THE RESEARCH STORIES
Here we host some real world examples of how research and insight drove commercial returns.
McDONALDS UK
HOW RESEARCH HELPED MCDONALDS RAISE REVENUE AS WELL AS EYEBROWS
RETURN ON RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
180x
Faced with ad wear out, and incoming legislation, McDonalds needed a new approach which could reconnect British consumers with the brand without showing a single project.
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Using story-based techniques, The Outsiders, Peek Content and House51 together uncovered some powerful new insights. These provided the creative spark for the award-winning ‘Raise your Arches’ campaign, which went on to become the ‘most liked by consumers’ ad of the year and, importantly, generate £45m in incremental revenue.
RICHMOND SAUSAGES
HOW RESEARCH REVEALED THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH BEHIND A BRAND’S DECLINE AND RESCUED IT
RETURN ON RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
22x
In 2016, market leader Richmond Sausages was losing over 100 customers an hour to own label rivals and declining three times faster than the category as a whole. All marketing efforts so far had failed to fix the problem.
Research revealed an uncomfortable truth: in a world where ‘foody’ sausages were trending, customers were quietly embarrassed to buy the biggest selling brand, Richmond.
The ensuing marketing campaign centring around social proof “The Nation’s Favourite” turned the brand’s fortunes around. And Richmond’s launch of chicken sausages in 2018 alone generated £1.2m of sales and brought in 365,000 new buyers. More broadly, the new insight-led creative proposition is reported to have added an additional 2.9m buyers across the range.
NUROFEN
THE INSIGHT THAT GAVE NUROFEN RELIEF FROM A PAINFUL SALES DECLINE
RETURN ON RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
4x
At a time when its sales were in decline in a growing category, research delivered Nurofen the insight it needed: in a category known for its rational claims, it learned pain can be emotionally draining too and affects women disproportionately.
Nurofen invested £3 million in researching The Gender Pain Gap. It created the first-ever annual Gender Pain Gap Report, and rolled out gender bias training to pharmacists across the UK.
Category share rose, brand trust and relevance increased and there was a complete turnaround in value perception. The sales declines of 2016-19 were not only stabilised, they were reversed and, by 2023 they were equivalent to an extra £15 million in sales each year.
ENGLAND & WALES CRICKET BOARD: THE HUNDRED
THE 5 YEAR RESEARCH RELATIONSHIP THAT BUILT
A £1 BILLION SPORTS BRAND
RETURN ON RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
500x
Since 2018 Craft Human Intelligence have worked with the England & Wales Cricket Board and played a pivotal role in imagining, designing, making the case for, developing and evaluating a revolutionary new cricket competition and entertainment brand to secure the future of the sport.
In early 2025 The Hundred was valued at £1 billion and a partial sale of the eight team brands generated over £500 million of capital for cricket in England. The research that helped shape this brand has delivered £500 of value for every £1 invested.
PRIMARK
HOW RESEARCH DELIVERED £40 OF PROFIT FOR EVERY
£1 INVESTED
RETURN ON RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
40x
Primark Germany was the outlier in Primark’s growing European business. The business had many different hypotheses as to why sales were down but it needed an impartial, apolitical view.
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SHED helped Primark assimilate all the insight it already had to build a “single version of the truth. The recommendations it made led to a plan which reversed a sizeable sales decline and turned it into £1m of incremental profit within a year.