#consumer-insights

#consumer-insights

The holiday season has always been retail's make-or-break time to shine, but the stakes are particularly high in 2025. It's shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable yet a s economic uncertainty lingers due to persistent inflation and the potential ripple effect of tariffs. For brands, this creates a perfect storm of pressure; it's no longer enough to capture attention with festive creative or gain ground by flooding channels with holiday messaging.

Kantar's latest media data is a wake-up call for marketers: they are not their audience. As 2026 planning kicks in, it's time to burst the think bubble, spot the gaps, and seize opportunities to better connect with consumers. Consumers are not marketers. Again: consumers are not marketers. Why repeat? Because findings from annual global ad equity study suggest marketers need to be reminded not to conflate their own experiences with consumer truths.

When the indie fragrance brand Phlur first launched in 2022, it was only available online-meaning customers had to buy its perfumes without ever smelling them. At the time, creative director Chriselle Lim wasn't sure whether anyone would actually want to take that risk. But after she posted on TikTok that the signature fragrance "Missing Person" was inspired by her own experience with "the smell of a heartbreak," the orders started flooding in.

The way I think about community, I try to look at it through the lens of what would I be interested in, what do I want to attend?

The obsession with targeting Gen Z is a bit of a red herring; Gen X is poised to be the highest spending generation globally in 2025 due to their greater disposable income.

These days, most popular TV models utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a form of ad surveillance technology that gathers information about everything you watch and transmits it to a centralized database.

Real-time brand challenges typically emerge from subtle shifts in tone, context and culture rather than obvious spikes. Without domain-specific meaning intelligence and robust processes, off-the-shelf models can produce false positives or overlook risks.

In a recent survey, 59% of local advertisers reported dissatisfaction with their advertising spending, with many believing they overspend or underspend rather than allocating an appropriate amount.

To determine the most commonly-held skincare concerns, Borghese's staff crawled through posts on the "skincare addiction" subreddits across global markets, including the US, UK, and Italy.

"There was an abundance of consumer and market-level data for places like the U.S., UK, and a few parts of Western Europe, maybe some traces in Canada and Australia. But when it came to international markets, including economic giants like India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, and China, there was nothing usable."

The first impression of the Volvo EX30 was positive, boasting appealing style, impressive power, and an attainable starting price of $35,000. The notion was tantalizing as it represented the electric-vehicle revolution's potential.

A multiphase holiday campaign recognizes that peak shopping periods aren't monolithic events. They are complex, multiphase journeys requiring distinct creative approaches.

The crossover [of] what's performing at those two ends of the spectrum, paid and organic - that's where you get the clearest and most interesting behavioral insights from your customer.

If you stopped 100 people on the street and asked them about the best credit card, you'd likely get 100 different answers. The debate over the best credit card is similar to the debate between Mac and PC, or Android and iPhone.

Tens of millions of collages are built by users, making it one of its most popular content formats, and this process will give brands a way to lean into this shift.

LightBoxTV and Starcount's partnership combines advanced audience insights with TV planning, ensuring emotionally relevant media strategies that align with consumer values.

Comparing prices between Aldi and Walmart can offer surprising insights, with many shoppers finding the difference in grocery costs less significant than assumed.

"It's just another way for airlines to continue 'segmenting' their customers, charging business travelers paying with a corporate card more while offering a better deal to families on the exact same flight," Thrifty Traveler executive editor Kyle Potter said.

Google is testing a new green label 'Lowest in 30 days' on shopping ads to indicate when prices are at their lowest over the past month.

Most animal categories followed a similar curve, but these guys tended to avoid the bottom right corner. This means very few bottles with frogs, snakes or lizards are good deals.

Defining your ICP without real conversations is tricky because you end up with assumptions (instead of insights). The gold comes from speaking directly with people who match your target profile.

To effectively reach Hispanic audiences, brands need to re-evaluate their marketing approaches and improve verification tools that currently misclassify culturally nuanced content.

Canned chicken, often dismissed, is actually a fantastic source of protein if you choose a good brand. Don’t believe the myths surrounding it.

Snap's report highlights that advanced tools like AI-powered recommendations and virtual tours significantly enhance the travel discovery process for consumers.