Author: Vitalija Narstyte

EMPLOYEE INITIATIVES

All team members participate in one of our ‘Positive Change’ groups which drive staff initiatives on the Environment, Community, Personal Development and Wellbeing, whilst some of our senior management team have partnered with Pilotlight to make our expertise available to UK charities who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP

In January 2023 we became employee owned. Employee ownership is an exciting, progressive way to structure our business, that holds benefits for staff, our clients as well as suppliers and everybody else we work with. From now on, all employees will have a say in how the business is run and will share in the profits we generate. We are the fifth in a growing band of market research agencies who feel that employee ownership is the right model to secure future growth and development.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

As a Company Partner we operate under the professional ethics standards of the Market Research Society (MRS).  Furthermore, we have been awarded with the MRS Fair Data Accreditation.

MRS NET ZERO PLEDGE

As a dedication to creating a sustainable future and driving positive change within our industry, we are very proud to have signed up to the Market Research Society (MRS) Net Zero Pledge.

By signing the MRS Net Zero Pledge we make four commitments:

• to become Net Zero by 2026
• to track and publish our carbon emissions
• to collaborate across the market research sector – sharing our learnings and best practices
• to encourage conversations and call outs by our partners, clients and suppliers on environmental concerns.

Each year, we calculate our carbon footprint, aiming to reduce our Co2 emissions year on year wherever possible. And for the carbon that we’re not able to reduce, we’re now working with Ecologi to offset our emissions by investing in their climate projects which are not only beneficial to the environment, but also to the people behind the projects. These include renewable energy generation, forest protection, and community initiatives such as providing access to clean water.

By signing the MRS Net Zero Pledge, we are making a firm commitment to address the environmental challenges facing our industry. We aim to lead by example, inspiring others to join us in this crucial endeavour. Through our collective efforts in promoting positive change, we aim to create a sustainable future, reduce our carbon footprint, and contribute to the global fight against climate change.

OUR VALUES

Our values – acting with integrity, being supportive and being empowered – represent how we work together as team members, with our clients and the wider business community. You can view our values here.

WE ARE A CERTIFIED B CORP!

We were officially certified as a B Corp in September 2023 and are committed to using our business as a force for good, by:

• delivering insights for our clients which power positive change
• empowering and nurturing our team
• supporting our community
• respecting our environment

WHAT IS A B CORP?

Certified B Corporations, or ‘B Corps’ are companies who are accredited to have achieved high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.  B Corps are a rapidly growing global community of 6,000+ organisations committed to using their business as a force for good.  The UK is home to upwards of 1,400 of these companies.

The process to becoming a B Corp Certified company is rigorous and requires meeting targets in five areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers.

Businesses must provide evidence of socially and environmentally responsible practices relating to energy supplies, waste and water use, worker compensation, diversity and corporate transparency.

Once B Corp status is reached – certified by B Lab UK for UK businesses – the company must make a legal commitment to maintaining these standards through amendments to its articles of association.  To remain a B Corp, companies need to keep improving and must recertify every 3 years, demonstrating they have made improvements since last being certified.

More information on becoming a B Corp can be found here: https://bcorporation.uk/

APPLICATION PROCESS

Companies applying to be a B Corp are independently assessed to ensure they meet the standards of social and environmental performance required for certification as a B Corp. The certification process is rigorous – taking up to a year to qualify. The assessment is continually updated and made harder, taking into account the way the world is changing.

As part of our application process we formed a working group looking at all areas of our business and operations, proposing changes to how we work, how we manage ourselves and how we engage with suppliers and clients.  The working group is now a focal point for continual improvement in our business and how we measure up to B Corp’s standards, looking forward to our recertification in a few years’ time.

OUR SCORE

We are very proud to have achieved an overall impact score of 125.6, well above the minimum score of 80 required to become a B Corp.

For more details about our score and how it is built up, please visit our page on the B Corp directory: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/mm-eye-ltd/

WHAT B CORP MEANS TO US

Our B Corp certification is important to us as it underlines to our staff, our clients, our suppliers and our wider stakeholders our moral and legal commitment to balance environmental and social considerations alongside making a fair profit, in all the decisions we make as a business.  Our B Corp certification reinforces our company values of acting with Integrity, being Supporting and being Empowered.

B Corp has given us a framework to bring together all the work we do around our agenda for positive change and has given us some practical tools and ideas for further improvements.

We are also delighted and proud to be recognised members of this growing global supportive community of like-minded, value-driven businesses.

EVOLUTION MONEY:  EVIDENCING POSITIVE IMPACT

CHALLENGE

Evolution Money was established to provide credit and improve the quality of life for homeowners who, due to imperfect credit history, were being refused finance in a time of need.

They now needed evidence to further inform the Board how far they had progressed against delivering this business purpose and to seek opportunities to improve upon their offering.

ACTION

From the outset we built our research design to measure Evolution’s progress against their core business purpose – Does an Evolution loan have a positive impact on their customers’ quality of life?

Evolution themselves were going through the process of becoming a certified B Corp company and were new to conducting market research. As such, the programme had to be focused, with clear objectives and deliver actionable recommendations for further improvement.

Initially, we spoke to around 200 customers in a quantitative survey to build an understanding of the Evolution customer journey – covering both the highs and the lows – and evidencing the financial impact their loan had on their everyday lives. We then followed this up with in-depth interviews to uncover the personal stories and experiences of customers. What had bought them to Evolution? Had the loan had a positive impact on their personal lives? Had it changed their spending habits?

OUTCOME

Combining the evidence gathered from the quantitative stage with the depth of understanding uncovered in the in-depth interviews we developed positive impact stories which could be shared to evidence their business purpose.

The research delivered facts and stories which will be used to demonstrate the positive change that Evolution has to their customers’ lives, along with areas for further improvement where they can continue to evolve.

TESTIMONIAL

“MM-Eye helped us to evidence the positive impact we believed we had on our customers. We knew that our loans helped our customers when they had nowhere else to turn, but we lacked the data to prove this. The insight they provided not only gave us this evidence but painted real-life pictures of our customers – the financial situations they had found themselves in and the positive impact our loan had on their everyday lives. This research will be invaluable in helping us achieve our goal to become B Corp accredited and has given us clear, tangible recommendations on how to continue delivering against our business purpose.”

Susan Harrison, Head of ESG

Evolution Money

CASUAL DINING SECTOR: DEMAND FOR SUSTAINABILITY?

CHALLENGE

In a crowded marketplace, our client identified the need for a foundational understanding of the casual dining market, with a specific focus on sustainability, in order to stand out and attract new customers (whilst not alienating a loyal customer base).

A core objective of the research was to understand whether there was a consumer demand for sustainable dining and, if so, how this should be communicated to diners. Does sustainability impact diners’ decisions on where to eat on a rational or emotional level? Are diners willing to pay more for a sustainable dining experience?

There was a clear need for further evidence before any commercial decisions or changes were made.

ACTION

We built a research programme focusing on the stakeholders which mattered most to our client and where there was the greatest potential for a positive change – their customers.

A large, robust study was conducted to profile the casual dining market and understand the emotional and rational motivations and drivers of dining decisions. Did this include sustainability?

Alongside this, we conducted a number of qualitative, face to face interviews with diners at our client’s restaurants to understand the ‘why’ behind these motivations.

OUTCOME

With the client’s objective to understand the impact of sustainability on dining decisions, we delivered insight on where sustainability sat alongside other emotional and rational drivers.

We provided clear, tangible direction and prioritised ideas on how our client could incorporate sustainability into their future operations and strategy, giving them a point of differentiation from competitors, without distracting from their core offer.