Research and Insights: It Ain't Sexy, But It's Why Campaigns Actually Work

Most people think the creative is what makes a campaign land. Spoiler alert: it's not. Enter the research, the invisible work.

The unglamorous hours spent reading through hundreds of social media comments, mapping competitor moves, tracking what's working and what's dying quietly in the corner.

I've spent 15 years doing this across multinational corporations, luxury brands, and startups.

Not because I love spreadsheets (I don't), but because research is the difference between a strategy that sounds good and one that actually impacts ROI.

Social Listening & Research Insights: What People Actually Say

At FACEGROUP / PULSAR, I worked as a Research and Insights Analyst doing multilingual social listening and behavioral analysis. For Unilever, I mapped online conversations across Brazil and the UK around haircare. Not just what people said, but how they said it. The specific words. The tensions. The cultural nuances. The emotional triggers.

I coded and analyzed over 700 social media verbatims. Sounds tedious because it was. But that's where the gold is—consumer barriers no one else bothered to find. Language patterns that revealed what people actually needed versus what brands were pushing. Those insights went straight into innovation briefs and communication territories.

For Durex (Reckitt Benckiser), I managed multi-stage online insight communities. Recruited participants. Moderated 10-day immersion phases. Mapped category conversations around sexual health—sensitive, messy, real. I tracked content spikes linked to moments like #WorldAidsDay to figure out when to speak, how to speak, and when to shut up. Research wasn't just about understanding what people said. It was about reading what they didn't say and why. Risk mitigation through data.

I did the same for Unilever's ice cream and beverage brands. Managed community panels. Synthesized behavioral signals that went beyond "consumers want affordable options" to uncover deeper motivations and cultural contexts that informed how products were positioned and talked about.

Competitive Intelligence: You Can't Win If You Don't Know the Game

Understanding your audience is half the fight. The other half is knowing where you stand in the market and who's trying to take your position.

At GREY, I did competitive research and SEO optimization for clients like Pringles and Pepperidge Farm during website relaunches and mobile app development. It was strategic intelligence that shaped positioning, messaging, and user experience decisions (not "let's see what our competitors are up to").

In luxury travel at Rafael Bessa Signature Travel, I ran SWOT analyses and competitive benchmarking to drive results across UK and Brazilian markets. At Art of Travel, I led professional market research and created 76 travel guides based on consumer insights and audience profiling. That work contributed to a 30% revenue increase. Not because the guides were pretty. Because they were informed by what travelers actually wanted, not what we thought they should want.

When I evaluate sponsorships, I don't just look at logo placements or follower counts. I investigate potential partners meticulously. Shared values. Narrative alignment. Whether the partnership actually makes sense or if it's just two brands trying to look relevant. Research turns sponsorships from transactions into meaningful collaborations that benefit both sides.

Performance Tracking: Research Doesn't Stop at Launch

Research isn't a one-time thing. It's actually a feedback loop that keeps running.

Early in my career at The British Museum, I monitored media coverage from BBC, The New York Times, CNN, and other major outlets. Compiled reports that informed the press department's strategy and helped them understand which stories were landing and which weren't. At GlossyBox Brazil, I monitored and maintained KPIs to track growth and identify exactly where things were working and where they were breaking. Real-time brand health monitoring.

For the FUTURE of SPACE and Space2Sea, I used precise performance tracking to grow social reach to 1.4 million views. How? By understanding which creator-led stories resonated most with the audience, then doubling down on what worked. Research became the map. What resonated informed what came next.

My Analytical Toolkit: How I Actually Work

My approach combines qualitative and quantitative research, human behavior analysis, and data interpretation.

Tools I use:

• Social Listening & Monitoring: Buzzmonitor, Hootsuite

• Analytics Platforms: Google Analytics, Meta Ads Manager

• Strategic Frameworks: SWOT analysis, Journey Mapping, Human-Centered Design

But tools are just tools. The real skill is interpretation. Finding patterns in chaos. Extracting meaning from messy data. Turning 700 verbatims into three insights that change how a brand talks to its customers.

Lucy's Expertise

If your campaign isn't working, the answer is probably in the data. You just need someone who knows where to look and isn't afraid of the tedious part. Here's what I can do for you:

Insight & Cultural Analysis

Conversation mapping, trend signal detection versus noise filtering, and cultural moment tracking to understand not just what people say, but why it matters now.

Qualitative Research Design

Screener writing, online diary studies, and community task design that surface real behavior rather than polished answers.

Community Operations & Live Moderation

Real-time moderation judgment, escalation decision trees, live event moderation, out-of-hours incident handling, and stakeholder shadowing in high-visibility environments.

Measurement & Reporting

KPI definition for online communities, engagement quality scoring, and weekly and post-campaign reporting that feeds directly back into strategy.

Risk, Governance & Compliance

Child protection protocols, defamation assessment, political neutrality enforcement, crisis response workflows, and third-party guideline adherence, including IOC, Guinness World Records, and public-sector standards.

Brand Strategy & Activation

Content guardrails, influencer risk evaluation, and timing and cultural relevance planning to ensure brands show up credibly or not at all.

Long Story Short

I see research as a form of storytelling. It tells us where we are, what’s around us, and what we’re actually dealing with before we decide what to do next. Before you rewrite the story, understand the chapter you’re in. Let's do this.