Alison Lyon

Alison Lyon

Alison is passionate about giving vulnerable and disadvantaged audiences a voice. She has worked with ‘hard to reach’ audiences for over 20 years, helping organisations and companies communicate and interact with them effectively.

Alison has worked with a variety of FTSE Top 100 companies, including Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Standard Life, and Scottish Widows, as well as a wide range of third and public sector organisations, such as CAFOD, Age UK, London Borough of Sutton, Legal Services Commission, Departments of Health and Education, learndirect, the Home Office and BIS.

One of the first UK qualitative researchers to start working online, she has built a reputation for innovation, creativity, thoroughness and attention to detail.

“I’ve seen Alison get hesitant teenagers sparking and young lads full of bravado reflecting: she connects with a huge array of respondents brilliantly, from vulnerable pensioners to time-poor health professionals… she’s an outstanding researcher and immense fun to work with” (Adrian Haldane, BIS)

She founded Counterpoint Research in 1991, and highlights of her career include being severely disrespected for giving a paper arguing that TV on demand was too much effort for viewers (way back in the first rush of excitement about all things digital at Manchester University Broadcasting Symposium) and being labelled a “lilly livered liberal apologist” in a blog covering Counterpoint’s report on “Childhood Wellbeing” for DCSF.

“Alison was a joy to work with. I found her to be exceptionally bright and talented as a researcher. She was, and doubtless still is, at her very best on more sensitive or complex research issues. Characteristically courageous, she won’t shy away from ‘telling it how it is’. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending her work” (Eamonn Santry, MD Network Research)