Examination of Witnesses (Questions 6400
- 6419)
6400. The next presentation tells us what you
do. You have indicated that to some extent already. Is there anything
there you need to expand on?
(Mr Thomson) If it is okay I will just colour
in some of the things we do. One of the main things that we do
is consumer market research, of course, on which we are considered
consumer experts. We are renowned throughout the UK and the US
for the information we provide on consumers, so if we do a recent
report on make-up, for example, we will commission research, we
will take that research in-house, and the research will tell us
things like, in the case of make-up, that 17 per cent of women
wear no make-up and 25 per cent of women are influenced by make-up
that has not been tested on animals. We understand why people
buy things, what they buy and so what influences what they buy.
We then layer our analysis on top of that research so we add value
to that research by providing analysis and insight. It is that
analysis and insight that takes the real skill and experience
that we bring to it. Another product that we have is the global
new products database and that is a database of new products that
have been launched throughout the world. We have field associates
in 50 countries throughout the world monitoring supermarkets and
retail outlets for new products that have been launched on the
shelf. For example, we might pick up a new product in Japan. Someone
has recently launched a curry-flavoured new toothpaste. In other
places there have been things like banana-flavoured mayonnaise.
We find these products, highlight them as innovative and put them
on to our database. We have the packaging sent to us from these
50 countries throughout the world. We take pictures of the packaging
from every angle, we take off the information from the packaging,
we put it on to our database and then we deliver that to our customers
over the web.
6401. Chairman: Mr Thomson, I understand
it is very exciting but I think we have got the message of what
you do.
6402. Mr Newberry: Can you supply us
with cheap banana mayonnaise?
(Mr Thomson) We may have some samples back
at the office.
6403. I think the Committee have got the point
about what you want to do. I want to look at it from those whom
you supply and the significance of it. If I am a company that
employs you and I want to expand my company into either an existing
area or new areas, do you provide research which would enable
me to do that, thereby increasing the scope and range of my company?
(Mr Thomson) Absolutely. We directly contribute
to other companies' success. We help them to make business decisions
that improve their competitiveness, help them to deliver products
and services that consumers want.
6404. Do you ever concern yourselves as to when
would be the optimum time to launch a particular product that
you have identified?
(Mr Thomson) Absolutely. We have a customer
solutions arm that will work with clients on specific projects
and those kinds of projects might well be working with them on
new product development, on determining what to launch and when.
6405. Do you ever advise clients not to go ahead
with a suggestion that they may have brought to your attention?
(Mr Thomson) Absolutely. That is part of the
new product development process.
6406. If we go over the page, it looks as though
we get a rather more serious aspect here rather than banana flavoured
toothpaste, because here you have indicated some of your clients.
Just take us as briefly as you can through the significance of
that type of work which you identify there because these are government
contracts, it looks like.
(Mr Thomson) Yes, that is right. These are
just some examples of the work we do for government departments.
We work with the Pesticides Safety Directorate and we have an
ongoing project where we send out field associates to distributors
throughout the country to pick up fruit and vegetables that are
destined for schools. They pick up samples of the fruit and vegetables—tomatoes,
carrots, bananas, apples—and they take those samples and
send them off to the Central Science Laboratory. The Central Science
Laboratory then tests those for pesticide residue to ensure that
the food that we are sending into our schools is safe. We do other
work for the PSD as well.
6407. Chairman: Mr Newberry, Can we draw
this on a bit? What we really want to know is how Crossrail will
affect Mintel and what you want us to do about it. I think it
is all marvellous but we need to progress.
6408. Mr Newberry: Can we, before we
focus on the Chairman's question, approach it in this way? In
regard to the reports that you prepare, in terms of their complexity
and length and the scholarship that may be required, how demanding
is the preparation of the reports that you prepare?
(Mr Thomson) It is hugely demanding. There
are huge amounts of data that people have to process. They have
a lot of multi-tasking to do. They bring lots of different people
and processes together in order to prepare these reports. It requires
a huge amount of concentration.
6409. In terms of the internal noise climate
within your building at present, is it of an order whereby your
work can be carried out efficiently?
(Mr Thomson) At present it is. If I could clarify
something you said in your opening remarks, I think you said that
the current situation is 63 dBs. That was outside, was it?
