https://www.susanmathen.com/blog daily 0.75 2020-05-15 https://www.susanmathen.com/blog/post-3-efjsp monthly 0.5 2019-07-10 https://www.susanmathen.com/blog/post-2-9xtrr monthly 0.5 2019-07-10 https://www.susanmathen.com/blog/post-1-zam4c monthly 0.5 2019-07-10 https://www.susanmathen.com/general-3 daily 0.75 2020-05-16 https://www.susanmathen.com/contact daily 0.75 2024-02-19 https://www.susanmathen.com/art-curation daily 0.75 2020-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589702829543-K3LAIBO0BD0FK2SMZ41Q/Art+series+template-02.jpg Art & Curation - Art History Lecturer A series of lectures covering Art Movements, Key Artists in each Movement, Styles of Paintings, Some Key Pieces of Art, etc., conducted at gallery spaces and yoga studios over weekends https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589702258580-19GVJLLLDOLKLUQ21RF5/Curator%27s+Walk+2.jpg Art & Curation - Curator for ‘Blue Latte - Narratives of Today, In Colour’ Curated an art exhibition bringing alive the Colour Trend Stories from the Annual Forecast. The four trend stories and palettes: The Julieta Palette, The Roosegarde Palette, The Chuski Pop Palette and The Slow Palette; were explored artistically and paintings were created for all these palettes. These paintings were exhibited in an Art Gallery and there were events like Curator’s Walk, Artist-Curator Interaction, etc. All research work, cultural studies and trendspotting were done by the team at Hue & Why with Susan Mathen at the helm. The first exhibition was at White Walls Art Gallery, Kochi. The second exhibition was at Studio Pepperfry, Kochi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589702415802-R3TEP7F1XRXJXY0U38GF/Colour+Walk+Sahapedia.jpg Art & Curation - Heritage Walk Lead for the walk through Fort Kochi Researched, curated and conducted multiple heritage walks with exclusive groups where the participants were taken on a journey exploring the design and colour influences in Fort Kochi - in the buildings, in the design motifs, in the language, in the social customs, etc. - from the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, the Arabs and so on. The walk was for about an hour long and ended with a lovely discussion around breakfast at one of the quaint cafes in Fort Kochi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589702950850-Z4BC5Q86FM8KNRTT9UG5/Arts%2BIllustrated.jpg Art & Curation - Columnist: Arts Illustrated Magazine Recurring column in the prestigious and much loved Arts and Design Magazine, Arts Illustrated. Every issue had a column on Colour/Design/Trends/Art by Susan Mathen. Some of the stories written were on the following topics: The Binary Nature of Colours Being Unabashed or Hushed Up: The Choice How the various senses bring alive and evoke emotions The changing cultural meanings of Pink Visual patterns that stay in the mind Post Pandemic Trends https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589701160098-NP6ZB88BQ1U91W0SVG57/Arts+Management+White.png Art & Curation - Cultural Studies & Symbolism Researcher Studied Arts Management in a heritage museum off Chennai, Tamil Nadu in South India - Modules covered: Curation, Art History, Photography, Documentation, Iconography & Symbolism, Cultural Studies, Temple Architecture, Folklore Studies, Artisanal Crafts, etc. For the final group project there was a study on Colour Symbolism in Ancient Indian Concepts and Mythology. For the final thesis the topic undertaken was ‘The Mysterious Absence of Blue in Ancient Eastern Colour Concepts’. Organised a panel discussion at DakshinaChitra, Chennai, where experts spoke about ‘Colour in specific Fields’ - Prakash Dharmarajan, Ogilvy on Colour in Advertising, Yamuna N.S. on Colour in Theatre, Vasantha Muthiah on Colour in Fashion, Leela Samson on Colour in Dance, G Venkat Ram on Colour in Photography, Sharan Apparao on Colour in Art and popular Social & Cultural Commentator Sadanand Menon moderated the fascinating session - a one of its kind event in Chennai. https://www.susanmathen.com/brand-strategy-2 daily 0.75 2020-05-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589821963850-MWZLKETC8Q3OH500QAV4/43A6237.jpg Brand Strategy - YouTube Brandcast One of the largest on ground events for the B2B consumers, The YouTube Brandcast is much awaited for and extremely critical for brand YouTube in India. At Toaster, we crafted the digital and creative strategy for launching the YouTube positioning for 2020 in the India market in a manner that resonates with the Indian marketer/brand managers, media agency leads and creative agency leads - in order to establish the effectiveness and insightful targeting aspects of the platform like never before. Interviews with the target audience, competition audits, creative concepting, brainstorming sessions and creative briefing were undertaken as the Strategy Lead for Toaster India. