What We Do .
Our Approach .
No two clients are the same, and we believe every client deserves its own plan and branding, rather than a cookie-cutter approach. Collaboration is key, and we approach every project as a partnership between us, our client, and the entire team.
Whether electing a candidate or branding a corporation, we focus on building a broader image and perception, not about specific issues. Issues, rather, are the elements used to frame and inform the image and perceptions that we need to drive.
First and foremost, a pollster needs to approach each project in a neutral tone and cannot be afraid to call things like we see them. A pollster doesn’t just set the message or thematic; she is responsible for making sure that communications adhere to that message to achieve our client’s goals.
Our research and analysis are singularly centered on producing actionable data that builds a thematic and communications plan that keeps the debate on the message paradigm we have defined. Generally, we begin our analysis by understanding how and why we could lose a given race or effort, and from that understanding, we devise a strategy that minimizes those pitfalls, yet engenders a strong contrast on key issues. We use advanced statistical analysis methods, such as multivariate regression analysis, to define specific issue perceptions and candidate attributes that correlate to the voting decision, allowing us to understand the critical debates we need to win.
What we can do for you.
- Take you or your organization’s beliefs, experiences, and attributes and help you define those into a salient message construct.
- Identify a sound strategy and target demographic and geographic audiences.
- Help manage your communications team to make sure that paid communications adhere to the message and are focused at the right audiences.
Our services .
quantitative research
Survey research is constantly changing and has changed dramatically over the two decades we have worked in the industry. We insist on a unique approach to every project to determine whether a telephone-only survey, an online survey, a text-to-web survey, or a survey that incorporates all of these modes is the best fit for each and every client.
Regardless of how it is administered, a survey is a snapshot in time and should be viewed as such. Importantly, however, a poll should NOT just tell you what percentage of people support or oppose an idea or candidate; rather, it should be a roadmap that shows you an indication of why people hold the opinions that they do, what information could possibly change those opinions and what audiences are most persuadable and open to shifting their opinions. Importantly, it will also tell you which audiences are not persuadable and should not be targeted, saving valuable resources in the long run.
Focused on
- Baseline Survey
- Tracking surveys
- Multivariate analysis
- Internet-based surveys
Qualitative research
The COVID pandemic has clearly shifted the in-person research paradigm, but we have adapted as needed, offering, live online focus groups and ethnographies in addition to in-depth interviews and opinion leader research. We look forward to normalcy and returning fully to in-person qualitative work.
We firmly believe in-person qualitative research should meet people where they are, not just in the confines of a stale focus group facility, from conducting ethnographies in people’s homes to meeting at a local coffee shop to holding “barber shop sessions” where our researchers simply listen to back-and-forth commentary on Saturday mornings and afternoons.
We construct our qualitative research around demographically homogenous audiences, which promote more open and productive exchanges among participants, and we utilize like-racial and bilingual moderators when conducting research among communities of color so that participants will feel more comfortable expressing their opinions and beliefs.
Focused on
- In-person and Online Focus Groups
- Ethnographies
- In-depth interviews
- Media Testing
Issue and Policy Work
We have extensive experience working to create effective messages that communicate, advance and/or defend our clients’ positions and interests that have a direct impact on public policy. Through quantitative, qualitative, and opinion leader research, we develop a broad and deep understanding of the costs and benefits involved in an issue, rather than simply focusing on gut reactions and preconceived notions of a business or industry. We have worked with public affairs firms, private companies, non-profit organizations, and industry coalitions.
Our issue work has not only involved public policy debates but also extends to corporate branding and community relations as well as helping businesses and organizations.
Focused on
- Economic development
- Education and college affordability
- Gaming
- Health care insurance access and affordability
- Expanding insurance coverage to the uninsured, particularly children
- Energy
- Smart growth and land use
- Transportation and infrastructure
- Tax policy and selling tax increases
- Increasing response and participation rates in advocacy and fundraising programs