UMR

I joined UMR, an Australasian public-opinion and market research firm, straight out of university as a research assistant in Wellington. It was an apprenticeship in research and political strategy: I learned to code open-ended survey responses, design and program questionnaires, analyze results and run focus groups.

Learning the craft

I worked under Stephen Mills and John Utting, political advisers to Labour in New Zealand and Australia, and with Darshan Goux. Alongside political research, I worked on projects for corporate, entertainment and public-sector clients.

The 2002 election

I was part of the research team supporting Helen Clark and New Zealand Labour’s successful 2002 re-election campaign. New Zealand was holding its third election under the mixed-member proportional system. Our work explored tactical voting and how voters understood the consequences of their choices for the shape of the next government.

Labour won 52 of Parliament’s 120 seats, compared with National’s 27, and returned to government in a coalition with the Progressives. It was a clear re-election, though not a single-party majority. Official 2002 results

I also liaised with the prime minister’s chief of staff on research projects and presented findings to senior government and corporate leaders.

Making research more useful

I helped standardize the company’s brand across New Zealand and Australia and introduced video from qualitative research into client presentations. It brought people’s own words into the room alongside the numbers.