Quantitative research is familiar and reliable. Numbers are powerful, but they only take you so far in understanding your consumers and your brand. Data tells you what people’s intentions are – what they think they would do or choose or what they plan to do or have done. But deeper meaning that identifies behaviors and taps into opinions, beliefs, cultural nuances and feelings simply cannot be quantified. Enter: the power of qualitative research.

SMALL BITES: Which is more important– the data or the story that shapes the data? How do we know our data is guiding us in the right direction? How do we bring data and storytelling together to move beyond measurement into meaning?

SMALL BITES: In a poetic critique of the quantified-self era, Ruby Justice Thelot laments the dehumanizing effects of obsessive body tracking (sleep rings, step counters, etc.). How do we safeguard great experiences without giving people the feeling their humanity is being reduced to mere metrics?

Keep the juice flowing to ensure your team is living up to their utmost potential. Let’s take a look at six ways for you and your team to develop patterns for creative problem-solving.

SMALL BITES: Nicolas Carr writes that technology has made us become “pancake people”: spread wide but thin. As technological progress shows no sign of slowing down, what thicker insights are you ready to discover about your audience?

Getting to the heart of deep customer truths takes in-depth, individualized studies of your brand and your consumers. It takes a team of modern-day cultural anthropologists who know what look for and how to ask the right qualitative questions that reveal the most informative answers.

SMALL BITES: Scientists are now able transplant gene-edited pig organs into humans – it’s a massive breakthrough. But when innovation outruns acceptance, what does doing what’s right look like? Is it pressing forward…or pausing to bring people along?

SMALL BITES: When technology appears to be perfectly right, how do we make sure it’s still helping us do what’s right?

Wellness and wellbeing have taken center stage. While the traditional adages of wellness and wellbeing—get enough sleep, eat healthy, exercise regularly—remain true, new ideas, brands, apps, products and services are emerging with a renewed focus on helping people achieve wellness.

Fear is such a powerful driver of consumer behavior that we need to fully understand it in order to meet the needs that arise from it.

How people live is fundamentally changing, including the ways we define ourselves, our relationships, how we’re influenced and who is influencing us, and the various media we use to express ourselves. Old research methods won’t cut it any more. So, are you doing research all wrong?

Intelligence is always far more valuable than assumptions. There’s a line between brand research and competitor intelligence, and it’s not a very thin one. Let’s take a look at the difference between brand research (also known as market research) and competitor research (also known as competitive intelligence) and how insights from these valuable sources can help your company advance.

Whether you are a brand or an individual, the ability to achieve success is built on a foundation of 3 decision-making filters. Here are three keys to unlocking your brilliance and becoming unstoppable.

We’ve all seen it, dogs—and sometimes even other furry kinds of companions—in strollers, carseats, at the salon, dressed to impress… the rise of the “urban baby” is real! Sixty-eight percent of U.S. households, or about 85 million families, own a pet. Here is a quick look at some of the trends we’ve seen in retail and services as we continue to “humanize” our fuzziest family members.

Marketing to generational wants and needs is an ever-changing process, with trends emerging around every corner.

Disruption is something we can count on, but are we able to innovate fast enough to keep up – or fast enough to future-proof against the inevitable disruption? The trick is in the teamwork, and building a team where nimble, creative functionality can thrive.

What women want matters to your brand, no matter the arena or category. Through our brand research work we’ve found this premise rings true, year after year, and 2019 is no different. Join us as we delve into the power of the female retail shopper, tracking trends and making predictions that matter for your business. Here is a quick look at some of the top areas we think will be influenced by your target audience in the coming year.

Employees need a strong sense of confidence to call shots without second-guessing themselves. Let your team know you’re on their side by supporting choices they make, no matter what. Here are four simple buy powerful exercises to encourage independent problem solving within your team.

Increased global connection and collaboration has led to the blending of cultural values. Consumers are able to look to any culture in any part of the world and adopt any part of its philosophies as their own, literally picking and choosing what is best for them. As the world gets smaller, the opportunities for brands get bigger.

Lately it seems like everyone is jumping on the plus-sized clothing bandwagon. Based on our research and work with plus women, we predict brands playing in and entering this market will face two key challenges: culture and consumer.