Insight250

Inducted into the Insight 250 Legend Hall of Fame after 3 consecutive years of being named an Insight 250 Winner

Insight 250 Legend

DRC (Danny Russell Consulting)

DRC is my strategic consultancy from where I work with clients who want more commerciality from their insight and with agencies who need help to embark on their next growth curve. 

I work across sectors and with all size of clients and agencies.

Strategic Advisor

RESEARCH STRATEGY GROUP

Research Strategy Group is headquartered in Toronto but operated globally. The full service offering is bespoke to clients; offering sophisticated streams of research across qual and quant (including anthropology, design research, semiotics and user experience).

Non Executive Director

FlexMR

FlexMR is the Insights Empowerment Company that develops thriving insight communities that streamline online research and enable customer-centric decision making. On a mission to empower informed and customer-centric decisions in the modern competitive environment, FlexMR improves customer experience and commercial success through efficient use of insight, data and analytics.

Non-Executive Advisor

Market Research Society (MRS)

Fellowship of MRS recognises senior professional status and contribution to the sector and is the most prestigious grade of membership. Fellowship is awarded after an assessment made by the Fellows Board after being nominated and assessed. Fellows represent the sector at a senior level ensuring the profession’s continuing relevance to business and society.

Fellow

Member of Fellows Board

Council member of the MRS after being elected as Co-Chair to serve between April 2016-April 2018, then serving 2 years as Immediate Past Chair.

Chair and Board Member

Mission Translate

Mission Translate provide tailored language services for the market research sector, backed by ISO quality-assured processes. Services include audio transcription; face-to-face, telephone and video conference interpreting; MR participant recruitment; multilingual content analysis; and multilingual social media listening.

Business Advisor

Further - The Human Insight Company

Further put people in the real world. Providing Human insight to understand people’s real needs and wants to open up the future.  By using a mix of consumer understanding, cultural analytics and diversity and inclusion expertise, it solves clients’ toughest challenges through the application of insight, strategy and activation. A strategic partner with tailored packages, Further reflects the way clients and agencies wish to work, as they want and need it, to fit budget and resources - for you, with you, by you.

Material

Associate Director, Research and Insight

Watch Me Think

WMT is a global consumer video immersion agency that brings consumers in to the Boardroom via smartphones. They truly make insight discovery both compelling and exciting

Chief Advisor

Hall & Partners

Helping CLIENTS to achieve better/faster/cheaper insight. 

Using my 28 years of client-side experience to help clients of all sizes (from start-ups to the likes of 21st Century Fox, Vodafone, The Economist and Metro Bank) to get to strategic insight. Whatever the challenge, the secret is not only in the method but the ability to land the insight within the organisation to create the change.
   
Helping AGENCIES to position for growth.

Having been a buyer with some of the biggest spending brands, I know what clients are looking for, why and how they buy. I work with agencies of different sizes and at different stages of their lifecycle to ensure their proposition and marketing strategies are in tune with target market's requirements.

NED to those with a vision.

A trusted, supportive (but challenging) Non Executive Director/advisor that works with agencies across the marketing services sector. A strategic thinker that helps a business design and execute successful outcomes. 



Last week, Suzanne Lugthart and I were lucky enough to be invited to present at the Norstat Client Conference; thanks for the invite Andrew O'Connell. We took a packed and highly energised audience through WHY we are so passionate about our latest initiative - Bigger Than Biscuits.

This is our mission to demonstrate the value of market research as an investment (rather than a cost) in order to change the mindsets of CMOs, CFOs and CEOs.

Great feedback with plenty of super follow ups already planned - plenty of Pioneers and Enthusiasts with not an Ostrich in sight! Give us a follow/like and comment; or, even better, if you have a StoryBook you think we could use then get in touch!

Konrad Collao Dan Young Matthew Sutton Mark Sander David Alterman

Danny Russell

Award winning research strategist | eBay ITV Rightmove Etsy | Founder, Fathom Research & Bigger than Biscuits | AURA Legend | Business & productivity adviser | MBA Marketing (Distinction) | Author, Working Well Together

Norstat

Managing Director, UK at Norstat

Bigger Than Biscuits

Media Research Expert | Founder, Craft | Speaker

Multiple award-winning insight consultant. Maximising the value of existing research.

Business Development and Communications Director at Norstat

Business Development Director

Chief Executive Officer at The Nursery Research & Planning

INSIGHT | STRATEGY | NED

Amazing to think that it was a week ago that I was hosting the 2025 FlexMR #CustomerSalience Summit that took place in the esteemed setting of the Grand Room* at the The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce). Even more amazing to think that, despite being only our second Summit, we doubled our attendance (both f2f and with a livefeed online) whilst STILL managing a remarkable 9/10 attendee feedback rating!

