My first project

My training at NeedScope is going well. I'm at a stage where I have realised there are a lot of things I don't know yet. That's a lot better than knowing everything, because it holds promise. By the end of my six month training, I will be a true NeedScope expert.

At the moment I am working on the project with Israel, that I told you about last week. It's a great project, because it's fast, it's full on and it's mine. Collaborating with the Israelis is very easy. They are timely, structured and professional, I just have to be the same and I am sure it will be a great success.

Sending Brad off

Senior researcher, Brad, left for UK this week. Sad to see him go, but I guess that was part of the reason both Eri and I were hired. What's even better is it meant another goodbye celebration. We went to The Oakroom, a restaurant next door to the office for lunch and later to Sweat Shop Brew Bar for drinks.

The restaurants in our area all seem to be brand new and stylish

Trying new food

I like to buy all sorts of food, that I don't know. I'll often buy food, just because I've never seen it before. The best is if I can buy something I don't even know what is. That's great. But less can do. New product varieties, local fruit variants and all things Asian are good too.

Obviously, when you don't know what you are buying you are bound to be surprised. It's a hit and miss kind of thing. This week for example, I cooked a curry that almost killed Andrew (miss) and had a plum soup soft drink (hit!).

My throat burned from inhaling chili filled air while I made this

I like the label and the heavy non standard can.
Product name: Plum Soup
Ingredients: Plum Soup

Goodbye Anika

This week we said goodbye to Anika. She is going away on secondment to Singapore for 6 six months. I first met Anika three months ago. She welcomed me into the Research Association NZ and trusted me to write a the main feature article. That time feels like a distant memory - so much has happened since...

The biggest change is of course that I am now an employee of NeedScope. I am gradually gaining experience and I have this week received my first real consultancy task. I will be leading a project with a client in Israel. I'm really excited about it, but also slightly nervous. I wonder what it will be like to work with a study that is being conducted in Hebrew!

Korean lunch
To celebrate the final day of Anika we all went out for lunch. In the area around our office there are lots of great, upscale lunch restaurants. We went to a Korean place and had delicious, authentic dishes seated in a beautifully decorated reserved part of the restaurant.

The floor at our table was raised to create an
 illusion of sitting on the floor

Great food in sizzling hot stone pot.
I definitely prefer wooden chopsticks 

Visit from previous flatmates
This Sunday we had a visit from Jerome and Yat Min. They both used to live here and they still like to come around sometimes. They like board games too, so we had a big game of Agricola.

Sin Yat was quite upset that his family members starved this game,
but he redeemed himself by winning the next game we played

Back in Auckland

It's been a cold and sunny winter week. I saw frost for the first time in Auckland this morning and Sin Yat told me it was the first time he had ever seen that in Auckland. It must have been below zero last night, but that's difficult to believe now in the afternoon. My new-ish flatmate Thomas is sitting outside in the sun in shorts and t-shirt eating a Sandwich.

Hi Thomas

Welcome back, Thomas
Thomas moved in just before I left for Brisbane last week. He used to live here, but he has been in Montreal, Canada for three months. Before returning to Auckland he spent a month in Europe and I was surprised to learn that he has been in Denmark. A lot of Kiwis would find it cold there (even in late spring), but I think he enjoyed his time in my home country. But he liked Montreal even better. He found himself a girlfriend there and is talking about moving there permanently. But until he does, he is part of the large family here.

Finding the rhythm
After an exciting week, I find it quite enjoyable to return to my everyday life. Work is great, I like being there and I like what I do. It's good to be with the family again, dipping in the spa, playing board games, having nice wine and going to church as I have come to expect. Also, I like just being here in Auckland. It has become my home and I like the familiarity of a walk on Mairangi Bay beach or along sunset road where you get the most amazing view of the city in the orange glow of the setting sun.

On a clear day like this you can see Coromandel, 50 km away

Dinosaurs
There's been a bit of a dinosaur theme this week. Thursday we watched Jurrassic World in the cinema and today we are going to play a dinosaur board game. I was not very impressed with the movie, but I didn't expect much either. The dinosaurs were beautifully animated, but I feel like the script might be even worse than that of the previous films. I'm more excited about the board game. I've spent almost 3 hours reading rules and reviews and I have even watched a few YouTube clips about it.

In The Sunshine State

It's been an amazing week. The girls and I have been on a vacation in Brisbane, Australia. That's at the top of Australia, so it is always hot there. In these cold winter times, we still had 20+ degrees and lots of sun most days.

Theme parks
Aside from excellent weather, Brisbane is known for theme parks. The girls and I purchased super passes, so we could enter three of them for a good price.

Movie World
Movie World is a roller coaster park with a classic Warner Brothers theme. We spent a full day trying all of the rides. I liked the Arkham Asylum extreme inverted roller coaster best. Tilde screamed her loungs out on the fast superman ride and Louise loved the Scoobie Doo comical horror ride. The weather was winter-like (for Brisbane), with a few showers and a temperature just shy of twenty degrees, but to us it seemed good. It was nice to have shorter queue times and during the showers we went for indoor rides and a 4D movie.

You had fair shot at meeting a superhero on this boulevard

To superman this is but a small bump on the road

Sea World
Tuesday we did not plan to visit another theme park, but after a tanning session on Gold Coast beach we decided to visit Sea World on our way home. It was a short visit, but we did see both the dolphin show and the jet ski stunt show. The dolphins were amazing! Everyone loves dolphins, but I think I can appreciate their strength and form even more because of my own affinity with water.

