Our Blog
5 Tips for Writing Insightful Strategic Stories
1. Write it! (Don’t PowerPoint it) – Writing is thinking. There is no better way to work through insights than by writing the story. Writing forces clarity. It forces you to connect concepts. It won’t allow you to make leaps of logic. It demands flow and coherence. Write the story first. Then use presentation software to visualize the story you’ve written (assuming you’re deliverable is a digital deck).
Innovative Research Methods: How a Human Insights Approach Can Transform Routine Market Research
I used to have a boss in the market research business who would ask, “How do you get interesting insights?” To which he’d provide the answer “Ask interesting questions!” One way to guarantee interesting questions in market research is to stop pursuing Consumer Insights and start pursuing Human Insights. In recent blog posts, we’ve argued […]
Brand Strategy & Narrative Identity: 5 Qualities that Great Brands and Great Characters Share
By Jim White & Jim Chastain We use brands to tell ourselves stories about who we are. The brands that are most meaningful to us are those that play a role in our internal life stories, or what psychologists call our Narrative Identity. We’ve spent years listening to people tell stories about how brands fit […]
Consumer-Centric Marketing is Dead
By Jim White I hear a lot of marketers these days say their companies are “consumer-centric.” I used to think this was a good thing. But I’ve changed my mind. Being consumer-centric is good. But it’s not good enough. To be a truly transformative brand — one that enjoys true loyalty, passionate advocacy and a premium […]
Market Research: Why Brands Should Stop Talking to Consumers and Start Listening to Humans
By Jim Chastain Let’s stop talking to consumers. I have and I don’t really plan to talk with them anymore. They haven’t done anything to make me upset. They haven’t purposely misled me. I just find them to be limiting and not representative of how they really make buying decisions. Sure they offer opinions. Yes […]