#CustomerSalience is the "propensity for business leaders to bring customers to mind when making decisions" in order to close the yawning Customer Gap between the 73% of senior executives who believe customer-centricity is crucial to success; and the measly 12% of customers who think brands are customer-centric.

Not only did we hear from great speakers on the subject (Rupesh Patel, James Sallows, FMRS, Georgina White and Jane Frost CBE to name just a few) but we introduced our very own PHD student who will quantify the commercial opportunities that #CustomerSalience provides - exciting huh? Can you name another supplier doing anything close to this?! 😁  

Get in touch with Maria Twigge to hear more!

*designed in 1774; originally used as an assembly room for the Society Members’ discussions and debates; the breath-taking series of six paintings, ‘The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture’, took 23 years to complete; past RSA Fellow Alexander Graham Bell gave one of the first practical demonstrations of his new invention, the telephone, in 1877 in this very room!

Paul Hudson Chris Martin

The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce)

Empowering Sales and Marketing teams with Insights, Market Research and Analytics . Ex- Sky, Ex-Kantar ESOMAR 2025 Winner, AURA winner 2024, MRS Winner

Global Head | Effectiveness, Insights, Strategy, Transformation | Davos - Insights Lightouse

Experienced Insight Director and Chief Customer Officer | Transforming Strategy, Experience & Performance through Insight | Former Holland & Barrett, BT/EE, Centrica, Capital One and Merrill Lynch

CEO , MRS

Business Development | Audience Insight | Online & Mobile Tech | Quallie

Founder and CEO of FlexMR, working at the intersection of technology and service to drive customer insight into every decision

UTokyo PhD Candidate | Political Economy | Post Growth | Systems and Strategy Design | Ex-Forbes Agency Council | Enterprise Nation Mentor

I told you that Bigger Than Biscuits was on the road! Next week, Suzanne Lugthart and I will be presenting at the Insight Platforms "Insights to Action Summit". We have 3x 15min sessions looking at how Nurofen, Primark and The Hundred proved that the Return on Research Investment was huge! 

We believe that EVERYONE in our sector has a story to tell; and WE are determined to tell that story. 

The link is below and the best bits:
1. It's FREE
2. There is so much great content
3. It's online so you can dip in/out as your life demands 

Hope you can join us to catch at least one of the StoryBooks!
Mike Stevens

events.insightplatforms.com

Insights to Action Summit October 2025

Insight Platforms

Founder / Editor at Insight Platforms

Someone sent me this superb video at the weekend - H/T (again) to the amazing Wankernomics 😂 

For anyone that has heard me battering on about #CustomerThink and #CompanyThink for the last 20 years, this video will resonate HARD. One day, I will find time to attempt to correlate the number of times a company mentions "Customers are at the heart of everything we do"* and their resultant Customer Experience ratings.....because I am pretty sure it will be inversely related!

There is a reason why there is a HUGE Customer Delivery Gap where 73% of senior executives believe customer-centricity is crucial to success and yet only 14% of senior executives say customer-centricity is a hallmark of their brand.

Stop TALKING and start DOING! 

*or similar dribble such as "Customer centricity", "We start with the customer", "Everything we do is driven by the customer" etc etc/yawn yawn.

Paul Hudson Paul Griffiths 

#CustomerSalience
https://lnkd.in/eK67Kxzf

youtube.com

Every Company's Purpose Statement is Exactly The Same

Wankernomics

✔️Helping Market Research & Insight Agencies increase revenue 📈 Proven growth strategies ✔️Helping Research & Insight Leaders increase research budgets through proven commercial strategies 📈

If you are an Aura member then Suzanne Lugthart and I look forward to "seeing" you next Wednesday 29th for the next installment of our Bigger Than Biscuits World Tour! 

The 45 min webinar will see us explain:
* WHAT BtB is all about
* WHY (we believe) it is crucial for our sector, and for your success within it
* HOW you can get involved
* PLUS we will introduce you to RORI

What's not to love? 
#insight #returnoninvestment #impact
Tom Kerr Ruth Hinton

Aura

Fellow of the Market Research Society

Consumer insight and customer experience at Vue International. Chair of Aura

"If Muslims want a partner they'll have to mind their Ps and Qs"
"Black people are killing the napkin industry"
"Disabled people are killing the golf industry"
"Full stops can annoy the LGBTQ community, warns linguists"

They are all headlines that have appeared in the media. DO ANY OF THEM JAR WITH YOU or OFFEND YOU? They should.

But replace "Muslims, Black people, Disabled people and LGBTQ" with a generational cohort (eg Gen Z, gen X, Millennials) and you actually get the REAL headline that appeared. And, apparently, grouping (in the case of Gen X in the UK) over FOURTEEN MILLION people in one amorphous mass of sameness is perfectly acceptable?

