In 2015, PayPal stood on the brink of a new and exciting future as it parted company with eBay and prepared its new independence and launch on NASDAQ. In light of this, the brand sought to redefine itself in the context of a highly dynamic and competitive marketplace. Firefish partnered with PayPal in an innovative research project that delivered new and compelling insight as to how the brand could address the unmet needs of 5 billion people across the world who were being underserved my money and financial services. This paper picks up the story of what happened after the research and how the insight inspired the senior PayPal team and prompted a diverse and successful marketing campaign.
Traditional interviewing is heavily reliant on recall and reporting accuracy by a subject. New technology such as wearable lifelogging camera technology allows ethnographic information to be captured passively and over long periods of time. This passive capture information creates a more pure, detailed and accurate record of what happens in people's lives than has been available to researchers in the past. The exploration and analysis of this new data set creates great opportunities for client innovation against a template of existing behaviour and unmet needs that was previously much more difficult to access and use.
This paper highlights how this change in the research environment has created a greater need than ever to consider relevant context throughout the research process- from project planning right trough to analysis and reporting. It argues that common 'traditional' market research practice evolved as much to bring convenience as it has to bring ever better answers to client briefs. The benefit of this approach are well illustrated by the case study that forms the basis of this paper where new fibre optic technology from BT was allows to positioning itself in the lives of UK internet users.
The paper explores how the global communication campaign for the 2006 Axe variant 'Click' was researched using evolutionary insights as a foundation. A multi-layered approach comprising desk-research, expert interviews and consumer groups validated the core communications idea without a single script being researched. Creative use of filming techniques then ensured buy-in at every level.