This is a catch- all area that contains the various documents available for download from the site. It'll save you time if you're looking for downloads. Expect to find all sorts of bits and pieces accumulating here in future.

The pieces below are mostly written by John Griffiths who runs the Planning Above and Beyond Site. I try to get a few pieces out every year. And here's the back catalogue. Enjoy!

(27K) Qual versus Quant (again) written by John Griffiths. Looks at how the internet is breaking down the barriers between quantitative and qualitative research. In future quant will be a lot more qualitative and qual research will draw on quant techniques Published in AQR In Brief Aug 2007.

(1.13MB) Environmentally sustainable research - A Pecha Kucha presentation I gave at the fringe event which launched the Research Liberation Front on the unsuspecting MRS 50th anniversary conference in Brighton in March 2007. I wanted to present the paper at conference and was turned down. A few of us then had the idea of running a fringe event where we could present our papers anyway. As one of the founder members of the new Liberation Front I turned what had been originally pitched as a paper for the conference into a 20 slide presentation with 20 seconds per slide. Great fun. I'm sure we'll do it again next year. RLF MRS Fringe March 2007

(111K) Writing screenplays for brands- Written by John Griffiths This is an introduction to a workshop technique I have developed which uses screenplay structure to develop characters for brands often up against very similar competition and also narratives which brands can live out using PR. Published by Admap Nov 2005

(380K) Feedback from Multimedia1. The first course training researchers and planners to become capable at using digital phots, audio and video as part of their work. This is what the first batch of alumni said about the course. Its a jpeg so you'll need an image viewer to read it! Published in AQR In Brief Sept 2005

(24K) Respondents ringing their own bells an article written by John Griffiths.The new technology enables respondents to take far more active part in research. What is the role of the researcher now? Published in AQR In Brief Sept 2005.

(56K) Client feedback form- put on the site in my article about Bad Work and why it happens. This is the one I use after my projects

(560K) The Qual Remix - THAT paper written by John Griffiths, Siamack Salari, Greg Rowland and Jon Beaseley Murray - this paper won best new thinking at the MRS 2004 conference and was shorlisted for Best Conference Paper and the David Winton award. Based on research into binge drinking for Diageo - surely a case of best research brief of 2003 - the paper challenges the so called independence and authority of the research group moderator and the trio of wise men representing ethnography, semiotics and literary criticism offer a challenging critique rarely encountered in research circles. Andy Dexter chairman of the conference was kind enough to call it "a hugely ambitious piece of research, providing a new angle on the interlocking of one discipline with another to achieve richness of learning." John Griffiths called it "the worst case of professional suicide I have ever committed!" Copyright MRS 2004. This paper is reproduced here by permission of The Market Research Society

(414K) Wakeup and smell the cynicism- kindly offered by Tom Woodnut of Greenlight Research this MRS Paper was presented at the 2004 conference. With a US election imminent it seemed appropriate to ask what impact US politics has on global brands in general and US brands in particular. For those of you who don't have time to read all of this excellent paper there is a shorter article published in Admap in January of this year (bit bigger file 876K!) Current US policy has increasingly put American brands as well as Americans in the firing line. All change please! Copyright MRS 2004. This paper is reproduced here by permission of The Market Research Society

(204K) Coolhunting with Aristotle - provided by Nick Southgate this MRS Paper won best newcomer at the 2003 conference. It's a hilarious assult on clients' predilection for hiring cool people to find out what cool people are doing because uncool people will end up imitating them and making said client a fortune. Nick (Doc) Southgate is a trained philosopher so enlists Aristotelian ethics in his foray. His argument is as trenchant for any enterprise using elites to make decisions on behalf of the many - might even be true of the agency world in general but I never said that ;-)

(1MB) The community deck- presentation given to the APG Bluff your way in digital August 27th 2004. Of interest to those who wonder who else uses this website.

(46K) Brands as media an article written by John Griffiths. Is media ownership going to become as big a marketing tool as brands have become? Published in Market Leader Summer 2004.

(25K) Making up is Hard to Do an article written by John Griffiths. In the course of a research project on cosmetics I took an advanced training course in makeup with Virgin V. Here's what happened! Published in AQR In Brief May 2004.

(593K) Location Based Marketing: White paper by Russell Buckley of Unstatic. If you know anything about the mobile market you will know that mobile marketing is huge business in Japan even if it has made a tentative start here with the 3G stumble. Russell Buckley offers an overview of the success criteria for location based marketing.

