The Agency where Cultural Anthropology meets (marketing) Communication
When listening closely you hear and see culture everywhere. It answers the simplest questions of why you shake hands when meeting someone new, or why you eat with cutlery (or not). Culture stands for shared values, norms, traditions, and ways of thinking and doing that a group of people have in common. Sometimes you realize that you are part of a culture, like celebrations and holidays, other times you do not, like eating chocolate sprinkles on your bread or burping in public spaces (or not).
As cultural whispers are everywhere, it influences how individuals behave, communicate, think, and make decisions. It plays a significant role in our daily lives: how we understand and live it.
Although it might sound exotic ‘culture’, being part of a culture is actually something all humans have in common. And while it seems as something static, it is in constant change and you can be part of multiple cultures at the same time, like your national culture as your internal company culture. It forms your identity.
And what about Human Values Insights?
Human Values insights are ‘cultural insights’ but different. ‘Cultural insights’ has become a catch-all term in our opinion, so we position ourselves with human values insights.
Cultural insights often get stuck on quantitative trend analysis with limited answers to why we see what we see. Human Values Insights go a layer deeper. They reveal why people make certain choices, how they experience the world and what influences their decision-making.
Based on qualitative research, such as anthropological and ethnographic methods, these insights make the connection between what we see and human values in cultural context.
This helps organizations and brands make their communications, positioning and strategy not only relevant, but authentic and impactful.
In summary: Human Values Insights = The deeper “why” behind human behavior and cultural dynamics
We are HumanTales, a strategic anthropological (marketing) communications agency. Quite a mouthful, but in essence we revolve around one question: “What is it like to be you?” Anthropology is about how people understand the world around them.
At HumanTales, we focus on identity, perception and imaging, whether for an organization, brand or target audience. This requires a critical eye and an in-depth approach, but is essential to get to the core.
Once our clients have (re)defined who they are, what they want to achieve and how their target group thinks, we continue to build. We do this by combining our expertise in (marketing) communications with insights from our human values research. The result is always a human-driven strategy, translated into a story that resonates both internally and externally.
With our Human Values Research, we map the deeper layer of identity, values, norms, behaviors and perceptions. We use anthropological and ethnographic methods to help organizations and brands understand their own core and/or that of their target audience. This forms the basis for a strong identity resulting in: positioning, strategy and communication.
Effective communication does not starts with the message, but with the reason behind it. We translate insights from our Human Values Research into marketing and marketingcommunication strategies so that it is not only logical what you do, but also why you do it. Whether it’s brand (re)definition, (awareness) campaigns or internal communications, we provide a human-driven and future-proof approach.
Sometimes you don’t need a complete strategy, but you do need the refreshed knowledge and insights to kick-off. That’s why we offer customized workshops and training in which we help teams and organizations (re)define their identity, marketing and communication. From hands-on strategy training to inspiring keynotes, always centered around human tales.
We start a human values research, understanding your cultural identity and the one of your audience.
We decode the cultural signals into human values insights.
Together we develop a strategy that aligns with the insights and your business goals.
We put it all together and make the strategy come to life.
Tijdens de middeleeuwen ontstonden er veel mythische dieren die in verre oorden…
Gert is a Marketingcommunication and Communication Stategist. Co-author of the textbook ‘Marketingcommunication in 14 Steps’. Public speaker on trends and developments in the marketing communication and communication landscape.
Let HumanTales help you understand how your audience perceives the world. By incorporating human value insights into your corporate and (marketing)communication strategies, we ensure your message is not only heard but felt. From internal corporate culture to marketing communication campaigns, we help you communicate on the same frequency as your audience.
