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2004

WHAT's NEW: 2004

In the Public Interest

POSTED: December 03, 2004

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was established by Congress for purpose of helping to guide the direction of public radio and television so that it would always act in the interest of American citizens. City Square Associates has been privileged to work over the course of the past year with the team helping to develop a long-term primetime programming strategy for public television. This work, recently reported on in the journal of public television Current, involved extensive qualitative and quantitative research, and a state-of the art audience segmentation. City Square has been involved not only in the research design and implementation, but also in the development of communication tools—including two full-length video productions—to share out the learning from the research. City Square continues to collaborate with CPB, PBS, and other stakeholders in the public television arena in the development and implementation of a strategy designed to build audience reach, frequency of viewing, and member loyalty. Since much of this work is in the public domain, we’ll continue to report on the progress of our work as time goes on.

Help is on the Way

POSTED: October 13, 2004

City Square Associates is pleased to announce that Caroline Tingley will be joining our practice in the role of Research Manager beginning October 18. Caroline comes to City Square from the National Leisure Group (NLG), one of the nation's largest online and offline leisure travel companies with a portfolio of consumer brands that it owns or licenses, including Vacation Outlet, 1-800-CRUISES, Cruises.com, Orbitz, Yahoo!, and priceline.com.

While at NLG, Caroline designed and managed a comprehensive program to track customer experience and behavior—ultimately for the purpose of raising the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty. She also acquired extensive experience in data mining and in fielding online surveys. She has conducted in-depth interviews and moderated focus groups.

She holds the MS in non-profit business from Boston University and is now in the process of completing her MBA at the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

We found Caroline after a long and careful search in which we received over two hundred resumes and conducted more than a dozen interviews. At City Square, it’s never a matter of just finding someone to fit a slot; it’s a matter of locating the person whose personal journey and the journey of our growth as a research and consulting practice intersect in a promising way. We’re confident that we’ve found that person in Caroline.

Adding her to our team specifically in the role of Research Manager will do two important things for City Square: First, it will enable us to maintain the quality of our service to clients by having two talented and skilled individuals— our current Research Manager Josh Conway and Caroline—in the all-important role of top-to-bottom project management. Second, it will also enable us to secure the opportunity for ongoing professional growth for our entire team. In the end, hiring Caroline is not as much about growing our revenue as it is about creating the additional bandwidth necessary for creative thinking and maintaining a superior level of service to our client partners.

We know that you’ll help us in welcoming Caroline.

City Square Associates Has a New Home

POSTED: August 13, 2004

August 16, 2004 will mark the first day of business from City Square's office in Central Square, Cambridge, MA. After four great years in historic Brookline Village, we are excited to open new doors in the heart of Cambridge. Mid-point of the walk between MIT and Harvard, Central Square is home to a lively array of retail establishments, high-tech and biotech companies, community organizations, academic institutions, entertainment spots, as well as Cambridge City Hall.

The spirit of City Square is the place in a community that fosters and encourages a public exchange of goods and ideas through all its varied voices, so in many ways, this is the perfect place for us.

Fun Summer Fridays

POSTED: June 28, 2004

Continuing an annual tradition, our offices will be closed on Fridays during July and August. City Square is committed to a flexible work structure conducive to a high quality of life for our team members. Shifting to a four-day work week during the summer—when the weather is generally better (even here in New England!) and clients often take vacation time—has been one way of honoring this commitment. The practical implications for our clients are these: Messages left by phone or email on Fridays will be addressed first thing on Monday, and no field work will be scheduled for any Friday in July and August. Aside from that, it should be “business as usual.”

Back to School for Karen; New Associate
on the Way

POSTED: June 28, 2004

Research Director Karen Barone will leave City Square Associates on August 6 in preparation for the beginning of graduate studies in September. Karen joined us in September 2001 as a Research Manager and rapidly distinguished herself as a first rate group facilitator and insightful research analyst. She has worked in all the major sectors of our business—media, financial services, and not-for-profit—and will bring real-world, applied research experience to her pursuit of doctoral studies in Sociology at Boston College. We wish her well.

By summer’s end, we’ll be announcing a new addition to our City Square team. As in the past, our approach to staffing is less a matter of “filling a slot” or “replacing an employee,” and more a matter of taking stock of our evolution as a practice and finding that person whose own professional journey dovetails best with where we’re going as a work group. While we—and those of you have had the chance to work with Karen—will definitely feel a loss, change can be good and open up new vistas of growth and opportunity.

In the meantime, for the better part of August, our staff resources will be reduced by one, and our availability for new project work may be somewhat diminished. Thank you in advance for your loyalty during the transition.