6410. Yes.
(Mr Thomson) Inside it is currently between
40 and 50.
6411. The thrust of what you are saying is that
you need a quiet environment in order to carry out your research.
(Mr Thomson) Absolutely.
6412. If it were the case that there were internal
noise levels which were outside the standard that is currently
enjoyed by you, what do you say to the Committee would be the
impact on your ability to prepare efficiently, properly and accurately
the reports which you are currently renowned for?
(Mr Thomson) It would certainly make it very
difficult, if not impossible, to accurately prepare these reports
because it does require huge concentration. It is not just the
reports; it is every aspect of the things that we do which require
a huge amount of concentration. As was said earlier, we have over
20 languages spoken by our people in our building, speaking to
people from all over the world. There are 2,000 phone calls go
on every day, one every 15 seconds on average. Often that is to
far-off places with bad phone lines, so we need quiet in order
to speak to our field associates and our clients in distant places
as well.
6413. And in terms of this multilingual aspect
of the company's work do those calls and conferences that you
have involve discussion of technical matters?
(Mr Thomson) Often, yes, technical matters,
contracts, clarifications of work requested to fulfil contracts,
a broad range of subjects.
6414. If the ability to hear accurately what
was being said translated itself into an error in one of your
reports what is the effect of that on your market reputation,
particularly given you are a superbrand?
(Mr Thomson) It would obviously be hugely detrimental
to our market reputation, as indeed would be providing the wrong
products to a client that requested them. Obviously, correctly
carrying out the work that we have been contracted to do is important.
If there is confusion or there are inaccuracies introduced by
difficulty in working, concentrating on communicating, it will
obviously have a detrimental effect on our business.
6415. Do you, in addition to work involving
telephone conversations and research, also have a video studio
in which presentations take place?
(Mr Thomson) We have a board room—we
call it a board room; it is a big meeting room—where we
have audio-visual equipment in order to do presentations and so
on. We also have a video-conferencing room that we use to liaise
with our colleagues across the Atlantic, which is in constant
use in the afternoon when they are awake, so yes, there are several
meeting rooms. We have lots of facilities that we use to help
us efficiently go about our business.
6416. I do not think we have a picture of it
but where are the board room and the video-conference room in
relation to Hayne Street?
(Mr Thomson) They both overlook Hayne Street.
I was going to come on to this later on, our building and the
location.
6417. Perhaps we can look at number 12.[26]
(Mr Thomson) This is our video-conference
room and the building you can see in the near foreground is the
Hayne Street development, the Lindsey Street development.
6418. To go back to the order in which we were
dealing with this, you have put some recent press coverage there;
I think we can probably take that as read. Then you go on to tell
us a little about your employees and again I think you have covered
that. Number 7 deals with the location, and I just want to ask
you about Hayne Street.[27]
We need also to have a finger in a couple of other pictures—number
19.[28]
Can you tell the Committee about Hayne Street and how that relates
to and functions in the operation of the building?
(Mr Thomson) Hayne Street is the
street that separates us and the proposed development. It is approximately
five metres wide. It is used for deliveries. It has the only ramp
access. There is a side exit, a car park and at the side exit
there is a ramp which facilitates accessibility. It is the only
place we could put a ramp exit because the other entrance did
not have enough space to do a shallow enough ramp. It is in constant
use throughout the day by our sales people when they are going
to meetings and the car park is in constant use throughout the
day when our sales people are going to meetings and attending
meetings at our offices. There is a fire escape in the car park
as well. The side exit with the ramp is used for many deliveries
throughout the day. We receive over 8,000 products through our
doors every month for our floating products database.
6419. How do they deliver? Do they come by van
down Hayne Street?
(Mr Thomson) Yes.
26 Committee Ref: A74, Petitioner Mintel International
Group Ltd Presentation Slide 12 (LONDLB-505-036). Back
27
Committee Ref: A74, Petitioner Mintel International Group Ltd
Presentation Slide 7 (LONDLB-505-031). Back
28
Committee Ref: A74, Petitioner Mintel International Group Ltd
Presentation Slide 19 (LONDLB-505-043). Back
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