Reading the Data — and Reading Ourselves

Jan 9

4 min read

This time of year always brings a flood of forecasts. End-of-year reports. Webinars. Trend decks projecting what 2026 will bring. I’ve been spending a lot of time immersed in this work — reading, listening, and taking notes — both to stay sharp for my clients and to bring relevant, real-world thinking into the classroom. But one of the most interesting places I find insight isn’t always in the slides themselve’s. It's in the comments.

The Data vs. the Comment Section

When I attend webinars or read industry articles, I make a point to scroll through the chat or comments. It’s a fascinating window into how people react to data — not just intellectually, but emotionally.

You’ll often see wildly different responses to the same information. A speaker may present research showing pressure on consumer confidence or changes in spending behavior, and the reactions range from:

“I don’t see any pricing issues at all — I’m taking elaborate vacations.”
to “No one is eating out anymore — everything near me is closing.”

Both responses are real. Both are valid. And both are deeply personal. The challenge is that the people consuming this data are consumers too. It’s completely natural to compare what you’re hearing to your own experience, your neighborhood, your peer group, your income bracket, your routines. But as business leaders, that instinct can quietly get us into trouble.

Separating Personal Experience from Consumer Reality

One of the hardest — and most important — disciplines in strategy and marketing is learning to separate our experience from that of our consumer. Often, we are not in the same economic, demographic, or life stage bracket as the majority of the people we serve. Our spending habits, risk tolerance, and definitions of “value” may look very different. When we filter broad, quantitative data through a personal lens, we risk dismissing signals simply because they don’t match what we see around us.

The goal isn’t to ignore intuition — it’s to contextualize it. Data tells us what’s happening at scale. Our job is to understand how that reality shows up differently across segments, behaviors, and moments of need.

Trends That Have Peaked My Interest

The Evolving Meaning of “Experience”

One trend that continues to show up across multiple sources is the idea of experience. Consumers may be cutting back on discretionary spending overall, but when they do spend, they’re often looking for something that feels distinct or memorable. That doesn’t always mean extravagant travel or high-ticket items. Sometimes it’s smaller, more intentional moments — a themed night out, a visually unexpected cocktail, a dining experience that feels a little bit special.

For restaurants, food and beverage brands, and retailers, this creates a real challenge: how do you move beyond basic service and utility without constantly escalating cost and complexity? It requires creativity, not excess. Thoughtful twists. Unexpected formats. Reimagining familiar products in ways that feel new — even if the core offering hasn’t changed.

Protein Everywhere — and the Questions It Raises

Another unmistakable theme is the continued push for protein — in everything.

Between GLP-1 medications, shifting diet trends, and recent changes in nutritional guidance, consumers are being encouraged to prioritize protein in more ways than ever before. The market response has been swift: powders, drinks, bars, snacks, and fortified versions of nearly everything.

From a marketing perspective, it’s fascinating. From a human one, it raises questions.

As someone who has spent a career in consumer work, I can’t help but wonder what new problems we may be creating by encouraging artificial or excessive protein consumption — and whether consumers truly have the information they need to make informed choices. The sheer number of options alone can be overwhelming.

Regardless of where one lands personally, the reality is clear: this trend is shaping product development, messaging, and shelf space. Businesses need to understand not just what consumers are buying, but why — and where confusion, fatigue, or skepticism may be building.

Why I Keep Coming Back to the Data

I’ve always loved immersing myself in consumer data. Understanding how people think, feel, and behave is what pulled me into this work in the first place. It’s also what keeps it interesting — because the story is never just in the numbers.

The real work happens in interpretation. As business leaders, our responsibility is to absorb the data, challenge our own assumptions, and constantly remind ourselves: I am not the consumer. Or at least, not the only one.

When we do that well, data becomes less about prediction and more about empathy — a tool that helps us design smarter strategies, better experiences, and offerings that truly meet people where they are.

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Resources I’ve Been Reviewing

(Links for reference and further reading)