Bonsai Lab
If you really want to understand people.
Qualitative expertise for deep understanding.
AI for new perspectives.
Bonsai A lab for both.
Our Work
As methodological pioneers, we at the Bonsai Lab combine in-depth qualitative expertise with innovative technologies. Valuable insights emerge from a deep understanding of how people think, feel, act, and make decisions. We bring to light what often remains unspoken and hidden: ambivalence, tensions, routines, and needs. From there, we develop concrete recommendations for action and storytelling that features moments that stick in the memory. We use AI wherever it meaningfully supports our work—to streamline processes or organize complex material. And we develop innovative research approaches that offer significant added value for our clients, such as AI-powered language analysis, deep research, and new forms of reporting and data utilization.
Our Strengths
Excellent moderationHigh-caliber participantsResponsible Use of the Right Methods and AIEngaging StorytellingStrategic Consulting Through Long-Term Partnerships
Our portfolio
We are passionate community builders, group discussion facilitators, and workshop designers. We are curious about people and insights. That’s why—beyond the “qualitative classics”—we’re always on the lookout for new content-based, technical, and methodological approaches that bring us even closer to consumers. This makes our portfolio diverse and agile. And that’s exactly what sets us apart.
Holistic Approach
We explain the “why.” We gain a deep understanding of the consumer and translate it into marketing-relevant insights.
The deep immersion into different life worlds is what makes up our field of research. Since consumers often don't say what they mean - and vice versa - understanding the context, the socio-cultural construct that shapes people, is as much a part of it in our eyes as explicit and implicit questioning and observation.
Qualitative Classics
Group discussions or in-depth interviews - on & offline; diaries, communities and workshops are among the basics that we often enrich with ethnographic elements.
For example, we conduct interviews at home - at the respondents' homes - and enrich the insights with photos. Or we use a digital "homework assignment" as preparation for the group discussions and ask the participants to introduce themselves in a short video sequence.
Experimental research
A lab without research and experimentation would be like brainstorming without brainstorming. We think outside the box and develop creative, customized approaches for you. We use modern technology and interview unusual target groups.
We experiment with the latest, technical solutions: implicit, AI-powered, crowd-based, in VR/AR workshop rooms or the Metaverse. If it helps answer the client's question, we include it in the portfolio.
Innovation development
We develop innovations together with consumers, customers and other stakeholders: from the initial idea to market maturity. We combine the design thinking process with agile feedback from consumers, semiotic analyses and social media data - and thus bring amazing, innovative ideas to light.
For example, the new online supermarket myEnso: In this community we research - and find creative consumers for new co-creation workshops. More about the cooperation with myEnso.
Semiotics & Cultural Analyses
Semiotics is the study of signs. We decipher the signs of the times. In this way, we support companies in finding the visual language and tonality that resonate with their target group.
We examine the social context and cultural discourse that influences consumer preferences and choices. And we identify the social codes that can be used to translate messages in a contemporary way.
Changing values
We keep our finger on the pulse with Social Media Listening (SML). The Values Index, Germany's largest social media study on the subject, monitors digital buzz and maps values and their changes over time. By continuously monitoring social media, we can offer companies up-to-date and industry-specific evaluations.
We build on the basic research that we offer with the values index with qualitative studies in the Bonsai Lab - often in a team with our foresight unit Bonsai Future, where we have based the values index.
Trend and future studies
We conduct so many future and trend studies that we founded Bonsai Future as a separate unit in 2024. But of course we at Bonsai Lab are also involved in foresight research with our qualitative expertise.
We. Accompany. Innovation.
We.
For us, collaboration is what drives our actions—and that’s why “we” aren’t just “us,” but always teams made up of researchers, consumers, retailers, and industry representatives. That’s what true teamwork is all about.
Accompany.
We are good listeners: both to our clients in order to develop customized solutions for business issues. As well as with consumers, whose behavior we observe and explore in real life.
Innovation.
Trying things out, daring to try new things, exploring technical possibilities - that's in our DNA. We love unusual requests, new formats and clients for whom we can develop creative, customized approaches.
To the Bonsai Lab team
Alexandra von Cukrowicz
alexandra.voncukrowicz@bonsai-research.com
+ 49 171 7411992
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