As our insights and data experts, Freemavens, celebrate their milestone 10th birthday, we had a chat with Founder Andrzej Moyseowicz to talk about the past, present and future of Freemavens and the wonderful world of insights.
Ok, what Freemavens do in a sentence, go:
Freemavens uses data and empathy to create insights, ideas and strategies that build brands worthy of advocacy; essentially, help companies listen and learn to the world around them to do better now and into the future.
Give us some Freemavens highlights over the past 10 years…
Mapping post-pandemic convergences around new habits and needs for Coca-Cola, our Future of Flavours work for Pernod Ricard (looking at 51k flavour combinations across multiple markets), unearthing adult passion-points to inspire designs for LEGO, Ingrédients Radar in the world of beauty for L’Oreal, creating a bespoke cosumer confidence index for Coca-Cola… to name a few!
If you could pick one personal highlight, what would that be?
The first time an employee recruited a friend to join Freemavens really meant a lot – to recommend working at FM in those early days, despite our small size and challenges, was an incredible vote of confidence in what we were trying to build.
How’s the world of insights changed throughout these years?
It was a challenging start for FM as so much of the business world was locked into traditional research methods, and others thought the new world of data and insights was a threat to creativity!
The biggest change has been going beyond an efficiency-focus into the more transformational force of empathetic understanding of humans, combined with creative strategy to help companies do more things that are worthy of advocacy.
What further changes should we predict for the next 10?
The gap between insight creators and users of insight will shrink further. This means that research partners will have to dramatically increase their activation fluency while progressive groups like MSQ push agile and connected service partnerships in marketing and technology.
Is there anything that you wish you could’ve changed with the evolution of the insights world?
Something I still want to address and change is how we can better learn from communities who are often outside current research methods. Data, in the right hands, is a voice for people who don’t always get access to decision makers. Some voices are still relatively quiet and hard to reach – older demographics and the extremes of socio-economic backgrounds.
We have had highlights over the years on discovering ways to capture some of these voices – but not yet enough. It is a mountain we still need to climb to make sure insights lead to more inclusive business solutions.
What exciting projects do Freemavens have coming up that you can tell us about?
So many! I am NEVER bored at work. We are forever exploring so many facets of culture and capitalism that you are perpetually learning and being humbled by what you need to know.
Several projects we are fired up about include an advanced machine learning model that has created a sales-validated consumer confidence index – essentially using a portfolio of market and consumer signals to understand what are the lead indicators for sales performance.
We’re also developing a portfolio strategy to modernise how a spirits group and uncover the opportunities for a high end luxury brand. And if that wasn’t enough, we’re also helping the greatest toy company in the world address the intersection of gender, identity, and the future of play.
Finally, what excites you about the future of Freemavens?
I’m excited about how we’ll continue to grow and just become better. I really love the team and the work we do. The talent in FM continues to evolve and impress and our clients are becoming bolder and braver.
