I love data.

I love being able to understand what makes people tick, and trying to understand the implications for how companies can market their products. Ipsos have a terrific strapline – Nobody’s Unpredictable – which I think captures this idea extremely well.

For the last year and a half, we have collaborated with Sustainable Business magazine in writing a monthly column to use some of the market intelligence we have collected with our Environmental Choices syndicated survey. All 14 articles and 1 conference presentation are available at this site – see the links on the right of this website.

The articles have forced me to think through some of the implications of the data we collected. There has also been some work I might not have got around to, such as the time-consuming car analysis I described in the February 2011 article, without the discipline that writing a monthly column demands. Thanks Tom Idle, editor of Sustainable Business magazine, for being such a pleasure to work with. Thanks also to all the many people who provided comments on early drafts of the articles.

For the articles, I tried to get into the shoes of the companies I mentioned. Typically I would contact any company I referenced in an article and ask for feedback prior to submitting it for publication. One such company is Ceres Power, and the articles for April 2010 and May 2011 were written largely with them in mind. In the Environmental Choices survey, we collected information about consumer reaction the Ceres Power micro-CHP boiler (in report 3.d) and also information about general attitudes towards home improvements and access to mains gas (in report 3.c). Such information can guide the international commercialization of their micro-CHP product in terms of predicting consumer appeal and uptake, profiling early-adopters and developing forecasts.

David Pummell joined as CEO of Ceres Power on September 5, 2011, and commercialisation is clearly a key focus as he wrote in his recent press release:

‘I am delighted to join Ceres Power as Chief Executive Officer. I am excited by the global potential of the CHP  product and the opportunity  to lead the introduction of this  disruptive energy technology.  Ceres has faced a number of recent challenges, but I am confident that we can successfully commercialise the Company’s CHP product and deliver significant shareholder value.’

I hope these articles have stimulated thoughts about how businesses can better market their products in the low carbon sector.

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