CASE STUDIES
We don't normally publish case studies, but 2025 is not normal...
There has never been a more important time to spend real time with real people.
Yes, we know you have loads of data.
Yes, we understand you could just ask a bot to talk to synthetic respondents.
Yes, we know you could just ask ChatGPT or Grok or Claude or Timmy.
But if you do, you’re looking in the rear view mirror, at the average of the average, heavily weighted to online discourse, and with a healthy sprinkle of bot generated nonsense on top.
Or you could head out into the real world, speak to people on their terms, build trust, follow the story wherever it takes you and discover the insight behind the insight.
There has never been a more important time for research to go Further&Further.
Our Philosophy:
Stories are the way that people make sense of themselves and the world around them. We research by following the story because it’s the best way to tap into the emotions, relationships, contradictions, problems, and cultural currents that truly influence what they do. Follow their story, discover the reality of your brand.
We don’t recruit like every other research agency. We refuse to use existing databases and instead recruit people on the ground or through our network of influencers. We look for engaged people with a story to tell.
Our approach to research is based on building trust with our subjects so they are comfortable opening up and showing us all aspects of their world. Because people simply don’t reveal their whole truth to people unless they feel safe and seen. What people reveal on day 1 is very different to what they’ll show you on day 5.
Our approach of spending multiple days with people, meeting them in different spaces, interviewing their friends and family gets us beyond the usual positivity and politeness of most market research; we however always witness the messy, the dark and the heavy sides of life.
Research is far too sanitized and safe. From excluding people struggling with mental health, to avoiding heavy conversations, to censoring reporting, research far too often does reality, and humanity, a disservice. It’s bland and mostly boring. We will surprise you, with the good, the bad and ugly of life, in a way that drives empathy and demands action.
We only conduct exploratory ethnographic research. And yes we do it all over the world.
Please don’t ask us to do focus groups, we really don’t like them.
Call us when you’re kicking off a project and need something foundational, something along the lines of:
Audience deep dives
Positioning development
Creative inspiration
Segmentation
Emerging trends and territory exploration
Innovation platform development
Trend treks
Discover our latest projects and creative endeavors that showcase our unique approach to storytelling and design.
Follow The Story
The WHY, WHAT, and HOW of Further&Further research
Day 5 Brands
Is your brand built on Day One or Day Five Insights?
WASTED
A look at how the world killed youth as we knew it.
Me, Myself, and I
Exploring the factors driving the loneliness epidemic and its impact.
Ian Pierpoint
Founder & CEO
Ian has 35 years experience of marketing, research and strategy (he started his career at the age of 4, honest).
He's worked for brands including Meta, Amazon, Google, Nestle, Nike, The New York Times... in fact at this point it's easier to list who he hasn't worked with.
In 2007 Ian founded The Sound and in 2018 he founded Further & Further.
He has won international awards for documentary filmmaking and was one of Canada 40 under 40 (when he was actually under 40).
In his spare time you'll find him cycling, watching too much boxing and soccer, and trying desperately to keep up with his 4 children.
Sarah Kolar
Managing Director
Sarah has 16 years experience of market research and procurement, and is the co-founder of Further & Further.
Sarah started her career working in the pharmaceutical industry as a Buyer, before becoming a Director of Procurement. She knows her drugs.
At Further & Further she is responsible for making sure the company operates smoothly and in compliance - aka all the things that researchers, film makers and ethnographers are useless at.
In her spare time you can find her ranting about all the things that researchers, film makers and ethnographers are useless at.
Megan Weisenberger
Chief Strategy Officer
Meg is a culturally driven, creative strategist, who’s on a mission to make brands as humane and genuinely useful as possible.
After several years in the ad industry and a truly bonkers year of attempting to “go corporate”, Meg found her way to the beautifully weird world of ethnographic research and hanging out in the living rooms of strangers and hasn’t looked back.
With fifteen years of experience leading strategy, research & innovation projects across the globe for brands like Nike, Tinder, Oatly, Target, Bacardi, Spotify and New Balance, she thrives at telling clear, beautiful stories that make you feel something.
In her spare time, Meg gets enthusiastic about books, funny people, a careful mix of highbrow and lowbrow experiences & hiding in the woods. She has also recently developed a passion for shit talking AI.
