JAY OWENS
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  • Dust
  • Writing
  • Talks
  • Work
  • Reading
  • Instablog
JAY OWENS
I work in consumer insight, with a focus on media and technology research.

I mostly work - and work best - on early stage, big picture 'discovery' projects, used by my clients for brand strategy and innovation work. I explain culture. I map the needs, behaviours and mindsets of target audiences - e.g. software developers, Millennials, or high-end whisky drinkers. And I help companies act; unlike most research you've seen before, my work isn't reportage. It's 50% recommendation - and 50% why.

I worked at Pulsar in London from 2010 to July 2019 - before that in public policy research. My focus is nominally social data research, but in practice this has grown increasingly methodologically agnostic: I also use interviewing, mobile ethnography, multi-market 10,000 participant surveys, & so on. I like building teams with complementary skillsets, triangulating a problem from a few different angles, and working with both quantitative & qualitative data (the what and the why).

Got a projects, a speaking opportunities - or seeking mentorship, coffee & support for building your career in insight? Please don't hesitate to get in touch: info@newriver.ltd

Most of my work is obviously under NDA, but here's a few things I can share.

Media research, data visualisation & press coverage
  • Tumblr & Social TV (2014) - Ad Age, Adweek
  • How Video Goes Viral (2013) -  Twitter blog, YouTube data visualisations, Guardian, Mashable
  • How Stuff Spreads (2013) - on Research-Live.com, download

Technology research:
  • White paper: 'Leveraging social data to build better navigational tools: closing the gender gap in map usage' - Pulsar blog, HERE blog

Research methods and best practice:
  • IPA social media guide 'Integrated Not Isolated: How to improve customer insight by embracing social media data' (2016)  - IPA blog, download
  • Book chapter: '10 tactics for rigour in social media market research' in NSMNSS (New Social Media, New Social Science) ebook Social Media in Social Research - Amazon.co.uk, Pulsar blog
  • Article: 'Social insight: Who is the audience on social media?' in WARC's Admap journal 
  • Article: 'The strange state of social media in market research' - on Research-Live.com
  • Blog post: 'How to get into trend forecasting' - Tumblr
​
Conferences, talks & training workshops:
Market Research Society IMPACT annual conference, every year 2016-2019
  • Most recently moderating a session on 'The Futurist's Toolkit' featuring Anab Jain of Superflux, Scott Smith of Changeist, and sci fi narratives author & researcher, Paul Graham Raven 
  • 2019 writeup: Futurology: A Way to 'Bridge the gap between complex data and the decision-makers' (Research-Live.com)
  • 2018 writeup: Social Media: 'No Longer on the Lunatic Fringe of Research' (Research-Live.com)

​MRS Customers Exposed (2016)
Marketing Week Live (2015)
Insight Innovation Exchange (2014)
Training for ESOMAR (2014-2017) and Association of Qualitative Researchers (2017).