

.The market research industry has too long been caught up with widgets, tools, methodologies,
the latest being AI..
We’re turning innovation on its head.

Fundamental to delivering better insights and delivering insights better is connecting businesses with humans. But what use is this at the end of the research cycle? How can you make a genuine connection with people at a 1-hour debrief?
Our innovation is how we supercharge stakeholder engagement throughout the whole research cycle to enable strong connections with audiences right from the off.
How do we know stakeholder engagement is key in delivering better insights and delivering insights better?
Because we listened to the industry.
Back in 2019 we conducted a ground-breaking piece of work. We spoke to senior insight professionals from some of the world’s leading brands across a range of sectors to understand what makes insight truly useful. 20 provocations were identified as key in enabling research to have an impact on the business and stakeholder engagement was one of them. Since then, we’ve innovated and pioneered a suite of practices to ensure stakeholder engagement throughout the whole research process. We revolutionised how research is done.
But don’t forget that there are secondary stakeholders too. Many marketeers and product teams have moved on to new businesses and have specifically requested their new teams to partner with us. This is how we know what we do works.
“You can talk a good game, but it’s all about how that work gets used – do you actually really care? With the best agencies you feel like they’re on a journey with you as well, I want to feel that.”


.The benefits
of our innovation.
The deeper engagement stakeholders have with the research, the deeper connection they have with their audience. Insight lands not just at the end of the project during the debrief, but throughout the whole research process.
Let’s start with the kick off stakeholder interrogation…

Immersing stakeholders with the human
Insight is all about change – changing beliefs, feelings, and actions of audiences. To facilitate this change, it’s vital to firstly understand and connect with who these audiences are. It’s only when you understand who people are, can you try and initiate change within them. During stakeholder interrogations, we believe it’s our responsibility to really understand the mission at hand, ask the tricky questions, and start contemplating on hypotheses. This allows us to decipher what we want out of the connection, who we want to connect with, and ultimately, how we can use this connection to make change happen. This stage also makes stakeholders feel like it’s their project, not just ours. This feeling of ownership is vital – it’s the fuel that keeps them excited throughout the research.
Watch parties...
Watching fieldwork is usually when the client sits back, relax and watches the show. Not with One Minute to Midnight. Whether it be in person, or online, we watch the action unfold with the team. It’s really valuable that we are able to think together, analyse on-the-go and investigate what’s new that stakeholders haven’t heard anyone say before so we can deliver fresh insights and design outputs that have the power to transform a business.
Every output we deliver is designed to be energetic and engaging, not another read out. This includes anything from workshops and festivals connecting stakeholders to their audiences, to QR codes that brings the human into the room through videos, or magazines designed to be picked up by anyone and feel instantly connected to their audience. We often design outputs that has its own brand identity. This difference in look and feel to the usual branding enables the insight to be disseminated easily and more powerfully.
Wrap-up reviews
At the end of the project or every few months, we invite stakeholders to reflect on the research process with us to understand what we have delivered powerfully on, and where we can improve for next time. This way clients don’t just come on the ride with us, they are also active designers in their stakeholder engagement.

"Thank you for orchestrating such a powerful and human workshop. It was a great starting point for Shell and very different from previous starting points!"
Senior VP Planning Wundermann California




.Stakeholder engagement
is particularly useful for quant-focused new industries.

Tech and gaming companies who target new and important audiences such as Gen Z would find deep stakeholder engagement most useful.
Insights stop becoming data points and are instead rooted in the human being. We’ve worked with one of the largest entertainment companies develop their strategic direction and lobby government.
The result?
Change on a deeply powerful level.

Innovation isn’t about the latest widget, tool, methodology or AI technology. Real innovation is about fundamentally changing the way we do things in order to be true drivers of change within organisations.
