Member Article

David Shiel speaks with bdaily about his 18 year journey to build up Explain

David Shiel decided to set up Explain in the belief that he could “do a good job giving outstanding insight and brand value to clients”, and 18 years later, it is clear that the business does just that.

Explain is a market research company based in Newcastle which according to managing director David, “provides insight and engagement for customers across the UK”. Since inception, the company has secured several blue chip clients in a variety of sectors, including Northumbrian Water and Yorkshire Building Society.

David attributes Explains success to a number of factors: “We provide excellent service and have great relationships with clients, and rarely lose them because we have an incredibly hard working dedicated team.”

Currently the jewel in Explain’s crown is its partnership with Better, a Stokesley based social media agency. Together, they have created Better Communities, which combines social media with digital research analysis to provide constructive information to help businesses improve their relationship with the customer. David went on to explain more about he project:

“It’s all about co-creation whereby the customer and the business work together to develop new products and processes. By creating an online community, we’ve provided consumers with a genuine outlet for constructive feedback which will be useful for businesses.”

This project, which was first used by Northumbrian Water, has been a great success so far, and Explain has had massive demand for the unique concept: “we’ve got 15 other companies interested and we are building communities as fast as we can” he added.

It is projects like this which indicate why Explain’s growth has been unaffected by the economic climate. “We’re specialists in 6 or 7 sectors, which means that if one is quiet, such as the NHS is at the moment, we can rely on other sectors for orders. It’s vital not to be over reliant on one sector,” David said.

David has a clear vision for the company over the next few years, despite plans to take a step back in the business.

“We’ve got some big deals in the pipeline and we’re also looking at opportunities abroad. This will present new and different challenges, so it’s vital that we keep coming up with new revenue streams and outstanding service to clients.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .