Three things we learnt this week
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!
Ewa: When habit becomes ritual
When a habit becomes a ritual, brands should pay attention.
Coffee first thing in the morning is a good example.
You wake up, shuffle to the kitchen, make the coffee and take that first sip. It might look like a simple habit, but for many people it’s much more than that. It’s the moment between sleep and being properly awake. A little pause before the day begins. Maybe it’s when you read the news, stare out the window or decide whether you’re ready to deal with other humans yet.
That’s a ritual.
The difference between a habit and a ritual isn’t necessarily the action. It’s the meaning we attach to it.
Rituals can signal a transition, create anticipation, bring people together or simply make an ordinary moment feel a little more special. The Friday night takeaway. The playlist that goes on before a big night out. The Sunday morning farmers’ market. The chocolate you have with your afternoon coffee. The family movie that somehow has to be watched every Christmas, even though everyone knows what happens.
The most powerful brand relationships often happen when a brand becomes part of a ritual that already matters to people. It’s no longer just the coffee, the chocolate, the takeaway or the playlist. The brand becomes part of what that moment means.
That’s a very different relationship from simply being the thing someone happens to buy.
For brands, the opportunity isn’t always to create a shiny new ritual and convince everyone to adopt it. It can be much smarter to look at the rituals people already have.
What moments are people marking? Where is there anticipation, comfort, celebration, connection or reward? And where could your brand genuinely belong?
Because when you become part of a ritual, you’re becoming part of a moment people care about.
And that’s a much harder thing to replace.
Coffee first thing in the morning is a good example.
You wake up, shuffle to the kitchen, make the coffee and take that first sip. It might look like a simple habit, but for many people it’s much more than that. It’s the moment between sleep and being properly awake. A little pause before the day begins. Maybe it’s when you read the news, stare out the window or decide whether you’re ready to deal with other humans yet.
That’s a ritual.
Dylan: Onlyness Test
I’ve been reading this week about Marty Neumeier’s Onlyness Test – the idea that a brand should be able to clearly articulate what makes it genuinely different: Our [offering] is the only [category] that [benefit].
What resonated with me is that it pushes thinking beyond products, services or features, which competitors can often copy. The value is in getting clearer on the role a brand plays in people’s lives, who it is really for and the distinct benefit or belief it can credibly own. It also highlights that differentiation is not just about coming up with a clever positioning line. A strong brand proposition needs to feel true to the organisation, meaningful to its audience and difficult for competitors to simply swap their name into. The Onlyness Test can be thought of as a useful starting point for sharpening brand strategy and the relationship a brand wants to build with its customers.
Mahalia: Routine or ritual
I’ve always struggled with routine. Skincare products languish on my bathroom shelves, purchased in the hopes of creating a three-step routine. Recipes are saved in my Instagram folder for meal prep Sundays that come and go as my kitchen stays unused. Routine is the structure that helps us organise our lives. Ritual, on the other hand, holds a certain romance to me. It’s the processes we follow to create meaning in our lives. One tradition in my family is that every birthday, my mum would sit us all down and tell us our birth stories. I was mistaken for pizza farts by my mum after a 3am late-night snack after my dad’s rock gig. This ritual never failed to make me feel special – a moment every year to be told the story of how I came into the world. It’s ritual that helps bind us to each other and forms the narratives that explain who we are.
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 >
