Welcome to Flume.
An independent research agency.
We make brands easier to think of, buy and use.

The Thinking

• 1. Easier not better

  The Thinking

  1. Easier not better

  The thing you sell doesn’t have to be the best at what it does to be chosen.

  Nor does it need to be unique or different.

  Rather, it has to be easier to think of, to buy and to use than other options at a given moment.

  Nail that and you’ll be chosen more often than not.

  We will find out if your brand is easy to think of, buy and use and, if not, what you need to do about it.

• 2. Changing context changes everything

  The Thinking

  2. Changing context changes everything

  Goals drive our choices and context determines our goals.

  If you are hungry and have only ten minutes for lunch, what might you pick? What if you had fifteen minutes? Or thirty?

  What comes to mind first, what’s available to you, how you rate and rank these options, what you are willing to spend – these can all change a little, or a lot. Because your goal has changed.

  Small shifts in context have a big impact on our choices.

  Category definitions and choice criteria aren’t fixed, they are fluid.

  Context matters.

  We find the moments that matter for your brand and bring them to life, so you know where you need to win and how to do it.

• 3. People don’t care about brands

  The Thinking

  3. People don’t care about brands

  Most people who buy a brand don’t really care about it.

  So why do they still buy it?

  Because what people do care about is achieving a goal.

  Brands have value when they provide an easier way of getting something done.

  The job is not to make people love your brand. Or even to like it.

  It’s to be the easiest available solution to a goal.

  It isn’t that brands don’t matter– but they matter because of what they do, not what they mean.

  We uncover the goals that drive choice, pinpoint which offer the largest growth potential and show how your brand can become the easiest solution to them.

• 4. The full mix matters

  The Thinking

  4. The full mix matters

  Maybe your comms are brilliant so your brand comes to mind easily at all the right moments.

  But your brand’s not available in the place they’re buying.

  Or it’s in the right place, but it’s missed because it’s not immediately recognised. Or it’s a bit too expensive. Or, last time they tried it, it didn’t actually quite do all that it had promised.

  Every part of your marketing mix must be designed around making your brand easier to choose.

  We don’t have favourites. We’re as proud to work on tactical tweaks to a pack or a new store placement as we are on brand strategy or the development of an innovative new product.

  If it might help your sales, it’s important to us.

• The Flow Framework

  The Thinking

  The Flow Framework

  Marketing is really hard, but it shouldn’t be complicated.

  There could be a million different things standing in the way of your brand being easy to choose.

  But we know from evidence and experience that some deserve more of a marketer’s attention than others.

  Our Flow Framework is a simple summary of these.

  The things that make it easier to choose your brand will grow your flow, the things that make it harder will slow your flow.

  A really simple way to help you to prioritise your marketing actions: grow your flow to grow your sales.

  Get in touch to find out more about how the Flow Framework can help.

• What we’ve been thinking about lately