Overview

Cultural Insight specialist with 18+ years working at the intersection of Culture/Qual/Quant. My heartland is Culture: I can help you with foresight, trends, semiotics, eth/netnography, cultural immersions and analysis while adding senior-level strategic value to the work.

Services

London, Cape Town, Nairobi

AGENCY-SIDE: Since 2006 I grew from cultural strategist to Director of Insights at Culture Foundry, Flamingo and BAMM. I've helped 200+ global brands (via 600+ presentations) to consciously consider consumers in their cultural context.

CLIENT-SIDE: In 2024 got a crash course in 'how to be a client' as Global Insight lead for two brands by Pernod Ricard (London-Stockholm)

Worked for leading brands across continents, categories, culture/qual/quant but my heartland is Cultural Insight.

We'd work best together from proposal to presentation, but I'm available for ad-hoc support if that's all you need: analysis and reporting or fieldwork.

As a consultant, I can help you with these types of briefs...
Audience or Category deep dive / Decoding & encoding culture / Demand Spaces / Mitigating Cultural Risk / Brand & Product Proposition / Archetypes / Global multi-market strategy (one answer, regional nuance)

...through the usual things us insights folk get up to:
Foresights & trends, Qual research (groups, online, depths etc), applied semiotics, eth/netnography, desk research, lit review, engaging experts, workshops, AI

Areas we'd work best together:

Africa (esp. Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa) / Gaming / Alcohol / Sustainability / Mushrooms / Wellness / Soft drinks

About

Much of my career has focused on things I love:

• 🍄 Mushrooms and psychedelics culture- Amateur Mycologist. I spent 2023 on a world mushroom tour, interviewing 67+ mushroom innovators and thinkers in 6 countries + market mappings of the varying mushroom & mycelium industries. Blog & podcast https://www.runningwithmushrooms.com

• 🌍 Africa- Seasoned traveler. I helped Instant Grass, now Culture Foundry, expand into 18 regions, while helping global brands (incl. BBC, Jameson, Red Bull, ABinBev, Jägermeister) resonate by honouring cultural nuance.

• 🎮 Gaming- Avid gamer. Designed an in-game ethnography method to help brands like Canon & The Coca Cola Company understand gaming mindsets, needs, behaviours.

• 🍾 Alcohol- Distiller's daughter. Much of my career has been in alcohol (eg. with Pernod Ricard, SAB Miller, Brown Forman, RTDs, mushroom cocktails)

• 💚 Sustainability- Planet conscious. I prioritise working with companies & brands with shared values. E.g. Helped plant-based drink by the world's biggest bev company develop a biodiversity proposition.

• 💗 Wellness- Exploring wellness (and it's pushback, like 'healing from healing') is so fun. Recently designed and led a mammoth culture/qual/quant study into LatAm health & wellness, incl. DEMAND SPACES and semiotic category analysis for the client's portfolio and comms strategy.