The challenge

We were commissioned by Third City to carry out research on behalf of a well-known dating website. When it comes to first impressions, they wanted to find out how people react to accents. What do they assume about that person because of how they speak? Are some accents more attractive than others?

Objectives

We were asked to assess the reactions to different regional accents, in particular to:

• Explore the impact of accents on perceptions of a potential date
• Establish which accents are most strongly associated with ten traits such as being ‘friendly’, ‘funny’ and ‘sophisticated’
• Explore the impact of celebrity personalities on the perception of accents
• Look at the impact of accents on a first date

Our approach

This research was carried out online. We sourced males and females with 19 different accents to read out a generic sentence. The accents included Australian, Yorkshire, American, French, Spanish and Cornish.

A representative sample of 750 British adults listened to each accent and ranked the person on, for example, how romantic, honest or reliable they sounded. There were also asked whether celebrities made them feel different about accents. We also asked whether they had said yes or no to a date purely on accent.

Outcomes

The research showed Received Pronunciation (RP) to be the nation’s favourite accent, followed by Edinburgh, Australian and Irish. Aside from RP, men were most attracted to the London accent, while women love Mancunian. Celebrities have definitely shaped perceptions of accents. For example, the female Geordie accent was associated with Cheryl Cole.

The French accent was ranked only sixteenth out of nineteen for attractiveness, and Italian came in only slightly higher at thirteenth. 22% of those surveyed admitted that they had gone on a date with someone because they liked their accent. Some also admitted ‘playing up’ how they spoke because they thought it sounded more attractive.

The dating agency used this research as PR material for their website. They also plan to use it to help with match-making on their website in the future.

”We have worked with Peter and the team for more than a decade. They are knowledgeable, dedicated and provide a great service. We find them particularly good at raising bespoke samples at a very reasonable cost.”

Mark Lowe (Co-Founder)
Third City Communications Agency

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The challenge

Our client wanted to see if UK television programmes were positively impacting drink choices amongst consumers.

We were commissioned to undertake a detailed analysis of how water was portrayed on UK television.

Objectives

We looked at:

• The amount of programme time in which drinks were shown
• How often water was shown compared with other drinks such as tea or fizzy drinks
• The circumstances in which water was portrayed in the programme
• Any differences by type of programme or between BBC and ITV
• The profile of the person handling, consuming, intending to consume or mentioning to the drink

Our approach

We carefully monitored two separate weeks of television programmes. Soap operas, dramas, sitcoms and children’s programmes were carefully selected. All programmes were produced in the UK and set in the present day. We also monitored The Archers on Radio 4 noting any mention of a drink being consumed or planned for a later time.

We took recordings of all programmes so they could be paused to make sure nothing had been missed. We noted:

• Whether the drink was actually consumed, was visible without being consumed or simply mentioned
• How much screen time was devoted to the scene featuring the drink
• Broad characteristics of the person mentioning, consuming or likely to consume it

We also noted when a meal or exercise scene was shown in the programme without drinks of any sort being shown or mentioned.

Outcomes

We discovered:

• Soft or fizzy drinks dominated children’s programmes. No water was drunk in the sample programmes.
• Around 10% of screen time of soap operas and drama programmes showed or mentioned drinks.
• Water was featured much less often than other drinks, in particular in soap operas and sitcoms.
• In soap operas hot drinks and alcohol were featured the most.
• Drama programmes showed a more even split between alcohol and soft drinks.
• Medical drama programmes gave the most prominence to water.

Our client used the research to highlight the poor examples set in children’s programmes. They also started a campaign for water to feature more prominently on UK television.

The post Square eyes, dry throats? appeared first on PCP Market Research.

The challenge

London’s Piccadilly Circus is famous for being one of the world’s busiest interchanges. We were commissioned by MT2 to discover more about its visitors.

Objectives

• To estimate the total number of people passing through Piccadilly Circus in one week
• To count the number of pedestrians and those travelling in vehicles, noting what sort of vehicle – cars, taxis, buses and coaches, vans and heavy goods vehicles or two wheeled vehicles
• To identify the demographic profile, of a sample of those passing through Piccadilly Circus. This included the reason for their visit.

Our approach

Our fieldworkers counted the number of pedestrians and vehicles leaving Piccadilly Circus at defined times throughout the week. A supervisor ensured we avoided double-counting and set strict time periods for the various tasks.

We interviewed 1,643 adult pedestrians about their postcode or home country and their reason for being in Piccadilly Circus. We also noted the size and composition of any group they were in, their age range and gender.

Using complex methodology, we were able to extrapolate an estimated figure from only a week’s data.

Outcomes

Our calculations estimated 2 million people left Piccadilly Circus over a week. This was a significant increase from the 1.12 million people surveyed eight years’ previously.

We broke down our results into pedestrians, vehicle type, by time of day and day of the week, where they lived and which departure point was used, such as Underground entrances. Our comprehensive report also included why people were visiting, varying from shopping trips to studying.

The post Just how busy is Piccadilly Circus? appeared first on PCP Market Research.