Why London?

It has been 4 years since I moved to London. At the beginning everything was brand new. Over time, it started to feel less adventurous and more like home. But when it comes to creativity, London still surprises me. Pandemic or not, I feel that when you work in marketing research, London is the place to be.

Take a second and think...what comes to your mind when somebody says London? Perhaps you can write it down and let me know?

What was it? Was it a big city? Stress? Brexit? Noise? Different cultures? Maybe you don't like London? Obviously it will be different for everybody.

For me, likely due to its size, London is the European hub of creative industries. It literally lives and breathes the stuff. I used to be told to read the case studies to keep up with innovations in advertising. But in fact for me, London is like living within a case study, you just need to get out there to see it. I am writing this in a small café in East London and I can't help over listening to the conversation of the couple next to me. It turns out that one of them works as a production manager for Netflix and just summarized it for me: 'If you are planning a big career in the film industry, you need to be in LA or London.' Well, at least I am not the only one who thinks that.

What makes London stand out from other European cities is its size and multiethnicity. Only 37% of its population is White British and London boasts over 300 different spoken languages...an absolutely brilliant environment for a researcher.

The picture shows the most frequently spoken languages aside from English by neighbourhood

When talking to consumers, diversity forces you to think about various ethnic groups with different cultures and needs. That isn't always easy and many brands fail in this respect. Definitely, never use the term 'normal'. What's normal for one can be seen as offensive to another.

So here I am, it has been exactly 4 years since moving to London. Moving abroad is always like starting from scratch, I am not going to sugar coat it. It wasn't always easy, especially at the beginning when my flat was the size of a shoebox and when I didn't know anyone here. Anyway back to the topic, moving to London was the best thing for me to do and it has changed my world. A bit of a cheesy ending, but 'if you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you always got.'