Our Thoughts
Celebrating Award-Winning Insight The shifting cultural narratives of Work Life
Sign Salad is thrilled to have been recognised at two prestigious industry awards for its collaborative work with Opinium and Workspace. Winning the MRS B2B Network Award for B2B Research and the Quirk’s Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards for B2B Research, these accolades celebrate the innovative approaches used to understand and address shifting cultural narratives of ‘Work Life’ that influence senior decision-makers at SMEs. Through this collaboration, Sign Salad helped Workspace, alongside Opinium, reimagine how businesses approach office decisions, creating strategies rooted in cultural insight and emotional connection.
A Fresh Perspective on Work Life and Workplace Decision-Making
Post-pandemic, Workspace recognised the urgent need to adapt to rapidly evolving workplace expectations. While traditional B2B research can often focus on rational decision-making factors, this project aimed to uncover the emotional and cultural drivers shaping SME office choices. Workspace’s challenge was to understand these human elements and apply them to their business strategy.
Sign Salad began by conducting a cultural context analysis to explore the shifting narratives of modern Work Life. This involved a three-pronged approach:
- In-field Investigations: Visiting offices and co-working locations across London to observe and analyse the cues of Work Life in London.
- Desk-Based Research: Analysing articles, blogs, podcasts, and other cultural touchpoints to uncover how Work Life is understood in UK culture at large.
- AI-Powered Social Listening: Leveraging cutting-edge tools (Culture x AI) to analyse online conversations and visual content from social media.
From this analysis, Sign Salad uncovered 18 cultural codes and three key narrative shifts that reflected changing attitudes and understandings of Work Life and office spaces. These insights were distilled into three Cultural Opportunity Spaces, each brought to life through moodboards and actionable guidance in the form of visual, language, and sensory cues to inspire Workspace’s marketing and product strategies.
Cherry Tian, Head of Marketing at Workspace, praised this approach: “This has been a foundational piece of research for us. The semiotics and insights have helped us to make sense of a complex market with changing factors that drive decision making for our customers and prospects.”
Turning Insight into Action
Sign Salad’s findings formed the foundation of a transformative strategy for Workspace. By integrating these cultural insights into qualitative research, Opinium conducted in-depth interviews with senior decision-makers, enabling a deeper exploration of the emotional and rational factors influencing office choices. Overall, the actionable insights from this multi-phase research were pivotal in:
- Board-Level Strategy: Bringing customers to life, providing confidence for strategic investment decisions.
- Product Innovation: Developing a new offering that addresses nuanced customer needs.
- Brand Experience Framework: Redesigning the framework to reflect the findings.
- Marketing Campaigns: Informing a new brand campaign, including refreshed positioning and tone of voice.
“The research has also factored into future marketing strategy, with the work becoming a cornerstone of how we plan and brief into media and creative agencies,” said Cherry Tian, Head of Marketing at Workspace.
A Lasting Impact
Winning these awards highlights not only the successful collaborative effort between Sign Salad, Opinium, and Workspace but also the transformative power of cultural insight in driving meaningful business change. By decoding cultural shifts and translating them into actionable strategies, Sign Salad continues to redefine how businesses can connect with their audiences – whether B2B or B2C.
MRS judges noted that “Opinium, Workspace & Sign Salad stood out in terms of the team’s innovation and the way they shifted client focus from product to what really matters – people.”
