Our Work
We provide precious insight into the lives of kids & families for some of the world's biggest brands and organisations.
- Client Sectors
- Case Studies
See examples of our work

Understanding the thoughts and opinions of 18-24 year olds towards the Covid vaccination programme.
To help the Borough Council understand concerns and reasons for vaccination hesitancy and shape their approach to engaging with more young people living in the area.
Platypus worked closely with the team at Waltham Forest Borough Council to develop a research programme which gave young people living in the area a chance to express their thoughts and opinions on Covid and express WHAT was impacting their vaccine hesitancy.
The research uncovered a wider lack of distrust in the Government which was contributing to scepticism and fear for take up of the vaccine.
Our research gave a chance for young people to voice their concerns in an open, non-judgemental forum.
Due to the sensitive nature of this topic Platypus had to quickly build rapport and a relationship of trust with the young people taking part in the research, and this was achieved via our immersive online discussion platform where we communicated with 20 participants. We were able to explore:
Barriers – why they haven’t had the vaccine
Attitudes, perceptions & main concerns – what is driving hesitancy
Influences – who has shaped their views
The research has provided Waltham Forest Borough Council and other local partners, such as the NHS with clear insight into the thoughts and opinions of young people living in the area to help them better target messaging around the vaccination programme.
“Thank you for letting me express my concerns! I was quite nervous and worried of being ridiculed, but I haven’t felt misjudged and I appreciate that!”
This has honestly been a fantastic piece of work. We couldn’t have asked for any more in terms of the methodology you used, the research itself, the presentation and the huge amount of time and effort
Carla Johnson, Research & Consultation Manager atLondon Borough of Waltham Forest
“Exceptionally high quality piece of research and great to find such a strong specialist agency working with children and young people”
Rhona Cadenhead , Strategic Director, Corporate Development atLondon Borough of Waltham Forest

Platypus supported the Department of Opportunities in organising and directing one of the largest ongoing programmes of research in the UK with disadvantaged young people. This uncovered the resilience, creativity, and frustrations that young people are feeling and what low-income young people need to thrive.
In response, the DO have published a new Youth Manifesto to hold the government to account ahead of the 2021 Autumn Budget and beyond.
They also detailed how employers can take action to help build a more equal society.
https://departmentforopportunities.org/unheard-voices/
UNHEARD VOICES LAUNCHED WITH A SURVEY in 2021 OF 2,000+ YOUNG PEOPLE, INCLUDING 1,000 FROM LOW-INCOME BACKGROUNDS
We told stories of resilience, creativity, and frustration that government does not understand what low-income young people need to thrive.
"Thank you SO much for this, really fascinating stuff and so much we can use for our existing campaign."
"Just brilliant to have that depth and breadth of insight - so much for us to think about"
Post debrief feedback, Department of Opportunities, Social Mobility Foundation
What drives the ‘youth of today’s’ media choices?
The media habits of 14-24 year olds are often reported on as one homogenous group ‘millennials’ – a meaningless term for a diverse bunch complete with a whole load of stereotypes sprinkled on the top. With a lack of ‘factual’ data, Thinkbox wanted to explore what was ‘myth’ and what was ‘real’ and look at the role of TV in young people’s seemingly ‘complex’ media lives.
Platypus Research devised a compelling methodology to throw light on the changing video lives of young people. Through a blend of qualitative techniques, including video ethnography, online communities and depth interviews, we discovered the factors that set this group apart and have made AV content an ingrained part of their lives and development.
We also conducted joint analysis with a specialist media psychologist to unpick some future predictions.
It’s fair to say that 14-24s are more influenced by age, education and lifestyle than any other group of people – and that this has an inevitable effect on the way they consume video. By unpicking the impact that life-stage has on their media usage, we could start to understand what makes this group unique.
We identified three interlinking aspects which have a significant influence on how younger people consume video, and the content choices they seek: ‘Time & Space’; ‘Identity’; and ‘Social Maintenance’.
All the details are shown below;
https://www.thinkbox.tv/Research/Thinkbox-research/The-truth-about-youth
The team are knowledgeable, dedicated and hard-working and have taken some complex themes, feedback and tight deadlines in their stride!
Nicole Greenfield-Smith, Head of Research atThinkbox TV Ltd
With over 25% of children in Orbit’s communities growing up in poverty, reducing the number of those living in poverty by ensuring they provide services and homes that meet these families needs is central to their future plans.
Platypus were chosen to help Orbit understand the lives and needs of children and parents living in poverty to help them to fulfil this mission.
