We work with brands at moments of consequence — when the decision matters and the consumer understanding has to be right. Every project we design is qualitative, bespoke, and built around a real business question. We do not have a fixed template. We have four core research specialisms, a set of strategic capabilities that translate insight into direction, and the experience to know which combination will actually move things forward.
We go where the consumer is. Into their homes, their cities, their gyms, their stores, their communities. We hike with them, shop with them, train alongside them, attend the events they attend. We move through their world the way they do - because that is the only way to understand it the way they do.
Immersive IRL is the right method when you need the kind of consumer understanding that cannot be replicated through a screen. When you need your designers to feel what the consumer feels. When you need your strategists to see what the consumer sees. When the brief demands real closeness, not reported closeness.
When brands use it:
What it produces: Strategic direction, consumer portraits, cultural frameworks, design territories, and brand positioning - grounded in real human experience rather than abstraction
Recent work: Nike ACG, On Running, Serato, Clinique, Netflix
When the decision has to hold across geographies, you need research that was designed for that from the start. Multi-Market Qual is our approach to large-scale qualitative research across multiple markets simultaneously - combining local cultural knowledge with a coherent global strategic framework.
We speak to consumers, cultural experts, and category insiders across markets. We understand how attitudes, behaviours, and cultural contexts differ, and where they converge. We find the insight that is true everywhere and the nuance that only matters somewhere.
When brands use it:
What it produces: Global consumer frameworks, market segmentation, brand positioning strategy, communications direction, and cultural maps that give global teams the confidence to make bold decisions.
Recent work: Nike, Coca-Cola, lululemon, Jordan
Digital Ethnography is our method for conducting qualitative research across many markets simultaneously - without sacrificing depth. Participants document their lives, behaviours, and attitudes in real time through video diaries, photo tasks, and online communities over an extended period.
We see real moments, not recall. We access consumers across geographies without the time and cost of full field immersions in every market. And we do it in a way that still produces the quality of insight that changes decisions.
When brands use it:
What it produces: Rich consumer portraits, attitude and behaviour maps, product and category insight, and strategic direction — across markets, in weeks rather than months.
Recent work: lululemon, Nike, England Squash
An Always-On programme is continuous consumer intelligence embedded directly into your brand team. Rather than commissioning research when a problem has already surfaced, you have a rolling programme of insight that keeps you close to your consumer before decisions have to be made.
Think of an Always-On programme as a white label insight product, adapted for each client's specific context and needs. The objective is always the same: ensuring a brand stays ahead of their consumer, of cultural shifts, of the category. The shape of the programme changes. The ambition does not.
It is the difference between leading your category and reacting to it.
When brands use it:
What it produces: Quarterly intelligence reports, cultural signal tracking, immersive field investigations, and direct strategic partnership with the Beyond team - continuously, not episodically.
Recent work: The LEGO Group, Nike
Beyond our four core research specialisms, we bring a set of strategic capabilities that translate what we find into direction brands can act on.
We help brands understand what their consumer actually cares about - and use that to define what the brand needs to say. Not channel strategy or media planning. The upstream question: what is the message, and why will it land? This is the work that happens when a brand has built something great and needs to figure out how to talk about it in a way the consumer will genuinely care about. It is insight that leads to communications clarity.
When a brand needs to redefine who it is, who it is for, and what it stands for — grounded in real consumer understanding rather than internal assumption. We design the research, facilitate the strategic process, and produce the brand blueprint that gives teams a shared direction to work from.
Helping global brands understand how to take their proposition into a new geography. What does the consumer there look like? How is the brand currently perceived? What would it take to show up with credibility? Where is the authentic opportunity — and what are the risks?
We have delivered market localisation research across Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Helping brands understand the culture of a new activity or category before they enter it. Who is the consumer? What motivates them? What do they need from product? Where are they underserved? What would it take for a new brand to earn their attention? We have done this work across outdoor and trail, performance outerwear, supplements and biohacking, beauty, studio culture, and more.
Research only travels as far as the people who receive it. We design and facilitate senior leadership sessions that help brand teams absorb what we have found — turning insight into alignment, and alignment into action. These sessions are often the difference between research that changes a decision and research that informs a presentation.
Understanding the cultural role an individual plays - and whether that role is right for a brand - requires the same consumer rigour as any other strategic question. We research the consumer relationship with talent, the cultural associations they carry, and the opportunity or risk of a brand partnership before it is made.
Helping brands see the market clearly — where competitors are playing, where they are not, and where the genuine opportunity lies. We go beyond category mapping to articulate the specific white space a brand is positioned to own, and what it would take to claim it.
We are based in London and Los Angeles, with a hub in Shanghai. We regularly deliver work across more than 30 markets globally — including New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Sydney, Mexico City, Beijing, Vancouver, Chicago, Miami, and Dubai. If you need research in a market not listed here, ask us. Chances are we have delivered there or have the network to do so.
If you are deciding what to create, what to say, or where to win next - we are here to talk. hello@studiobeyond.co studiobeyond.co