HELLO

WE’RE aN award-winning research + brand
insights agency.

We deliver consumer and cultural insights, uncovering what really matters to illuminate the way forward and fuel brand growth.

OUR CLIENTS

CUB logo

We work with some of Australia's best-known brands, including one of the big four banks, a major supermarket chain, a global confectionery giant, world-famous wine and beverage brands, and one of the biggest make-up meccas in the world. And that's just a few! We respect their privacy (like a superhero or Banksy), so we won't name drop here. But let's just say we're uber proud of our clientele and the list of legends keeps growing!

We work with some of Australia's best-known brands, including one of the big four banks, a major supermarket chain, a global confectionery giant, world-famous wine and beverage brands, and one of the biggest make-up meccas in the world. And that's just a few! We respect their privacy (like a superhero or Banksy), so we won't name drop here. But let's just say we're uber proud of our clientele and the list of legends keeps growing!

GROW

WANT TO GROW YOUR
BRAND LIKE OUR ESTEEMED
(+ AWESOME) CLIENTS?

Whether you’re a local brand or global powerhouse, we can work together to uncover rich and actionable insights to better inform strategic decisions to drive brand growth.

“They are a pleasure to work with. They challenged when they needed to, they were open, they were honest, they were patience and absolutely flexible in what can be a complex environment at times. They were almost an extension to the team and a partner in crime for me. And more importantly, there is a peace of mind knowing that I was in safe hands and even knowing in our roles where we are pulled in so many different directions, we know that we’ve got someone to rely on in the background. So absolutely would recommend working with them!”

Big 4 Bank

“They are a pleasure to work with. They challenged when they needed to, they were open, they were honest, they were patience and absolutely flexible in what can be a complex environment at times. They were almost an extension to the team and a partner in crime for me. And more importantly, there is a peace of mind knowing that I was in safe hands and even knowing in our roles where we are pulled in so many different directions, we know that we’ve got someone to rely on in the background. So absolutely would recommend working with them!”

Big 4 Bank

“I have worked with Starburst insights on a couple of U&A studies. On top of being extremely flexible and fast, the quality of insights they deliver was outstanding. Their presentation was very original, clear, straight to the point and they put a lot of effort in the “so what?” giving actionable recommendations. I highly recommend Starburst to any FMCG insights team out there and will work with them again in the future.”

Global Confectionary Brand

“I have worked with Starburst insights on a couple of U&A studies. On top of being extremely flexible and fast, the quality of insights they deliver was outstanding. Their presentation was very original, clear, straight to the point and they put a lot of effort in the “so what?” giving actionable recommendations. I highly recommend Starburst to any FMCG insights team out there and will work with them again in the future.”

Global Confectionary Brand

“Starburst has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Highly organised, quick turn-around times and always open to honest feedback. The solid insights synthesis delivered has only opened up more opportunities for work with us, proving they are a great insights agency to partner with.”

Beverage Company

“Starburst has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Highly organised, quick turn-around times and always open to honest feedback. The solid insights synthesis delivered has only opened up more opportunities for work with us, proving they are a great insights agency to partner with.”

Beverage Company

“I really enjoyed working with Starburst, they showed true passion for our category and brands. Their data interrogation, attention to detail was supported by visual reporting. I look forward to working with the team again in the future.”

Global Wine Producer

“I really enjoyed working with Starburst, they showed true passion for our category and brands. Their data interrogation, attention to detail was supported by visual reporting. I look forward to working with the team again in the future.”

Global Wine Producer

“Starburst has been an integral intelligence partner for us and our creative agency in measuring our campaign success. Working together, we have developed a range of custom insights solutions, suitable for measuring success across a range of branded content activations. They are responsive, thorough, and are the perfect partner for our flexible business needs”

Digital Media Company

“Starburst has been an integral intelligence partner for us and our creative agency in measuring our campaign success. Working together, we have developed a range of custom insights solutions, suitable for measuring success across a range of branded content activations. They are responsive, thorough, and are the perfect partner for our flexible business needs”

Digital Media Company

“Starburst Insights are a delight to work with, I can rely that the results we get back are reliable, timely and of superb quality. Due to the nature of our business, we have had extremely fast turnaround projects but Megan always delivers above and beyond.”

