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Our Thought Leadership
Strengthen your long-term strategies by incorporating macro trends and broader industry insights. In our blog posts we share our thought leadership on various aspects of the Consumer Experience Journey plus other topics to enhance your decision making.

The 7+1 phases of your Consumer Journey — Essential insights brands need to succeed
Identify the insights you need for 7 phases of your consumer journey to grow loyalty, ROI and sales. Transform your strategies for success.
uzmakrauf
Feb 21, 20244 min read

The New Branding Battlefield: When Corporate Goliaths Meet Individual Davids
In the proverbial David versus Goliath battle of branding, David has not only found his sling but has also acquired drones, social media,...
uzmakrauf
Feb 7, 20243 min read


🔉 Podcast: Importance of Consumer and Market Insights
Uzma Rauf's "Consumer Insights Podcast" with Stravito delved into a variety of topics critical for marketers and insights professionals
uzmakrauf
Feb 2, 20241 min read


The Marketer’s Balancing Act: Short-Term Sales or Long-Term Brand Legacy?
Challenging market environments force business leaders to make tough choices on where to invest their ever tightening budget to drive...
uzmakrauf
Jan 22, 20244 min read


Unlocking Your Full Customer Journey: Why Comprehensive Understanding is Essential
For brands to thrive they must know and activate across all critical touchpoints of their Consumers full experience journeys.
uzmakrauf
Jun 13, 20234 min read


Consumers are excited for the holidays — how will inflation impact them?
With inflation at a four-decade high since March this year, consumers have been readjusting how they spend, including trading down to...
uzmakrauf
Nov 8, 20223 min read


Luxury brands are prospering and expanding stores despite high inflation
The US consumer is somewhat bifurcated, and we are seeing different behaviors: Those on the lower income scale are starting to struggle...
uzmakrauf
Aug 10, 20221 min read


How are insurgent brands winning disproportionately in Consumer Products?
Bain & Co define Insurgent brands as those with sales of $25 million+ and outgrowing their category 10 X. Their research (Mar 2022) found...
uzmakrauf
Aug 2, 20222 min read


To better sell to Black consumers, understand their heritage
Where people come from and grew up eating and doing, matters to them. Most ethnic groups have strong buying preferences tied to their...
uzmakrauf
Jul 7, 20222 min read

Growing marketing channel: Retail Media Networks
Marketing channels and ways to advertise to shoppers continue to evolve. These are driven by ongoing innovation but also by new macro...
uzmakrauf
Jun 14, 20222 min read

Brand and capability building are often overlooked as strong business KPIs
To achieve strong business ROI, it is critical to get the right evaluation metrics established upfront. This helps ensure investments...
uzmakrauf
May 24, 20221 min read

Brands need to prepare for sales impact as inflation drives people to defer, reduce or trade down
COVID related concerns are thankfully slowing, and consumers feeling more comfortable re-engaging in activities they had stepped away...
uzmakrauf
May 12, 20221 min read


Marketing spend grew +10.3% this past year, the highest growth in a decade.
A further +13.6% increase in marketing budgets is expected this year. These are finding from “The CMO Survey”, Feb 2022 of 320,...
uzmakrauf
May 3, 20222 min read


How can Marketers get Consumers to share their data in this heightened privacy world?
Web-based cookies that have helped marketers target and engage their customers online with relevant advertising content are now being...
uzmakrauf
Apr 20, 20222 min read


B2B customers now have greater expectations from suppliers for growth
Just as consumers want a personalized, always on, seamless Omnichannel experience, the same is increasingly true for B2B customers. The...
uzmakrauf
Apr 13, 20222 min read


10 lessons from the first two years of COVID-19
McKinsey shares 10 lessons from the first two years of COVID-19 on the 2nd anniversary of World Health Organization (WHO) declaring...
uzmakrauf
Mar 10, 20221 min read


Spend on Gaming grew +75% during pandemic as people stuck at home sought fun.
About 3 billion global players expected by end 2021 and revenue of >$200 billion by 2023. BCG report (Dec’21) notes This revenue is...
uzmakrauf
Mar 3, 20221 min read


The creative, hidden ways companies pass on rising costs to customers
During these inflationary times, companies are getting creative in how they pass on rising costs to their customers. Actual increases for...
uzmakrauf
Feb 17, 20222 min read


Purchase decisions are often based on emotion vs logic - do you know which moments matter?
Getting a consumer to have the best emotional outcome in their journey for each moment that matters is key to driving sales. Forrester...
uzmakrauf
Feb 5, 20221 min read


Social commerce growing 3X and democratizing opportunities for smaller brands
Social commerce continues to democratize opportunities for smaller brands (and individuals) vs big brands, with sales expected to triple...
uzmakrauf
Feb 1, 20221 min read
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