We’re known for our ability to solve knotty problems, both big and small. These range from foundational pieces of insight that might inform multiple workstreams, to tactical questions around aspects of marketing such as naming, claims development and messaging hierarchy.  Rather than specialising in a sector, we specialise in people - our clients range from financial services to FMCG, to healthcare and beyond. We’ve had plenty of experience in the travel sector too, for companies such as British Airways, P&O Cruises, Villa Plus, IHG, and more.

Our approach to insight is informed by the latest thinking from the worlds of behavioural economics, sociology and neuroscience. We make a point of staying up to date with the latest in human understanding so we can apply it to the work we do for our clients. Every project we undertake is bespoke, drawing on the thinking and tools that make the most sense for the job. Our heart centre is qualitative and quantitative insight, and we pull in the expertise of other disciplines as necessary – whether that’s anthropologists, semioticians, discourse analysts or AI specialists. This is all in the service of achieving breakthrough insight in a market where every brand is striving for distinctiveness but is driven by numbers, efficiencies, and increasing cost pressure.

The types of problems we help to solve are wide-ranging, including:

• State of the nation – foundation stone pieces that set out the lay of the land in the wake of change, for example, exploring the impact of the 2008 financial crash on people’s relationships with money; understanding how to position a corporate ESG narrative without falling foul of greenwashing; shedding light on the impact of Covid – what’s a permanent change vs what will recede as time marches on.

• Market scoping and sizing - this is about understanding the lay of the land for a brand.  It might involve understanding different audiences, segments, needs and occasions.  Usually conducted when a brand is in growth or a new product is in development, and going on to inform anything from media planning and channel strategy to positioning, naming, and how and where a brand shows up.

• Positioning research is a specific skill.  It’s often done badly, without the recognition that a positioning statement or manifesto is a piece of marketing theory, alien to the person on the street.  We have developed an approach that gets brands further along in identifying their sweet spot and understanding how best to express it.

• Communications development – this is an area of expertise for us. One of our founders is ex-creative agency, and highly alert to the sensitivities of creative development. Coupled with what we know from behavioural science, we have developed an approach that differs from classic focus groups, moving toward something sharper and more sensitive. We’ve informed several IPA Effectiveness winners through this.

As we work across so many sectors, we have the benefit of a very broad contextual outlook - we see how the same cultural trends shape different sectors, and we often see common themes in our briefs across sectors.  For example, the meaning of trust or value, or the shifting landscape of new work/life balance trends, we get insight into different cohorts, such as the over-65s; we understand how constrained finances affect different sectors.

Our tools of the trade are varied - more recently, we’ve seen the need for senior management to feel closer to their customers. In our age of WFH, AI, data and measurement, the humanity of one’s customers is easily overlooked.  Senior teams are recognising this and wanting to connect to the humanity behind the numbers. To do this, we’ve used big workshops, mixing stakeholders and their customers. We also conduct ethnographic work, where we go into people’s homes, go driving, shopping or out and about with them and then bring this to life for client teams so that they all have a shared vision of who the customer really is. 

And we conduct plenty of online and face-to-face conversations with people in different configurations, from individual interviews to pairs, to small groups - for these, our focus is always to anchor the conversations in reality. We use homework and behaviour change exercises to do this, forcing people to change behaviour to surface the barriers and opportunities to a particular brand or category – what if you had to book a holiday and airlines were no longer an option; what if you had to drink Baileys every time you had an alcoholic drink; what if you had to replace every condiment with gravy for a week?  All with a view to informing actionable business strategy.

And, of course, quantitative research is key - market sizing, assessing distinctive brand assets, identifying growth opportunities, brand tracking, claims testing and more.

If you’d like to up your A game, get in touch with caroline@acacia-avenue.com