Year End Planning – Important Dates

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)