the BARtenders
Innovative Brand Strategy & Consumer Research
We found a better way to get the insights you need
We introduce brand teams to their customers
Why our "Consumer Immersions" are more insightful:
• Consumers are more open and relaxed
• Everything you hate about traditional focus groups is gone
• Professional moderating tactics and activities still applied
• Costs less than traditional Focus Groups
• ANY BRAND, ANY CATEGORY
We've been doing this over 25 years
Do you really know who buys your products?
When was the last time you sat down and had a conversation with your consumers?
A few brands we have helped...
We've fully embraced AI - but nothing compares to face-to-face interactions with real humans.
Ready to hear about your brand?
They are waiting for you
Our Story
"Winning brands don't just happen. They are strategically crafted AFTER brand leadership truly understands their consumers, their category and their competition."
Bill Mayer
Founder & President of The Bartenders, LLC
Serving as the Brand Marketing Director for numerous nationally known brands for over 15 years, I sat behind the glass for a lot of great qualitative research - and some that wasn't so great. I quickly realized that the key to creating winning brand starts by truly understanding the consumer better than your competition. Most research leads to surface level insights, which leads to shallow brands that miss the mark. Brands that actually understand the reason for current consumer perceptions, and true core purchase motivators, then apply that learning to create meaningful points of differentiation, will win - every time! Behavior changing brand differentiation and relevance stem from great consumer research.
Yes- it is that simple.
I left big brand marketing to start The Bartenders (B.A.R. = Brand And Research) with a clear mission to uncover and deliver meaningful, relevant and actionable qualitative consumer insights to our brand clients. After personally conducting over 700 traditional focus groups - I knew there had to be a better way to uncover relevant, meaningful insights.
The sterile, clinical environment of traditional focus groups can be effective (when done well) - but it is a painful experience for everyone involved. I started experimenting with focus group tactics and approaches with ethnography, observational research, intercepts and simple common sense - and eventually created Consumer Immersions.
After 25 years in big brand marketing and consumer research - I have no doubt that our Consumer Immersion model is the most effective methodology for obtaining open, honest, deep consumer insights - for any brand in any category.
We are brand strategists with a passion for qualitative research. We will deliver meaningful consumer insights + actionable recommendations that will grow your brand.