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589822166916-N7IGHOPTRO4GZHJMFYFQ/Google+Pay.jpg Brand Strategy - Google Pay Strategy Lead for Toaster India for a new product launch within the Google Pay brand in the India market. Worked closely with the US team and directly with the Global Strategy team to create a positioning that sits within the overarching global thinking, yet brings alive nuances of the Indian consumer. Hunted for culturally relevant insights within the online payments/digital transactions category. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589724544942-IQ9V31Y976HBTF2DHPKQ/Bumble-cover.jpg Brand Strategy - Bumble As the Strategy Lead for the Bumble project, I helped craft the brand positioning after in depth interviews with around 40 respondents who fall in the core TG definition, category study of dating apps in India, competition audits of Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, TrulyMadly, Aisle, etc., user experience research and an ethnographic study to understand changing notions of gender equality in India. Bumble, being a dating and social media app that believes in equality, the effort was to find a strong and powerful brand narrative that is rooted in the Indian culturescape yet riding on the emerging trends of changing gender stereotypes and ongoing women centric conversations. The two directions arrived at were: Done Smiling Politely (women having had enough) and Big Bad World of Equality (the troubles of trying to be equal) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589709376185-XB317V5OFLLGSPXHA7WD/Pantene+OR.jpg Brand Strategy - Pantene - Oil Replacement Pantene was launching Oil Replacement as a product in the Indian market. The challenge here was multifold as consumers believed in the efficacy of oil as the best way to get nutrition for hair. The key consumer tension was identified as the long hours needed for oiling and the inconvenience of oiling in the traditional way. This was not something that the new age woman’s life allowed for - as she was busy and had to always look her best for all the occasions in her life. Oiling was also seen as the ‘mother’s way/old people’s way’, not the coolest way of haircare. Lilly Singh the Canadian-Indian comedian was identified as the perfect brand ambassador for this launch as she was already known for the ‘Shit Indian Mothers Say’ viral videos. Similar content was created and Lilly Singh and Priyanka Chopra came together to talk about the relevance of Pantene Oil Replacement and how it is hassle-free and at the same time, provides 2x nourishment to hair. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589709792955-AGB9XDAORCYNDSX0M3U4/Pantene+Boeing.jpg Brand Strategy - Pantene - The Most Extreme Hair Test in the World. The objective was to showcase the effectiveness of Pantene 3 Minute Miracle to strengthen hair, and to highlight that with Pantene 3MM hair will be strong and ready to face even the most extreme hair test you can think of. To create the most beautiful hair torture test in the world, we used the biggest blow dryer we could find: a Boeing 737 turbine. Wind velocity of 10,000 cubic meters per minute. That equals up to 6,000 blow dryers. Can hair take it? With Pantene 3 Minute Miracle, it can. Not just that, the way it was revealed, was by inviting social media influencers to witness this event, and their genuine reviews added to the credibility and social buzz. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589710469439-ZHKPGUHDLBLLINYUEZDP/Screen+Shot+2020-05-17+at+3.39.26+PM.png Brand Strategy - Pantene - celebrity optimisation study A massive celebrity optimisation study was undertaken to ensure that Pantene could have The Best KOL Plan in each country, yet maximising the appeal and pull of every KOL who was already in the Pantene team. A social media study for each KOL in each country was done - in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. To understand their followers, their interactions, their cultural associations, who commanded most value in each market, on which medium, etc. A grand KOL architecture was drawn out where we identified who would be the face of Pantene in which country, and on which media. In some countries there were dual brand ambassadors recommended - for ATL and BTL, in some they were the same. In some countries there were surprising findings like how a western celebrity had more pull than a local celebrity, so we decided to not go for regional celebrities in all markets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589823367815-Z4D2EOEM3T8HZSYXUA9U/Titan+Raga01.jpg Brand Strategy - Titan Raga - Repositioning Raga, the leading women’s watch brand in India, was known for its ornate jewellery-like watches, and Indian women loved pairing these watches with their traditional sarees and ethnic wear. The brand was positioned on sensuality and revolved around the significant other. It seemed that brand Raga was becoming a special occasions purchase (only for weddings, etc.). Most of the target group were working women who opted for western formals and Raga’s existing world was losing relevance, as the TG’s mindset was also evolving. Qualitative and quantitative research showed that women valued independence, financial freedom, career, and having their own points of view on every subject. Surprisingly it was seen that even among the men, there was a growing preference for women who were independent. The repositioning of the brand focused on making Raga a brand that stood for #HerLifeHerChoices, and it was moved from ‘sensuality for the significant other’ to ‘sensuality for the self’. This campaign won the Integrated Gold Effie Award, the Tata Awards Gold and the WARC Asian Strategy Merit award. