Cultural methodology
How to inform your cultural influence strategy and define your fans in culture
There are two phases in the cultural research methodology: a) discover and inform; and b) define.
Discover and Inform
When beginning a new relationship, it is critical to achieve clarity around a company’s strategic business and brand goals. In this phase, teams should review all of their company’s existing business, brand and customer materials, product portfolio, organizational structure and capabilities, as well as conduct the 4Cs audit (culture, category, company, and customer). The goal of this phase is to develop a clear and consistent brand purpose and strategy that moves the culture and expands the business.
4Cs strategic analysis covers:
Company
The process of company immersion includes in-depth understanding of a brand and the business via key stakeholder interviews across the company’s leadership and its key departments. In addition to key stakeholder interviews, teams need to conduct market teardown in order to assess market dynamic (growth and trends), and review of all their internal business and brand materials.
Category
The process of category exploration includes examining the structure and trends of the category a company operates in. Teams should find which white spaces are taken and which are theirs to take. Primary and secondary research is used here to arrive at the understanding of the key category dynamics and the opportunity for their business.
Consumer
The process of consumer immersion includes defining psychographics and demographics of a brand’s global customer and identifying values that a brand and products can support. Here is used a combination of qualitative and quantitative
research methodology to arrive at in-depth understanding of a brand’s customer lifestyles, consumption preferences and habits, media use, sources of influence, and their attitudes, and the brand desirability and temperature.
Culture
The process of culture immersion includes understanding of the Creative Class and the mindsets and dynamics of modern aspiration. Here is used primary and secondary research to capture a brand’s cultural opportunity.
Stakeholder Interviews
To kick off the discovery phase, research teams should meet in person and/or via video calls with their top management. They should then select the key stakeholders to
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