Supermarket

“Starburst Insights are a delight to work with, I can rely that the results we get back are reliable, timely and of superb quality. Due to the nature of our business, we have had extremely fast turnaround projects but Megan always delivers above and beyond.”

Supermarket

"Starburst Insights is not just a research agency partner but a group of strategic thinkers who continue to help us build our insights capability. They are part of our team, and regardless of the research task size, they always find a way to accommodate us and meet our (often tight!) deadlines. Their exceptional level of service of being responsive, proactive, and innovative makes them stand out from the crowd. They always go above and beyond, not only to deliver insights but also steer us in the right direction of developing strategy and further research."

Beauty Brand

"Starburst Insights is not just a research agency partner but a group of strategic thinkers who continue to help us build our insights capability. They are part of our team, and regardless of the research task size, they always find a way to accommodate us and meet our (often tight!) deadlines. Their exceptional level of service of being responsive, proactive, and innovative makes them stand out from the crowd. They always go above and beyond, not only to deliver insights but also steer us in the right direction of developing strategy and further research."

Beauty Brand

BLUSH!

BLUSH!

WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE DID TO EARN THESE GLOWING REVIEWS?
HIT THE CASE STUDIES BELOW!

WANT TO KNOW WHAT
WE DID TO EARN THESE
GLOWING REVIEWS?
HIT THE CASE STUDIES BELOW!

If we had to give just one reason as to why we love online communities, it would be this: they are all about connecting with people on their terms.

Here’s what’s cool about this particular community: people LOVE talking about beauty, wellness and lifestyle. We don’t need to twist anyone’s arm to participate. In fact we have a constant wellspring of discussion threads and topics and a waitlist for new community members. And isn’t that what good research should be all about: covering the things that really matter to people in a way that suits them?

Our client is one of Australia’s most popular beauty retailers. By adding an online community to their palette, our client has not only got a new, agile way of generating new ideas, co-creating initiatives with customers and testing concepts but also a new means to engage with their customers, to listen and learn from them. It shows that they are a brand that is truly customer-centric and that they walk the talk.

Sure, asking beauty enthusiasts to talk about issues and topics they are into gives a good head start in evoking high engagement: our community members love beauty as much as Kanye West loves Kanye West. However, we have also consciously and carefully created the right blend of activities (research and engagement) and incentives to ensure our community members are highly valued and appreciated.

The community is ‘always on’ and so are we – our client is a premium brand who pride themselves on excellent attention to detail and customer service and we share those same principles.

It’s mutually beneficial for both client and customer. Customers are given a voice (that is heard and highly valued by our client) and rewards for their contributions. Our client gets fast answers, rich insight and consumer evidence behind decision-making. Win: win!‍

If we had to give just one reason as to why we love online communities, it would be this: they are all about connecting with people on their terms.

Here’s what’s cool about this particular community: people LOVE talking about beauty, wellness and lifestyle. We don’t need to twist anyone’s arm to participate. In fact we have a constant wellspring of discussion threads and topics and a waitlist for new community members. And isn’t that what good research should be all about: covering the things that really matter to people in a way that suits them?

Our client is one of Australia’s most popular beauty retailers.

By adding an online community to their palette, our client has not only got a new, agile way of generating new ideas, co-creating initiatives with customers and testing concepts but also a new means to engage with their customers, to listen and learn from them. It shows that they are a brand that is truly customer-centric and that they walk the talk.

Sure, asking beauty enthusiasts to talk about issues and topics they are into gives a good head start in evoking high engagement: our community members love beauty as much as Kanye West loves Kanye West. However, we have also consciously and carefully created the right blend of activities (research and engagement) and incentives to ensure our community members are highly valued and appreciated.

