Looking back in time to 2007 and the day Consumer Insights Group officially opened for business, it feels like yesterday.  Based out of Northern Virginia and with on-the-ground resources all around the world, CIG has witnessed the trends, changes in, and creation of new technologies which have made fundamental changes in how we work, communicate with one another, interact with commerce, and gather information.  There has never been a more fast-paced or, at times unpredictable era in human history as right now.  CIG has been a driving force in advocating clear and simple communication of information and usability for consumers everywhere.

​

CIG partners with companies of all sizes, as well as thought and industry leaders from the world’s most recognizable brands in order to create the most effective and user-friendly experiences for a variety of products and services.  Since the beginning, CIG has been a leader in the realm of digital research, specializing in digital commerce and entertainment.  Many of the research design methods used by firms today were pioneered by CIG’s founder member, Stephanie Balderrama.

​

From the mid 1990s until 2007, Stephanie built and defined consumer-based market research for AOL and it’s various global partners.  She had an idea of bringing simplicity and ease-of-use to both the products and services her teams tested, as well as to the way that research findings were presented to her internal clients and high-profile partners.  Easily comprehensible findings, combined with actionable recommendations proved to be a powered tool for success.  Easily measurable successes in the way of ROI and increased member acquisition, stemming from the crucial information gathered and disseminated from her reports were not only a testament to her reporting style, but also to her original research techniques.

​

As AOL’s business model shifted and simplified, Stephanie saw the opportunity to start her own firm.  In 2007 Stephanie and her hand-picked core group of researchers exited AOL and launched Consumer Insights Group.  New clients, as well as many previous ones from Stephanie’s AOL days were eager to work with CIG from the very start.  Those relationships have remained strong through the years.

​

CIG’s goal is to provide our thought-partners with the most intelligent and actionable consumer data possible.  By continuously evolving, innovating, and in some cases creating our own research designs and services, we stay ahead of shifts or changes to local and global marketing trends.