The Lantern

What The Lantern does

The Lantern is a specialist branding and market research consultancy operating as the trading name of Black & White Research Ltd (Company Number: 7536678), a private limited company registered in England and Wales and based in Eton, United Kingdom. The firm delivers bespoke qualitative and quantitative research, branding and strategy consulting, trend tracking, hotel market intelligence, customer-centric culture change programs, project stewardship, and observation/ethnography to consumer-facing brands and organizations without in-house insights teams. Its client base is enterprise-led and includes Netflix, McDonald's UK, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), First Direct, Greene King, and Burger King, with engagements spanning the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Turkey.

The Lantern's core technology and asset base center on human expertise rather than a software platform: a named core team of approximately nine specialists (covering qualitative, quantitative, branding/strategy, and marketing disciplines) plus on-demand access to the Independent Consultants' Group network of over 400 independent researchers, enabling tailored team assembly per project. Its principal data asset is a UK hotel market intelligence capability built on debit and credit card spend data covering approximately 5 million British consumers, surfaced through a dedicated EV Tracker product with a member login. The firm explicitly positions itself as offering "big agency quality at small agency prices" via a low-overhead, network-based delivery model, with founder George Davidson providing 25+ years of client-side credibility from prior roles at First Direct, McDonald's UK, Netflix, IHG, and Greene King.

The business model is professional services delivered through project-based engagements, packaged at three tiers (The Atlas Project, The Echo Project, The Brightline Project), with pricing quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market is direct-to-client via website inquiry forms, email ([email protected]), and phone, with no channel partners, resellers, or institutional investors indicated. The Lantern is founder-controlled, with no disclosed funding, acquisitions, or partnerships beyond the Independent Consultants' Group arrangement, and no public listing.

Name

The Lantern

Legal name

Black & White Research Ltd

Website

https://lanterninsights.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Lantern is a UK-based boutique market research and branding consultancy (trading name of Black & White Research Ltd) that assembles bespoke project teams from a network of 400+ researchers to deliver qualitative, quantitative, and brand strategy services to enterprise clients including Netflix, McDonald's UK, and IHG.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

United Kingdom

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Market Research and Consulting Services: Project-based professional services delivering market research, branding insights, and strategic consulting. Services include trend tracking, quantitative surveys, hotel market tracking, customer-centric culture change, project stewardship, and ethnography.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Lantern is a specialist branding and market research consultancy that delivers bespoke research projects through flexible teams assembled from a network of over 400 independent researchers. Core services include Trend Tracking, Quantitative Surveys, Hotel Market Tracking, Customer-Centric Culture Change, Project Stewardship, and Observation/Ethnography, serving enterprise brands across sectors such as hospitality, financial services, food and beverage, and entertainment.

Product overview

The Lantern is a specialist branding and market research consultancy offering a portfolio of research services. Their core offerings include Trend Tracking, Quantitative Surveys, Hotel Market Tracking, Customer-Centric Culture Change, Project Stewardship, and Observation and Ethnography. These services are delivered through a flexible bespoke team model and offered across three service tiers: The Atlas Project (basic), The Echo Project (intermediate), and The Brightline Project (advanced). The company positions itself as providing big agency quality at boutique agency pricing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Trend Tracking Practical and actionable trend tracking service that monitors meaningful mainstream trends, designed to help brands identify and leverage trends they can genuinely align with their customers.
• Quantitative Surveys Statistical and numerical quantitative research services tailored to deliver the insights needed for well-informed business decisions.
• Hotel Market Tracking UK hotel market reporting service providing high-quality insights into market conditions, key brands, locations, and Online Travel Agents, based on debit and credit card spend data from 5 million British consumers.
• Customer-Centric Culture Change Consulting service that helps organizations become more responsive to research insights and customer feedback, addressing the common challenge of getting organizations to act on research findings.
• Project Stewardship Flexible project support ranging from advising on research approaches and survey question design to managing large-scale research agency projects for organizations without dedicated insights teams.
• Observation and Ethnography Qualitative research method involving observation of consumers in their own environments to understand behaviors and decision-making influences.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5 million British consumers' spending data for hotel market insights
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Savanta: Mid-sized market research and brand consultancy combining quant panels with bespoke qualitative and strategy work. Closely comparable in business model, size tier, and enterprise client focus to The Lantern.
• STR (CoStar Group): Global hospitality data and benchmarking provider for hotels and OTAs. Most directly comparable peer given The Lantern's Hotel Market Tracking product, which also reports on UK hotel performance, key brands, locations, and OTAs.
• YouGov: Data-driven market research and analytics company with consumer panels and brand trackers. Comparable as a mid-sized research firm offering tracker-style products plus bespoke consumer insights to enterprise brands.
• Happy Thinking People: Berlin-based qualitative market research consultancy with creative moderation and international reach. Comparable as a boutique qual-led firm; Lantern team member Marcus Derham began his career at its predecessor H,T,P, Concept Berlin.

Broad incumbents

• Mintel: Global market research and consumer intelligence firm with syndicated category reports and bespoke research. Comparable as a brand-side research incumbent whose category insights and bespoke briefs overlap with Lantern's trend-tracking and consumer research services.
• Kantar: Global market research and insights giant with profiles, panel, and brand-tracking capabilities. Directly comparable as the largest enterprise research incumbent and former employer of Lantern team member Mike Brown; competes for the same Netflix/IHG/McDonald's research budgets.
• Ipsos: Global market research and public opinion firm with strong qualitative and quant capabilities. Comparable as a large incumbent The Lantern benchmarks against on quality and competes with on enterprise consumer-brand briefs.
• Euromonitor International: Global market research firm providing country-level consumer and industry intelligence. Comparable as a multinational research incumbent; The Lantern's Megumi Miki previously worked at Euromonitor, and the firm competes for cross-market brand insights briefs.
• Nielsen: Global measurement and data analytics firm with consumer insights, retail, and media research. Comparable as a large incumbent competing for the same enterprise client budgets for brand and consumer research.

Emerging players

• The Research Insight: Boutique consumer insights and branding consultancy offering bespoke qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic research to brands. Comparable in size tier, service mix, and boutique-vs-big-agency positioning to The Lantern.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lanterninsights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Lantern