Expert Recruitment and Research for Japanese Bearings Company NTN

What was the brief?

World-leading Japanese bearings manufacturer NTN was celebrating its 100th anniversary and had published a one-page English advertorial in the Financial Times newspaper.

They wanted to understand whether industry experts had seen the advertorial and what their impression of the company was, as well as probing into what they liked and disliked about the presentation and information given.

They approached us to carry out the project.

How we approached things

We recruited a total of 40 senior-level professionals, influencers, investors and experts from across the US and Europe.

Then, we invited them to complete our survey to understand their perspectives. This involved working with NTN to localise for a western audience.

There was a general consensus from the respondents that the message of sustainability was not convincing enough in the article, but respondents were impressed by the fact that the company was looking another 100 years ahead.

These insights were enabled through our cultural understanding as well as analysis of the survey. As a result, NTN were able to adjust future communications for this audience accordingly.

Methodology

We recruited participants via online channels, selected industry groups and our professional network. The survey was designed using Google Forms and sent out accordingly.

The insights from the survey were distilled into a 40-page report, translated into Japanese and delivered to NTN.