Most brand research tells you what people think. I tell you why the category works the way it does.
Most brand teams have more data than they know what to do with. AI is adding to the pile faster than anyone can process it.
What's harder to find is someone who can look at what's shifting in your category and your consumer's world, and tell you what it actually means for your brand.
That's what I do.
If the problem you're working on sits just outside what standard research can answer, that's usually where I'm most useful.
Past Clients include:
I’m John. Nice to meet you.
Brooklyn-based cultural strategist decoding culture for brand and innovation leaders at Google, Diageo, Target, and others.
I started in Cultural Insight and Strategic Foresight because there were things consumers couldn't tell you directly. Things embedded in how a category looked, sounded, and organized itself. Twenty years later, that's still the most interesting part of the work.
I've built and led cultural insight practices at Flamingo, Kelton, LRW, and Material. Before going independent, I ran Innovation and Future Spaces at Diageo North America. And while I use AI tools to source and organize data faster, the analysis is still mine.
Ways to Work together
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I work as a specialist layer, going deeper on the cultural and symbolic dimension than standard qualitative research alone can reach. This usually means semiotic analysis, cultural landscape reports, and strategic foresight frameworks.
Typical engagement: $10–20K / 3–6 weeks
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Ongoing strategic and insights partnership for growth-stage companies building their thinking capability from the inside. I work as an embedded thought partner, present in the (Zoom) room where decisions get made, not dropping in with donuts and a deck.
Typical engagement: Monthly retainer or equity + fee
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Speaking engagements, cultural intelligence training, and workshop design for teams that want to build this capability in-house. From half-day sessions to long-term programs.
Typical engagement: Half-day to multi-session engagements
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“The world is just beginning to realize the value of cultural insights and futures work but John has been a key player in developing thought leadership and building market approaches in the space for the better part of a decade. He intimately understands the market today and where it is heading.”
Marketing Insights Leader
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"When you pitch a huge project, your services are often difficult to differentiate. Your creative ideas and examples may be better, but that’s subjective and difficult to communicate. Cultural insights is something your competitors won’t offer. So, when you get in front of the client, you can tell them things that they won’t have heard, and will impress them, for a relatively small cost.
Venture Capital CEO