Seed’s Extensive Travels Reveal Deep Consumer Insights

In order to deliver winning global ideas, Seed spends a lot of time on the road… and in the air and in subway lines. Breakthrough innovation requires knowing consumers better than anyone, and that means spending beaucoup hours having real-life, face-to-face conversations with them.

“In-person research helps put our other research and findings into a broader context,” said SVP, Director of Research and Development Corey Beilstein. “It’s by immersing yourself in a culture and seeing how people live that you can best understand what they truly need.”

Point taken, but just how much travel is necessary to get those oh-so-valuable insights?

In the US in 2012 alone, Seed traveled to 27 different cities across 18 states, spanning from coast to coast and just about as far north and south as roads stretch. That adds up to almost 45,000 miles without even leaving the country! By car, that would mean over 690 hours—almost 29 days—in the driver’s seat.

Travels abroad took Seed to 11 cities in nine other countries across five continents. That’s almost 150,000 miles of air travel—and about 300 hours spent on airplanes. While Seedlings are always up for the next great adventure, perhaps the best part is what they take back to the States with them.

“I love this part of the work and all it adds to our projects and my own worldview,” Beilstein said. “When you travel recreationally, you might wonder what it’s like to live in another country, but you would never get to go inside someone’s home and experience the culture on a deeper level. It’s by actually being there that we can see the greater impact products could have and how they could add to people’s lives.”