Research

Frequently asked questions

• Can you interview my clients or internal experts for our campaign?
  

  Yes, we can interview your clients or internal experts. This is a common request and an important part of many studies we conduct. And we understand the importance and sensitivity of your client relationships. We create and share interview guides for review and refinement to ensure relevance and avoid sensitive topics. For high-stakes interviews we can even arrange a pre-interview call. We also ensure nothing is published without explicit permission, confirming names, job titles, and quotes accurately.

• Can you help source and conduct “on the record” interviews?
  

  Yes. We regularly interview a wide range of C-suite executives, including CEOs, CFOs, CHROs, CIOs, CISOs, board members, heads of innovation, non-executive directors, and other senior leaders. We also profile emerging roles such as Chief Resilience Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and Chief Diversity Officers. Interviews are sourced directly by FT Longitude or via our clients’ networks.

• Why should we do interviews?
  

  Great thought leadership doesn’t just reflect brands’ internal expertise – it also gives audiences the perspectives of leading subject-matter experts and industry influencers. Interviews add depth and context to your thought leadership. They provide first-hand insights and human stories that data alone can’t capture. These will reinforce your insights with authority and credibility, and generate the stories that bring research findings to life. They also help to ensure a neutral tone on divisive or internally focused topics. They produce provocative soundbites that you can use across your social media and PR and can be turned into extra campaign materials, such as Q&A interviews, case studies, and personal profiles.

• What data analysis capabilities do you offer?
  

  We provide a range of data analysis capabilities tailored to meet the needs of your campaign. Beyond our standard approaches to data analysis, our more extensive analysis techniques include: leader/laggard analysis to profile industry frontrunners or followers; survey-based indexes to rank businesses or consumers; persona creation through cluster analysis, and barometers combining survey data with real-world metrics to compare performance across regions or segments.

• How do you source your respondents? Do you have your own panel?
  

  We work closely with our fieldwork partners to find suitable candidates from their existing panel or public databases. We ensure their suitability through survey questions about job title, role, function, and decision-making responsibilities. Only those who meet the necessary qualifications complete the survey, guaranteeing high-quality and relevant insights for your thought leadership.

• Do I need research for my thought leadership?
  

  It’s not easy to come up with original ideas, creative editorial, and insightful thought leadership. Good quality research can make all the difference. It gives you the evidence you need to support your point of view, start conversations with key stakeholders, and position your business as a brand that has strong ideas and original thinking. Without it, can you really call your content true thought leadership? We have a range of research options available, from surveys to interview-only research programmes, and we can help you determine the right research approach for your campaign.

• Do you support research-only requests?
  

  As a full-service thought leadership agency, we try to focus on providing integrated campaigns that include both research inputs and related content outputs. As such, we mostly decline research-only requests unless they’re either for existing clients who need this support or else the research components still enable us to provide a high-value service (eg, we can analyse and recommend the messaging and analysis from the research).