Inspirans

What Inspirans does

Inspirans Oy is a Helsinki-based, privately held B2B qualitative market research firm founded in 1996 by Pirjo Ekman. The company operates as the qualitative research center of excellence within the Taloustutkimus Group, a Finnish market research conglomerate. Inspirans provides bespoke qualitative research services — including focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographic field research, projective psychological techniques, neuromarketing (EEG brain measurement), shopper research, diary/netnographic studies, and co-creation workshops — to enterprise clients across food and beverage, publishing, media, healthcare, NGOs, cultural institutions, and government sectors in Finland and Sweden. The firm is described as Finland's leading qualitative research office, with nearly 30 years of specialized methodology expertise and a multidisciplinary research team combining commerce, social sciences, design, psychology, and cultural studies. Service delivery is organized around three pillars: deepening customer/consumer understanding, concept development (including co-creation workshops and concept training), and brand strengthening (including brand deep-dive research and positioning). Standardized deliverables include annual published trend reports covering Finnish and Swedish food and consumer culture, produced in partnership with Swedish trend agency Sprillon and publicly priced at EUR 1,500 and EUR 4,500; bespoke engagements are custom-quoted. Inspirans operates from a single Helsinki headquarters (1-10 employees), uses consultative direct B2B sales, does not offer self-serve or marketplace channels, and holds no external funding rounds. In August 2025, founder Pirjo Ekman transitioned to a consultative role and Satu Kalliokulju was appointed CEO.

Name

Inspirans

Legal name

Inspirans Oy

Website

https://inspirans.fi

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Inspirans is a Helsinki-based B2B qualitative market research firm serving Finnish and Swedish enterprise clients across food and beverage, publishing, healthcare, and cultural sectors with bespoke methodologies including ethnography, projective techniques, co-creation, and neuromarketing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Qualitative Market Research

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Qualitative Research (Focus Groups, IDIs, Ethnography) (MPAAALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Market Research & Consumer Insights (BPAHALAA), Behavioral & Neuroscience Research (Biometrics, Eye-Tracking, Neuromarketing) (MPAAALAN), Brand Consulting, Audits & Research (Brand Health, Equity, Competitive) (BPAFAEAJ)

Keywords

• Qualitative market research
• Consumer insights
• Ethnographic research
• Brand research
• Concept development

Headquarters

HQ city

Helsinki

HQ country

Finland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. B2B Qualitative Research Services: Inspirans provides bespoke qualitative research services to B2B clients including focus groups, depth interviews, ethnographic studies, brand research, concept testing, shopper research, neuromarketing, and trend analysis. Engagements are project-based and customized. Pricing varies by scope, with published price points for specific standardized deliverables such as trend reports.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Inspirans is Finland's leading qualitative market research firm, providing bespoke qualitative research services to enterprise clients. Core offerings are organized in three service areas: Deepen Understanding (consumer understanding, target group research, category research, shopper and customer experience research, trend reporting), Succeed in Concepting (concept research, co-creation workshops, and concept training), and Strengthen the Brand (brand deep-dive research, brand positioning, and marketing communication development). Specialized methodologies include neurometrics (EEG), ethnography, diary/netnography, projective psychology methods, and an annual food and consumer trend report covering Finland and Sweden.

