Research that survives the meeting it was made for.
I embed consumer insight into the marketing decisions it is meant to serve — designed around the workflow that will use it, and delivered in the form each stakeholder can act on. Twelve years across brand, category, and product research, client side and supplier side.
Typical engagements run 4–12 weeks. Advisory retainers available for supplier teams.
I've sat on both sides of the brief, which is why I care where the research lands.
Twelve years in consumer research, in-house and supplier side, spent watching good studies fail to reach the meeting where the decision got made. Independent since 2023, I work with a small number of marketing and insights teams at a time, building the connective tissue between what the research finds and how the organisation decides.
Quant-first, comfortable with advanced methods, and unusually interested in who reads the deliverable and what they need to do next.
Three ways teams bring me in
ServicesInsights strategy
Auditing what you already know, finding the decision behind the brief, and building a learning plan wired into the marketing calendar — so insight arrives while the choice is still open. Includes where synthetic data and predictive work genuinely help, and where they don't.
- Knowledge audits & learning roadmaps
- Synthetic data: use cases and guardrails
- Forecasting & prediction
- Brief and vendor scoping
Study design & execution
Quantitative work built on custom and advanced question design: trade-off exercises, virtual shelf, bespoke instruments tuned to the decision at hand. I write the instrument, run the analysis, and present it myself.
- Conjoint & MaxDiff
- Virtual shop & shelf simulation
- Segmentation & U&A
- Concept, pack, claims testing
Supplier-side advisory
For research agencies and platforms: methodology and advanced analytics review, product positioning, and training analysts to write findings a client can carry into their own decision process.
- Advanced analytics & modelling review
- Method & QA review
- Offer positioning
- Analyst coaching
Three ways to structure the work, depending on how close you need me to the decision
EngagementsA defined question, start to finish
One study, scoped against one decision. I design the instrument, run the analysis, and build the deliverable for the stakeholders who have to act on it. Typically 4–12 weeks, fixed fee.
Best for: a decision already on the calendarA senior insights lead, a few days a month
Think of it as part-time head of insights. I sit inside your planning rhythm — in the briefing meetings, the vendor reviews, the readouts — setting the learning agenda and making sure each piece of research is shaped for the stakeholder and workflow that will use it. Ongoing retainer, cancellable quarterly.
- Own the learning roadmap
- Brief, scope, and QA supplier work
- Translate findings for each decision owner
Building the capability in your own team
Workshops and clinics for marketers, insights teams, and supplier-side analysts: writing briefs that name a decision, reading advanced methods without a statistics degree, and building deliverables around how each audience will use them.
Best for: growing teams and supplier analyst benchesSelected work
All case studies →PLACEHOLDER — Segmentation rebuilt around decisions
PLACEHOLDER COPY — replace before launch. One paragraph describing the problem the client brought, what was done about it, and how the result was judged. Written so a reader can tell within a few lines whether this is the kind of work they need. Product & concept · [client descriptor — e.g. a global CPG] · 2025PLACEHOLDER — Concept screening for a line extension
PLACEHOLDER COPY — replace before launch. One paragraph describing the problem the client brought, what was done about it, and how the result was judged. Written so a reader can tell within a few lines whether this is the kind of work they need. Shopper · [client descriptor — e.g. a global CPG] · 2025PLACEHOLDER — Path to purchase in a shifting category
PLACEHOLDER COPY — replace before launch. One paragraph describing the problem the client brought, what was done about it, and how the result was judged. Written so a reader can tell within a few lines whether this is the kind of work they need.From the notes
All notes →Which Model Should Answer Your Survey?
Choosing a synthetic respondent by its values, not by its accuracy score. July 2026 · 10 minRoleplay or Reasoning?
What your synthetic respondent is really doing when it answers June 2026 · 15 minExperimentalist Innovation in Distributed Retail
How Demand Intelligence Layers Can Support Innovation and Collaboration in Retail NetworksPlaceholder testimonial. Ken is the only researcher we have worked with who argues with our brief before he agrees to it — and the work is better for it every time.
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