In my latest column for Significant Insights, courtesy of James Endersby (Opinium), I tell you WHY I think Generational Cohorts are pseudoscientific guff.

Given that you cannot open a newspaper or read a research report without facing these sorts of ludicrous headlines, it feels like I may be the ONLY one who doesn't get it; can that be right?

Lucy Davison SIGn - Silver Insights Generation
#EmperorsNewClothes #Segmentation #Insights

significantinsightsmedia.com

Generational Cohorts: The Emperor’s New Clothes | Significant Insights

Significant Insights

CEO of Opinium. B-Corp. Chair of the MRS. Founder of Significant Insights + The Global 30-Under-30. Fellow of the Market Research Society. Global Insight250 List ‘21’22’23. Insight250 Legend. DRUM CEO Finalist.

ESOMAR Council Member 📣No-nonsense insights communication expert, MRS Fellow, Insight250 Legend, Chair ESOMAR Representatives working group, ESOMAR UK Rep

SIGn - Silver Insights Generation

Today (and tomorrow) sees the Insight Platforms Insights to Action Summit. It's ONLINE and it's FREE so you can register below and dip in and out of the content you want.

If that isn't gorgeous enough, there are 3x 15min slots where you can hear myself and Suzanne Lugthart tell you all about our new initiative, Bigger Than Biscuits:
* Today at 14.45 we tell you about Primark (courtesy of Dan Young)
* Later today at 17.45 we give you the incredible story of how Konrad Collao helped build The Hundred
* Tomorrow at 13.45 we highlight our Nurofen success story

We will tell you what the initiative is all about; why its called what it is; introduce you to RORI and tell you how you can get involved....all in just 15 mins. Come to one, or come to all; that's your choice. You won't be disappointed. 

Cynthia Portugal Mike Stevens 
#Insight #ROI

insightplatforms.com

Insights to Action Summit October 2025 - Insight Platforms

Founder at Cy Portugal - Growth Director at Insight Platforms

I wonder, at what point did the water supply sector go completely insane?

We now, so regularly, wake to news of yet another fine/report/scandal that it is easy to gloss over what has happened here. Whether that be:
* new reports of sewage being regularly dumped into our open water
* water companies teetering on the brink of insolvency whilst CEO's are rewarded with huge benefit packages (£2.3m in the case of Thames Water)
* consumers of these monopolies facing bill increases of between 21-47%
* the sector's regulator Ofwat being judged "not fit for purpose" and needing to be replaced by a new organisation (but still rewarding its CEO with a 12% salary increase last year) 

And then we hear about a woman who was fined £150 for pouring the remnants of her coffee down a drain......seriously, this is true, search for "Burcu Yesilyurt" 

Am I the only one questioning why this sector is SO broken?

bbc.co.uk

Water companies told to refund £260m to customers.

If you have ANYTHING to do with company website log ins/sign ins/security etc then, seriously, you need to watch this.

Cos whilst this is (imho) very funny.....it's also painfully true. Does your process ACTUALLY work, from a #CustomerThink perspective, not from the company perspective?

My biggest bugbear? Some websites allow to use '&' as a special character; but others don't. 😡😡

https://lnkd.in/eRJQF5nT

H/T to Jake Lambert (who i was unable to find on LinkedIn but if he is can someone please tag him 😁)

instagram.com

Jake Lambert Comedy on Instagram: "logging into websites"

Was great for myself and Suzanne Lugthart to talk to James Wycherley recently, as part of his excellent Insight Management Academy Podcast Series. Some of the IMA’s most successful Insight leaders have estimated the value that the Insight team itself has added each year, ultimately expressing this as a return on Insight investment. 

So it seemed a natural progression for us to introduce Bigger Than Biscuits that aims to catalogue some great examples of how Insight, research and analysis have added commercial value to business decisions - and YOUR work could be an invaluable addition to this initiative and help other Insight professionals make the case for greater investment in Insight.

In just 30 minutes we will introduce you to the initiative (as well as tell you why its called Bigger Than Biscuits!); talk about just one StoryBook that we summarised (all about the phenomenal success of The Hundred); tell you how you can boost your own credibility by getting involved AND James ends with a direct challenge to you......are you up for it? Will you accept? 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts
#insight #impact

insight-management.org

Bigger than Biscuits - podcast

Author of Transforming Insight and the Insight Leader’s Playbook, host of the Transforming Insight podcast and the Insight forums, CEO of the Insight Management Academy

taplio

Danny Russell's Linkedin Analytics

Danny Russell

Performance ScoreDanny Russell's LinkedIn Performance

Danny Russell's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Danny Russell's Linkedin Analytics

Danny Russell

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Danny Russell's LinkedIn Performance

Danny Russell's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Danny Russell's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreDanny Russell's LinkedIn Performance

Danny Russell's Best Posts (last 30 days)