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589823393096-LGUHI6NS5BY0KFKRSCZE/Titan+Raga+02.jpg Brand Strategy - Titan Raga - Wedding Titan Raga stayed consistent with the repositioning thought as they released this Wedding Season campaign. But unlike most other messages during the wedding season, the Raga conversation took a fresh direction. The protagonist - popular Bollywood celebrity Katrina Kaif - urged young women to not get married for the wrong reasons. This was culturally relevant as research findings indicated that women cited strange reasons for feeling pressured to get married (Aunties asking why they are not married, to get back at their ex-boyfriend, because they wanted to be a mother, and so on). The campaign stressed on the importance of getting married only ‘when you have found someone who deserves your Time’, yet another attempt for Titan watches to own Time as a space. This campaign was widely shared online and went viral and generated conversations not just in India, but also in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, UAE, Indonesia and Malaysia - where women seemed to resonate with the thought. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589823424555-64W41E62S8WMSP6KR1XS/Titan+Celestial.jpg Brand Strategy - Titan Celestial Titan Watches, the market leader in watches in India, decided to focus on the young, urban, ambitious men in India with the Celestial Collection. Deep dives and ethnographic research revealed that men were also going through vast changes. While traditional roles of men, like being the protector or provider, were becoming irrelevant, men were trying to make a mark in new ways. Especially in Indian towns, there seem to be a huge focus on being brave enough to be a successful startup founder. Deciding to go the startup way, was the new definition of courage and bravado. Celestial decided to focus on these men who were tasting success at a very young age with startups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589823449301-T93U8IOPLWFMHLE1I2T3/Titan+Diwali+Ad.jpg Brand Strategy - Titan Diwali Diwali is one of the biggest festivals in India, and gifting is extremely important during this festival. We found out that the most often gifted items included gadgets like mobile phones, Kindle, PlayStation, laptops, etc. The one thing that seemed to be common amongst all these gifts was the fact that the user ended up spending too much time on these gadgets. But when you gift a watch, it does not take away Time from your loved ones. We arrived at the campaign thought of - Gifting Time, this Diwali. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589823705421-C7W8OT9VVB410NALCYC4/TOI.jpg Brand Strategy - Times of India - Kerala Launch Despite being the leading newspaper daily in India, the Times of India was not present in one state in the country - Kerala. This state behaved differently when it came to consuming news. ‘The Hindu’ was the preferred newspaper, and people in this state were known to be extremely serious about news, they were politically much more clued in and valued debates and discussion on daily news. News was serious business - and these consumers perceived the Times of India as a frivolous newspaper. But we found out that the younger generation was slowly changing, and they seemed to like a little more fun. So we decided to turn the perceived weakness of the newspaper into its strength, and focused on the youngsters who were more playful. ‘Why So Serious’ was the broad creative thought. The launch campaign took this thought to a whole new level by creating advertising that was done in the locally relevant satirical style and by borrowing local nuances and stories, all presented in a very playful manner. The communication hinged on giving a twist to a local saying - ‘Kali Kaaryamayi’ (meaning ‘Play has become Serious - something that started out as fun, has become serious). The campaign thought was now ‘Kaaryam Kali Aayi’ (meaning Serious has become Fun - something that was seen as ‘serious has now become fun’, implying that News is now Fun). The brand collaborated with a popular local rock band to create a song for the launch of the newspaper in Kerala focused on ‘Kali’/Play. The brand also had their own fun local delivery boys - boatsmen delivered newspapers to homes near the backwaters, elephants delivered newspapers and even the martial art warriors of Kerala were part of delivering newspapers. This campaign won the WARC Asian Strategy Bronze Award https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589717528545-TACBQQ1QED8BVL3FE9Q9/image1+%282%29.jpeg Brand Strategy - Cult Modern - Brand Positioning & Brand Identity Development A boutique premium lifestyle and fashion store, Cult Modern wanted to create its brand essence, positioning, tone of voice, mood, colour palette and design strategy. The brand existed between the classic and the modern, and believed in, and found beauty in stories that were about overlapping spaces and blurring of lines between extremes. The brand key was done after an in depth stakeholder interaction, and the design inspiration narrative was ‘Twilight’ - the poetic beautiful in between time, and the colour palette was derived from an abstract version of twilight. Everything that the brand was about - was created from this creative space - Twilight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589718561375-P2Y2Q2WUWRVI06212XTA/Aro%2BHa_0393.jpg Brand Strategy - ITC Gum On - Brand Architecture + Nomenclature Directions ITC, one of the top FMCG brands in India, was launching a new brand of chewing gums. As the lead strategist on the brand, all pre-launch strategy was led by me - including new product ideations, brand key development, brand positioning workshops, brand architecture studies, competition analysis to understand how other the category codes were, communication brief, consumer research and launch strategy. We analysed all possible brand architecture options, looked at competition brands and their variant architecture, potential new product ideas for the new brand and finally arrived at our recommended architecture framework and nomenclature directions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589724906376-5PC0WLQY21XOC479DV1Q/024a.jpg Brand Strategy - Titan Skinn - Design Brief Titan. the leading watch brand in India, was diversifying into the affordably perfumes category. We decided to study brands that are leaders in a particular category, diversifying into a totally new category - how do they launch, is there something they take forward from the original category, and so on. The key finding was that in most such cases, a key design motif from the original category was taken forward in the new category. For eg: the Burberry design motif. For Titan Fragrances, we decided to take forward the Dial of a Watch, as a reminder of the original category, into the bottle design itself - of the perfumes, and the different variants (Day, Night, Out) were colour coded. We won the pitch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589724833346-AK6FMQIWEOX8Y8F64198/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+5.39.53+PM.png Brand Strategy - Cloudnine Maternity Hospitals: Popular Culture Analysis A massive study was undertaken to find out various codes in the portrayal of maternity/motherhood/pregnancy in the Indian popular culture - cinema, books, magazines, literature, etc. This was part of the larger exercise of arriving at a Big Ideal for brand Cloudnine (the Big Ideal for the brand is confidential hence not included). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589726602808-MFJZC6UHLNACIR7SUTGU/Needscope.png Brand Strategy - Consumer Segmentation Study: Needscope For an online education brand, a large scale consumer segmentation study was done, dividing all consumers into segments and clusters based on their basic needs, triggers, fears, inspiration, etc. We arrived at clusters like Stamp Seeker, Reassurance Seeker, Success Seeker, Acceleration Seeker, Status Seeker, Inclusion Seeker, Capability Seeker and Respect Seeker. These were further subdivided to arrive at more specific segments and these segments were used to create targeted communication, catalogues, offers, etc. There were online quizzes developed to understand which segment a potential consumer falls into and directions and processes developed on how to communicate with each segment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589727151069-DMUP7R5NU9RAXJ9DB4DF/Screen+Shot+2020-05-17+at+8.22.00+PM.png Brand Strategy - ITC Bingo! positioning - semiotic analysis of advertisements Semiotic analysis of each TV advertisement was done by studying all TV advertisements of ITC Bingo! Potato Chips and its key competitors - Lay’s and Kurkure, over a 5 year period. Each ad was analysed on the following elements - 1. Visual, 2. Aural, 3. Protagonists, 4. Non-verbal communication, 5. Linguistic, 6. Time, 7. Technique, 8. Montage, 9. Argument, 10. Juxtaposition, 11. Narrative. The residual codes, dominant codes and emerging codes were identified, and from here the Cultural Norms and Cultural Contradictions were identified leading to disruptive positioning spaces for Bingo! https://www.susanmathen.com/workshops-2 daily 0.75 2020-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589704758631-DY376OEQM7OWIA5F5E9I/Design+Thinking+image.png Workshops & Classes - Design Thinking Workshop: Lockdown Edition Online 1x1 sessions were conducted during the nationwide lockdown during the global pandemic. Introduction to Design Thinking as a discipline was offered to those who signed up for this module. It covered Defining a Problem, Identifying Consumer, Category, Cultural codes, Brainstorming, Prototyping and Testing - as well as a hands on exercise. