We were nominated for the best new methodology at the 2007 ESOMAR conference for our 'Campaign Against Why'.

Although we didn't win, we think the point is still an important one. As researchers, we've have spent much of the past 60 years asking consumers ‘why?’. But we are also good scientists and psychologists, so we know that people don’t know ‘why’, in fact modern psychology is entirely based upon the premise that people don’t know ‘why’ and that we need to understand why by using far more clever and sophisticated approaches than simply asking the question. If you'd like to know more about how we do this, please contact Steve on steve@springresearch.co.uk

Spring's latest exciting product is 'Culture Track' - a service helping brands spot cultural changes that will enable them to pursue new business opportunities.

It uses techniques such as semiotics, and expert and biographical consumer interviews, and is the brainchild of Stephen Phillips and Sarah Hamburger.

To celebrate the launch of 38th Floor Unlimited (Spring, MESH Planning and Tuned In), a group of companies dedicated to doing things differently in research, we ran a fringe event around the official Market Research Society Conference in Brighton on 22nd March.

We had a number of speakers from the advertising world including Mark Earls at our Pecha Kucha event. It certainly seemed to liven things up and luckily everyone got into the spirit of it. There is more information about the event on www.researchliberationfront.com

Mark Earls new book "HERD: How to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature" uses Spring's work as a case study on understanding the influence of social networks on purchasing behaviour. "The profound truth.unearthed is this: understanding purchase from the point of view of the herd is the place to start in defining your target".

Stephen Phillips invited to speak at the AMA (American Marketing Association) conference in Phoenix. The speech on Snakes and Ladders marketing is very well received:

"Just wanted to tell you "thank you" once again for participating in the conference. You added some truly fresh thoughts to the program" (Marjette Stark, Conference Chairperson).

The judges said that "Spring's innovative new thinking coupled with youth, strong growth and a great client list set it apart from the competition".

As the BMRA spokesperson commented, our "extremely effective research greatly impressed the judges. Spring Research's success was backed up by a highly innovative theory".

Stephen Phillips and Fiona Blades awarded the MRS Best New Thinking award for the development of the Snakes and Ladders approach.