comprehensive research spanned 7 countries and included stakeholder interviews, semiotics, and expert insights. We engaged JLR teams through shared analysis sessions, workshops, and internal films to foster enthusiasm for sustainability.

The final report outlined five key truths about sustainability in modern luxury, emphasizing JLR's need to lead by example. This work has established the foundation for JLR's sustainability strategy, empowering their teams and informing future developments.

We deserve this award for pioneering work that used consumer research, collaboration, and creativity to drive cultural and strategic change at JLR.

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Finalists

SGN
STRAT7 Jigsaw

Preparing for a Net Zero Future: How consumers helped shape SGN's 5 year business plan

The research programme designed by STRAT7 Jigsaw for SGN explored customer perspectives to inform SGN’s business plan and focused on how they could contribute to achieving Net Zero targets. Given low public awareness of SGN and the complex nature of their environmental obligations, STRAT7 Jigsaw designed an innovative, online, multiphased engagement.

The programme included two large-scale, deliberative engagements and quantitative surveys, ensuring that diverse customer voices were heard. Alongside the core phases, an online panel, "Beyond the Pipeline," provided continuous feedback, allowing iterative refinements to SGN’s strategy based on ongoing insights.

This approach led to significant, demonstrable impacts on SGN’s strategy. Customer feedback helped SGN prioritise key investment areas (two of which are environmental). Positive feedback on biomethane as a carbon-neutral alternative to natural gas led SGN to engage suppliers to increase production. Finally, SGN will be deciding bill increases based on customer feedback conducted during the quantitative research, where possible.

This programme’s innovative methodology with tangible strategic impacts sets a benchmark for similar regulated industries. It provides a model for engaging customers in shaping sustainable and economically viable plans as consumers, industry, and nation grapple with vital yet challenging environmental targets, making it a strong contender for the award.

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Finalists

Southern Water
Dectech

Case Study Entry: Improving Environmental Sustainability at Southern Water

Southern Water’s innovative project tackled future water shortages by leveraging behavioural science to drive consumer water conservation. Facing an anticipated shortfall of 1 billion litres per day by 2040, Southern Water, in partnership with Dectech, developed a pioneering approach to influence consumer behaviour. The initiative began with workshops utilising the MINDSPACE framework to brainstorm and refine water-saving messages. These messages were tested using Dectech's novel ‘Behaviourlab’ randomised controlled trial (RCT) methodology.

Demonstrable outcomes include a significant increase in water-conserving behaviours and tech adoption among participants. The research identified that messages from trusted environmental partners and those that evoked personal motivators like self-consistency were most effective. Key insights showed that personalised messages and clear calls-to-action significantly impacted water conservation efforts. This research not only shaped Southern Water’s current and future campaigns but also demonstrated the importance of using diverse research methods to tackle the industry's problems.

We believe this entry should win the award due to its groundbreaking use of behavioural science in water conservation, the tangible impact on consumer behaviour, and the strategic shift it prompted within Southern Water. This project sets a benchmark for the industry, showcasing how innovative research can address critical environmental challenges and drive sustainable practices.

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Finalists

VERVE
Cadent

Cadent Net Zero and Behaviour Change

With climate change a key global issue, Cadent commissioned Verve to explore the net zero transition in the UK and Europe, to understand both barriers and enablers of sustainable behaviour change. Given the complexity of the topic, Verve developed a 360° methodology using Verve’s in-house expertise in primary and secondary research. This included a culture and trends literature review, in-depth expert interviews, social media analysis, and a quantitative survey.

In combination, these data sources allowed us to develop a nuanced story, revealing that individuals are not inherently resistant to change, but there is resistance to change given that key conditions to facilitate change aren’t met. Our ‘Momentum of Change’ model highlights four spheres of influence, including leadership, infrastructure, communication, and individual actions, that must work cohesively to enable and encourage sustainable behaviours, requiring collaboration across government, industry, and citizens.

Cadent is taking decisive action to support the net zero transition, and the work has directly informed its stakeholder engagement, strategic initiatives, policy recommendations, industry leadership on vulnerability, and RIIO3 Business Plan proposals. The research has also impacted how Cadent delivers net zero internally and for customers, including customer-centric solutions, investment in new technologies, improved communication strategies, and internal decarbonisation efforts.

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