scenarioDNA

Culture shapes how people interpret meaning and drives the future of markets. But in an era of data overload, the challenge is not finding signals but structuring them.

scenarioDNA brings deep experience across global sectors, from technology and FMCG to fashion and public policy. But we stand apart because of how we work. We reject the "black box" approach to data. Instead, we utilize a patented, structural methodology that combines the depth of anthropology with the speed of generative AI.

This allows us to create a "glass box" environment for our clients: a transparent, evidence-based view of why culture is changing, not just what is trending. By mapping these shifts across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, we give you the coordinates you need to navigate uncertainty and build strategies that last.

Cultural intelligence is only valuable when it translates into results. We move beyond observation to provide a navigational tool for your business. We help clients turn abstract cultural foresight into concrete strategy, ensuring your innovation pipeline aligns with where the world is going, not where it has been.

Organizations use our work to:

• Pre-empt the Market: Map the trajectory of emerging behaviors and values before they hit the mainstream.

• Engineer Resonance: Build stories and campaigns that speak to the underlying ideology of your consumer, not just their demographics.

• Synchronize Strategy: Align internal organizational culture with the external shifts reshaping your industry.

• Embed Meaning: Design systems and experiences that carry deep symbolic value, ensuring longevity beyond the trend cycle.

• De-Risk Decisions: Navigate uncertainty and transformation with a transparent, evidence-based audit trail.

Emerging from years of cultural systems analysis, our Living Foresight Model operates as a dynamic ecosystem that evolves through feedback, adaptation, and exchange. Like any living system, it grows by engaging with its environment and refining insights as new signals appear. This model reveals how shifts in one domain ripple across others. The global pandemic, for instance, transformed health, economies, supply chains, and social behavior simultaneously. By mapping these interdependencies, the Living Foresight Model enables organizations to anticipate change and act with precision.

At the core of this ecosystem is Culture Mapping, our patented method for decoding meaning across systems of language, image, and behavior as context changes. It blends semiotics, systems thinking, and computational linguistics to uncover how people form values and make decisions. The process draws from a wide range of inputs, including social media, interviews, consumer research, and ethnographic fieldwork. Our method weaves together internal and external signals to identify meaningful patterns that reduce uncertainty and illuminate new pathways for growth. This structured approach invites clients to engage with the deeper cultural narratives shaping their industries, enabling more thoughtful and resonant decision-making.

Patent: US9002755B2

We apply Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs) to reduce bias, test assumptions, and navigate complexity. These tools support critical thinking in situations where traditional methods fall short.

Some techniques include:
Pattern Recognition to trace meaning across language, behavior, and symbolism. Alternative Futures Analysis to explore different cultural trajectories. Competing Hypotheses Analysis to evaluate multiple explanations side by side. Cross-Impact Matrices to understand how signals influence one another.

These tools support practical decisions in areas such as product design, organizational change, public policy, and creative development.

We work across both qualitative and quantitative inputs to surface patterns of meaning. Our analysis draws from interviews, transcripts, cultural texts, social platforms, and client datasets. Generative AI allows us to manage large volumes of content and extract patterns at scale. We structure this output using cultural frameworks such as semiotic codes and archetypes. The result is insight that remains grounded in human context while being enhanced by computational tools. This approach fosters more informed and deliberate decision-making by surfacing the nuanced forces at play beneath the surface.

Since our founding in 2001, we have worked with language models to advance cultural intelligence. Over time, this has become an essential part of our proprietary Culture Mapping method. Today, Generative AI is fully integrated into our practice in a secure and responsible way.

We combine tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity with custom GPTs built for specific client needs. These models are not static dashboards that quickly become outdated. Instead, they adapt as culture evolves, serving as flexible extensions of our research process.

Most importantly, we apply AI within a structured analytic framework. This ensures that insights are grounded in evidence, tested against alternative hypotheses, and contextualized by human interpretation. In this way, AI strengthens our analysis without replacing it. It enhances our ability to connect linguistic signals, cultural codes, and foresight across global markets while maintaining accountability and transparency in the research process.