Collage Group Recognized Among Fastest-Growing Private Companies

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Collage Group Recognized Among Fastest-Growing Private Companies

I am ecstatic to share that Inc. Magazine today revealed Collage Group has been named on their latest Inc. 5000 Regionals List.

February 28, 2023
David Wellisch – CEO and Co-Founder

The annual list, now in its fourth year, represents the fastest-growing private companies in America and ranks Collage Group at number 121. The recognition signifies a unique look at the nation’s most flourishing private businesses and is a significant benchmark for entrepreneurial success.

It is a true honor for Collage Group to be recognized as part of this prestigious list of high-growth companies in the region. I’d like to thank the Collage Group staff and the leadership who have supported this growth and committed to partnering with more than 300 member brands in their Cultural Fluency journey. Hitting this key milestone is not possible without our talented team or the iconic American brands that rely on our diverse consumer insights and expertise.

The 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals Mid-Atlantic List encompasses companies in Washington D.C., Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Collage Group is included on a list of others who have put forth an extraordinary rate of growth across all industries in the Mid-Atlantic region. Between 2019 and 2021, these private companies had an average growth rate of 381% and in 2021 alone, was able to add 14,439 jobs and $2.66 billion to the Mid-Atlantic region’s economy. Companies based in Richmond, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C. areas had the highest growth rates overall.

Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Magazine, noted that this year’s regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of American’s off-the-charts growth companies.

It was just less than a year ago that we announced securing $25 million in growth capital, led by Boston-based growth equity firm Wavecrest Growth Partners. That funding allowed us – a tech enabled consumer and market intelligence firm – to further invest in our technology infrastructure and product innovation, and to continue scaling sales and marketing investments behind our aggressive growth mandate.

Over the last three years, we have significantly increased staff, including the welcoming of three leadership positions: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Product and Technology Officer, and Chief Revenue Officer.

This is an important distinction, and we have all intentions to continue taking these monumental steps.

Other Gen Z Consumer Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

David Wellisch

David Wellisch
CEO and Co-Founder

David Wellisch is CEO & Co-Founder of Collage Group, a consumer insights and intelligence company with a focus on research exploring race/ethnicity, generation, sexuality and gender. Since the inception of Collage Group in 2009, David has led the company through growth, now serving more than 200 brands in across 15 industries. David is passionate about entrepreneurship and company building, and often works directly with members to help guide the integration of multicultural consumer insights and marketing strategies.

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Captivate Parents of Kids Under 5 through Marketing

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Captivate Parents of Kids Under 5 through Marketing

Learn how to position your brand to better connect with parents of kids under 5, across gender and racial and ethnic groups.

February 14, 2023
Bryan Miller – Director, Syndicated and Solutions

There are currently tens of millions of young parents in the United States. Leading brands understand that connecting with these parents is not only critical for success today, it’s also a key to ensuring future brand loyalty with both the parents and their kids. To drive connection now, brands need to understand what problems these parents are facing that they can solve through their offerings, as well as where they’re going for information and advice.

To help brands and companies better connect with new-ish parents, Collage Group conducted a survey on parents that only have children under 5 years old. We dug into the challenges these parents are facing raising children, where they could use help to meet their own personal goals, where they go for information, advice, and recommendations, and their attitudes and behaviors in key categories.

We packaged our key findings into the webinar presentation, which you can access below. The presentation offers data breakouts by gender, age of child(ren), and race and ethnicity when relevant. Members can access the full survey, along with a variety of variables to cut the data, in our data tools, which are available on the website. Below are several key findings and implications from the study to get your brand started on the path to greater connection and conversion with new-ish parents.

Key Insight 1: New-ish moms are experiencing more negative emotions and more challenges related to parenting, most likely because they are doing more day-to-day parenting tasks.

Action Step: Position your product as a potential solution to the challenges—e.g., a food product to be eaten with others, providing time to engage family and friends.

Chart showing mothers' most life challenging roles

Key Insight 2: Black parents are more likely to have switched to a cheaper, ad-supported video and/or music streaming platform to save money.

Action Step: Make sure your products’ ads are playing on these ad-supported platforms and that they are optimized to super-serve the most likely viewers: Black parents.

Chart showing likelihood of black parents to switch streaming platforms

Key Insight 3: New-ish parents often start with an online source to gather information when a new question arises.

