Nicola Lockey’s first job was as a cook for The Rolling Stones in a château in the south of France, while they were rehearsing for their first world tour. Although it sounds like fun, this experience of working on-demand 20 hours a day for this colorful, unpredictable group of people became the foundation of her work ethic and commitment to client satisfaction.
In 2002, Nicola founded A Pomegranate – a small company with big company credentials – where she has happily been employing the sum of all her experience in providing research and strategies to a wide range of clients and brands in the US, UK and Europe. She continues to ask questions, obsess about the future, and innovate new approaches to research, splitting her time between the USA and UK. In addition to continuing her work with global brands, she has become an expert, consultant and teacher in alternative finance and serves on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Crowdfunding which meets quarterly at the House of Commons.
A recent graduate of a Masters in Social Anthropology (with Distinction) together with study of the latest insights from behavioral and economic sciences updates Nicola’s skills in understanding contemporary economic, emotional, social and cultural influences in consumer reactions. This is added to a BA Honors degree from University of London in Philosophy which honed her ability to ask the right questions, exhaustively pursue the answers, and present the results coherently. This was followed by a career as a media journalist. She got to indulge her obsession with asking questions, learned how the advertising and media industries work from the inside, and how to analyze, parse and write all that up in well-crafted, informative articles.
Always with a futurist eye, Nicola moved to Silicon Valley during the tech boom to set up a new Account Planning Department for J Walter Thompson. With tech startups, small and giant, too numerous to mention, she learned how to be nimble and economic in developing new brands and communications strategies. She then shared her knowledge with young students, teaching Account Planning at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Prior to this, her passion for branding and social responsibility led Nicola to form her own brand image company, Foresight Communications Ltd, in London’s Soho, advising film directors, advertising agencies and new technology companies on their brand and communications strategies. As a result of her reputation, she was also invited to participate in political communications think tanks as part of the shadow communications agency, and was instrumental in creating the impetus and policies for the UK’s new Culture Ministry.
Her love of travel and diversity led her to sell Foresight and move on to pastures new. She started a family, adopting two children from Madagascar, and raised them in France and the USA. As many women will know, raising children teaches you more lessons than you ever dreamed of. Add to that the diversity of her family and cultures they lived in, and you have someone who has a global mindset, as well as a unique sensitivity to diverse cultures.
Extended Team
Over our many years of experience, we have fostered partnerships and collaborations with a network of exceptional research professionals and vendors, both in the US and abroad. We bring additional resources to a client’s brief, as needed. In addition to specialized recruiters, videographers, translators, designers of stimulus and storyboards, we can also bring the added firepower of research strategists and account planners.
A personalized service and client satisfaction is paramount for us. So, when you work with A Pomegranate, you know you will work with the Principal. Nicola personally runs and manages all projects, even when they are in association with a larger team.
Judith Wright
Judith is a marketing research consultant with an expertise in finding innovative solutions to marketing strategy, branding and new product development problems through the use of qualitative research and collaborative brainstorming. She loves the challenges and stimulation of her work and has more than 25 years’ experience in a broad range of categories including financial services, healthcare, luxury, entertainment, technology, automotive and consumer packaged goods.
At 11 years of age, Judith’s self-created school project involved blindfolding her classmates and feeding them different flavors of Jell-O, to see if they could guess the flavor. Judith has been digging for consumer and product insights ever since. Judith gained her BA in Marketing (1st class Honors) from Hull University Business School, England and her MA in Product Innovation from the Royal College of Art, London.
Martha Zipper
Martha Garma Zipper is an exceptional bi-cultural (American/Hispanic) researcher. She has over 20 years of international experience in marketing research and as a moderator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico Regional de Celaya in Mexico.
Martha is Mexican-American and has lived in Mexico and Europe. She is not only fluent in Spanish but understands the Hispanic culture. Work experience includes having worked for the European Union (Brussels, Belgium), Hispanic and general market advertising agencies as well as market research firms. Her Spanish language knowledge also includes familiarity with Spanish idioms and local vocabulary used by other Hispanic groups (i.e. Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans). She has also conducted qualitative research in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Lisa Wilcox
Lisa Wilcox is an experienced Qualitative researcher and consultant, specializing in the financial and Internet services category, and in brand and corporate identity and Positioning work.
Pierre Cuvelier
Creative Director and Creative consultant.