Fandom, Fragmentation, Futureproofing: Three Questions Our Clients Can Answer
July 24, 2026
Author: Jem Fawcus, CEO of the Firefish Group
Knowing what is happening has never been cheaper. Most of the organisations I sit with already have more data than they can use: trackers, insight platforms, dashboards, always-on feeds, and now a machine that will summarise the lot before lunch.
The “so what” is harder. The “now what” is where the money is, and it’s where I still watch capable teams struggle with decision confidence
Three hesitations come up across almost all categories:
1. Fandom.
You know how many people you reached. Do you know what any of them do with your brand once they arrive?
2. Fragmentation.
You know which channels your audience uses. Do you know what connects their behaviour, or only where it shows up?
3. Futureproofing.
You know what your category did last year. Do you know which shift is already underway in it, before the data catches up?
Our clients have clarity and confidence on all three. They got there by asking a sharper question of the evidence they already had, and knowing what to do with the answer.
A sports broadcaster worked out how the next generation actually becomes fans, and where it needs to show up years before anyone would use that word about themselves. A global platform gave a whole business one way to talk about inspiration, so product, content, and advertisers could build against the same thing. A brand found out three weeks before the Super Bowl that audiences loved its film and had missed its point, with just enough time left to do something about it.
I’ve spent over 25 years in the rooms where those calls get made. Long enough to watch fads become fixtures, and fixtures fade back into fads. The tools change almost every year. The questions underneath them less so.
That is what we mean by Human Strategy: the judgement that starts where the reporting stops. Technology gives us the speed modern decisions demand, and we use it every day. What it can’t do is tell you which answer is worth acting on, and in a world full of confident machines, that’s the advantage.
Gain the confidence to make better decisions with “Human Strategy in an Age of Complexity”, our guide to how brands build relevance, loyalty, and confidence when audiences no longer behave predictably. Download today!
