CHE Proximity’s innovative new mobile research offering, Black Mirror, was officially unveiled to the public today, with the app now available for download from the Apple store for free.

Black Mirror allows brands to gather richer, more targeted insights from the Australian public and from around the world by posting “missions” to the app for people to complete in exchange for cash. Missions could be anything from experiencing a product, to feeding back on an ad campaign.

The research candidate responds by uploading thoughts and emotions in the form of words, pictures and video from wherever they are, via their smartphone.

With the app now live, prospective research candidates can watch an instructional video and learn how the app works. The agency will encourage Australians to download the app via research agencies, with a portfolio of respondents recruited to suit a brand’s specific business issues and drive commercial return.

CHE Proximity’s director of brand, James Needham, says Black Mirror will be a game changer for brands who are looking to learn what their consumers think of them.

“Traditional research is cumbersome. It takes money and time and it’s a model that just doesn’t fit in with today’s fast-paced environment. Black Mirror lets us very simply execute ethnographic research campaigns, helping people capture their feelings at the exact moment they’re felt, providing more accurate results.”

The app lives on any smartphone and filters, recruits and sends out a series of missions to be completed within a set timeframe.

Once a mission is complete, users are able to annotate their experience, answer set questions and rate their experience on an emotional spectrum – providing deeper insight not just into what they thought and did, but how they felt in the moment.

People can search “Black Mirror” in the Apple app store and select for a free download, and the app will be available on Android in due course.