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Why us

Our proven psychological methods reveal what truly drives your consumers — delivering insights you can act on with confidence.

How are we different

Traditional research focuses on what consumers can consciously explain — the rational, System 2 responses. But that only scratches the surface.

At The Marketing Clinic, we go deeper. Our unique psychological methodology uncovers the unconscious emotional drivers behind consumer behaviour — tapping into System 1 responses that truly shape choices.

We conduct 1:1 interviews within a group setting, allowing us to explore each respondent’s experience in depth while avoiding the influence of groupthink.

Unlike machine-led methods, our highly trained psychologists are in the room — reading nonverbal cues like body language, tone, and emotional shifts that algorithms can’t detect. This ensures your insights are grounded in real human understanding, not just data.

We then translate this depth into clear, actionable recommendations, drawn from our decades of client-side marketing experience.

But we don’t stop there.

We help you uncover the emotional space your brand can truly own — guiding you to differentiate where competitors can’t follow.

And through emotional journey mapping, we help define your brand’s emotional signature — shaping innovation, communication, and product strategy with clarity.

With over 20 years of experience, The Marketing Clinic has delivered high-quality research in markets around the world — from homes and informal communities to high-tech research facilities.

Wherever your consumers are, we know how to reach them. You choose the right location — we handle the rest, ensuring your study delivers reliable, relevant emotional insight.

Our tailored projects are built on proven frameworks, designed to tackle your most pressing challenges with confidence and precision.

We don’t just collect data — we deliver strategic, meaningful insight rooted in deep emotional understanding. Our senior team provides you with clear, practical recommendations, based on both research expertise and real-world marketing experience.

Because nothing costs more than cheap research that leaves you with more questions than answers. We ensure you get the clarity, direction, and emotional intelligence needed to drive lasting growth.

Our approach

Every project is tailored to your specific goals, but most follow a proven three-stage approach designed to deliver deep, actionable insight.

Timelines typically range from 4–6 weeks, depending on the scope and complexity of your needs.

Regression Techniques

Our regression techniques are designed to explore the deep emotional memories that shape consumers’ relationships with brands and products.

Because memories are stored emotionally in the brain’s amygdala, they hold powerful, often unconscious, insights into consumer behaviour. Through carefully structured, interrogative questioning, we access these memories to uncover rich, unconscious emotional responses — revealing what truly drives consumer choices.

We analyse how emotional responses have evolved over time, tracking patterns in a consumer’s history with a product or category to understand the emotional journey they’ve experienced.

This process allows us to capture authentic emotional language directly from respondents — language they may not even be consciously aware of. This insight forms the foundation for the next stages of our work, shaping the emotional understanding that drives actionable strategy.

Psychological Analysis

Building on the emotional insight gathered in Stage 1, our Consumer Psychologists develop a bespoke psychometric framework to capture the emotional landscape of the category and product.

We create a unique emotional circle of 40–70 words and phrases, drawn directly from the language consumers unconsciously use to describe their experiences. Alongside this, we develop an experience profile of approximately 120 descriptors that reflect how consumers emotionally and sensorially relate to the product or category.

These tools, combined with our proprietary mood scale, form the foundation for the next phase — where we explore how the consumer’s emotional responses connect to their sensory experience, revealing rich, layered insights that guide brand strategy and innovation.

Psychometric Product Profiling

In this final stage, we use the tools developed in Stage 2 to map the full emotional and sensory journey consumers experience as they interact with your product — and the category more broadly.

We break the experience into distinct stages, revealing how specific sensory cues (such as taste, texture, aroma, and visual presentation) trigger emotional responses — and why.

This process creates a detailed emotional narrative across the entire consumer journey. We then compare your brand’s emotional profile with key competitors, identifying gaps, overlaps, and white space.

From this, we define the ideal emotional journey — one that your brand can own — and provide guidance on how to shape the product experience to consistently deliver it.

What You Get from Our Work

Our methodology delivers a depth of emotional and sensory insight that standard research simply can’t reach.

You’ll receive:

•A clear emotional narrative of how consumers experience your product — from first interaction to lasting memory.

•A detailed map connecting sensory cues (taste, texture, aroma) with the emotional responses they trigger at key points in the journey.

•A visual representation of the full sensory-emotional experience, helping you see exactly where and how your product connects — or disconnects — with consumers.

•Strategic guidance that explains what’s happening, why, and what you need to do to improve emotional impact and product performance.

•Specific, actionable recommendations for product development, innovation, and communication — tailored to your brand’s emotional strengths and opportunities.

Our outputs help product teams and marketers alike make informed, confident decisions about how to move forward.

We present our findings in an interactive workshop, working closely with stakeholders across teams to ensure insights are understood, aligned, and actionable.

Shape of Taste: Your Product’s Emotional Blueprint

Our unique Shape of Taste framework captures the full emotional and sensory journey of your product — giving you a powerful, detailed understanding of how and why consumers respond the way they do, and how your product differs from competitors.

Even subtle shifts in the sensory experience can have a significant emotional impact. By understanding this connection, you can rethink your branding, communications, and product development through a new, emotionally intelligent lens.

These are simplified examples for demonstration. If you’d like to discover your brand’s Shape of Taste — and how this insight can elevate your product and brand strategy — speak with us.

Every project is bespoke to our client’s needs.

Speak with us about your needs and we will work with you to create the best project design to give you the answers together with clear practical recommendations to your problems.