CUSTOM & CREATIVE
No cookie-cutter research projects here!
We bring creativity to scientific insight about the real lives of people they hope to engage — customers, workers, and end users.
Conifer is a research and innovation consultancy.
We blend ethnographic research and design research techniques to gather perspective-shifting insights. Our approach is designed to broaden perspectives, explore possible futures and identify needs that can drive true innovation, market differentiation, and business growth through leading market research methods.
No matter the project, our approach is:
PROJECT TYPES
We support client teams with needs across insights, innovation, design, and marketing functions. Our projects have different strategic focuses from anticipating futures, identifying new opportunity spaces, advancing concepts, or refining go-to-market strategies.
Projective
Where will we be in 5, 10, 20 years? Anticipate and explore the fuzzy future of front end innovation questions.
Communicative
What messages are we sending? Bring audiences to life to inform effective marketing and communication strategies.
Foundational
What is the lay of the land? Gain a holistic understanding of a landscape that teams can draw insight from for years to come.
Evaluative
How can we get it right? Access the viability and desirability of experiences, concepts and prototypes to inform iteration and successful product launches.
Generative
What should we be solving? Uncover user needs and inspiring new ideas to fill innovation pipelines.
Accelerators
What if we need to move quickly? Agile programs propel teams forward in short, targeted sprints with focused learning or facilitation goals.
RECENT BLOGS
An Invisible, Moving Target: Studying the Culture of Tech
The year was 1834 and Thomas Davenport threw back the curtains to reveal his new invention: a battery-powered electric motor. The townsfolk absolutely went nuts. “Look at this beautiful thing!” they shouted. They all agreed it was a beautiful thing. 15 silent minutes passed, and they asked, “What do we do with it?”
While there are plenty of people who admire engines as standalone objects, most of us are more interested in how that technology is used. The motor is ubiquitous. We don’t spend time thinking about the big motors that power water treatment plants and tornado sirens or the itty-bitty ones that power our laptop fans and moderately spooky Teddy Ruxpin dolls.
Now let us consider the current fervor around AI technology.
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The Modern Shape of Research: Non-traditional Research Methods To Spark Creativity
Turn signals allow people inside metal machines to communicate their intentions to other people outside of their metal machines. Automobile designers realized, after one year of mass production, that a car stopped in the middle of the road conveys no intended action whatsoever. They invented a blinky light and promptly resolved the issue. Kind of. They resolved all of the issues except for the unpredictability of humans.
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6 Things to Look For When Identifying Unmet Needs
The consumer and end user is at the heart of all research. In order to stay relevant and successful, brands and the leaders that drive them need to understand their consumers from every angle. As researchers, our mission is to uncover what makes these consumers tick, how they use and feel about various products or services, what they desire, and most importantly, we try to uncover the gaps and determine how to fill their unmet needs and find actionable insights.
Read MoreOUR CLIENT PARTNERS
If people do it, we study it. For over twenty years our cross-disciplinary team has collaborated across industries and across the globe. We have served clients in a variety of industries, retail, healthcare, food & beverage, technology, media, consumer goods, automotive, finance, insurance, education, lifestyle, hospitality, workplace, travel and B2B.
RESOURCES