I assumed that a conference subtitled “marketing innovation through niche and multicultural insights” would be standing room only. So it was a surprise to discover a lot of spare seats when we all gathered in the Sadlers Wells Theatre.

Our venue: London's Saddler's Well Theatre 

 

I suppose the industry must be run off its feet strip-mining 25-30 year old housewives – but surely there must be a few more who wonder if the vast quantities of respondents are quite as homogenous as the fieldwork schedules make them out to be? 

 

The audience seemed to be made up of those with a particular interest in cultural diversity – who for the most part seemed to be either in the public sector or linked to it fairly directly. Paul Edwards of Research International chaired the day and introduced the first session on the topic of culturally-based segmentation.