These are most certainly unprecedented times for all of us and while the message of the day may be to “self-isolate,” we want you to know that you are not alone. First and foremost, our commitment is to the health and safety of our people, and the well-being of the communities in which we live and work. So, like so many of you, we’re working remotely. And we’re staying connected. The quality of our work continues. Our message is simple: we’re still here for you.

The Hartman Group is uniquely positioned to help you understand consumers’ changing behaviors and address the business challenges you face as a result. For more than 30 years, The Hartman Group has helped companies navigate the ups and downs of the marketplace. We have the expertise and the tools to help you understand your consumers, craft innovative strategies and make sound business decisions, even during this time of uncertainty.

From the short-term questions about how consumers are changing behaviors in response to this pandemic to the longer-term business challenges you face, we can help. We’ve long believed each and every project requires a customized approach to best meet business objectives. Today, that is truer than ever as we work with clients to still achieve their research and consulting needs through customized and creative approaches.

Here are five services that are well suited to moving business forward while maintaining social distancing practices.

• Knowledge Discoveries. Tap into Hartman Group’s deep well of insights and trends information. Knowledge discoveries leverage previously collected data and insights to answer an array of business questions. We can deep dive into a topic (e.g., immunity), consumer type (e.g., plant-based eaters), eating occasion (e.g., early-morning snacking) and more. Information sources include (but aren’t limited to): syndicated research, trends reports, white papers, Hartman Eating Occasions Compass database, Hartman Premium Benefits Framework, secondary data (e.g., Euromonitor) and data provided by the client (e.g., custom research reports, sales data). Get our unique POV and guidance, substantiated by data, on your burning questions.

• Concept Evaluation/Prioritization. Leverage our deep consumer and cultural understanding to help optimize and prioritize product concepts and innovation platforms. Our team can help at any stage of the concept development process from helping decide which concept ideas have the most promise to move forward to helping refine more fully developed concepts. Our proprietary demand-centric evaluation rubric evaluates marketplace disruptiveness and provides tangible recommendations from maximizing the consumer relevance of specific attributes to minimizing the barriers to achieving mainstream appeal. Additional consumer validation can be obtained with virtual qualitative research (see below).

• Hartman Retainer Services. Hartman Retainer Services connects clients to a deep well of data, insights, and strategy via comprehensive consulting services over a 12-month period. Our dedicated account team will become an extension of your team, gaining deep knowledge about your business and proactively keeping you up to date with the most relevant data and insights. The retainer also provides access to our analytics team for strategic advisement for a wide variety of business needs, including concept evaluation, strategy review, needs for tactical recommendations in packaging redesign, communications, etc., and more. A searchable online microsite enables access to our intellectual capital 24-7, including past and ongoing syndicated research reports and online presentations and webinars. Assess to exclusive content (e.g., The Consumer and Covid-19, Ideas in Food 2020) are among other partnership perks.

• Virtual Qualitative Research. Immerse yourself in consumers’ lives using a dynamic digital platform. This platform allows for the capture of in-the-moment, real-life insights into consumer thinking and decision making. A wide variety of assignments (e.g., video diaries, photos with captioning, collaging) can be leveraged to obtain optimal consumer knowledge. We can recruit consumers who meet your demographic and psychographic screening requirements, and all geographies within the U.S. are accessible. The digital immersion can also be supplemented with follow-up interviews via Skype/Google Hangouts and client stakeholders. Virtual interviewing allows for additional questioning as well as clarification on the immersion materials. We work with your team to allow them to also virtually participate in the process. We can conduct group discussions in addition to one-on-one interviews.

• Trends and Foresight Services. Gain a foundation of insight to tackle your biggest business questions by employing a custom trends framework. The Hartman Group will create a comprehensive well-informed and future-oriented trends (macro to micro) framework to help guide current initiatives and uncover future opportunities. Our trends frameworks enable cultural competency and provide a deep understanding of the big shifts in consumer behavior and the business landscape impacting your business, category and consumer. Our foresight services help you anticipate future demand and future threats as well as evaluate your current business — portfolio, categories and brands — and identify ‘here and now’ growth opportunities as well as ‘longer-continuum’ opportunities. Hartman trends and forecasting deliverables are essential inputs for on-point and differentiated innovation.

All of us at The Hartman Group sincerely appreciate your support of our work, and we look forward to continuing serving you through these trying times. Please contact us; we look forward to the conversation.

Stay safe and well,
Laurie

Laurie Demeritt, CEO
The Hartman Group
laurie@hartman-group.com

Contacts:
• Research and consulting projects: Shelley@hartman-group.com