In the modern business landscape, where data is at our fingertips and change is all around us, companies are constantly presented with a dichotomy: aligning strategies with overarching, macro trends while ensuring the granularity of understanding at the micro level.

Big picture trends serve as compasses, providing a general orientation to deal with market dynamics. They spotlight emerging patterns and frame collective movements. A solely macro-focused lens, however, risks glossing over important and more nuanced behaviours and preferences.

In our fragmented ecosystem, being able to follow the consumer signal is becoming crucial. Earlier this year, we spoke to Sarah Mansfield, VP Global Media at Unilever who emphasised how being able to measure audiences across platforms will enable businesses to plan unique reach and frequency.

Within standard demographic brackets, for example, there exist a variety of life experiences, values and behaviours. And while high inflation may be a macro trend, its ripple effects on individual households can differ vastly. One family might cut back on luxuries, while another may recalibrate essential spending, and yet another might find innovative ways to supplement their income.