Product overview

Inspirans is a qualitative research company and Finland's leading specialist in qualitative market research. The company operates as a unified service offering — not a software platform — organized around three strategic service areas: (1) Syvennä ymmärrystä (Deepen Understanding) covering consumer/customer understanding, target group research, category research, needs-based category trees, shopper research, customer experience research, B2B offering development, and trend reporting; (2) Onnistu konseptoinnissa (Succeed in Concepting) covering concept research, co-creation workshops, and concept training; and (3) Vahvista brändiä (Strengthen the Brand) covering brand deep-dive research, brand positioning, and marketing communication development. Key specialized offerings include neurometrics (EEG-based brain measurement), ethnographic research, diary/netnographic studies, projective psychological methods, and an annual published trend report covering Finnish and Swedish food and consumer trends. The company is part of the Taloustutkimus (Economic Research) Group.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Qualitative Market Research Services (Laadullinen tutkimus) Core qualitative research service offering including focus groups, depth interviews, and other qualitative methodologies delivered to enterprise clients for consumer and market understanding.
• Deep Target Group Understanding (Syvällinen kohderyhmäymmärrys) In-depth qualitative research to understand target group values, attitudes, behaviors, and motivations for product and business development.
• Category Research (Kategoriatutkimus) Research to understand category dynamics, consumer behavior within categories, brand competition, and opportunities for market share growth.
• Needs-Based Category Tree (Tarvelähtöinen tuoteryhmäpuu) A consumer needs-based framework that maps product categories from the consumer perspective to support assortment, concept development, and shelf optimization.
• Shopper Research / Shopper Experience Development (Shopper-tutkimus) Ethnographic research conducted in-store or in online retail environments to understand consumer shopping behavior, decision-making at shelf, and brand performance in retail settings.
• Customer Experience Development (Asiakaskokemuksen kehittäminen) Qualitative research to map and improve customer experience across service touchpoints and customer journey stages, focusing on emotional responses.
• Co-creation Workshops / Mixed-Method Co-creation (Co-creation / Yhteiskehittäminen) Co-creation methodology that involves consumers in the innovation process to develop new products, services, concepts, or business ideas using participatory design techniques and mixed-method structured workshops.
• Concept Training (Konseptointikoulutus) Training program to strengthen a company's concept development capabilities, including tools, processes, and consumer-centric thinking methodology.
• Brand Deep-Dive Research (Brändin syväluotaus) Qualitative brand research that uncovers the emotional and imaginal meanings of a brand in the consumer mind using projective methods borrowed from psychology.
• Brand Positioning Research (Brändin positiointitutkimus) Research to define and validate a brand's unique position in the consumer mind relative to competitors, informing positioning strategy.
• Marketing Communication Development (Markkinointiviestinnän kehittäminen) Research and development of marketing communications that resonate with target audiences, including pre-testing of campaigns and messaging.
• Annual Food and Consumer Trend Report (Trendikatsaus) Annual published trend report covering megatrends, food trends, and consumer behavior trends in Finnish and Swedish markets, with practical examples from concepts, campaigns, and retail; sold as a standardized deliverable (EUR 1,500 and EUR 4,500 variants).
• Neuromeasurement / Neurometrics (Neuromittaus) Neuroscience-based research using EEG brain measurement (neuro cap) to capture unconscious consumer reactions to stimuli such as ads, packaging, logos, and concepts.
• Ethnographic Research (Etnografinen tutkimus) Ethnographic field research involving observation and interviewing of participants in their natural environments (homes, kitchens, workplaces) to understand real behavior and contextual experiences.
• Diary Studies / Netnography (Päiväkirjatutkimukset / Netnografia) Diary-based data collection method using online applications to capture daily consumer behavior, routines, and real-world practices with visual and narrative data, analyzed via Atlas.ti.
• B2B Offering Development (Tarjooman kehittäminen asiakastarpeiden pohjalta) B2B customer needs research to develop customer-centric product offerings and growth strategies based on identified business customer needs.
• Category Entry Points (CEP) Analysis Ethnographic Category Entry Points analysis identifying the mental associations and moments when consumer need activates for a category, product, or brand; informs brand positioning in consumer consideration sets.

Quantifiable outcome

• Apetit Vegepops won 'Vuoden Suomalainen Elintarvike 2018' (Finnish Food Product of the Year) after Inspirans co-creation concept research
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SprilloncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInspirans collaborates with Swedish innovation and trend agency Sprillon on ongoing food and consumer trend tracking. Together they produce quarterly-updated trend reports (trendikatsaus) covering Finland and Sweden, examining how megatrends and consumer trends manifest in food culture, retail, restaurants, and marketing. This partnership has been active for over 10 years and is the basis for Inspirans's annual published trend reports.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• GfK: Global consumer research firm with strong Nordic presence and category/shopper expertise; comparable on consumer brand, category, and shopper insights workflows.
• Ipsos: Global market research conglomerate with broad qualitative and quantitative offerings; competes for the same Nordic brand-owner budgets but as part of a much wider portfolio rather than as a qualitative specialist.
• NielsenIQ: Global consumer intelligence leader with category and shopper research operations; competes for CPG/FMCG budgets that today flow partly to Inspirans's qualitative engagements.
• Kantar: Global research and insights firm serving brand and shopper research worldwide; overlaps with Inspirans in brand and shopper work for large Finnish and Nordic clients.

Regional players

• Cision Finland: Nordic PR and media intelligence firm with a Finnish operation; relevant regional peer for media, publishing, and brand-reputation research that overlaps with Inspirans's publishing and brand clients.

Direct peers

• InSites Consulting: Belgium-based qualitative consumer insights specialist with co-creation and brand communities; competes in the same methodology categories as Inspirans (ethnography, co-creation, communities) across Europe.
• IROResearch: Swedish qualitative research firm specializing in brand, communication, and CX research; closely comparable in methodology mix and Nordic focus, and a natural peer for Inspirans's brand-deep-dive and projective work.
• Appendix: Stockholm-based research and consulting firm focused on qualitative consumer and brand research; comparable Swedish/European positioning to Inspirans's work for clients like Sanoma Pro and Finavia.
• Taloustutkimus Oy: Parent company and the quantitative arm of the same Finnish research group; collectively covers the same client base and complementary methodologies, making it the closest structural and operational peer to Inspirans.

Emerging players

• Nepa: Nordic consumer insights firm with software-led and panel-based research models; represents the tech-enabled research archetype that increasingly defines category entry-point analysis for Nordic brands.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xfacebook.com/inspirans
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/inspirans
• Instagraminstagram.com/inspirans_

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Inspirans