Here's a flavour of what's on the agenda at Crowd DNA right now. We've a great mix of different projects on the go, as per usual, but (quelle surprise!) we're always keen to hear about new challenges. Get in touch if you want more info on what we're up to; or, if you've heard quite enough about us, want to tell us about what you're up to!

• Social media and finance: assessing the social media activity of a major financial brand, and how best to connect with consumers in these spaces
• Online gaming: detailed study (from broad trends to evaluating propositions) across sports betting, bingo, social and casual gaming
• Mints/gum: researching who's eating what, when they're eating it and the role flavours, packaging, occasions and comms play
• Music community: running an online community of fans of quite possibly the most famous pop star ever!
• Gaming community: and a multi market community for a major games hardware brand
• Music streaming: quant/qual exploration of music consumption in the US
• Recruitment: B2B testing of a new online recruitment offering
• User generated content: researching how it best sits alongside professionally produced content for a major online brand
• Superfans: exploring what separates the dedicated from the regular viewer, including how to best monetise this relationship, for a TV brand
• Urban audience understanding: developing colourful narratives around adventurous young Londoners
• Teen female magazine: video blogging-based development work
• Lifestyle: mapping the lifestyle content landscape as seen by women in France and the UK
• Campaign effectiveness: multi phased projects for various brands and media owners (TV, radio, online and experiential/OOH)
• Influencer community: on-going project for a very fine lager brand, with an emphasis on trend spotting, competitor analysis and campaign testing

Crowd DNA

We've just wrapped up an extensive 'road trip' research project for MTV, travelling the length and breadth of the UK to capture 'in the moment' attitudes to technology and digital innovation among a diverse range of young people.

One of our project outputs is a very swish looking booklet, produced in-house at Crowd DNA, and designed to editorialise the findings, ensuring they are engaging and attention grabbing for MTV's friends and clients in agency/brand world.

Drop us a line if you'd like a copy.

Crowd DNAYouthTechnology

We happily welcome our latest new recruit on board today. Her name is Laura Jones and she joins us as a senior research executive. Previously Laura was at Guardian News & Media working as a customer insight analyst and, prior to that, as an account researcher at Millward Brown.

Laura's experience extends across media, FMCGs, mobile networks and finance brands, taking in everything from effectiveness/evaluation work to tracker studies.

Crowd DNA

We've a bumper stack of diverse and challenging projects on the go right now, some in areas warmly familiar, other pushing us into places that are excitingly new. Deep breath – here goes for a quick run through…

• Researching superfans of primetime TV shows
• Video blogging work with a brilliantly responsive online research community of youths
• Launching a research community for American fans of, well, perhaps the most famous music artist ever
• …And continuing running one for a prestigious, lifestyle-oriented brand
• Campaign effectiveness work across multi channels and numerous markets
• Unravelling the efficacy of web TV-based advertising
• Website usability research for a leading university
• …And testing a new digital proposition in the recruitment sector
• Social media-focused work for a fashion retailer
• Exploring purchase journeys among youths and their parents for a mobile network operator
• Researching media meshing and new forces on engagement for a media client

Quite a few other things in the pipeline, too. Plus we've a Crowd DNA report on the rise of gesture response interfaces that we'll be circulating very soon and an extremely nice looking booklet of project insights we've produced for MTV that will be rolling off of the print presses not long after!

Right, back to work it is, then...

Crowd DNA

Crowd DNA embraces the January transfer window (we'll stop the football metaphors right there, though, before we start banging on about tricky wingers or midfield generals...), welcoming new research manager Chris Kebbell to our team. With five years client-side experience in the research department at international broadcaster CNBC under his belt, Chris brings extra firepower to our media skillset, with a particular focus on the quant side of things.

Like almost everyone else at Crowd DNA, Chris also owns a bicycle. But he's peddled his all the way to Russia and back (he's an expert on Soviet/Cold War history to boot) and therefore not just up and down Kingsland Road...

Crowd DNA

2012 greetings from all at Crowd DNA (symbolic new year sunrise pic shot from the window of our Shoreditch office; honest), and hope this proves an exciting, rewarding and an all-round action-packed 12 months.

We're kicking off the year grappling with topics such as the following: mobile phones and the parent/child purchase decision; music consumption habits in France; the role of UGC in media offerings across Europe; what content/opportunities get 'superfans' excited; multiple flavours of media meshing; various influencer communities; assessing multi-market sport and celeb gossip preferences; and tracking changes in the fashion accessory market.

Plenty to be getting on with, then, but we're always on the look out for a new challenge, so don't hesitate to get in touch (similarly, we're always happy to head out to meet prospective clients to share ideas and insights). We've got plans for various new products, tools and events in 2012 as well, so do stay tuned...

Crowd DNA

Season's greetings from all at Crowd DNA and big thanks to clients, contributors and co-conspirators as we wrap up what's been another amazing year. We grown considerably in numbers (staff and billings); we've cracked new categories; developing some excellent new tools and approaches (Impact DNA, Youth DNA, Crowd Communities); and we've squared up to an incredibly diverse range of research challenges – from iPad launches and media meshing trends, to understanding X-Factor superfans, conducting FMCG product development, building award winning online research initiatives and innovative campaign effectiveness work.

Along the way, we've hung out with farmers and music fanatics, got Brazilian guys to make us videos of them shaving, filled our heads with more info on French attitudes to sport and celebrity than we ever thought we would, tracked conversations around a car launch in every corner of of the world, sat on the sofa with dedicated gamers, got people to wear stop motion cameras around their necks, and experienced every taste and colour combo imaginable as part of new beverage range launches.

We'll be here right through to December 23 but, if we don't catch up with you before, have a lovely break and here's to more good fun and compelling challenges in 2012.

Crowd DNA

Pleased to say that we have a new research manager, Stuart Malcolm, joining our team. Previously of ICM and, before that, Sparkler, he has great experience with clients as diverse as NME, BBC 1Xtra, Orange, Tesco and Aviva; and bags of knowledge in areas such as running longterm research communities and managing segmentation studies.

He also owns a bicycle, which means he should fit in well round here.

Crowd DNA