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589704872774-SU50NYBHN3ZY5L9OYO96/67212502_10217194145538256_9041982884906270720_n.jpg Workshops & Classes - Lectures at MICA Guest lecturer at Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) - the leading brand strategy school in India, and also my alma mater. Teaching sessions with modules on Semiotics, Brand Essence, Design Semiotics, Colour Strategy and Trends & Forecasts for Brands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589705648924-IG2Z19EDSHWSFRMMATBE/Trendforecasting+image.png Workshops & Classes - Trend Forecasting Seminars Have been a regular keynote speaker at the Trend Forecasting Seminar by CMG for the past 3 years at Singapore and Bangkok. Have also been a Trendspotter for the Trendwatching.com’s quarterly Trend briefing. Was invited to be a part of the expert panel for the Asian Paints Forecasting Workshop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589705933182-7BVWG7AA16Y3JZRPI17K/Workshops+pic.png Workshops & Classes - Design Semiotics Workshops 15+ workshops conducted across India - in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kochi. Some of these were exclusively done for corporate teams like ITC Brand Managers group, Titan design team, Van Heusen design team, Tanishq design + marketing teams, Zivame brand team, etc. Others were open workshops conducted in collaboration with brands like Studio Pepperfry, SPIN furniture studio, etc. There were participants from Suzuki, Times of India, advertising agencies, entrepreneurial background, freelance community and more. The modules covered looked at semiotics, brand strategy, branding and packaging, trends & forecasting and some group exercises and breakout sessions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589705080729-08B0OMOTQP3Y5SA58JVZ/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+5.48.59+PM.png Workshops & Classes - Ogilvy Fusion Workshops Once the Fusion model was rolled out globally, I have actively used this model and found immense potential in the tool. Pitch conversion rates increased. Have used the model - Business Ambition Star, Customer Journey, Communication Blueprint, Do Brief, Report Card, etc., for multiple pitches. Have conducted client workshops and offsite days to arrive at solutions to brand problems using the same. For ITC Bingo! Potato Chips and Wafers, Fusion was used to arrive at answers to Local Market Optimisation Plans. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589705302973-FAVM3FZEQM4UQ8XU5JP0/Screen+Shot+2020-05-17+at+2.17.54+PM.png Workshops & Classes - Ogilvy Big Ideal Workshops Facilitated Big Ideal workshops with all stakeholders for various clients - including ITC Cookies, ITC Bingo!, Cloudnine Maternity Hospitals, various pitches, etc. In depth cultural analyses, semiotic analyses, ethnographic research, etc., were conducted before arriving at the stimulus material for the workshop. Used the Ogilvy Big Ideal Model to arrive at the Big Ideal (not Big Idea) by studying the cultural tensions and the brand’s best self, and finding the sweetspot/the overlapping space for the perfect Big Ideal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589705006550-QB3RW1X7Y7HUYN5AA7SE/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+5.48.22+PM.png Workshops & Classes - JWT Brand Sparks Workshops Creative ideation workshops facilitated during the stint at JWT for key brands like Redbus.com, VDot, Lifestyle, ITC Gum On, etc. Titled Day One - this was usually conducted as a full day workshop, ideally an offsite, with brand team, design team, research team, agency team and management team. Various ideation tools and techniques are introduced and there are breakout sessions to arrive at ideas. Voting for the best ideas, clustering of ideas and finally taking these forward with a business lens is carried out post this session. https://www.susanmathen.com/home-1 daily 1.0 2025-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589615783851-0MANQF9DAJ6XDOZIJ97C/Susan+pic.jpg Home https://www.susanmathen.com/insights-2 daily 0.75 2020-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1600771001979-VRVCDF2IQWFTMXGZY476/Customer-Journey.jpg Insights & Trends - Insights at each stage of the Customer Journey For the global launch of a brand in Amsterdam