Great strategy only begins with effective data and research.

Too many CPG leaders are flying blind at the very first step the insight phase.

This is supposed to uncover how consumers really think, shop, and live. But again and again, I see fundamental errors that quietly sabotage entire brand strategy from the outset:

1️⃣ Skewed samples.

Insights that over-represent certain geographies, incomes, or demographics. The result: products and campaigns that resonate in one pocket of the market but collapse nationally.

2️⃣ English-only research.

Running surveys or focus groups without in-language moderators or for quantitative surveys. Why ... because you’re not hearing from the very communities driving category growth. In Canada, visible minorities now account for over 100% of CPG growth in some categories. If they’re under-represented in your panels, your “insight” is a blindspot.

3️⃣ No cultural segmentation.

Lumping “ethnic” consumers into a single group without accounting for acculturation, generation, or identity. In practice, that means you don’t know the difference between a heritage-first consumer and a bi-cultural one, even though their media habits and purchase triggers can be worlds apart.

4️⃣ Missing traceability.

Too many organizations can’t connect which specific insight led to which strategic decision. When the pressure hits, decisions revert to gut instinct ... and the expensive research slides collect dust.

5️⃣ Excluding underserved voices.

Long, jargon-heavy surveys that miss lower literacy groups. Focus groups only in urban centers that skip rural and small-town realities. That leaves out significant portions of the market who shop differently and often more frequently.

📊 The cost of these errors is staggering. Campaigns launch with the wrong tone. Packaging cues miss key shoppers. Media dollars chase the wrong audience. And internally, teams lose faith in “the research” because it never matches what happens on shelf.

This is the real pain: brilliant creative, strong teams, and big budgets undermined not by bad ideas, but by shaky foundations at the very first step.

 If you work in CPG, where do you see research going wrong most often, sampling, language, or cultural segmentation?