Year End Planning – Important Dates
NewsPlanning fieldwork globally requires a detailled knowledge of important calendar dates. These include religious and public holidays, local and national. Major sports events that can impact participation levels or mentality are equally important.
The final quarter of the year is a busy time for many in market research. Clients are keen to allocate budgets in the financial year, agencies keen to see a good Q4 that helps them meet financial targets.
And participants? Well, everyone knows about holiday planning – and avoiding an artificial mindset where audiences are thinking differently about a category, with presents and occasions maybe higher priority.
But it’s not just about the official holidays.
As our head of recruitment, Helen Ehrensperger recently pointed out to everyone in H/T/P project management, there are other events and dates that also count.
Such as football. Such as the 2022 World Cup.
Which begins soon – doesn’t it?? It’s perhaps not top of mind at the moment, with so many more important things going on in the world.
But it will be more top-of-mind soon. And depending on what country you are in there will be days and times where recruitment is going to be a whole lot more difficult. Notably weekdays.
So from a German perspective, here’s a list of important weekday dates and times (all CET) to avoid – or be aware of – that the national team is playing and which might impact on recruitment.
- Wednesday 23 November – 14.00h
- Thursday 1st November – 20.00h
And then if the team makes it to the quarter-finals, semis and who knows maybe even the final, these are also possible no-go dates:
- Monday, 5 December – 16.00h
- Tuesday, 6 December – 16.00h
- Friday, 9 December – 16.00h
- Wednesday, 13th December – 20.00h
- Thursday, 14th December – 20.00h.
It might not sound like a big deal – pushing fieldwork a bit back or forward normally works. But it’s that time of year – and everybody is affected.
So if there are clients reading this blog – the sooner you can firm up on your year-end plans, the better.
Last minute rushes should never result in unplanned for own-goals 😉
(Photo by Thomas Serer on Unsplash)