At Firebrand Insight, your privacy is very important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and store your information. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is held securely and in a way that you understand.

Background

Firebrand Insight is a market research company, based in Surrey and South-West London.  We carry out a wide range of market research projects, collecting data via the telephone, through online surveys or face-to-face.

We are committed to meeting the requirements of the following laws and codes:

• The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Data Protection Act 1998 (and its incorporation of GDPR requirements)
• The Market Research Society’s (MRS) Code of Conduct
• ICC/ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) International Code on Market and Social Research

We conduct genuine market research – we do not sell anything apart from research services to our clients and you will never receive a follow-up sales call as a result of your participation in one of our market research studies.

Firebrand Insight is registered with the ICO under registration reference ZA163982

When we collect data

We collect information or data about you when:

• We contact you to take part in a market research study (for example online surveys, interviews or focus group discussions).  This will normally be because:
  • You are (or were) a customer of one of the companies for whom we work
  • You have given permission for a company to supply your details to a third party for market research purposes
  • You have participated in previous research for Firebrand Insight and have given your permission for us to re-contact you
• We contact you to confirm your participation in a research study you have previously agreed to take part in
• We contact you to validate answers to a study in which you have previously participated (but only if you have given us permission to do so)
• You contact us using the contact form on our website
• You contact us as a client or prospective client
• You contact us as a supplier or prospective supplier

The Information we hold for market research purposes

In order to conduct market research studies, we may have obtained your contact details from one of the following sources:

• If we are working on behalf of a client who wishes us to speak with their customers or ex-customers, the client may well provide limited customer details (including a phone number), so that we can make contact
• If you are a business or a tradesman, we may have sourced your phone number from a commercial directory

In all cases, we hold the minimum amount of data required in order to complete the research study – often this will be limited to just a name and a phone number.

Why we collect data

We collect data for a variety of reasons.  For market research studies this will include:

• We are commissioned by our clients to carry out market research surveys over the telephone and online and, occasionally, face-to-face. These surveys cover a wide range of subjects such as customer satisfaction with a product or service, feedback on a new product idea and so on. Any information collected by us is treated in the strictest of confidence – survey answers are collated and reported back to our clients in the aggregate; we will never attribute individual responses without the express permission of the respondent concerned. Participation in our surveys is entirely voluntary – we are reliant on the goodwill of the public and business to assist with our research. All the people that we contact are entirely at liberty to decline to participate or, if they are kind enough to take part, to decline to answer any question with which they are not comfortable.  We only carry out market research studies – we will never try to sell you anything and you will never receive a marketing follow-up as a result of your participation in one of our surveys
• At the start of all interviews, we will provide you with appropriate information so that you can give your informed consent to participate in the study or otherwise. This will include who we are calling on behalf of, the general survey topic and the length of time requested for participation
• In addition to your personal opinions, we may ask you for personal data such as your name (for quality control purposes) or for information about your age, employment status and so forth (this is so that we can ensure that we interview a range of different types of people.
• All information that we collect is held securely and is not shared with anyone outside of our organisation, including the client who originally commissioned the research. Your personal details will not be reported back to your clients or indeed linked with your other data without your express permission.  Your personal details are separated from the survey data as soon as is practical and survey data is reported in an aggregated format.
• All personal data that we hold on you, whether that has been supplied to us or collected by us during the course of a study, will be deleted as soon as it is practical to do so. This is normally a maximum of three months from the completion of the final interview on the study

In addition to data collected for research studies, we will also collect and hold data from clients and suppliers in order to:

• Respond to any enquiries or requests made of us
• To enable us to fulfil client contracts
• To market our services to existing clients or prospective clients
• To communicate effectively with existing suppliers or prospective clients

Data Security

Firebrand Insight maintains appropriate, technical, administrative and physical safeguards to ensure that all personal data (PII) collected or received by us is held securely.  We regularly review our security procedures and ensure that only authorised staff have access to personal data.  Firebrand Insight is not responsible for any errors by individuals in submitting personally identifiable information to us.

Your right to access data we hold

• You have the right (a ‘subject access request’) to access any personal data that we hold on you, including the right to update any information that you believe to be incorrect
• Even if you have provided us with permission to hold your data or to contact you again about a market research study, you can withdraw that permission at any time
• If you wish to make a subject access request, please apply by email to Andy@Firebrandinsight.co.uk stating ‘Subject Access Request’ in the header.  We will make all reasonable and practical steps to respond to your request within 10 working days

If you have any queries about this policy, please contact Andy Booth at andy@firebrandinsight.co.uk or 0208 979 9453 or Andrew Smith  at andrew@firebrandinsight.co.uk or 07910 539988