Our Methodology
We show brands where and how to be relevant in the lives of people.
Brand relevance manifesto
As a brand, you are only of value when people appreciate you. And remain loyal to you.
This is achieved by connecting with the changing needs and values of people.
That way, you are truly relevant. And you take your place in a world where no one knows exactly what the future holds.
To be relevant, brands are not required to be certain about abstract future visions or new technologies. Relevance lies within the human context.
What drives your customers? What human needs hide behind the data? Why do people do what they do? And want what they want?
If you understand people’s deepest needs, then you know exactly how to be relevant. Today, tomorrow and the day after that.
But where do you start? How do you separate hypes from structural insights? And how do you do the right things to meet those needs?
By looking at the way people relate to brands and to each other. And to the broader context in which they live.
We do this by looking at sociocultural trends. Not volatile hypes, but well-founded research into the changing behaviour and the changing needs of people.
Sociocultural trends?
In general, there are 3 kinds of trends that describe whats happening in our lives.
Macro Trends
map geopolitical, economic and climate developments.
Product and industry trends
are tangible. You see them all around you, from hipsters to the streaming subscriptions.
Sociocultural trends
fill the gap between macro trends and product and market trends.
The human context circle:
Unlocking the potential of sociocultural trends
Sociocultural trends are derived from an unlimited source of scientific and commercial research. This research is valuable, but not suitable to work with directly as a brand. It’s not that practical and far too much. So, how do you see the wood for the trees? And what can you do with it in practice?
TrendsActives’ Human Context Circle unlocks the most important sociocultural trends and makes twenty years of trend research workable. In a number of practical steps, this model enables you on how to be relevant in the life of your client. This gives you control and perspective.
Societal trends
Cultural influences with an indelible impact on everyone’s behaviour (and which you, as a brand, have no influence over).
Generational trends
What you experience between the ages of 10 and 25 influences what you think, feel and want today (no matter what age you are now). It defines you as a generation.
Gender trends
Very extinct drivers of human behaviour can be attributed to genders (and they shift faster than you think).
But which insights matches
your brand or challenge at hand?
Together we will find out where you have the biggest opportunity for relevance.
By plotting your brand, strategic question or business challenge on the Human Context Circle, we discover common ground with the behaviour and motivations of your customers.
We call these areas your ‘areas of relevance’.
We determine the smartest way of how to respond to it.
With our toolbox full of strategies, you will learn how to respond in the best way for you and your customer.
Together this is the Human Context Circle
Giving you structural insight into why, where and how you can be relevant in the life of your customer.
- One model to capture where and how you can be of relevance in the life of today’s consumer, today and in the future
- Providing actionable guidance for execution, now and in the future
- Linking the what to the why. Match todays fast product & market trends to deep human needs
- Saves money and time on research, innovation, communication, branding and marketing
The Human Context Circle is a customer focus enabler for your entire organisation:
- The strategy department has frameworks for looking beyond the horizon
- The communications team can confidently brief the advertising agency
- The UX team knows what the user is really waiting for.
- The marketing team puts data in a human context.
- The innovation team understands the customer of tomorrow.
- Customer service can serve people in a more personal way.
This way, you strive for the same thing together. And you give relevance a new meaning.
We solve challenges like:
KNVB
The KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) was looking for a fresh outside perspective to identify key societal developments and themes to incorporate in their strategy towards 2030. That is why they asked TrendsActive to match the KNVB’s challenges to the changing needs of people so that they can remain relevant towards the future.
Vodafone
Vodafone set the goal to become more customer-centric. The main goal was to introduce an easy-to-apply marketing and sales segmentation based on customer needs. So together with Vodafone we delivered a pragmatic, human-centric segmentation, by integrating our generational and and gender insights with Vodafone’s customer data.
Nationale Nederlanden
After acquiring the Dutch insurer Delta lLoyd (DL), Nationale Nederlanden needed to reposition, rebrand and reintroduce the existing DL healthcare proposition. In close collaboration with the customer we used our insights in the human behavior to design the launching proposition.
Disney
Disney approached us as they found out there was some fierce competition between Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck:) Disney was looking for a way to increase the relevance for the Donald Duck brand. And what do you do then? You approach TrendsActive.
Curious about your relevance? Feel free to call or drop us a message.
Check out the whole team here.
