People make sense of the world through story. It’s a core truth that defines how we at Threadline think about market research, design and branding. By recognizing that every person is the hero of their own story, we can recognize the role our brands play in making them feel heroic. When brands position their customers as the hero, the brand becomes a part of the customer’s story. So if you truly want to influence a person, you’ve got to first understand their story.

Yet, traditional market research methodologies are an interrogation of a consumer’s self-awareness. Why did you buy it? What did you like about it? What else would you choose instead? If you want to understand why something resonates, asking is the last thing to do.

Stories reveal the meaning behind a person’s relationship to a category, product or behavior they may not understand themselves. If you want to unlock the secrets of the mind, narrative is the skeleton key that opens it.

Threadline helps organizations identify and play a meaningful role in people’s lives, through understanding the transformative power of their life stories. We do so through research techniques that uncover emotional insights, a design philosophy that focuses on the narratives people want to express, and an approach to branding that integrates your product or service into people’s identities.