Culture shapes how people think, communicate, shop and make decisions. A product, message, or marketing strategy that works well in one culture may fail, or even offend, in another. Last week, the AQR hosted the Culturama event at Boxclever HQ, with inspiring talks from Jamie Oyebode (Davies + McKerr), Dr. Nick Gadsby (The Answer) and Oliver Sweet (Author / Ipsos) and some thought-provoking discussions around how culture is evolving and what that means for the way we approach research. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the key insights discussed and how they can shape our thinking going forward.
Let’s be honest: most proposition development processes look fine on paper. Flowcharts. Stage gates. “Consumer-led innovation” posters. A workshop with too many Post‑its. Then… a launch that underwhelms, a price that gets “rounded”, and a product team quietly moving on to the next shiny thing. And the scary bit? The cost isn’t always dramatic. It’s silent. It shows up as: investment in propositions you can deliver (not the ones you should), pricing bolted on at the end, and consumer insight that arrives too late — or so early it gets forgotten. That’s when millions get quietly wasted and growth stalls. So, what separates the brands that win from the ones that “nearly” do?
Too often, research projects end with a polished debrief that feels like a full stop. But if we want insight to drive genuine change, we need to turn that single dot into three… Like the lifecycle of a butterfly, the beauty of market research becomes more obvious in its final stage. And without the metamorphosis into a butterfly, the life of insight might be short-lived, just like that of the caterpillar. For insight to truly spread its wings, we need to think about activation. We need to make sure findings don’t just sit on a shelf waiting to be noticed, but fly through the business, sparking interesting conversations, and fuelling informed decisions. At Boxclever, we see activation as a journey with three essential steps: bringing stakeholders with you, telling the story strategically, and translating recommendations into action.