The community is ‘always on’ and so are we – our client is a premium brand who pride themselves on excellent attention to detail and customer service and we share those same principles.

It’s mutually beneficial for both client and customer. Customers are given a voice (that is heard and highly valued by our client) and rewards for their contributions. Our client gets fast answers, rich insight and consumer evidence behind decision-making. Win: win!‍

Much like a high maintenance bride planning her wedding, this was a classic case where the small things are a big deal.

We are big believers in real-world, in-the-moment research approaches – particularly when it comes to user experience. It’s how we get to the nitty gritty and the nuances, the realness and the richness. Our supermarket client wanted to understand the user experience of their new self-checkout system (versus their current) in order to identify specific improvements before full launch of the new system. There were a lot of considerations when designing this project including ensuring a variety of shoppers and grocery tasks (including different look up items, types of transactions and methods of payment) along with how to conduct the research, given the current system and new systems were at two different stores.

Our research included a couple of rounds and phases to do it right and allow us to effectively explore the key criteria of look and feel, speed and ease of use. Plan in place, we watched and observed our shoppers. We identified the pains and gains. We essentially Mortein’d out all the bugs in the current experience to inform how to optimise the new system. Our client used the research insights to know what to keep vs tweak and make the necessary enhancements before national roll-out. ‍

Much like a high maintenance bride planning her wedding, this was a classic case where the small things are a big deal.

We are big believers in real-world, in-the-moment research approaches – particularly when it comes to user experience.

It’s how we get to the nitty gritty and the nuances, the realness and the richness.

Our supermarket client wanted to understand the user experience of their new self-checkout system (versus their current) in order to identify specific improvements before full launch of the new system.

There were a lot of considerations when designing this project including ensuring a variety of shoppers and grocery tasks (including different look up items, types of transactions and methods of payment) along with how to conduct the research, given the current system and new systems were at two different stores.

Our research included a couple of rounds and phases to do it right and allow us to effectively explore the key criteria of look and feel, speed and ease of use.

Plan in place, we watched and observed our shoppers. We identified the pains and gains. We essentially Mortein’d out all the bugs in the current experience to inform how to optimise the new system.

Our client used the research insights to know what to keep vs tweak and make the necessary enhancements before national roll-out. ‍

Feeling overwhelmed? Pulled in all directions? Not enough time in the day? Got a case of ‘analysis paralysis’ and struggling to see the forest for the trees? Exhale - we got you.

Whether it’s a last minute research request, some quick data runs or pulling together a pack to scope out a story and transform data into insight, Starburst Insights is here to do the heavy lifting to free you up for the more important things. We thrive on those ‘quick and dirty’ tasks. We love it so much, we co-created a partnership with one of our favourite (and busiest!) clients.

Our partner is the global insights team for an alcohol producer with an impressive portfolio of wine and liquor brands. They lean on us for all kinds of tasks – big and small – to get a fresh perspective and a safe pair of hands to support them in delivering what they need to. Think of it kind of like an agency retainer, but more fluid.

What makes this a successful partnership? Compatibility is a big one. We share the same values: we are both outcome-focused, we have a genuine passion for finding those ‘aha’ moments and actionable insights that can light up the way forward.

Like any good relationship, we think it comes down to the 3Cs: communication, commitment and compromise.

We are an extension of the insights team and a true partner which means the work is highly relevant, valued and actionable. It’s important relationships stay fresh and have a bit of sparkle. We like to go that one step further until we reach ‘jazz-hand’ success factors for any deliverable, to continue to surprise and delight our client and keep the spice in our relationship alive. A pairing that rivals peanut butter & jam, tomato & basil, avocado & toast…#bettertogether

Feeling overwhelmed? Pulled in all directions? Not enough time in the day? Got a case of ‘analysis paralysis’ and struggling to see the forest for the trees? Exhale - we got you.

