No … yes … maybe.

As executives we have commissioned literally millions of dollars in research projects and we’ve learned from the best in the business.

As consultants, we’re very comfortable developing and administering internal surveys, creativity sessions, focus groups and depth interviews … whenever they’re the right thing for our clients. Many of our assignments include such informal research tools.

But when a client needs market-level input that yields subtle and/or statistically robust conclusions that will drive mission-critical corporate decisions, we’re the first to call in the true experts. And we’re among the best partners you’ll find, who can understand and represent your business’s interests, get the most out of the experts, and put their research results into an actionable, meaningful context.

The short answer is “no.”

But we know lots of them, from full service to specialty providers, like web design, user interface, Flash programming, search specialists and even some of those “old media” types who keep TV, radio and print media going … for now.

More important than just knowing lots of them, we’ve worked with lots of creative services types and led them on many projects. And while we love creative types, all too often we see them blamed when the strategy component was missing from the start: Businesses are under more pressure than ever to deliver the right message, in the right medium, to the right audience, and at the right time and place.

That’s one of our specialties: Building the strategy, setting direction, and only then leading creative teams to execute brilliantly.