Action Step: Make sure you are an easily findable online resource when questions that your product addresses/solves arise in parents’ minds.

Chart on online multicultural parents using search engines

Key Insight 4: Most parents are focused on avoiding sugar and processed foods. Black parents are especially focused on salt intake, while Asian parents have a special focus on GMO products.

Action Step: Position your brand’s healthiness in terms of what it has and doesn’t have that each segment cares about—e.g., Healthy as low-salt; healthy as low-sugar.

Parents focus on ingredients chart

Other Parents & Kids Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

Bryan Miller

Bryan Miller
Director, Syndicated and Solutions

As Director of Content, Bryan leads the content team that produces all of Collage Group’s syndicated research and oversees the AdRate and BrandRate ratings products. Bryan holds a Master of Arts from Georgia State University’s Philosophy and Brains & Behavior Program, a Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of North Dakota, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in the Philosophy of Science, the Philosophy of Psychology and Bioethics. Outside of work, Bryan is a passionate film buff and lover of great food.

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The New Marketing Imperative: How Brands Win by Navigating Diverse America’s Evolving Priorities

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The New Marketing Imperative: How Brands Win by Navigating Diverse America’s Evolving Priorities

In 2022, increasing polarization on social issues revealed that America’s cultural divisions are likely here to stay. Further, it has become clear that conventional wisdom is no longer reliable, particularly in regard to where various segments stand on social matters. 

October 3, 2022
David Evans – Chief Insights Officer

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Collage Group’s Virtual Annual Member Roundtable is Thursday, Nov. 3 from 1 – 4 p.m. ET

National events are reshaping many of the priorities and perspectives of Americans in unexpected ways. The upshot is that brands may miss the mark if they assume embracing diverse segments requires aligning around a specific activist or political point of view.  

Americans expect brand actvism

To navigate this minefield, it’s necessary to deeply understand where America’s diverse consumers stand on these issues and how they respond to brand activism. 

CMO Panelists

Francesco Lagutaine

Francesco Lagutaine
Chief Marketing Officer

M&T Bank logo
Michael Smith

Michael Smith
Chief Marketing Officer

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Gary Osifchin

Gary Osifchin
Chief Marketing Officer & GM, US Hygiene

Reckitt

Here are some highlights from our agenda. Download the full agenda.

America Now 2022: Harnessing American Identity to Navigate Social Issues

Our Keystone presentation, America Now, will reveal Americans’ stances on major issues including race relations, abortion, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, and challenges with personal finances and inflation. Throughout this presentation, we will go deeper than ever before, addressing if and how Americans want brands to respond to these social issues. 

The core of our research unveils how diverse consumer segments respond to the central ideas that have driven marketing for decades, such as the belief in the American Dream. In a time of radical cultural transformation, learn how brands can activate diverse segments with these core ideas in flux.

CultureRate Ad and Brand Performance: Engage Diverse Consumers with Lessons in Cultural Fluency

In this section of the Roundtable, you’ll access insights learned from our proprietary CultureRate database as we reveal new learnings into how your brand can differentiate and win across the diverse consumer spectrum.

Whether you are targeting across all consumer segments, working to resonate with multicultural consumers generally, or targeting a specific race or ethnicity, this research covers the bases on what works and why in ads–and provides examples from the brands that are winning in each case.

Our team calls out key lessons from winning brands and ads to guide you as you plan your marketing campaigns post- mid-term elections and into the new year.

CMO Panel: Succeeding Amidst America’s Cultural Divisions

Collage Group members have thought deeply about how to successfully navigate America’s cultural divisions that are likely here to stay. In this panel discussion with Chief Marketing Officers from America’s iconic brands, including M&T Bank, NPR and Reckitt, you’ll hear directly from them about the actions they are undertaking in marketing and insights strategy to successfully navigate the new social landscape.

Don’t miss this chance to learn how to navigate the challenge of connecting with diverse American consumers–across race, ethnicity, generation, sexual identity, and gender. Reserve your spot today!

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David Evans
Chief Insights Officer

David serves as the Chief Insights Officer responsible for content, data science and innovation. He is passionate about creating the critical insights that can transform the fortunes of our members, informing how we create an unparalleled member experience with our products, and build great places to work.