Whether it’s a last minute research request, some quick data runs or pulling together a pack to scope out a story and transform data into insight, Starburst Insights is here to do the heavy lifting to free you up for the more important things.

We thrive on those ‘quick and dirty’ tasks. We love it so much, we co-created a partnership with one of our favourite (and busiest!) clients.


Our partner is the global insights team for an alcohol producer with an impressive portfolio of wine and liquor brands. They lean on us for all kinds of tasks – big and small – to get a fresh perspective and a safe pair of hands to support them in delivering what they need to. Think of it kind of like an agency retainer, but more fluid.

What makes this a successful partnership? Compatibility is a big one. We share the same values: we are both outcome-focused, we have a genuine passion for finding those ‘aha’ moments and actionable insights that can light up the way forward. Like any good relationship, we think it comes down to the 3Cs: communication, commitment and compromise.

We are an extension of the insights team and a true partner which means the work is highly relevant, valued and actionable. It’s important relationships stay fresh and have a bit of sparkle.

We like to go that one step further until we reach ‘jazz-hand’ success factors for any deliverable, to continue to surprise and delight our client and keep the spice in our relationship alive.

A pairing that rivals peanut butter & jam, tomato & basil, avocado & toast…#bettertogether

TAKE A STROLL DOWN THE ICE CREAM AISLE AT YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKET, AND YOU VERY QUICKLY GET A SENSE OF HOW MUCH AUSTRALIANS LOVE ICE CREAM.

Tub, cup, cone, stick, bar or sandwich: we all scream for ice cream. With Australia having the largest ice cream consumption per capita and high innovation churn and burn, it’s an exciting category with lots of opportunities… but how do you stand out from the pack and rival established players? Funny enough, our client asked us the exact same thing. Our approach included a large-scale quantitative Usage & Attitude Study among Australian shoppers to understand motivations, behaviours and consumption situations & triggers across different ice cream formats.

Now our U&As aren’t vanilla – we like to add a few mix-ins! We overlaid claimed purchase and brand preference results with actual sales data and market share. We also included what we called ‘VoxPopsicles’ (AKA some short videos) to get a sneak peak inside people’s freezers to see how people store ice cream. Sidenote: you wouldn’t believe what’s in some people’s freezers!

In a nutshell (or cone?), the research generated 5 immediate challenges - and solutions - for optimising growth. The cherry on top for our client was that we went one step further and provided future directions which took into consideration existing category knowledge and internal data, parallel category insights and key cultural and lifestyle trends. Delicious!

TAKE A STROLL DOWN THE ICE CREAM AISLE AT YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKET, AND YOU VERY QUICKLY GET A SENSE OF HOW MUCH AUSTRALIANS LOVE ICE CREAM.

Tub, cup, cone, stick, bar or sandwich: we all scream for ice cream. With Australia having the largest ice cream consumption per capita and high innovation churn and burn, it’s an exciting category with lots of opportunities… but how do you stand out from the pack and rival established players?

Funny enough, our client asked us the exact same thing.

Our approach included a large-scale quantitative Usage & Attitude Study among Australian shoppers to understand motivations, behaviours and consumption situations & triggers across different ice cream formats. Now our U&As aren’t vanilla – we like to add a few mix-ins! We overlaid claimed purchase and brand preference results with actual sales data and market share. We also included what we called ‘VoxPopsicles’ (AKA some short videos) to get a sneak peak inside people’s freezers to see how people store ice cream. Sidenote: you wouldn’t believe what’s in some people’s freezers!

In a nutshell (or cone?), the research generated 5 immediate challenges - and solutions - for optimising growth. The cherry on top for our client was that we went one step further and provided future directions which took into consideration existing category knowledge and internal data, parallel category insights and key cultural and lifestyle trends. Delicious!

BRANDED CONTENT CAMPAIGNS ARE ON THE RISE. AND STARBURST INSIGHTS IS HERE FOR IT.

