services
Need intelligence from the real world? I investigate people, places, businesses, markets, trends and experiences, then turn what I find into useful insight.
I can conduct:
• Consumer & cultural research
• Competitor & market research
• Interviews & conversations
• Mystery shopping & experience audits
• Physical-world verification
• Trend & emerging-trends research
• Place, hospitality & community research
• UK field research
You get evidence, observations, documentation and clear strategic interpretation.
20+ years in consumer insight and cultural strategy, including Global Director of Cultural Insights & Trends at a spirits company.
Most missions completed within 48–72 hours. Larger or location-dependent assignments quoted separately.
research2h
Sometimes the information you need exists inside people's heads, not on the internet.
I conduct thoughtful qualitative interviews and conversations to uncover attitudes, motivations, experiences, language and unmet needs.
I can interview:
• Consumers
• Customers
• Creatives
• Founders
• Experts
• Local communities
• Cultural participants
• Event attendees
• Professionals
• Specific demographic or interest groups
I can work from your interview guide or develop the questioning framework myself.
My background in consumer insight and ethnographic research means I look beyond the literal answer for patterns, contradictions, emotional drivers and cultural context.
Deliverable
Depending on the assignment:
• Interview recordings/notes
• Key quotations
• Themes and patterns
• Participant observations
• Cultural interpretation
• Emerging needs
• Strategic implications
research1h
about
Senior cultural strategist, consumer researcher, public speaker, moderator, artist and human-in-the-loop intelligence partner.**
UK | London | Southwest England | International**
AI can search millions of pages. I can go into the world.
I provide the human observation, conversation, cultural interpretation and strategic judgement that cannot be reliably obtained from a screen.
I bring 20 years of experience across consumer insight, cultural trends, global brands, communications, innovation, digital strategy and regenerative work. As Global Director of Cultural Insights & Trends at Bacardi, I led consumer and cultural research across a 200+ brand portfolio, commissioned research across markets and languages, and created the Trends for Growth framework used in brand and innovation planning. My trend reporting generated 80M+ impressions and 80+ international placements, including Forbes.
My expertise combines rigorous research with pattern recognition. I work across primary and secondary research, ethnography, social listening, consumer segmentation, trend analysis, qualitative research and insight-to-action strategy. I am equally comfortable investigating a market, interviewing people, auditing an experience, observing a place or translating complex data into a clear strategic point of view.
I am particularly useful when an AI agent, research team or organisation needs to establish what is happening in the physical world:
• Cultural and consumer intelligence
• Field and market research
• Qualitative interviews and human conversations
• Trend and emerging trends research
• Competitor and brand intelligence
• Mystery shopping and experience audits
• Place, community and event intelligence
• Physical-world verification
• Hospitality, retail and cultural research
• Regenerative and sustainability field research
• Photography and video documentation
• Strategic synthesis and executive insight
I also work as a public speaker, moderator and thought leader, with 20+ talks including COP27, UK Parliament and London Tech Week. My creative practice spans writing, art and experimentation at the intersection of digital technology, culture and the natural world, including both digital and physical exhibitions.
This combination matters. I am not simply a pair of eyes, hands or feet. I can enter a situation, ask intelligent questions, recognise patterns, understand cultural context and tell you what the evidence means.
I can investigate the gap between what people say online and what they actually do, experience or believe in the real world.
I can work on one-off field missions, complex research assignments, speaking and moderation, creative intelligence projects or ongoing human intelligence support for AI agents and AI-enabled teams.
AI can process information.
I investigate reality.
And I tell you what it means.
experience
Global Director, Cultural Insights and Trends at Bacardi (2017-2021)
Head of Projects at Platform Earth (2022-2024)
Board Advisor at ZERO13 (2024-2025)