In a world where futurologists and trend agencies are more miss than hit, there is a need to develop something more powerful - genuinely robust thinking on which to base long term investment and innovation or strategic brand planning decisions.
Using semiotics-led research we can identify the emergent cultural themes relevant to your category or even sub-category and use these to develop anticipatory strategies.
We identify those themes and codes which occur with sufficient frequency to have a likelihood of transitioning into the dominant or mainstream, thus becoming an important influence and not ‘fast burn’ ideas which will never impact on mainstream culture.
We also provide insight into new codes which can be engineered to shape future category evolution.
This technique helps our clients to:
(i) Assess the category or market landscape and its likely evolution.
(ii) Plan future innovation for the next 5-10 years by understanding how consumer culture and the market will change and therefore what new opportunities will emerge.
(iii) Create the right communication for a specific cultural environment around a new technology
(iv) Reduce risks associated with making the wrong forward decisions
(v) Ensure the organisation or brand is aligned to deliver over 5-7 years
(vi) Refresh tired thinking
“Space Doctors has brought invaluable insights and connections to our exploration of existing and new categories and benefits that we were not trained to see ourselves. They brought us an understanding of semiotics that has permeated our design organization. They have been great partners in our innovation journey.”
Daniel Epstein, Harley Procter Marketing Director, P&G Brand Building Innovation
Case Study - Tesco; Future of Retail
“Space Doctors provided us with unique and invaluable insight into how the culture of retail is changing, as well as actionable recommendations on how to adjust our in-store communications accordingly.”
Diane Denham, Head of Consumer Planning, Tesco Marketing
Needs
The UK’s number 1 supermarket chain wanted to understand how retail was likely to change over the next five years and what cultural trends would influence that change.
They also asked us how their in-store body language – e.g. how and what the Tesco store experience communicates to the customer – should change in response.
Impact
The cultural and communications analysis of the future of retail identified key trends and codes relevant to the brand. These included
- the need for the retail experience to offer a sense of social cohesion
- the role of brands in helping consumers navigate online and offline retail environments
- new ways of thinking and communicating saving
We used these conclusions as the basis for the body language analysis, focusing on representative Tesco stores throughout the UK and developing a template of recommendations for, among other things, lay-out, signage and staff appearance/manner.
Our recommendations detailed aspects of an in-store experience which would continue to give Tesco the edge over the competition.
Case Study - Cadbury Kraft; The World of Chocolate
“Space Doctors delivered fresh, provocative insights that stimulated our thinking and sharpened our NPD programme.”
Wilbur Strickland, Director Science & Technology for Cadbury Chocolate – and now Vice President RD&Q for Kraft Global Chocolate
Cultural and semiotic analysis of the world of chocolate in the UK and its evolution to help drive new communication and innovation pipeline development.
Space Doctors were asked to provide Cadbury with new cultural insights into the changing relevance of chocolate in UK culture and to identify emergent patterns in terms of consumption occasion and experience which may form the platforms for future product innovation.
Case Study - Legal & General; Wealth Management
“Space Doctors provided us with an insightful, far reaching picture of the Wealth Management landscape. Through close collaboration with a team of marketing, semiotic and qualitative research specialists, they were also able to provide direction on the optimal communications direction for the wealth division, together with practical guidelines for how that strategy might be executed.”
Tim Warren, Director - Strategy & Communications (Wealth Management)
Needs
To understand the evolving cultural and communications landscape for wealth management in the UK and to apply this understanding to the development of a communications strategy for the Wealth Management division of Legal and General, UK.
Process
We analysed how the representation of wealth is evolving in UK culture, influenced by expanding levels of economic affluence, and shifting notions around what constitutes an ideal quality of life. We overlaid this with an understanding of the competitive landscape, detailing the language of the category, and how this reflects underlying UK cultural norms. Recommendations highlighted an overall opportunity for L&G to deploy a more classless, universally accessible language, appropriate for a non-expert, mass affluent consumer.
Conclusions and Impact
Qualitative research identified which of the routes emerging from the semiotics provided the most compelling platform for future communications. As an input to this, we developed a set of stimulus materials designed to maximize respondents’ ability to creatively engage with and build on the opportunities emerging from the semiotics.
Case Study - Procter & Gamble; Internal Discourse and Vision Development for LINC
“The semiotics work was a turning point in the overall journey [to rebrand Rusham Park Technical Centre]. Space Doctors helped pin point what made us tick distinctively, [they] got under our skin to identify and celebrate what is great about our people and our work – and importantly, identified actionable themes to inspire the new equity.”
Deirdre Walters, Oral Care R&D, P&G
“The Space Doctors partnership during the early phase of our work helped us get to the bottom of the critical transformations needed to guide our Equity Development."
Sumit Bhasin, Site Leader, P&G’s London Innovation Centre
Rusham Park Technical Centre, P&G’s global hub for Health and Beauty research needed to define a new vision and a new ‘rallying cry’ as part of its ongoing expansion plans.
Needs
Space Doctors were asked to provide semiotic insights as springboards for the new vision development. This was achieved through analysis of the environment, culture and internal languages of the organisation.
Impact
Semiotic analysis helped to unlock the unspoken and underlying assumptions behind the language and site culture, to identify those memes or collective ideas which were most positively associated with the desired vision and to offer these ideas for recoding into the site vision.