2022
Market Research
Mixed-Method Research, Workshop Facilitation
wellness
generative research on the Black & Brown female wellness experience for experiential music startup
ROLE
Market Researcher (on research team of 2)
TOOLS
Miro, Google Slides
PROBLEM
Pollen, a travel/music experience startup, was trying to establish its presence with a new market: Afro-Diasporic communities in the US and Europe. To do this, it was looking to partner with an established R&B singer with 15M+ followers to curate a wellness experience that targeted her core fanbase.
My research partner and I were tasked to understand how Black and Brown women define and practice wellness.
The findings would inform the design and execution of an experience that would meaningfully serve the wellness aims for Black and Brown women and expand Pollen’s market.
SOLUTION
We conducted in-depth qualitative research and delivered a workshop with cross-functional leads within a short time-frame to:
Advocate for the target consumer by immersing key business partners in the consumer’s aspirations, mental models, and behaviors
Brainstorm tactical design elements of the experience (e.g., itinerary, messaging, partners)
Refine Pollen’s marketing & design approach for a new customer demographic
Scope | LANDSCAPE REVIEW & PLANNING
After doing a review of the landscape, we decided to focus on qualitative studies to gain an immersive understanding
We started with conducting a landscape review of existing experiences, trends, and thought leadership related to wellness for Black and Brown women.The context and background knowledge helped us decide on our research questions, research themes, and methodologies.
Conduct | RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How do these women define & practice wellness, and what are the conditions of comfort & safety in these spaces?
Our questions centered on 8 elements of wellness:
Experience: What kind of environment, experiences, and activities are expected?
Music: How does music tie in?
Evolution: How does wellness evolve over a life course?
Cost: How does class/price play a role?
Luxury: Is there an association between wellness and luxury?
Psychological Safety: How do women feel in wellness spaces that are for their cultural community?
Expertise: Who has credibility and how is it exhibited?
Marketing: What kinds of messaging are appealing?
Conduct | FROM THE DESK
Wellness is not new to Black women and it has been embraced for generations – even if practices weren’t mainstream
We conducted 4 expert interviews with individuals to understand:
The evolution of wellness as a concept, industry and practice
The current landscape of the wellness industry
Key considerations for curating a wellness experience for Black and Brown women
Top Insights
Wellness is defined by multiple dimensions: mind, body, and soul
The concept of wellness isn’t new for Black and Brown women — practices have been embraced for generations but not mainstream
Wellness as a practice has become more popular in recent decades due to the popularized concept of ‘self care’
Conduct | IN THE FIELD
More than anything, respondents wanted a wellness space to ‘just be’ — without societal and family pressures
We conducted qualitative research that immersed us in the lives of potential consumers:
5 remote semi-structured interviews
2 in-home contextual inquiries
2 in-person observational studies
Quote Highlights:
"Black women want to know that all aspects of an experience are intentionally and explicitly crafted with them in mind, that it’s 'For Us' even if it isn’t 'by us.'"
"Wellness, it’s when you just sit in your car for an additional five minutes….before you walk in the house to the kids expecting a million questions and making dinner…to take a deep breath and get it together for the next part of your day.”
“Your mental space, your emotional space, your physical – it’s all encompassed into one."
Analyze | AFFINITY MAPPING
The data from the research were aggregated into 7 themes that fit under the core concept: “just being”
After peer-reviewing our research findings, we aggregated the data into emerging themes. These were distilled into the top 7 themes that were organized into a framework: “just being”.
Analyze | STORYBOARDING
We used this “just being” framework to ground our recommendations for designing user-centric wellness experiences
Synthesizing research into a workshop presentation deck was the most difficult part of the project, as we wanted to present our themes with the necessary nuance.
Ultimately, we grounded our recommendation in our “just being framework” and included quotes and images to convey lived experiences.
Deliver | WORKSHOP
Our workshop helped business members empathize with our customers and start designing for them
To finalize our project, we conducted a 1-day presentation and brainstorming workshop with cross-functional leads from the business, marketing, and partnerships to place them in the “minds” and “lives” of target consumers.
After immersing them into the research, we brainstormed tactical implications of each research theme on design features.
Outcomes & Reflections