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The Next Frontier: Older Gen Alpha and Younger Gen Z

The Next Frontier: Older Gen Alpha and Younger Gen Z

Are you effectively engaging the youngest – and most diverse – consumer segments in America?

September 23, 2022
Natalie Griffith – Director, Product & Content

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If not, then you’re not only missing out on forging a connection that will pay dividends for years to come, you also may be missing out on connecting with their parents, who control a sizeable portion of spending today. Keep reading to learn more about how Collage Group can help you better connect with older Gen Z, younger Gen Alpha, and their (mostly) Gen X and Millennial parents.

Read on and fill out the form for an excerpt from our
The Next Frontier: Older Gen Alpha and Younger Gen Z presentation.

There are currently more than 62 million American parents living with children under 18. These individuals constitute an outsized opportunity for brands as they’re making spending decisions for both themselves and their kids. As kids in America reach majority minority status, it’s becoming harder to know how to authentically connect with kids (and parents) of different cultural backgrounds.

To fully capture the attention of parents and kids today, organizations must learn to speak to and connect with this newest generation of families.

Collage Group’s Parents & Kids Program offers organizations the insights they need to fully understand today’s modern families and how they differ across race, ethnicity, and generation on important issues and topics, at both the consumer and category level. The fifth presentation in the Parents and Kids program, attached here as a webinar replay and PowerPoint, provides primary research on kids 6-12, as well as their parents. This research will ensure organizations appreciate the full picture of the modern American family.

Key Insight #1:Gen Alpha and Gen Z are the most racially and ethnically diverse cohorts of Americans to date. Gen Alpha is the first majority-minority generation, with only 48% of the cohort identifying as non-Hispanic White.

Rise in interracial marriages among Multicultural parents lead to diverse Gen Z and Gen Alpha generations

Context:

The increase in interracial and interethnic marriages over the past 50 years, steady immigration, and higher birthrates among multicultural women have led to an increasingly diverse population of younger Americans. In turn, the youth is coming of age surrounded by and expecting greater diversity in all aspects of life.

Action Steps:

    • Reflect America’s growing diversity in your advertising.
    • Start working now to win and build relationships with your future consumers by understanding how to best connect with culturally diverse Americans.

Key Insight #2: For kids today, standing out is the new fitting in. And differentiators have shifted too – kids view their mindsets as more differentiating than traditional markers like looks or skin color.

Kids like standing out

Context:

Kids today have grown up with diversity as the norm, so differences based on skin color or ethnicity do not stand out as strongly for them as they did for previous generations of kids. Instead, differentiators like mindset and interests are more prominent.

Action Steps:

    • Celebrate diversity along multiple facets – from interests to ethnicity

Key Insight #3: Today’s kids, especially girls, are eagerly pushing the boundaries and even rejecting the very premise of gendered play. This pushback goes well beyond the superficial elements such as packaging and shelf placement: Kids today firmly believe that toys are created for all.

Girls are rejecting gendered toys

Context:

The fact that young girls today are rejecting gender-based stereotypes in play is a logical extension of the decades’ long conversation around gendered roles and expectations. An incremental, yet powerful shift in higher education and in the workplace is erasing the lines between traditionally “gendered” careers. In popular culture, strong female-lead characters are defying the stereotype of a dainty damsel in distress. And many parents today deliberately choose to avoid such stereotyping. This shift  is both lauded by the voices promoting gender equality and derided by more conservative critics. 

Action Steps:

    • Manufacturers and retailers should watch this space closely. As kids increasingly perceive toys as gender-neutral and play with any toy they choose, brands that lean in can get first-mover advantage, especially if they can do so without getting political. But this privilege may come with a burden of some backlash, at least initially. To appeal to a broader customer base, consider offering several product line varieties or designing store layouts in a way that accommodates both mindsets.

Key Insight #4: Digital media, including on-demand streaming services, multiplayer video games, and social media platforms, dominate kids’ time and attention today. While parents continue to monitor and supervise their children’s online activity, Older Gen Alpha and Younger Gen Z are expertly and confidently navigating the digital world.

