--- title: "Strategic Research and Innovation for Consumer Brands | antedote" description: "Strategic research and innovation for food, drink, beauty, household and pet brands: where to grow, which customers to focus on and which ideas to back." url: "https://antedote.com/consumer/" --- # Find new growth. Keep the core worth choosing. We help consumer brands decide where to grow, which customers to focus on and which ideas to back. Our strategic research and innovation is underpinned by qual and quant, across food, drink, beauty, household and pet. - [Explore strategic research](#strategic-research) Understand consumers, categories and the choices facing your brand. - [Explore innovation](#innovation) Find opportunities, develop ideas and decide which to back. · Where we’ve worked - Food and drink · Snacks, confectionery, dairy, sauces and seasonings, free-from, foodservice, tea and hot drinks, spirits and ready-to-drink - Beauty and personal care · Skin and suncare, hair, body care and deodorants, oral care, personal care devices - Home and household · Cleaning, kitchen and bath, kitchen appliances, power tools and outdoor equipment - Pet · Pet food and treats Also vitamins and supplements, workwear, sportswear, retail, banking, home energy and travel. Some briefs start with understanding people. Others start with an opportunity or an idea. Many projects bring the two together. ## Strategic research. Understand consumers, categories and the choices facing your brand. [Qualitative research](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/qualitative-research/) shows how people live with a category and why they choose as they do. [Quantitative research](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/quantitative-research/) sizes the opportunity and estimates how they would choose. [Sensory research](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/sensory-research/) follows the experience of the product itself. Many programs combine them. - ### Which customers to focus on. Not every buyer is worth the same effort. We help you see which groups matter most, what each of them needs, and how to reach them. [· Home services company · Segmentation · Choosing which home-heating customers to prioritize · A sized customer segmentation with a targeting rationale. · What happened next The client’s media agency planned around the priority segment, and the company read its next proposition test through the segments.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/home-heating-customer-segmentation/) - ### How people really live with your category. What people say about a category and what they do with it can be far apart. We help you see the routines, occasions and culture behind their choices. [· Food company · Consumer understanding · Choosing a food brand’s voice for a neighboring market · A direction for its communication in that market. · What happened next The brand later ran a new campaign in that market.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/a-food-brands-story-next-door/) - ### How your product should taste, smell and feel. People judge a product by the whole experience, from opening the pack to the last sip, bite or rinse. We help you see which details they notice and value, in terms your developers can work from. [· Snack company · Innovation and concept development · Planning the upgrade of a savory snack in three markets · An eating-experience framework and a staged innovation process. · What happened next The global brand team built its upgrade plan on the eating-experience framework.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/upgrading-a-savory-snack/) - ### What to say, and what to claim. On a shelf or a screen, a claim has seconds to work. We help you choose the positioning and claims your buyers believe. [· Personal care company · Packaging and claims · Choosing the claims for a new hair care product · A claims development report for the consumer insight team. · What happened next The insight team took four claim areas forward.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/claims-for-a-new-hair-care-product/) - ### Which range to put on the shelf. A range has to work as a whole. We help you estimate how people would choose between the options, and what each one adds. [· Household goods company · Concept and product testing · Filling a cleaning brand’s pipeline and testing a new range · A prioritized concept pipeline with closer work on selected concepts, then a quantitative range test with volume modeling. · What happened next Both propositions later reached shelves.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/household-cleaning-concepts-and-range-test/) ## Strategy that made it to launch. > “The research and strategy work we did with antedote was pivotal in informing our strategic decisions and helping us create a successful launch. It was comprehensive and completely aligned end-to-end process which meant we could shift some key KPIs with a relatively modest media budget.” *CMO, food brand* ## Innovation. Find opportunities, develop ideas and decide which to back. - ### Where to grow next. We help you tell an attractive market from a credible opportunity for your brand, and define what you would need to offer there. [· Beverage company · Innovation and concept development · Choosing where a home drinks business should innovate next · A demand map, opportunity areas with their technical requirements. · What happened next The business later launched two of the opportunities named in the strategy.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/beverage-system-innovation-strategy/) - ### Which ideas deserve investment. Pipelines grow faster than the money to back them. We help you weigh new ideas alongside what you already sell, and say plainly why the others should wait. [· Snack company · Concept and product testing · Choosing which snack ideas to fund · A concept screen, data labs with the client team, and a map of every idea and current product. · What happened next The brand narrowed its innovation investment to fewer territories, with a reason recorded for each one it parked.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/snack-innovation-pipeline-prioritization/) - ### Extending the core without losing what people value. New editions, flavors and formats can refresh a brand people love, or unsettle it. We help you add to the core in ways its buyers welcome. [· Spirits company · Innovation and concept development · Bringing new editions to a core spirit without unsettling its drinkers · Refined concepts, principles for presenting the series. · What happened next The brand went ahead with the series, and two of the editions we researched later reached market.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/new-editions-of-a-core-spirit/) - ### Making the case to the retailer. For many launches, the retailer’s line review is the first real test. We help you build concepts that answer the retailer’s questions as well as the shopper’s. [· Pet food company · Innovation and concept development · Preparing two pet food brands for a retailer review · Concepts for both brands, written for the retailer. · What happened next The company presented all seven concepts at its key retailer’s innovation review.](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/concepts-built-for-the-retailer-review/) [See all our case studies](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/) ## Thinking for consumer brands. - *Article* · 4 min read ### [Would this grow the business, or just the range?](https://antedote.com/thinking/would-this-grow-the-business-or-just-the-range/) An idea can appeal to customers and still add little to the business. Its value depends on what it changes across the whole offer. - *Article* · 3 min read ### [The innovation brief that starts with pleasure](https://antedote.com/thinking/innovation-brief-pleasure/) Enjoyment, anticipation and self-expression can shape an innovation brief from the start. The commercial test is whether they add up to something people have a reason to choose. ## Questions consumer brands ask. ### Can you build on the data we already have? Yes, where you can share it. Your sales, panel, tracking and syndicated data can shape the work, so the evidence connects to the numbers your business already runs on. ### Do you work across markets? Yes. We work globally from New York and London, and many of our programs run across several markets at once, so you can compare them on the same terms. [International research](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/strategic-research/#multi-market) ### Where do clients usually start? Often with one decision from this page, in one or two markets, then they widen the work from there. ### What if my category isn’t listed? Ask us anyway. The decisions on this page come up in most consumer categories, and we’ll tell you plainly how close our experience is to yours. [How our senior team works](https://antedote.com/why-antedote/#senior-team) ## A growth decision in front of you? Bring the question your brand faces, in as much or as little detail as you like. We’ll tell you what we’ve done nearest to it, and where we’d start. [Talk to us](https://antedote.com/talk-to-us/) · [hello@antedote.com](mailto:hello@antedote.com) A partner or director will reply.