Research communities seem to be increasingly outgrowing the experimental stage. This is certainly the case in the US, but it also applies to the Netherlands. In a research community, a limited group of people (25 to 300 people) are brought together in a closed community environment for a usually limited period of time. Within this community, the participants can perform various activities, such as discussing on a forum, collaborating on creative co-creation assignments, keeping a diary, filling in polls and short questionnaires, etc. During the ESOMAR Congress, a number of interesting cases were presented in which a research community played an important role.
For example, Heineken and InSites Consulting talked about an extensive canada telegram data project they carried out to co-create the Club of the future. In an international online research community, 120 so-called 'design-savy clubbers' worked together for three weeks to share their experiences from nightlife, and to process these into criteria that they believe the ideal club should meet. The insights that this yielded were the input and inspiration for a group of designers who jointly designed a concept for the club. This concept was even temporarily implemented in Milan as a popup Club. The insights from the research community have been visualized in a beautiful way and can be viewed here .
Heineken
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