I recently had the pleasure to chat with Dal Mahil from Big Tent Strategy, a director-led global strategy consultancy. We are lucky enough to work with them on some very interesting projects, and while their expertise spans a broad range of strategic and cultural challenges, I wanted to pick her brains specifically on one fascinating aspect of their work: sensory research.
To uncover how people truly experience products, Dal and her team have developed a highly effective, human-centred methodology. Here are my top takeaways from our conversation on how to successfully bridge the gap between human emotion and hard data.
1. The Challenge of the “Black-and-White”
During our chat, Dal highlighted the core tension at the heart of sensory research. When working with science and R&D teams, the expectation is often rigid. As she explained, science is fundamentally about absolutes. Technical teams want to know exactly how much of a specific element exists, and they look for concrete, black-and-white data to prove it.
However, human behaviour is rarely that precise – as we often see in our work. Our true and unpolished perceptions are often irrational and contradictory, making it a real challenge to translate those messy, emotional realities into a format that makes sense to technically minded professionals who are used to working with strict, scientific briefs.
2. Unlocking Cultural Context via Self-Ethnography
Sensory experiences do not happen in a vacuum; cultural nuances completely define how consumers interpret them. To illustrate this, Dal shared a brilliant example regarding water usage. She explained that in India, for example, the relationship with water is deeply rooted in the local culture. It ties back to worship and spiritual beliefs, meaning the concept of water purity is just as much an emotional and psychological experience as it is a physical one.
To witness these deeply ingrained cultural norms in context, Big Tent relies on self-ethnography via the Field Notes platform. This approach efficiently unlocks multi-market projects, allowing researchers to step directly into the consumer’s world and observe authentic behaviours in intimate settings without the time-intensive constraints of traditional home visits.
3. Gamifying Tasks to Break Habits
How do you get a participant to describe a sense they use entirely subconsciously? You disrupt their routine.
Dal and the Big Tent team design specific tasks that force participants to break their normal habits, such as asking them to brush their teeth while blindfolded. These gamified activities encourage participants to isolate specific senses, allowing them to finally articulate everyday experiences that they previously never thought twice about.
4. Balancing Innovation with Data Integrity
While breaking habits is a fantastic way to generate fresh insights, Dal was quick to point out that it introduces a risk of creating artificial biases. Data must be interpreted very carefully to ensure the findings reflect actual reality, rather than behaviours manufactured by the research tasks themselves.
Her top piece of advice for researchers running similar projects? Perform the tasks yourself first. This internal stress-testing helps you determine if the research design is feasible and ensures your activities do not diverge too far from natural behaviour.
5. Synthesising Insights for Technical Teams
Finally, when reporting back to technical teams, providing an overwhelming list of raw findings is simply not useful.
The Big Tent approach focuses on moving from a high-level strategic view all the way down to specific product attributes. By carefully translating those irrational human behaviours into clear, actionable takeaways, they ensure the research directly fuels product innovation.
Summary
It was inspiring to hear how Big Tent Strategy blends empathy and creativity with rigorous data interpretation to uncover the human truth behind sensory experiences.
A huge thank you to Dal for taking the time to share her wisdom, and a special thanks to Dave Stenton for also sharing his inputs and helping to shape these fantastic insights!
Interested in finding out more? Drop a message to dal@bigtentstrategy.com or giulia@fieldnotes.space
