Faster Horses is a research, insights & strategy consultancy in Vancouver, BC.
We specialize in mixed-methods research and foresight built from respondents who have higher emotional proximity to the topic at hand, and have more to offer, as a result.
We believe that meaningful differentiation is built at the edges.
Most people are fashion-followers, not trend-setters. Research about what the average person thinks has a role to play, but it also has its limits. The insights that provide the building blocks for meaningful differentiation rarely come from the top of the bell curve. They come from the edges — in attitudes and behaviours that the average person can't yet express. When research is built from authentic characters with compelling stories, alignment comes more naturally, and so does the confidence to act.
Our approach is ideally suited for brand strategy or innovation projects, where insights need to translate into action today, and endure well into the future.
— Typical projects involve qualitative research built on active recruitment, where we pursue specific individuals whose stories and relationship to a topic make them exactly right for what you're looking to uncover. Filmed interviews, in-home and cultural ethnography, netnography, focus groups. Most projects have a full slate within two weeks, and you will never find professional respondents in our work.
— This is often followed by quantitative research to validate what we find in qual. We use survey-based approaches like Conjoint or MaxDiff, as well as advanced analysis to translate findings into materials they use for retailer sell-in, internal business cases, or strategies to future-proof their business.
Our latest report on young people & money: https://www.fasterhorses.ca/young-people-money-report
Clients include lululemon and lg2. Our team has also had a hand in work that shaped Colgate-Palmolive, Decathlon, Kraft Heinz, Olymel, PayPal, PepsiCo and Suntory.
Market Research Data AnalysisMarket Research Data ReportingObservational Research
Confidential
Feb. - May 2025
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"Faster Horses isn’t just another market research/strategy company."
Sep 13, 2026
Former Senior Director, Futures Innovation, lululemon
Joe Santry
Consumer products & services
Vancouver, British Columbia
10,001+ Employees
Online Review
Faster Horses conducted various research methods to identify potential future business ideas for a sports apparel company. The team handled desk and ethnographic research and business and innovation strategy.
Faster Horses identified multiple opportunity spaces, many of which developed into larger internal projects. The team delivered on time and over and above expectations. Faster Horses questioned the status quo to avoid poor insights and data, which was crucial to the project's success.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
At the time I was the Senior Director of Futures Innovation at lululemon, a sports apparel company.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Faster Horses?
We needed help finding new future opportunity spaces by combining various research methods to identify unique and high-value potential future business ideas.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
David has played the 'startup CEO' role for us, owning everything from desk research to ethnographic research and synthesizing this alongside business and innovation strategy to create net new opportunity spaces. The main deliverables have been research reports, virtual whiteboards, and final presentations.
Faster Horses was asked to explore a new opportunity area for the future of lululemon business. They conducted and synthesized multiple research streams to identify and support with evidence net new, unique potential future business ideas.
What is the team composition?
David worked alongside our Innovation Team
How did you come to work with Faster Horses?
We’ve worked with them previously.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from February to May 2025
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Faster Horses has delivered concepts on time. They’ve identified multiple opportunity spaces, and we’ve assessed the quality and value of these spaces through a team review. Many of these opportunities have been unique and fully supported by research, which has led them to be developed into larger internal projects.
Faster Horses were great, they went beyond surface level research and insights to find and create truly unique perspectives and opportunities. Davids ability to digest multitudes of data to find the unique insights and best opportunities is amazing. Multiple of the resulting opportunity spaces were taken forward internally for further development. They deliver on time, over and above expectations. I love that the team questions the status quo to avoid poor insights and data, which has been crucial to the project's success.
How did Faster Horses perform from a project management standpoint?
They deliver on time and over and above our expectations. We communicate through in-person and virtual meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Faster Horses isn’t just another market research/strategy company. The most important thing is that David questions the status quo and builds projects to get underneath the surface. Too many companies use a rinse-and-repeat methodology, recruit from a database, and use questionnaires, which leads to poor insights and data.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there aren’t any.
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
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Our Story
Our team's experience reaches well beyond research — advertising, communications, design, marketing and public relations. Every project is led by senior practitioners who understand what actionable insight looks like in your world, because they've worked in it. That applied strategy background is why we're at home on briefs with political dynamics at play, multiple stakeholder groups to consider, myths and false narratives to counter, and where the devil is in the details.
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