Case Study: Picking a Dog Food
Location: Columbus, Ohio/Los Angeles, CA
Ethnography, shop-a-longs, audio diaries, and focus groups all contributed to a rich description of our target customer’s relationships with their dogs, their perceptions of dog food brands, and their buying decisions. Findings provided a new perspective for customer segmentation, brand positioning, messaging, and tested the waters for a new product idea.

Case Study: Sleep Routines
Location: New Jersey
In-home research, and post-visit audio and video diaries captured sleep routines and sleep time rituals among problem sleepers. Ethnographic description and interpretation of the artifacts, behaviors, rituals and meanings surrounding sleep inspired new product packaging and communications for a non-medicinal sleeping aid.

Case Study: Furniture Shopping
Location: Chicago/Dallas/So. California
In-home visits and accompanied shopping trips to a multitude of furniture retailers enabled us interpret the uses and symbolic meanings of furniture today, to describe how, when and why consumers shop for furniture, and to observe the shopping experience. Our discoveries provided a prominent retailer with direction for the redesign of their furniture departments.

Case Study: The Family Car
Location: Chicago/New York/Los Angeles
How is the "family car" implicated in the workings, desires and demands of family life? Design-wise, how do you keep apace? Video diaries, ethnographic interviews and ride-a-longs with moms, dads and the kids in a range of family vehicles helped us to explore these topics. Discoveries fed planning for a next generation luxury people carrier.

Case Study: Future Computing Technology
Location: US Wide
We listened to consumers, IT managers and senior executives ladder through their current and future home needs and work needs and react to future concepts. By triangulating across a combination of focus groups, depth interviews, and executive phone interviews, we helped a leading IT player to develop product vision grounded more on real needs and less on speculation about "the coolest" features. The process adds discipline to their high-stakes product development decisions, even years in advance.

Case Study: Mowing the Grass
Location: Madison, WI/Charlotte, NC
We talked with home-owners about the meanings and values attached to lawn work. We provided more extensive observations about the care and uses of outdoor power equipment among this population. Findings provided direction for new product development and a wide-angle view of target consumers for a B-to-B manufacturer looking to broaden their strategic focus.