Sound Founder Links Qual and Film for New Company

Ian Pierpoint, founder of youth research specialist The Sound, has launched a new agency called Further&Further, which combines qual research methodologies with immersive documentary film-making.

Pierpoint (pictured) began his research career at Transport for London, before joining Nestle as a planner, then working at Informer Youth Research as Research Director. Later, he became MD of TRBi's specialist youth research division, and he served as SVP and Global Head of Synovate (now Ipsos) Youth Consultancy, before co-founding The Sound in 2006.

His new company Further&Further has already hired six researchers and film-makers at its offices in New York City and Montreal. Pierpoint says the agency's approach to research enables the team to 'follow the story', often speaking with subjects over many days and always including people outside the original research sample. The agency also employs alternative recruitment approaches, including 'casting subjects' who are screened again and again until the team is confident they have an authentic story to tell.

Further&Further works a four-day week and its senior team focuses on leading one project at a time, with an approach which seeks to improve the quality of the work and offset the pressure, long hours and travel the job involves. Pierpoint explains: 'Firstly I wanted to do more authentic and better quality research, but I also want to create a culture of respect. The industry suffers from too many burnouts and too much bullying when the stress levels rise. At Further&Further we're going to work differently'.

Web site: www.furtherandfurtherstrategies.com .