Absolutely phenomenal dolphin show

Wet and Wild
Lived up to its name with surprisingly extreme water rides. The Aqualoop is a favourite. Watch a ride in the video below.

It's pretty tense when they lock you in the tube

and count down to the drop

We spent a full day in swimwear, splashing about in the park. Wet'n'Wild is my favourite of the three theme parks we visited.

Gold Coast
The couple of days we went to the Gold Coast again. We enjoyed ourselves tanning in the sun on the beach, swimming in the sea and shopping.

Gold Coast is an awesome city

Strong currents, a hard shorebreak and a blazing sun.
A surf lifeguard dream.

Fancy name, but Australians surf everywhere

Brissie at night
Friday we went out. We found a nice Japanese BYO restaurant and initially had no idea how to order. The waitress helped us. We discussed and noted our orders on a notepad and then this arrived.

Barbecue like this is called yakiniku

We went on to party at some very nice bars.

These drinks are as different as our personalities

The night life in Brisbane is loud, retro, exquisite or full of Asians. You can find whatever you like within a single city block.

Bye girls

It was not without sadness when we hugged goodbye. We won't meet in New Zealand again, because the girls are flying back to Denmark in one short month.

Love you girls

NeedScope Philosophy

At work, I'm not working much. It's pretty cool, actually. Instead of pushing me to work hard, my directors are committed to my training and integration into the team. They make me read books, do exercises and give me lectures that remind me of uni.

Business plan
It makes sense, once you understand our business. Our NeedScope model is a psychological framework that is used in 80 countries around the world by our much larger mother company, TNS. We are experts on the use of NeedScope and spend most of our time helping TNS offices do better research for their clients and promoting best practice NeedScope use.

We do project work ourselves too, but that is not our main source of revenue. In fact, we do it mostly to become better consultants and to innovate the Needscope model and software.

Training
So I need training. A lot of training. I must become an expert researcher, with the ability to advise other professionals. All of that appeals to me, so I am doing my best to learn fast and well. As a part of that, I will refresh my own memory by telling you about what I learn.

History of market research
I started learning about NeedScope from the beginning and that's how I will tell it to you too:
In the beginning of the 20th century research was about measuring product characteristics. People were viewed as rational agents, who would optimise the benefits they could get for their money. In such a market, the best product at the best price always wins.
Later, it was discovered that the market is not that perfect. A lot of good, cheap products never become popular, while some inferior, expensive products do well. Researchers learned, that they could explain some of this phenomenon if they took the social identity of consumers into account. They learned that a businessman will buy more expensive clothes than a farmer, not because he is richer, but because expensive clothes are what businessmen wear. That was the birth of market research.
With this new knowledge business started making products to suit smaller groups of consumers. The companies grew and became more efficient and by the end of the 20th century cheap products of good quality were available in almost any category, made to many different customer groups.
But these were not the only products doing well. Some products were clearly overpriced, but still they did well in the market. These products did not give the consumer unrivalled quality or a uniquely desirable social identity. They did something else. They appealed to the deep emotional needs that we all share and that made them irresistible to some consumers.
A Rolex watch does not just make you part of an exclusive, elite group of rich people, it makes you feel like a king. A Ferrari car makes you feel bold and masculine. Dove shampoo makes you feel warm and genuine.

We believe
Any great product today must fulfil customer needs in all three categories: functional needs, social identity needs and emotive needs. That is our belief. That is our philosophy.

See you next week
Tonight I am flying to Brisbane, Australia, for a week of vacation. I will stay with my Danish friends Tilde and Louise, we will rent a car and it will be awesome. That is all I know and all I need to know.

All packed and ready

Welcome to NeedScope

I have received a warm welcome at NeedScope, where I now work as a "quantie" (quantitative research executive). I am bursting with things to tell you about it, but let's start with the simple stuff.

Office tour

Today, I'll take you inside for a quick tour of the office.

Welcome, Mary will ask you to take a seat
while she calls the phone on my desk

Thanks Mary, I'll be right there

Hi, nice to meet you. Please follow me.
On your left is Apollo, the serious meeting room

On your right is our much used library.
Meet Alana, Constance, Mel and Phil 

The best place for a chat is in Hera, our cozy meeting room

We could also go and meet the rest of the team in Aphrodite
but it's not time for morning tea yet, so they will be busy.

Goodbye Marie

At home we have said goodbye to Marie. She will travel New Zealand for four months before flying home to France. We have had a lot of fun together in the four months we have both lived here and I am sad to see her go.

We love you too, Marie.
Have a good trip!

The cake she is carrying is a large mille feuille. A traditional treat from the French bakery where she used to work.

A day at Long Bay

I have been to Long Bay before, but this time I brought my running shoes and a determination to explore the area. The tide tables told me the low would be at 4 pm. Perfect.

Long Bay regional park

Long Bay is not just a beach, it is a large regional park next to a marine reserve. It has marked hiking routes and I had chosen one on the map at home. First, it led me through the grassy park. Here I met a lot of people walking around or preparing barbecues and many birds.

The park is an overlooked part of Long Bay

This bird has a funny walk and a bobbing headdress

The track led e on a hilly walk with a great view of the sea

Low tide

At the end of the track there is a beach with a warning sign.

Scream and run into the sea if rocks fall

But I knew that and I arrived at 3:30 pm in perfect timing with the tide.

Two girls are riding their horses in the shallow water

Otherwise the beach is deserted

I quite enjoy the solitude

It feels like walking under water

The beach is diverse and beautiful

I wonder where those rocks came from...

In the end I return to Long Bay
It's not really long, but it is a wide beach