BROOKLYN, N.Y., July 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- How often do people share intimate details of their lives and buying decisions with market researchers? A new research firm says "not very often" and believes that companies must go deeper in understanding customers' uncensored feelings.
Two veterans of leading firms today announced the launch of Nonfiction Research. The company, founded by Gunny Scarfo, the former Head of Strategy for VICE Media's digital agency, and Ben Zeidler, the former Global Head of CPG Research at L2/Gartner, draws upon its founders' vision to provide "uncensored research" – an approach they've taken to help some of the world's largest companies understand customers better. The pair honed this philosophy while working together for five years at Tenthwave Digital, now part of the world's largest digital agency, Accenture Interactive.
Known by colleagues for their swashbuckling approach to customer insights, they have ventured unchaperoned into a prison, surveyed rap lyrics to chart personal finance trends, and run quantitative studies on the secret sex lives of Americans. Despite the range of their work, their goal is always the same: find truths that customers self-censor rather than reveal to market researchers.
"There's a life hidden beneath the one that people share with market researchers," said Scarfo. "Market research should be as informal and unfiltered as the people who are buying the products."
In addition to consulting directly with brands, Nonfiction will publish a series of publicly available reports. Their first public report, due out later this month, is titled "The Secret Financial Lives of Americans and the Future of Financial Services." True to Nonfiction form, the research process included locating and interviewing convicted bank robbers, talking with individuals struggling with shopping addiction, and hearing thousands of Americans share their most private money moments. The report will be available on the Nonfiction website starting August 1st, 2018.
"Companies are thirsty for research that goes beyond focus groups and formally-worded surveys," said Zeidler. "They want to go deeper. Otherwise, how can they empathize with what their customers really want? How can they improve the product or marketing if their customer research is still at arm's length?"
About Nonfiction Research
Nonfiction Research is a Brooklyn-based research company founded by alums of VICE Media and Gartner Research. Nonfiction gleefully violates the norms of traditional research in a crusade to understand the informal, unfiltered lives of customers. To that end, the founders have ventured unchaperoned into a prison, surveyed rap lyrics to chart personal finance trends, and run quantitative studies on the secret sex lives of Americans. Learn more about their uncensored research at ThisisNonfiction.com.
SOURCE Nonfiction Research
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