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.

These insights are used by businesses and organisations 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!

Jason: Part strategy, part timing, part luck

We’ve become quite busy lately. It’s interesting to reflect … do businesses thrive because of economic trends or because they get their strategy right? Likely both. Success often comes from being in the right place at the right time, with the courage to take a measured risk. Think of share or property investments that soared—part strategy, part timing, part luck. The past few years have been tough for many, with post-pandemic shifts, and cost-of-living pressures. Yet still some have surged ahead. What sets them apart? Calm thinking in chaos. Acting boldly when others hesitate. Waiting for the perfect moment rarely works. Success is built on vision, strategy, and smart insight. That’s where research matters. It cuts through the noise and helps leaders move with clarity. As research budgets grow at Square Holes, it feels like clarity is rising too. Leaders coming out of the budget freeze trenches. Or maybe it’s the reward for consistency, illustrated by 402 editions of our weekly Friday Think! and being there when clients need us, when the timing is right. That steady trust, built over time, is turning into real momentum. Sometimes success comes from calculated risk, while hanging on for the ride.

Dylan: Brand equity through meaning

Brand equity is built not just through awareness but through the meaning consumers attach to a brand’s assets. A logo on its own is just a symbol, but over time, through consistent customer experiences and the right messaging and relevance, becomes a signifier of much more – emotion, trust and identity. Think of the Nike swoosh or Apple logo, they don’t just represent products, they represent performance and innovation. Building brand equity means instilling brand assets with meaning.

Mahalia: Zen for the fight

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary Zen is “1. a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation 2. or zen : a state of calm attentiveness.”

I always thought of zen as checking out. Using your brain and some tools like meditation to quiet all the noise and suspend time for a bit. But the more I read about adapting to a world where you are expected to be switched on and engaged 24/7, I feel that zen is more about helping you check in. In order to process everything being beamed to you through your phone screen, sometimes you need to take a step back and rebalance yourself in order to keep your focus on the things that matter to you.

So whatever your zen looks like, use it help fuel you in showing up in the ways that matter to you.

Think your business or organisation could do with some insights? Contact us here.