The Vision One story
23 Years in the Making
For over 20 years we have been dedicated to helping companies develop and grow with insights that will transform your business.
The Vision One story spans 24 years arming clients with new and actionable insights, helping them to understand their customers, develop new products and grow their brands. More recently, over the past five years or so, the company has been transformed – improving its fortunes in becoming one of the UK’s fastest-growing full-service insight agencies. Despite the current economic and cost of living pressures, we still have plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the future!
It is fair to say that Vision One is unrecognisable compared to its humble origins. Tony Lewis (founder) established the company, having spent 16 years clientside, working as a researcher and marketer in blue chip companies, including; food & drink, travel & tourism, retail and financial services. Tony’s scientific background and desire to innovate and discover new approaches helped shape the company’s early successes, and this passion for innovation still remains a mainstay of the company. A few years later after setting up the company, Tony was joined by ex-Arcadia colleague and long-term business partner Jas Gidda.
Acquisition
The company was successful, and in 2012 it acquired Heawood Research Ltd – a specialist consumer insight agency located in Ellesmere Port and focusing on serving a range of leading Food and Drink brands. The aim of the acquisition was to help facilitate a move for the Directors to move up the country to the North and North West. The acquisition didn’t go quite according to plan – the cost of the loan and changes in the fortunes of some of the clients at the time, and the company went into stagnation until loans had been paid off.
But 2016 saw the owners discover a new lease on life and a radical new vision for the company. It was no longer happy with its happy-go-lucky style of management and business. A new focus was required.
The Impetus For Change
In 2016, the owners discovered a new lease on life and a radical new vision for the company was created. A new focus was required, and Investment in training and external consultancy support helped create a new vision and direction for the business.
Quality First
At the heart of the new strategy was a focus on quality, service and continuous improvement and in particular, to foster our newfound love of research. Despite our already high levels of client satisfaction, the first step was to raise the bar further and this involved over a year of hard work to achieve the Internationally recognised ISO20252 accreditation – the highest standard within the research industry. The company also embraced all forms of insights which included Behavioural Science, Nudges, System1 and Neuromarketing to enable it to provide the most rounded solutions and learnings for clients.
‘Success breeds Success’
Success quickly followed our commitment to quality, and in 2017, Vision One won the Recommended Agencies ‘Best Market Research Agency of the year. Further successes quickly followed and in 2020, and 2021 Vision One also won The Drum’s “Best Research Agency” two years running – the only agency to ever achieve this to date.
Always in Safe Hands
We value long-term partnerships and thrive on working with like-minded clients who are eager to discover fresh new insights to transform their businesses.
Voted as the UK’s best market research agency in 2020 AND 2021, and internationally accredited with the prestigious ISO 20252:2012, we continually outperform industry standards. You can see the evidence of our award-winning success from our exceptionally high client satisfaction scores.
The Company Today
With the help of a new Senior Management team, in less than five years the company has doubled in size and increased its commitment to staff (Now a Living Wage employer) along with an improved training programme and improved talent acquisition. We have also made a commitment to become a company of opportunity, and every year since then we have taken on apprenticeships – and are delighted with the success of this programme which has helped create the professionals of tomorrow.
Going Green
As an international facing company, the planet and the world as a whole is a primary interest for us, so two years ago we signed up for the MRS Net-Zero Pledge – with the promise of becoming Net-Zero by 2026.
We are forever grateful for the support we have had and would like to extend a special Thank You to our clients.
We look forward to sharing the next chapter of our story with you!
We bring something fresh to every project. To us, insight comes from different perspectives – and it all starts with our multidisciplinary team. Vision One is made up of psychologists, planners, marketers, brand and businesses experts and researchers – the perfect combination of visionaries, allowing us to offer original and meaningful insight right through from project design to presentation of final recommendations.
Our research team includes both qualitative and quantitative research specialists across B2B and consumer markets. We have developed our own award-winning innovative research tools and use a full range of qualitative research approaches – from traditional focus groups and depth interviews to mobile, online and ethnography. Our comprehensive quantitative expertise encompasses all the most effective methods, including face-to-face, online and telephone surveys.
We are Company Partners to the UK Market Research Society (MRS), providing you with further reassurance of our commitment to quality and adherence to their strict code of conduct.
At Vision One, we are very much a team. Find out more about us here.