What we mean by "Culture" and how we use it to empower brands.
Cultural Insights is the study of the impact of cultural forces that are often invisible, but that play active roles in informing consumers’ subconscious thoughts and behaviors.
Consumers are just like you and me, and often have no time to stop, think, or reasonably articulate what is driving their daily behaviors, wants, needs and motivations. Because of this, it is necessary to contextualize data and consumer insights by first stepping back to see the bigger picture and culture’s role in shaping consumers’ daily realities.
In doing so, brands can properly equip themselves with the tools they need to create culturally relevant brand activation strategies that deeply resonate with their desired audiences in meaningful ways.
Incorporating culture into your strategy, guarantees future-proof outcomes.
Everything has an inherent, unspoken signified meaning.
For example, what does an apple signify to you? Good health? Adam and Eve? Snow White? Apple juice or American apple pie? Or perhaps the large technology company that has an apple for a logo?
Identifying the meanings associated with an idea, concept or category is the practice of semiotics. We use “semiotic decoders” to empower brands with the right cultural intelligence they need to stand out in the marketplace.
Understanding the varied cultural expressions of a product, idea or concept enables us to inspire new brand positioning ideas, inform your innovation strategy or simply identify how trends are impacting your category. We help clients develop fresher, more emergent outputs and strategies that can live beyond today.
Who We
Are
We are the source, the “plug”, the “on switch” you never knew you were missing. We inform, inspire, and ignite beautiful ideas. We are future oriented, culturally rooted and intelligently charged.
FEEL LIKE
We are electric, always on and pulsing with the energy of the culture that surrounds us. Despite this, we do not exist frenetically. We are calm, collected and confident in our ability to tame the unknown because we feel most at home in ambiguity.
SOUND LIKE
Our tone is bold and deeply considered. Because we wait until we are fully informed before we speak or proclaim a truth, we come across as concise and definitive. Uncertainty does not exist here, only possibility.
LOOK LIKE
Other worldly. Alien. Superhuman. Anomalous. Our visuals contrast vibrantly against the depth of darkness to represent the light we help others find in a world of endless trends and data points.
We are a multi-hyphenate. Our expertise spans multiple disciplines which makes us a bit of an anomaly- not quite fitting into the world of research or strategy in clean, neat boxes of silos or hard edges. Our expertise blends across worlds, informing multiple dimensions of a business problem.
Because of this, we see things differently. Not through a lens of rose-colored glasses, but through the sphere of endless possibilities. It is from this perspective that we provide bespoke insight solutions to address the strategic needs of our clients.
More than anything, we exist in the future. Our purpose is to ensure that our clients do too. We provide ambitious, leading edge client teams with the tools, insights and frameworks to see the world before it happens to them, giving them the ability to plan for the future of tomorrow.
We are chronic consumers of data and information. Our appetite for knowledge is insatiable and our brain is never big enough. We are always striving to know more so that we can provide more for our clients.
In a world where information and content can feel like an endless barrage of inputs with repetitive trends, conflicting view points and supercilious word vomit, we are the tree clearers in the forest of too much information. Our goal is to increase your brain power and ease data fatigue.
We are a knowledge engine, constantly churning new facts, perspectives and opinion to see how, if and where they fit within the landscape of our clients' future trajectories. Because we thrive in ambiguity, we are able to comfortably boil an ocean of inputs to produce an easily digestible pathway forward.
Who We're For
Our client partners exist at every level of the strategy conversation. From novices to strategic experts, they all have one thing in common: an appetite for cultural intelligence and a desire for clear pathway forward, beyond today.
We provide the research, insights and expertise to build strategies that stand the test of time and surpass our clients goals and objectives.
ABOUT WHITNEY
For more than 14 years, Whitney Dunlap-Fowler has worked along side some of the most coveted brands and companies across the world. Utilizing her vast knowledge of cultural analysis, semiotics and brand strategy, she works to highlight new & meaningful ways for clients to leverage the constantly shifting nature of culture.
Over the years, Whitney has worked & partnered with a number of clients across the CPG, telecommunications, B2B, retail, luxury, beauty, tech, & fashion categories.
Before becoming an independent strategist, Whitney co-lead the Cultural Insights practice at Kelton Global where she used her knowledge and expertise to aid in deepening the company’s brand strategy engagements. While there, she not only aided in expanding the company’s cultural insights offering but she also contributed to the growth of revenue and & sales for her department.
Whitney’s experience in brand strategy was honed and polished during her time at Kantar Added Value, where she began as a member of the qualitative field team and worked her way up while simultaneously earning a Masters degree in Media Culture and Communications at NYU. During her time at Kantar, she excelled as a strategist across two teams: Brand Strategy and Cultural Insights, and took on a third role as the Multicultural Practice Lead for North America.
Before leaving the company she created networking group called “Insights in Color” for minority professionals seeking to connect with others in the research community.
