About Frankie Johnson

The Short Story

Hello, my name is Frankie, short for Francesca, and I’m the person behind Research Arts, the company and the website.

I’ve been involved in market research, both as a client and a practitioner, for over 35 years. I’ve personally conducted thousands of focus groups and trained several successful moderators. I was among the first to do online research, both qualitative and quantitative, and keep current on the new tools and approaches.

I am an emeritus member of AMA and founding member of QRCA.

The Long Story

Do you have a little time? Here’s more…

Well, for starters, I’ve led a long and well-rounded life. Honestly, I think this is THE most important qualification for being a good moderator and analyst. It really helps to have walked in someone else’s shoes when attempting to understand where they are coming from and, more importantly, anticipate where they are going. I know what it is to raise kids, own pets, remodel a home, be a wife / widow / single, move countries and states, live in the suburbs, live in a high-rise, grow a business, grow a garden, use power tools, do groups in 45 of the 50 states and Europe, get my AARP card, and on and on. I’m not saying that I’m great at any of this, but I believe that it matters that a researcher can relate to what people are experiencing.

When it comes to the business of qualitative research, I’ve been a client and a provider. I’ve run a company, owed a facility and trained other quals. I’ve also been a home-based consultant with my share of lean and flush times. In other words, I’ve been there and now want to pass along whatever might be of some use to other people in the field.

A bit more history:

I was born in London, graduating from the London School of Economics in applied micro-economics. I have dual citizenship and have worked in both the US and UK.

I began my career at Quaker Oats where I was responsible for the research on Aunt Jemina and pet foods. At that time, Quaker was one of the largest market research departments in the country. We learned research the old-school way – writing and testing questionnaires, coding, writing tab specs and other basic tasks before we were set loose as analysts. Later, Quaker was a client, and I conducted over 100 studies on all their brands, including Gatorade. I was a part of internal teams to develop new products and look at long-term trends.

After Quaker, I joined Sears as a Research Director for seven years. I had several assignments, being responsible at different periods for research on home fashions, home improvements, apparel, children’s products, catalog marketing and corporate brand image. I had a staff of analysts on the 35th floor of the Sears Tower, and another office on the 7th floor where I had the dual role as strategic marketing consultant to one of the senior VPs. These were the great days before the company’s demise. We had a ton of money for research and got to experiment with new methodologies. I conducted just about every type of study there is, from the first segmentation studies to setting up a databank of home purchases. I would go out into the malls and take over empty stores to set up displays of merchandise in order to do the preference tests that helped the buyers decide what items to put into their lines. And, towards the end of my time there, I started to moderate my own focus groups to increase my skill set, knowing that I wanted to start my own business one day.

That day came in 1984 when I started Research Arts, a firm primarily dedicated to qualitative research. We quickly grew as I hired and trained several moderators, though I was still actively doing the research myself as well. We found ourselves having difficulty controlling the availability and quality of the focus group facilities in Chicago at the time. And so, in 1986, I opened a state-of-the-art, four room facility in Oak Brook and our own recruiting division. We had a lot of business, almost $7 million in 1989, which made us one of the largest qualitative firms at the time. (This was a time when the average four group study sold for $10,000!) Clients included Quaker, Kimberly-Clark, Keebler, Kraft, Boston Consulting Group, Norwest Bank, Frito-Lay, Amoco and many more.

We were also innovative for the time. I bought the first Mac for the office through the University of Chicago beta program in 1984, and eventually we had Macs throughout the office. This was huge since it meant that every moderator could type their own reports, cutting turn-around by days. We also introduced the concept of SuperGroups, and used professional actors as part of our development of ideation techniques.

By 1990, I was running a firm with 45 employees, 3 offices, huge expenses and a lot of stress. Moreover, I had two young children and a difficult personal life. When my husband died in 1991, I began the long process of dismantling what I had built. Moderators were leaving to start families or their own firms and I didn’t replace them. Eventually, in 1997, I “sold” the focus group facility to employees and reconfigured Research Arts as a much smaller firm.

The big change came when I accepted the position as Executive VP of Millward Brown, heading up their US qualitative division. Before joining them, I closed up Research Arts and gave up my office space and assistants. But nothing was as it seemed. I lasted 2 weeks then resigned.

After that, I happily became an independent consultant. I have had a loyal group of clients, most notably the Boston Consulting Group, Petsmart, Morgan Stanley and the Tribune Group. I’ve written and lectured on consumer trends and green marketing, and worked with folks in consumer insights, product development and design, human resources and start-ups.

I’ve always been a bit of a nerd when it comes to new technology. I had a car phone in 1987 (giant case in the trunk). I did the first concept testing for Prodigy, which predated AOL and the web. I’ve been online since 1992, using the bulletin boards that were popular then. I’m still a bit of a tech nerd. I started a personal blog in the late nineties and have been writing online since then. I design my own web sites, write code and love doing it. I’ve designed blogs as add-ons to face-to-face projects and was an early user of video for in-depths.

After many years in Chicago, I now live in the San Francisco area near my two grown sons. Life is good.

Thanks for reading this far. I hope you enjoy this site and visit often.