Where culture moves, demand follows.
I work out what’s driving demand, not just what’s changed in the market. This gives teams a clear basis for decisions about products, brands and where to grow next.
About
I’m an independent research and strategy consultant. Before starting my own practice, I spent a decade as Principal and Director of Strategy at Gemic, where I established the firm's cultural strategy offer and took it to market. My work has informed high-stakes growth and innovation decisions at BMW Group, Meta, Microsoft, TIAA, P&G Ventures and Rolls-Royce.
Much of what I do is about making sense of markets when the evidence is ambiguous or existing research doesn’t quite connect the dots. I look for what is driving changes in people’s behaviour, helping client teams understand where demand is heading and why.
Companies bring me in when
- Different studies each answer part of the question, but the answers don’t join up.
- Established segments and customer definitions no longer explain changing demand.
- Products, brands or customer experiences need to respond to changing expectations, aspirations and behaviours.
- Research, design, product, engineering, brand and strategy teams need a shared understanding before committing to a direction.
Selected challenges
When powertrains are electric and driving is autonomous, what sparks desire for a sports car?
Luxury markets are fragmenting. What kind of belonging matters now, and what makes a brand worth identifying with?
When sustainability becomes about resilience, not just reducing impact, what do people want from products and brands?
When ageing makes the body less reliable, what happens to a person's sense of independence, and how can design and technology help them keep it?
Retirement is becoming less about stopping work and more about freedom across a life. What should financial services be offering?
Approach
I take a cultural perspective on markets, connecting what people say and do with the wider shifts shaping what they value and how they live.
I combine methods to suit the question, from ethnography, qualitative research and semiotics to social listening, quantitative and behavioural analysis.
I work closely with teams to turn insight into decisions about products, brands and experiences. I also build measures and frameworks that can be tracked and used across an organisation.
Work
with me
A good place to start is a focused review of the question and the research you already have. Together, we clarify what you know, where the gaps are and what needs to happen next.
From there, engagements can extend into a structured synthesis of prior work, original multi-market studies, or longer-term programmes that follow how demand is changing.
You work directly with me, start to finish. When a project spans markets or calls for broader expertise, I bring in specialists I have worked with for years.