Where We're Going
"A lot of researchers simply predict the past and provide you with raw data,  Fieldwork provides insight and perspective for developing ideas that allow you to anticipate the future.  The best creative ideas always begin with a creative analysis--that's what sets Fieldwork apart from everyone else."
Richard Cohn
VP Creative Director
Showtime Networks Inc.

It's a globally sensitive world. We share a planet where our interdependence means one shift can change many lives in many nations. No wonder phenomenon like yoga, the Dalai Lama, or old-fashioned positive thinking are so popular these days. People simultaneously long for freedom and control.

Given such an environment, smart brands and products have a core strength and yet have flexibility, positioned both around “what is” and “what's up the road.” Fieldwork will be helping navigate this territory through some of our own internally-driven projects, and sharing the results here, on the site.

In the next year, we will do research on everything from technology like Tivo to public perceptions of concepts like "authority." Every few months we will look at different cultural dynamics that may be of interest to folks in business, marketing, or design.

Within Fieldnotes, we'll focus on that dynamic from a range of perspectives. And in On the Horizons, we'll do a quick gaze on things. This issue of Fieldnotes is “To The Dogs,” a look at how societal shifts are leading more and more Americans to find emotional satisfaction via owning pets, and the resulting impact on the larger society. And in On the Horizon, we offer thoughts on… the horizon.