Blimey. What a week it’s been.

On Tuesday night (18th May), Elle, Steve and I donned our posh frocks and necked free champagne at Marketing Weeks’s Engage Awards. I was a nominee in the category of ‘Rising Star’… the clue is in the name. Steve rather unkindly suggested that I was risen, I pointed out that makes him as old as the sun. Anyway, I was sitting at the Sponsor’s table and a bunch of us decided to sweepstake the awards to calm our nerves. Not necessary in the end as I didn’t win but was not surprised to lose out to rather lovely Gemma Howells – who was at Innocent when she wrote her submission but is at Mars now.

It was an amazing night – not least because it reminded us how ‘big’ the marketing world is and how the market research world has to fight hard to be heard. We also, I think, have to fight harder to be as glamorous, brave and proactive in the face of all those agencies whose culture permits a little more showing off at their successes.

I based my entry on First Shave, our research approach for start ups and entrepreneurs, which was fitting as at 5am the next morning Elle and I flew to Prague to attend and present at the AQR QRCA Inspiration in Action qualitative conference.

We’ll write more about what we got up to when we’ve had a chance to decipher our notes and digest it all…but it was a fabulous and inspiring three days. We did pretty well (by all accounts) and have proved ourselves starstruck by saving the note Wendy Gordon wrote us afterwards and we’ll probably frame it. High praise indeed.

So now I’m back – all glamour completed. What’s next?

Chloe