and London (brand is confidential - W+K Strategy Project), we conducted extensive research to understand the user journey and to create user personas. Creative ideas were developed to address specific triggers and painpoints across the journey. For a global project for a financial brand (brand is confidential - W+K Strategy Project), we analysed how Indian consumers go through the process of deciding on a brand to use. The entire approach was based on insights for each stage of each customer journey. For a project for Google (new product launch in India) an extensive design and competition audit was done to understand what makes customers aware of the offering, consider a new option, decide on an option and continue to use the same (confidential project - Toaster Strategy Project) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589727395723-L9V7Y3IJQ2ED0L5DQJKH/Screen%252BShot%252B2020-05-15%252Bat%252B6.45.13%252BPM.jpg Insights & Trends - Hijabsters Insights Indonesia has a dominant Muslim population and most of the women wear Hijabs. Working on a hair care brand it was important to understand this segment in depth. We studied the new age, urban, cool, tech-savvy, digital native, hijab wearing women - The Hijabsters to unearth deep insights about their life, their haircare rituals, their worries and their inspirations. One key finding was the under the hijab, hair conditions were 2x or more worse than otherwise - for eg: 2x heat, 2x humidity, etc. This led to a tech solution of creating a hijab specific measurement device, and a social conversation generation plan with digital influencers and Key Opinion Leaders for the brand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589824323446-470A6FK4X0T0ZVQL9ZG5/Youth-Insights.jpg Insights & Trends - Youth Insights A unique research methodology was used for this insights study. We asked youngsters from the top 5 cities in India to mail us images that they think capture the essence of their life today. These images were then shuffled and taken back to a different set of youngsters and used as conversation starters in group discussions. It helped jump to the topics that matter to them, and opened up discussions as the visual stimuli were very strong and resonated with them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589706366495-P0S3LNZ46KBTJG9UHK8U/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+6.36.56+PM.png Insights & Trends - Project Ombre: Understanding the Fashion Consumer A study undertaken to understand the trends - drivers, manifestations & application; within the fashion consumer segment. The fashion consumers were segmented into need based clusters (like the Over-the-tops, Story Hungry, Forever Updated, Naturalists, Simplicists, Nostalgics, Authentics) and studied in detail to help arrive at targeted offerings, tailored business solutions and creative ideas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589706446629-ITNAKYJ7MB4ZKYTZ60RM/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+6.35.30+PM.png Insights & Trends - 18.3 & Under: Insights on the South Indian Consumer Many brands struggle to resonate with the South Indian consumer - as they do not speak Hindi, the most commonly spoken language in India, they behave differently and seem to relate to slightly different values. Looking at all of India as one broad consumer bucket does not cut it any more. One needs to understand the nuances of the South Indian consumers - what makes them different, what matters to them, how do you resonate with them, what values do they hold close to their hearts? These were some of the key areas we set out to answer when we undertook this study to mine insights about the South Indian Consumer. We found 9 key themes specific to the South Indian consumer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589706605848-FKU31O8K2DUUCVOC313K/Screen+Shot+2020-05-15+at+6.35.11+PM.png Insights & Trends - Project Femme 2.0 A study undertaken to understand the changing desires and triggers for women as a consumer segment. The methodology included analysing popular culture - women’s literature, Bollywood movies, regional cinema, top 5 women’s magazines, TV content, matrimonial websites and more. Various interesting facets of this TG were unearthed as emerging themes resonant to them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e959bb1ea2d0603dee348ad/1589707016637-A7KW98W2WEG0JX5SMFI9/Screen+Shot+2020-05-17+at+2.44.08+PM.png Insights & Trends - Trend Stories & Palettes From 2017, I have been researching and developing Cultural Trend Stories, Moodboards and Palettes as a part of the annual trend forecasts. In 2017, these were presented at the Singapore CMG Forecast Seminar. In 2018, our trends were presented at the Bangkok CMG Forecast Seminar. In 2019, at the Design Workshops across India. In 2020, at virtual forecasting seminars, due to the lockdown. https://www.susanmathen.com/contact-1 daily 0.75 2025-05-12