Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

Businesses and organisations use these insights to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact, and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Dylan: Measuring trust and distrust

This week I attended The Research Society Conference in Adelaide. A great event, with plenty of interesting topics and conversations.

One that particularly caught my attention was the idea that we should be measuring distrust, rather than simply focusing on trust when evaluating brands.

Surveys should measure trust and distrust separately, with the discussion recognising that they aren’t necessarily opposites. Interestingly, some brands have improved their overall standing not because trust has increased, but because distrust has declined.

It got me thinking about how we typically measure brand perceptions. We often ask people how much they trust a brand, how satisfied they are, or whether they’d recommend it. But these measures might miss underlying concerns, scepticism or negative associations. Asking people what they distrust about a brand, and why, could reveal just as much as asking what they like. A good reminder that sometimes the questions we don’t traditionally ask can produce the most interesting data.

Mahalia: Peer pressure

I was never really a victim of peer pressure when I was younger. Many of my friends smoked, got their driver’s licence early, drank coffee, and succumbed to other pressures, while I remained steadfast in my own timelines and tastes. But I wasn’t immune to groupthink – taking on questionable fashion trends, questionable party behaviour and fads because they were the in thing. Most of this stuff is relatively harmless.

Recently I watched the seminal Ken Russell film ‘The Devils’ in the cinema (for its 50th release). The film explores how the state can whip up religious fervour in order to manipulate the people into doing what they want. A very pertinent film in today’s political climate. We feel safer in a crowd, more emboldened – but sometimes this can also sway our natural scepticism and logic.

Ewa: Need for control

I was once a member of a triathlon club (shoutout to Warsaw International Triathlon Club!). I joined as a runner, but the club encouraged me to try other sports, including swimming and cycling, and gave me a wonderful sense of community.

One thing that struck me was how many members seemed to be going through significant personal changes. Some of the more extreme endurance runners and triathletes, in particular, seemed to have faced challenging periods in their lives. My theory was that running extraordinary distances or pushing yourself physically gave people a sense of control at a time when other parts of their lives felt anything but controllable. Something difficult, but tangible, that they could take charge of.

And then last week I read an interesting article about the history of conspiracy theories and why they become more prevalent during periods of uncertainty and social upheaval.

When the world feels chaotic, conspiracy theories offer a seemingly reassuring explanation: someone is in control, events are not random, and there is a clear villain responsible for what is happening. It is easier to believe in a hidden plan than to accept that the world is complicated, unpredictable and often beyond anyone’s control.

This feels particularly relevant today. Roy Morgan’s research, wonderfully presented at The Research Society’s Adelaide conference yesterday, paints a concerning picture of growing distrust in Australia, with an interesting relationship between levels of distrust and movements in interest rates.

As people come under financial and social pressure and feel increasingly powerless, some look for explanations – and someone to blame. For many, the government is an obvious target. But for others, distrust goes further, developing into anti-establishment beliefs and conspiracy theories.

We’re seeing this in the growing visibility of the sovereign citizen movement, whose followers reject the legitimacy of government and the legal system, as well as conspiracy narratives around chemtrails, vaccine microchips, or claims that 15-minute cities are an attempt by elites to control people’s movements.

The article offers an interesting way of understanding this behaviour. Conspiracy theories can provide a sense of order in a world that feels chaotic: a hidden plan instead of random events, someone to blame instead of complex causes, and the reassuring idea that someone, somewhere, is actually in control.

Square Holes is a cultural insight studio.

We design mixed method explorations of people and culture beyond the category,  uncovering the patterns, tensions and shifts shaping behaviour to inform strategy, inspire innovation and enable confident decisions. Our studio model brings together the right mix of thinkers, researchers and specialists for each exploration. If you’re navigating change, entering a new market, or seeking deeper understanding of people and culture, let’s start a conversation >