Workshops were held in community centres across the UK and were designed with a flexible and open approach to take into account the mixed make up of the groups and to break down any worries or concerns about taking part.
Children’s sessions were carefully designed to take into account a wide range of ages using a variety of visual, creative and verbal methods.
Orbit have used the results from the research to push forward with their campaign to tackle child poverty, working through the insight gained and some of the recommendations made by the team. This report is being shared at the Houses of Parliament in March 2018.
Platypus were professional yet approachable and delivered fantastic workshops with parents and young children covering some sensitive topics.Platypus debrief was incredibly helpful and insightful.
Rachel Dixon, Senior PR and Communications Manager atOrbit
Oxford University Press (OUP) have a worldwide reputation for producing engaging home learning resources for primary school children. But with an increasingly crowded marketplace and a wide variety of school schemes, how do OUP maintain their strong position?
Our tasks were two fold; 1) Identify what information parents want in order to identify the most relevant resources and motivate purchase 2) Highlight the design elements needed to increase children’s engagement and enjoyment in order to enhance their learning across the curriculum.
Quantitative surveys were used to provide a concrete base of understanding and narrow down design and character options.
Every detail of the resources from messaging, tone and design were then evaluated in an iterative ‘test-amend-test’ process involving a two week long online forum where parents and children gave us their feedback via video and interactive tasks and missions.
A final sense check via face to face workshops was conducted to inform any last minute tweak before launch.
After each stage of the research we debriefed via a series of workshop sessions (using video content, image galleries, themed content) feeding directly into the design process of the resources. The final work also guided the launch strategy, content and optimising the store merchandising.
We were impressed by the range of options we were presented with to achieve the research we were seeking, along with Platypus’ clear expertise in undertaking research with children and families
Michelle Williams, Senior Publisher atOxford University Press
Ready meals form an important part of 2 Sisters Food Group’s meal solutions and with a greater than ever choice of these available, research was needed to explore and understand the opportunities for kids ready meals, to ensure 2 Sisters continue to grow and provide ready meals that keep parents happy and hungry little tummies well fed.
We needed to understand how family life affects meal choices today and the role of ready meals for children aged 4-8.
For one week we carried out ethnography via our digital to understand family meal choices in and outside of the home. Parents and children gave feedback to a number of tasks, via written responses, photos and videos.
By exploring real life in the moment, we were able to understand why different meal solutions were sought and how parents and children felt about their choices. Coffee morning sessions with parents to explore the rationale for their decisions in more detail were used to support this.
As a final reality check we observed family meal times, to see first hand the challenges.
The results were debriefed via an interactive workshop, where thematic analysis was presented to inform on the meal choices made and importantly the context of these choices.
This allowed 2 Sisters to ensure their development of kids ready meals in M&S was driven by feedback from those buying and eating their meals. Helping them to provide new & innovative solutions, rather than ‘me too’ products.
Platypus are a great agency to work with. They have a collaborative and flexible approach and really helped us to meet our objectives through answering our key questions in an actionable way.
Sarah Robinson, Senior Category Manager at2 Sisters Food Group
2017 was an incredible first year for All Stars Cricket (the English Cricket Board’s initiative for 5-8 year olds) with over 37,000 kids taking part in 1,539 All Stars programmes across England and Wales.
But with the sign up a success was the scheme doing what it was designed to do? And how could All Stars build on this momentum for 2018 to retain current All Stars and recruit even more?
We used an approach that meant young children and parents could get across exactly how they felt about all of the details of the sessions – the good and bad.
Running the research at the All Star fixtures meant the experience was fresh in their minds and we could observe the actual sessions. With 5-8 year olds prone to short attention spans and a tendency to latch onto one aspect we turned the interview into a game and kept it flexible in content and length to feed into the different capabilities of children within this age group.
We were able to identify the aspects that needed to be maintained for the next year of ASC.
We also gave clear direction for improvement based on the communications, coaching and game content which has fed into training plans and marketing for the coming year.
Specific improvements around how to engage different groups of children e.g. girls were also taken on board
Their proposal and approach stood out as they took the time to understand our business needs and more importantly they were able to provide context to the findings based on their years of experience working in the sector
Seema Hope, Insight Director atDennis Publishing
Platypus have given us the knowledge and confidence to go forward with a strong strategy for growth. We have been really impressed with the outcomes of the project and the overall experience of working with Platypus and are looking forward to working with Platypus again
Richard Flint, Participation and Club Support Director atEngland Golf