End Of Term Report
I’m of a certain age where we used to have ‘end of term reports’ dished out by our teachers at school. Well, if we were rating 2019 as a year I would say ‘could do better’ or ‘must try harder’.
It feels like the UK has been in a holding pattern all year with politicians seemingly incapable of agreeing about anything. We’ve been waiting for some sort of resolution on Brexit that hasn’t come. Whatever your politics might be, let’s hope that the UK election goes some way to clearing the air one way or another and UK, EU and Global businesses start to get more certainty about the trade and tariff arrangements that we are going to face in the future.
Closer to home at HRA Global it’s been a great year. The team has grown, we obtained Certified Status with the Market Research Society and we finished our refurbishment this very week, right on plan. Downstairs in the office we have our new Conferencing and NPD areas and upstairs is now a state of the art office with standing desks and it feels like everything in the office is wifi enabled! It’s all a far cry from the spare room which I used to set up HRA in 2011, complete with wardrobes, kids toys and vintage sewing machines!
I also have to give a huge plug to the Annual HRA Trend Report – this is one festive tradition that doesn’t age. Its free to download from our website and this year its crammed with insight and predictions about the year ahead. And, without blowing our own trumpet (OK, maybe just a little) if you dust off last year’s report you’ll see that 95% of it has come to pass. So, save yourself the cost of a crystal ball, download the report and settle down with a coffee and leaf through it. The industry never keeps still – so get the inside track.
We’re also recruiting for a new Graduate Market Researcher at the moment, so if you know anyone that has recently graduated that wants to be sponsored to work their way through the Market Research Society qualifications, live by the coast and yet work on some amazing national and international projects then please point them in my direction.
We’ve had an amazing reception to our Podcast – the Grocery Insider – and I wanted to thank all of our guests for being so candid and such good sports. There are some real gems of insight and great moments that come out of the podcast so if you haven’t tried an episode, give it a go. From startups to supply chain and technology to tofu there really is something for everyone. We are finishing Season 2 at the moment and have some really cracking episodes to release so keep an eye on that. You can get involved with the Grocery Insider Podcast here.
Thank you to all our clients past and present for sharing your challenges and opportunities and the chances we’ve had to collaborate on projects together this year. The team love the variety of projects that we get and the chance to sink our teeth into some really challenging work. If you do what you love it doesn’t really feel like work and (most of the time!) that’s us.
Here’s to another year of that in 2020 – so make an effort to close the laptop lid, switch off and enjoy the festive season and I will see you next year.
Happy Christmas!
Hamish
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