Curio Research Quarterly Vol. 30
Greetings Curio readers. Fall is here, and that means you can kick back and not rake your leaves. Save that yard work energy and channel it towards International E-Waste Day on October 14th. Gather up all your old charging cables, small appliances, tech accessories, and batteries, and make a trip to your local recycling center that handles electronic materials. Don’t send those precious materials to the garbage dump; give them a new life as components in a new and improved device.
Business
Work
Since my last installment, I’ve done a few projects. A design agency from Indonesia, Sixty Two, hired me to recruit and moderate for six focus groups on the subject of mobility technology in specific North American cities. The catch was that we had to complete the interviews within three weeks. That meant we had only a few days to write, edit, approve, program, and launch the screener, a week to select and schedule participants who met specific criteria, a week to run the focus groups, and a day to write and deliver the topline report so my counterpoint in Jakarta could write the full report.
We had some close calls with recruiting platform technical issues and iterative changes to the discussion guide to make sure participants understood the concept variations, but we made it. One of the partners at Sixty Two even left us a lovely note to thank us for the work we did on their tight schedule:
“Sixty Two engaged Lauren from Curio Research for a strategic qualitative research project in the US with a very tight turnaround. She quickly became an invaluable partner. She is proactive, resourceful, and highly collaborative. Despite multiple unavoidable roadblocks, Lauren consistently identified the best paths forward, working alongside our team to deliver within the timeframe. She is also a skilled facilitator who brought clarity and momentum to the process. I would gladly recommend Lauren for any research work and look forward to collaborating with her again.”
Vilia Ingriany, Co-Founder, Partner at Sixty Two
I am currently working on a quantitative study for Anchor Marketing and the BC Unclaimed Property Society to measure awareness of the BC Unclaimed brand and gather data on how BC residents perceive the nonprofit’s model and other issues related to unclaimed property. They’ll be using the data they get back to inform a PR campaign, lobby the provincial government for favourable legislation, and track their brand awareness in the future.
Conferences
Sustainable Brands is coming up fast, and I’m super excited. I can’t wait to meet other sustainability professionals and enthusiasts and learn more about their efforts and progress towards a greener future. I even organized a small promotion offering a $1 donation to charity to everyone from the conference who subscribes to my newsletter.
After that is the Verge Green Technology conference in San Jose where I’ll get up close and personal with the latest technologies to support our path to net zero.
Business and Sustainability
I’ve written before about the circular economy and how the clothing resale market is exploding. Did anyone’s instincts start tingling at the opportunity for children's clothing? Well, Gore-Tex was certainly paying attention because they are introducing a subscription service for kids outerwear. “The program offers premium jackets for kids aged 5–12, for EUR 25 per month. Parents can swap jackets every three months for a new size, style, or color, with full damage coverage included to account for everyday wear and tear.” Used clothing is returned, cleaned, repaired, and sent out again as new-to-them kids fashion.
A common complaint I hear from parents is how quickly kids grow out of their clothes and with seasonal items like jackets and coats, they might only get a few wears in before you need to get them something that fits better. This subscription offers benefits on multiple levels:
Increased use and sustainability for Gore-Tex items, which would impact their Scope 4 emissions.
Subscribers experience reduced cognitive load from not having to think about where their kids’ winter coats will come from and where they will go once their children can’t wear them anymore.
Gore-Tex remains a premium brand, while meeting outdoorsy parents where they are and offering them a practical solution that promotes Gore-Tex’s sustainable bonafides.
Could your or a client’s brand benefit from a circular subscription service? Maybe you need to introduce a circular service to comply with California’s first-of-its-kind clothing recycling law. Let’s do some research and find out what works for the planet, legal compliance, and your customers.
Personal
Travel
I stayed close to home over the summer. We made a small excursion to BC’s Sunshine Coast to visit family, but that’s about it. We spent part of the day at Persephone Brewing’s farm and restaurant, and the other part exploring downtown Gibsons. It was just nice to get out of town for a night.
Media
This time, I have mostly old recommendations. These are shows I’ve just started watching, but they’ve got multiple seasons to binge on.
Platonic - There is nothing I love more than witty dialogue between friends, and this show has that in spades. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play very believable, messy best friends who routinely find themselves making questionable choices, like getting engaged to your boss and then realizing right before the wedding that it’s not the right fit, but only after you’ve busted her father’s eye with a golf ball. It just finished its second season.
Foundation - My husband and I don’t have many shows that we can enjoy together, but this one satisfies our craving for well-told epic sci-fi. It’s based on the Isaac Asimov Foundation series and follows a psychic mathematician (yes, I know how weird that sounds) on her quest to save the future of humanity. Some seasons are more faithful to the text, but the story is well told and the visuals are gorgeous.
Dan Dan - This is the second season I’ve watched, and I was reluctant to recommend it, but it won me over. It’s a silly anime high school occult comedy, and it’s super weird. And oddly sexy. I don’t know why it’s sexy. Especially grandma. Why is grandma sexy?! (because it’s manga) Anyways, every episode follows an unlikely duo and their friends as they save the world from demons, ghosts, and aliens. Very entertaining and very weird. Just watch it.
And a movie!
Micky 17 - Some child/teen actors make it big and then flame out, others use their early financial stability to work on whatever the heck they want. Daniel Radcliffe is one example, and Robert Pattinson is another. From the director that brought you Snowpiercer and Parasite, Micky 17 is a space comedy about a down-on-his-luck antihero who signs up to be an Expendable on a spaceship bringing colonizers to a new world. This means he is given the most dangerous and hopeless missions, inevitably dies, and is reprinted to begin the process anew. Bong Joon Ho (the director) never shies away from biting social commentary, and this was no exception. Worth renting.
Giving Back
This past quarter I made it to two Stanley Park Ecology Society to remove foxgloves and English ivy from a few designated areas. I also went to a Shoreline Cleanup event hosted by Reeve and Fairware, where volunteers provided the manpower, and the hosts gave us vegan sushi to celebrate the hard work and a clean beach.
The survey I’ve been working on for the local political party is still going strong. They’re translating it into Chinese to reach constituents they typically don’t hear from, and it will be available in old-fashioned paper form to increase its accessibility. I’m looking forward to seeing how the trends differ between cultures.
I also guest lectured a class of marketing students on using research to understand consumer behavior. I went over behavioral economics, quant and qual methods, what types of research different marketing roles utilize, and how to get started utilizing research or building a research portfolio. I hope they found it helpful and are set on a good path toward making informed decisions.
That’s all for now. Get out there and do some good.
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