Brand & Consumer:
Research + Insights
Strategy + Planning
Measurement + Performance
Hello!
We focus on health & wellness brands.
Research and M&A track records overwhelmingly demonstrate your brand is by far the most valuable asset your organization will ever own. We help get brands there. And keep them there.
For over 20 years, we’ve helped our clients develop and invest in their brands intelligently, manage and optimize them proactively, and nurture them into hard-working, high-performing organizational and business assets.
As a bespoke consultancy, we specialize in health and wellness brands and consumer behavior. Our expertise and difference is our unique integration of applied research and insights, actionable strategy and planning, moments that matter that move the needle, and deep performance measurement at every step of the customer journey.
Our passion is helping clients and their ad agencies, interactive firms, and design studios transform brands into powerful organizational assets and tools that work hard and for everyone. Imagine any brand challenge you care to and we’ve probably been there. Scarred, humbled, and wizened.
Our clients range from pharmaceuticals like Novartis and Sanofi – to healthcare payers like Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross Blue Shield – to med tech companies like Illumina and NxStage – to healthcare providers like Northwell Health and Seattle Children’s Hospital – to healthcare SaaS companies like Navinet and ClearCycle – to natural beverage, food & supplement companies like Thorne Research and Starbucks – all the way to humanitarian agencies and nonprofits like the World Health Organization, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy.
Our singular, relentless focus is optimizing the brand ecosystem that determines how successfully your most valuable audiences feel, think, and do when it comes to your offerings at every stage of their journey.
We uncover the moments that matter to those audiences, the experiences that move them, and the meaningful journeys they need when it comes to your brand.
Reach out.
We’d love to hear from you.
Dr. Anna Kern
Anna is a partner and social scientist. She specializes in the interdisciplinary research of beliefs and behaviors of consumers and the experiential contexts that shape them.
Anna heads up brand and market research, consumer insights as well as brand equity, measurement, and performance.
Henk Groenewald
Henk is a partner and strategist. He specializes in brand and consumer journey experiences, strategy, planning, tactics, as well as semantic and semiotic messaging
Henk heads up brand, consumer, and market strategy, planning, positioning, foundations, journeys, and architecture.
Where we help.
30+ health & wellness categories.
Life sciences
Gene therapy
Rare disease
Biotechnology
Bioscience
Medical devices
Natural beverages
Functional beverages
Natural foods
Nutritional supplements
Healthcare SaaS
Hospitals & providers
Health insurance
Financial services
Aid organizations
Public health
Housing health
Environmental health
& more
Who we've helped.
156+ organizations
Novartis
Sanofi
Roche
Illumina
Eli Lilly
Ipsen
Amylyx
Vertex
Pfizer
Blue Cross Blue Shield WA
Kaiser Permanente
B&M Gates Foundation
World Health Organization
National Institute of Health
National Science Foundation
Northwell Health
Seattle Children’s
Thorne Research
Keurig Dr Pepper
Starbucks
Medisafe
NxStage
Unilever
Navinet
Clearcycle
The Nature Conservancy
Department of Justice
National Institute of Health
National Science Foundation
Housing & Urban Development
USDA
FEMA
& more
How we help.
RESEARCH + INSIGHTS
Brand research
Consumer insights
Market research
Brand audits
Ethnography
Immersion workshops
Focus groups
In-depth interviews
Social listening
Statistically significant surveys
Qualitative research
Quantitative research
Customer narratives
Direct observation
Digital performance
Meta & novel analytics
Literature analysis
Interdisciplinary research
STRATEGY + PLANNING
Audience segmentation
Opportunity mapping
Brand analysis
Brand positioning
Brand architecture
Brand naming
Optimization strategy
Your reason for being
Moments that matter
Experiential journeys
Ecosystem design
Emotional need states
Behavioral nudging
Semiotic messaging
Semantic messaging
Disruption methodology
Measurable performance
MEASUREMENT + PERFORMANCE
Mixed-method measurement
Key performance indicators
Journey stage performance
Hot spot mapping
Brand experience performance
Meaningful measurements
High-value opportunities
Credible metrics
Reliable data
Actionable analytics
Hard-working insights
Research-backed recommendations
Optimization guidance
Why work with us.
28+ years of deep experience.
156 clients and counting.
Over 30 health and wellness categories.
Interdisciplinary expertise.
Research-driven.
Truth speakers.
You work directly with us.
HIPAA certified & trained.
HSR certified.
IPA members.
80% repeat-client rate.
100% word of mouth.
Strict Ai usage policies.
Plays well in the sandbox.
Work with clients and agencies.
No handholding required.
On budget.
On time.
Every time.