Monthly Spotlight On

Our monthly Q&A returns. This month it's the turn of Research Manager Gareth Hodgson, who re-joined the agency in April 2008 after a spell working client-side in the retail sector.

  • Previous job role: Research Manager at Shop Direct.
  • A description of myself in three words: Rugby Union Hater.
  • If I hadn’t been in market research… I’d have significantly less knowledge about the nappy disposal unit industry.
  • Hobbies: Watching Rugby League, football, MMA, films and actively participating in very little.
  • The best thing about our industry / working in research… Seeing customer feedback have a positive impact on the way a business operates.
  • The worst thing about our industry / working in research... Seeing customer feedback being ignored by a business in favour of what they would rather have done anyway.
  • Favourite holiday destination (and why): Sydney. It’s the best city in the world and to top it off, Rugby League is the dominant sport.
  • Favourite music: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Blur, The Lemonheads...
  • Favourite food / drink: A Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding washed down with some Jennings Cumberland Ale.
  • Favourite TV programme: Corrie is number one, with close competition from Twin Peaks, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Lost and Prisoner Cell Block H.
  • Favourite films: The Shining, Evil Dead 2, Predator, Old Boy, Terminator, The Empire Strikes Back, Beetlejuice, Alien.
  • My earliest childhood memory: Being naughty and not being allowed to go and meet the “real” Darth Vader who just happened to be in a Workington toy shop.
  • The brand I most admire (other than Ci of course!): Russell. Fantastic hair and wardrobe.
  • The best advice I've ever received: If you are running further than 10 miles, put elastoplasts on your nipples.
  • Ambition to have achieved by 2020: To have run the London Marathon and to have danced on the ashes where Twickenham once stood.
  • The future of market research is… Street interviewers with jet packs. Either that or a closer alignment to (and integration with) increasingly sophisticated and knowledge-rich customer databases.