Today was the first day of 5th and 3rd grade for my two! And while I’m having all the usual HOW DID WE GET HERE SO FAST?! feelings, it also has me thinking about something I spend a lot of time talking about at Wired Research:
People are always becoming someone new.
Today, my kids walked into school a little different than they were last year. New experiences will shape what they care about. New friends will influence them. They’ll discover new interests and probably surprise me more than once. And when you think about it, consumers aren’t all that different. We love to put people into neat boxes. Gen Z. Millennials. Parents. High earners. Value shoppers. Those labels can certainly tell us something. But they rarely tell us the whole story because people are constantly moving through different moments and influences, and their priorities are changing right along with them.
Sometimes the most interesting consumer stories live in the places where those things collide. It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about a lot this year, and one that’s at the heart of something new we’ve been working on at Wired Research (stay tuned for more on that!). For now, I’ll just say this:
The best market research doesn’t just tell you who people are. It helps you understand who they’re becoming. And the best brand stories meet them there.
So, here’s to a new school year and everything that comes next!
By: Danielle Sherman, Founder & CEO