Juan Carlos Arreaga
Chief Creative Officer
Juan Carlos studied film at the University of British Columbia and has been a filmmaker for 20 years, cutting his teeth in television documentaries and reality shows.
In the last 15 years he's been directing, editing and producing research films for brands including Google, Facebook, Adidas and Diageo and now drives Further&Further’s authentic approach to documentary filmmaking as its Chief Creative Officer.
When he's not weaving intimate stories of people's lives he spends his time fulfilling his obligations as a secret agent, pretending that everything written above is actually true.
Richard McQaurrie
Director of Finance
Richard has 29 years experience in the Market research industry working as owner, general manager, chief financial officer, operations manager and consultant for small boutique firms, large global firms, and startups. MarkTrend and Synovate being the longest running.
He is known and appreciated for running an efficient and successful operational and finance function, and like the best finance people, he is an eternal pessimist.
When not at work you can find him prepping for the end of times.
Bill Farrant
Head of Operations
Bill has 20 years experience running projects, logistics and operations in the research industry.
He's worked for brands including Meta, Amazon, Google, Converse, New Balance, The New York Times, Audi, Porsche, Jordan and others as well as with 35+ indigenous communities in western Canada.
An accomplished musician, Bill plays with the the groups Astrocolor and Sports & Music, and has five award nominations, winning Instrumental Artist of the Year at the 2022 Western Canadian Music Awards. He also runs a registered charity called Bill's Bag Lunches that delivers food to the unhoused community in Victoria.
Adam Talkington
Head of Ethnography
Adam has 15 years of social science research experience in topics as varied as drug court evaluation, labor force participation, autism diagnosis, and child fostering.
He's led projects with Amazon, Apple, Lenovo, Meta, BRP, Truly, and many more.
As the Head of Ethnography at Further & Further, he focuses on designing naturalistic research approaches that ground learning in the sense people make of their own lives, which seem to be quite disrupted these days...
In his spare time, you can find Adam playing chess with his kids, reading George Saunders, or rebuilding his house – stud by stud, nail by nail.
Brian Flannery
Senior Project Director
Brian is a cultural anthropologist with a passion for storytelling.
He fell in love with ethnography in college because of its radical accessibility. To this day, he finds it exciting that anyone with a notebook, a question, and the willingness to listen and observe can change an understanding of who people are and appreciate the rich ways that people live their lives.
With a background in film, photography and media studies, Brian enjoys incorporating all forms of data collection to round out a project and reinforce findings through compelling storytelling.
He's loyal like a rescued lab, focused like a border collie in a herd of cattle, and scrappy as a mutt. And some say he collects more junk than a junkyard dog.
His ideal downtime is getting out to the woods, mountains, or the beach with his boys ...'Takin' it out and chopping it up' to quote Grandpa Tenenbaum.
Max Goldstein
Head of Creative Production
Max joins F&F with an insatiable curiosity and love for people. Most recently they worked as a Creative Producer for a boutique agency in Chicago, where they booked talent for their entire roster of brands.
Max has been a fixture in various creative communities for the past 10+ years. Their band Yoko and the Oh No’s started in Chicago’s DIY music scene, and they’ve carried that DIY mentality in everything they do.
Sophie Peck
Research Director
Sophie is a cultural anthropologist with over a decade of experience as a researcher of people (significantly longer if you count her lifelong passion for striking up conversations with complete strangers).
Originally from the north of the UK she’s lived all over the US and is now based in NYC. She came to research and strategy as an escapee from academia, delighted to find that it’s possible to think and talk about interesting things all day while also actually making enough money to live.
She loves an ice cold martini, a warm dog in her lap, and a hot take. Her dream project would involve talking to people who found love late in life, and understanding cruise ship tourism —ideally at the same time.
Charlie Potter
Film Director
Charlie has 15 years of experience in filmmaking, motion graphics, insight and creative strategy.
He started out as an ethnographer turned filmmaker but then spent a significant portion of his career working in the tech startup trenches.
He’s worked for brands including Google, Nike, F1, Disney, Vimeo, Channel 4 and BBC.
He used to busy himself partying, producing and running a vinyl record label. Now he prefers kombucha, silent retreats and a wood-fired sauna. He’s doing his best to become the ultimate millennial cliche.
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day 5
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