We’re a research enhanced Brand consultancy.  We interrogate brands’ cultural resonance – exploring cultural triggers, organising expert salons, and conducting ethnographies – and apply cultural analysis methodologies to define brands’ cultural paradigms.

Cultural Triggers

Natural triggers prompt us act in ways that are instinctive and innate; reactions we are born with. Personal triggers guide the choices we make; the actions we take because we’ve decided to.  Cultural triggers prompt us to behave in ways which we have been socially ingrained in us – by our families, peers, institutions and social norms.

Most of our behaviour is triggered by culture.  By exploring cultural context, we understand the concepts that inform people’s habits and actions.

Cultural experts

Cultural experts articulate the cultural context of brands in a unique way.  We typically interview academics in sociology, cultural anthropology, history of literature and arts.  But equally we like to talk to teachers, local activists, entertainers, bloggers, doctors, researchers, even chefs and sommeliers – experts with insights relevant to the project.

We distil this broad-ranging expertise to pinpoint ideas, practices and beliefs that have a strong influence on people’s behaviour.

Ethnographies

Ethnographies are a potent way to identify and explore cultural triggers.  They allow us to dive deeper; to understand people as whole entities, not just as consumers.  We build a trusting relationship with the interviewee so they invite us into the heart of their world – to tell us what they think, what they do, what moves them, and how they live.

By listening, observing and guiding, our ethnographers encourage people to tell us their life stories.  Telling a personal story to a stranger can be, crucially, incredibly empowering to the interviewee. Then, guided by our ethnographers, we move into brand issues from the point of view of the respondents’ life stories.

Cultural Analysis

We analyse the raw feedback that we have gathered to discover the underpinning cultural paradigm.

The cultural paradigm is the frame and context in which people think and act.  Cultural context leads Americans to live on credit whilst Japanese people save to purchase; Scandinavians to go to bed as Spaniards are just heading out for dinner.

To achieve a solid cultural analysis we not only analyse the brand’s competitive landscape, we also draw on concepts from Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology and Philosophy.

A&P.

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