. (12K) The Scotch Remix: a scotch soaked email exchange in the small hours between two of the authors of the Qual Remix paper the night before the 10,000 word Remix paper was submitted. John Griffiths and Jon Beasley-Murray while subediting 250 miles apart had an email exchange that dramatizes what happens when the moderator no longer gets to call the shots on what REALLY happened in the groups. And when 'guest 'producers' are brought in. The paper went on to win the prize for Best New Thinking at the Market Research Society Conference of 2004 - see above.

(232K) The science of the brands: alchemy advertising and accountancy - written by Anthony Tasgal a freelance planner listed in the People section of the site. This won best paper at the Market Research Society conference of 2003. Copyright MRS 2003. This paper is reproduced here by permission of The Market Research Society

(40K) Bluejacking as a Marketing Channel - A white paper by Stephen Waddington of Reinier PR.

(109K) Advertising to the Herd - winner of the Best New Thinking Award at MRS 2003 contributed by Mark Earls. Why does vitually all marketing start and end with the individual? Time for a rethink. Given at MRS conference 2003. Published in the IJMR Copyright MRS 2003. This paper is reproduced here by permission of The Market Research Society

(29K) Researching Digital Audio an article written by John Griffiths. Why are the vast majority of research groups recorded to cassette when we have new digital media with vastly superior sound quality that can be played back on any Mac or PC and shared over the Internet in seconds? John G talks tech. Published in AQR In Brief July 2003.

(45K) The Brand as Gesamtkunstwerk contributed by Giep Franzen as an accompaniment to the interview. How has his thinking moved on since The Mental World of Brands. This give a taster for his up and coming book on Integrated Brand communications published in Dutch but due out in English in the near future.

(29K) Mobile Marketing contributed by Russell Buckley as a taster for his up and coming book Using Mobile published May 2003 Email Russell Buckley to find out more. Or click through to the Going Mobile page to find a lot more.

(26K) SMS Technology - evaluating media for youth audiences an article by Steve Watkins of 2CV outlining how SMS texting was used to do media research among teenagers and 20 somethings. Email Steve Watkins to find out more. Or click through to the Going Mobile page to find a lot more. Published in Admap March 2003.

(26K) Make the consumer pay an article written by John Griffiths proposing a new revenue model for agencies. If agencies are so creative how come they don't get consumers to pay them? Published in Admap May 2003

(41K) A Thought Experiment by John Griffiths A reflection on knowledge transfer in research debriefs, how much sits in researchers heads, how much gets lost in transfer and what to do about it. Published in the AQR Magazine In Brief April/May 2003

(29K) Minority Report (Develop your own precogs for qualitative research) by John Griffiths How to improve research content by preconditioning respondents...Published in Sharp Stick Q1 2003

(45K) Comprender pour communiquer an article written by Jean Hassenforder about the application of some of my writing about the future for the UK church as applied to France (Published in Témoins 2003)

(86K) What makes an integrated campaign a success? by John Griffiths an article which picks up on the recently challenge on Media Neutrality laid down by the Royal Mail pub. Market Leader Q3 2002

(27K) Automaton by John Griffiths an article written partly in response to Robert Heaths book The Hidden Power of Advertising (unpublished)

(257K) Planning Integrated Communications- my presentation from the June 11th 2002 APG event

(241K) Planners Toolkit- a collection of schematics in use or under development based on 11 years working on integrated business. Have a go or call me if you need training in how to use it!

(526K) Above and beyond advertising planning - how planning has to evolve outside of an advertising environment pub. Admap Feb 2002

(145K) Finding your level in integrated communications - where in the process integration happens pub. Admap April 2002

(28K) - Sanctuary vs Exploration - how churches need to adapt to offer anything to explorers of spirituality - pub EG magazine March 2002

(33K) - Researching Religion - 2000 word article cutdown from the chapter contributed to Qualitative Research in Context pub Admap 2000 - pub Christian Herald Sept 2002

(7K) In praise of implementation - plea for planners to take implementation as seriously as strategy pub. Sharp Stick Feb 2002

(21K) Faking it- Planning Pygmalion OR how to train a planner in 14 days (Unpublished)

(9K) What's the latest story in branding? - developing storylines for brands (Unpublished)

(90K) Interview with Charles Handy - Writer and Broadcaster interviewed by John Griffiths 14th May 1996 - Published in Third Way Magazine Autumn 1996