| Mark is a market research manager, having worked in senior roles in this field for over a decade. His goal is to aid firms make informed decisions. He acts as an internal market research and market planning consultant, using broad problem solving; leadership and general management skills. He facilitates the development and enhancement of products and services - both for consumers and business to business. |
| ONdigital's first market research manager since the firm launched to market in Nov. '98. The role involves developing all the research tools and systems which a modern television company requires. Starting with only the RM post, there is now also an SRE. Controls a research budget of over £600,000. |
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* Launch research on ONnet - the UK's first Internet via TV system * Brand tracking and advertising development work (Ad. Budget ~ £20m) * Direct marketing and marketing support research. * Programming and viewing research, inc. liaison with BARB. * Developing customer satisfaction and segmentation tools. * Research liaison with Carlton, Granada, Department of Culture, Media and Sport and ITV. |
| With British Gas as contractor in market research dept. Specialising in market research project management on telecoms and new technology initiatives. |
| * Research on "Leeds Lab" Callcentre multiskilling.
* Research on IVR systems (interactive voice response). * Research on "Virtual Utility" internet project. * Large scale SIMALTO project on utilities' customer facing values. |
| Moved to RAC at the start of 1998. Responsible for Ad Hoc; continuous and Customer Satisfaction research. Managed two staff. Budget of £850,000 p.a. in direct control. Reported to RAC Board. |
| * Overall responsibility for all continuous; Ad Hoc and CSI research
at RAC.
* Instigated large scale (£170,000 p.a.) Brand Tracking survey. * Ran all RAC's new product development research (including B2B and Internet). * Commissioned and managed market research agencies, including Research International; Abacus; Consensus; Define; Simpson-Carpenter and Millward Brown. |
| Recruited to Which? as Market Research Manager, Head of Management Information - reporting to Publishing Director. Responsible for a total research spend of £400,000 p.a. and three full time staff. |
| * Ran all editorial, advertising and strategic research for Which?
and Which?'s other products.
* In charge of all New Product Development, including Which? Online, CA's Internet/ISP product and Which?'s IFA and Personal Finance magazine projects. * Managed Consumer and Opinion Former research to guide Which?'s relaunch / repositioning. * Developed and mentored team of three. |
| At LUL Mark managed all research directly relevant to Customer Satisfaction throughout the Underground. As well as market research work, he worked on the post King's Cross re-organisation and modernisation of the underground. Budget of ~£400k and staff of three. |
| * Developed and ran Customer Satisfaction survey and LUL's Mystery
Shopping programme.
* ESOMAR paper on Customer Satisfaction; lectured on MRS course on Mystery Shopping. Assistant Market Research Manager
1989 - 1991
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| Prior to London Underground, Mark's career was in a series of roles with IPC, the UK's largest magazine publisher. He learned the trade of market researcher and began to broaden into other areas of managerial competence. |
ï Consumer Research Manager (SouthBank Publishing Group) 1988 - 1989ï Senior Research Executive 1986 - 1988ï Research Executive 1984 - 1988ï Marketing Information Officer 1981 - 1984 |
| * Launch research on Marie Claire and Essentials magazines.
* All research inc. readership research on IPC's monthly magazines (inc. Ideal Home; Woman's Journal; Homes & Gardens). * Relaunch of Woman's Own and Woman's Realm and closure research on Honey. * Evaluative Assessment technique for advertisement effectiveness measurement. * Paper to MRS Conference on Advertisement Tracking. * Designed self completion questionnaires; moderated groups and wrote analysis specs. in SNAP. * Managed TGI, NRS and MEAL databases. |
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
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SKILLS:
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Interests:
| Motorcycling; Advanced Rider Training for the IAM; caving; DIY; writing; computers & the Internet; the Nürburgring Nordschleiffe; food and drink and Aikido. And breaking bones, of late, but I'm trying to give that one up! |
| I spent my formative years as a market researcher in various posts
with IPC magazines, publishers of Woman, Woman's Own, Woman's Journal,
Marie Claire, Homes and Gardens and several other mainstream titles. I
was responsible for the launch research on the British edition of Marie
Claire magazine. I ran a continuous advertisement tracking study and numerous
readership studies.
With London Underground, I instigated a massive "CSS" Customer Attitude tracking programme and had responsibility for LUL's NPD research. The design of the Central Line and Circle Line trains stem from this work. It was at LUL that I broadened my role: moving to general internal consultancy work as well as market research. At Consumers' Association, I managed all the firm's NPD and product development research, including that on Which? Online and on Which?'s personal finance products. I had a team of three researchers reporting to me. At the RAC, I managed both Ad Hoc market research and the firm's Customer Satisfaction survey (800,000 responses p.a.). This is one of the most comprehensive in this, probably in any, industry. I also provided general market planning input to the RAC board. I was made redundant from the RAC following LEX's purchase of the firm (which I helped steer through the Competition Commission). Following a stint at British Gas where, inter alia, I did the research on the dual fuel bill designs. I became ONdigital's first researcher. ONdigital holds the UK licence for digital television to the year 2,022 and already has 1 million of its projected 10m plus customer base. At ONdigital, I carried out the launch research on ONnet - the UK's first Internet via TV system. |
| I am not "just" a Market Researcher: I am a problem solver. To research
a problem one must be able quickly to appreciate the structure of the problem;
the jargon and language of those involved and the systems from which the
problem springs and by which it might be addressed. This has given me considerable
skills in the areas of communication, organisation and problem solving.
I am also a good team leader.
My background in Market Research is on the client side, though with LUL I acted as an internal profit centre, having to sell research to my clients. Given the natures of my several employers, I have developed broad experience, covering most research techniques and applications. My skill is in obtaining actionable research results, to time and within budget (even where budgets are limited). I have experience in using and interpreting the output of most types of research: from basic group discussions to Mystery Shopping. I have used tachistoscopic research, SIMALTO and stated preference techniques as well as the more bread and butter methods of data collection. I am computer literate to a high standard - my home machine is a up rated Macintosh G3 running Windows in emulation. I am particularly well versed in Excel and Microsoft Word. I have some experience with HTML (www.hodson.org.uk is an example of vanity web publishing). |
| I am married and am fortunate to have found, in Frances, a partner
who seems not merely to tolerate but genuinely to share my enthusiasms.
I am a founder member of the IAM's London motorcycle section: London Advanced Motorcyclists. Having trained with the Metropolitan Police driving school, I now train other riders. My favourite hobby / expenditure is visiting the Nürburgring race circuit. In my free time, I love cooking and any sort of DIY that does not involve wallpaper. I also enjoy caving/ potholing in France and in the Mendips. I enjoy writing, having several published short stories and articles (mainly on motorcycling) also general humorous articles. |
Mark Hodson