Faster Horses

Faster Horses is a research, insights & strategy consultancy in Vancouver, BC.

We specialize in mixed-methods research and foresight built from respondents who have higher emotional proximity to the topic at hand, and have more to offer, as a result. You will never find professional respondents in our work.

We believe that meaningful differentiation is built at the edges.

Most people are fashion-followers, not trend-setters. Research about what the average person thinks has a role to play, but it also has its limits. The insights that provide the building blocks for meaningful differentiation rarely come from the top of the bell curve. They come from the edges — in attitudes and behaviours that the average person can't yet express. When research is built from authentic characters with compelling stories, alignment comes more naturally, and so does the confidence to act.

Our approach is ideally suited for brand strategy or innovation projects, where insights need to translate into action today, and endure well into the future.

— Typical projects involve qualitative research built on active recruitment, where we pursue specific individuals whose stories and relationship to a topic make them exactly right for what you're looking to uncover. Brought to life via cultural immersions, filmed interviews, in-homes, ethnography, netnography, and focus groups.

— This is often followed by quantitative research to validate what we find in qual. We use survey-based approaches like Conjoint or MaxDiff, as well as advanced analysis to translate findings into materials for retailer sell-in, internal business cases, or strategy.

Check out our latest report on young people & money:

https://www.fasterhorses.ca/young-people-money-report

Our team has had a hand in work that has shaped some of the world's most recognizable brands and companies, including: Colgate-Palmolive, Decathlon, Kraft Heinz, lululemon, Olymel, PayPal, PepsiCo, Suntory, and more...