Our client is a global content creator and media agency. They create amazing creative content for a range of brands across different industries and markets. We evaluate the effectiveness of their digital campaigns across Australian and Asia. Our client works fast and the nature of the campaigns are dynamic, but we know what they need and like - and just like Bruce Springsteen, baby, we were born to run.

Our approach combines digital evaluation best practice with a hearty dose of practicality. We use exposed and unexposed (control group) audiences to determine brand impact of ‘live’ multi-episode campaigns, and answer questions like: what is the brand uplift from the campaign? Do people know what brand is behind the content, and what the message is? What do people think of the campaign? Which episode or content piece was the most successful? Who is a typical campaign recogniser?

Just like how good branded content uses storytelling, our reports tell the story of the effectiveness of each campaign for our client (and their clients!) to tell them what they need to know in an engaging and inspiring way. Brand uplift results delivered in an uplifting way!

BRANDED CONTENT CAMPAIGNS ARE ON THE RISE. AND STARBURST INSIGHTS IS HERE FOR IT.

Our client is a global content creator and media agency. They create amazing creative content for a range of brands across different industries and markets.

We evaluate the effectiveness of their digital campaigns across Australian and Asia.

Our client works fast and the nature of the campaigns are dynamic, but we know what they need and like - and just like Bruce Springsteen, baby, we were born to run.

Our approach combines digital evaluation best practice with a hearty dose of practicality.

We use exposed and unexposed (control group) audiences to determine brand impact of ‘live’ multi-episode campaigns, and answer questions like: what is the brand uplift from the campaign? Do people know what brand is behind the content, and what the message is? What do people think of the campaign? Which episode or content piece was the most successful? Who is a typical campaign recogniser?

Just like how good branded content uses storytelling, our reports tell the story of the effectiveness of each campaign for our client (and their clients!) to tell them what they need to know in an engaging and inspiring way. Brand uplift results delivered in an uplifting way!

We tend to do brand tracking a little differently to other agencies.

You might go as far to say that we make life harder for ourselves. We choose issue-based, customised reporting each and every quarter (hard!) versus just updating lots of existing line charts (easy!). Don’t get us wrong, we love a line chart when the data calls for it. We’re just not into brand tracking reports that are chockers full of them and not much else, such as the ‘why’ and the ‘so what’.

We run a ‘beast-mode’ tracker which covers 5 core products and tracks close to 100 ads annually. And plot twist! As well as having an in-depth understanding of key products and services, our client also needs to understand the role and impact of these on their overarching Masterbrand.

The solution was a customised tracking program, designed to offer the necessary continuity and consistency but with enough flex to put the body builders at Bondi Beach to shame. This means regularly swapping ads in and out, allocating space for topical questions as they arise and creating reports to tell the relevant story. As the largest research program across our client’s business, it attracts a crowd.  We love this because it means people are engaging with the research results – a key success factor for our client (and therefore for us too!)

We tend to do brand tracking a little differently to other agencies.

You might go as far to say that we make life harder for ourselves. We choose issue-based, customised reporting each and every quarter (hard!) versus just updating lots of existing line charts (easy!). Don’t get us wrong, we love a line chart when the data calls for it. We’re just not into brand tracking reports that are chockers full of them and not much else, such as the ‘why’ and the ‘so what’.

We run a ‘beast-mode’ tracker which covers 5 core products and tracks close to 100 ads annually.

And plot twist! As well as having an in-depth understanding of key products and services, our client also needs to understand the role and impact of these on their overarching Masterbrand.

The solution was a customised tracking program, designed to offer the necessary continuity and consistency but with enough flex to put the body builders at Bondi Beach to shame. This means regularly swapping ads in and out, allocating space for topical questions as they arise and creating reports to tell the relevant story. As the largest research program across our client’s business, it attracts a crowd.  We love this because it means people are engaging with the research results – a key success factor for our client (and therefore for us too!)