Electronics are important to kids' days

Context:

The unprecedented pace and breadth of tech innovation has allowed these digital natives to gain agency, serve their personal and collective interests (from hobbies to social causes), and amplify their voices. Peer-to-peer collaboration and connection, exposure to always-on surveillance and tracking, and a need to balance and reconcile the images they project online and in real life (IRL) will mark Gen Z and Gen Alpha segments’ relationship with people and technology for the foreseeable future.

Action Steps:

    • Meet these young consumers where they are. Where appropriate, use your digital platforms to amplify their voices.
    • Create consistent and coherent experiences across channels — both online and IRL.

Contact us at the form below to learn more about how you can gain access to these diverse consumer insights and much more in our Cultural Intelligence Platform.

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Other Recent Parents and Kids Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

Natalie Griffith

Natalie Griffith
Director, Product & Content

Natalie has over 10 years of experience in consumer insights and brand strategy, including 3+ years as lead researcher in Gartner Iconoculture’s Gen Z practice. Natalie has managed research projects across industries, including extensive work in financial services, media, technology, and food and beverage. Natalie holds a B.S. in Psychology from Tulane University.

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New Diverse Consumer Insights for Q4 2022

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New Diverse Consumer Insights for Q4 2022

More than 300 of America’s top brands have access to the deep cultural insights needed to engage America’s diverse consumers. Do you?

September 20, 2022
David Evans – Chief Insights Officer

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Here’s an overview of the new reports we’re releasing in Q4 2022 and beyond that you’re missing out on.

Contact us at the form below to learn more about how you can gain access to these
diverse consumer insights and much more in our Cultural Intelligence Platform.

2022 Virtual Members-Only Roundtable

In 2022, increasing polarization around social issues has revealed that America’s cultural divisions are likely here to stay. But it has also become clear that the conventional wisdom regarding where various segments stand on social issues is no longer fully accurate. National events are reshaping many of the priorities and perspectives of Americans in unexpected ways. The upshot is that brands may miss the mark if they assume embracing diverse segments requires aligning around a specific activist or political point of view.

To navigate this minefield, brands need a clear understanding of where Americans across diverse segments stand on these issues and how they respond to brand activism. Collage Group’s 2022 Virtual Members-Only Roundtable, featuring updates to our America Now and CultureRate research, will help brands and organizations navigate the challenge of connecting during this period of uncertainty and confusion. Attendees will walk away with insights and tools to make data-driven decisions that will maximize connection.

Category Essentials

Our category-specific research evaluates consumer attitudes and behaviors across specific consumer goods industries. New proprietary deliverables, which include deeper category insights identified by member request, will be made available for each of our four memberships throughout the fall.

Media Habits & Channels

Learn how to connect with diverse consumers by engaging them through media. This quarter we will explore Americans’ behaviors and attitudes related to various entertainment and social media (visual, social, audio). Our research centers on both traditional media and content, as well as new channel preferences.

CultureRate

Through insights gleaned from our CultureRate database, we will unveil lessons learned from top performers across diverse segments. CultureRate provides a one-stop solution for our members’ mounting need for a comprehensive, ongoing analysis of the cultural fluency of their brands. Cultural fluency is crucial to future growth as American consumers become more responsive to multicultural themes, representation, and stories. In our all-new Q4 research, learn how CultureRate continues to be an asset for companies, many which are leveraging the largest database of its kind available and growing annually by over 200,000 responses or 30 million unique datapoints.

Parents & Kids

Create a lifetime of brand loyalty by tapping into the evolving needs of parents and their children. With rapidly changing demographics, families are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Discover how your brand can leverage these insights to better engage parents and kids.

Health & Wellness

Health affects every community in America, and is a key area of interest for consumers, especially as we approach a post-pandemic America. Learn more in this exploration of diverse consumer health and wellness attitudes and behaviors, covering payers, providers, and industry insights.

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David Evans

David Evans
Chief Insights Officer

David serves as the Chief Insights Officer responsible for content, data science and innovation. He is passionate about creating the critical insights that can transform the fortunes of our members, informing how we create an unparalleled member experience with our products, and build great places to work.

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5 Key Findings on American Parents

5 Key Findings on American Parents

Learn how American parents differ from their non-parent peers with respect to key cultural values such as community-seeking, optimism, and being culture-focused. The presentation uses both a gender and race/ethnicity lens to unearth in-depth insights about both moms and dads.

August 1, 2022
Bryan Miller – Director, Syndicated and Solutions

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America’s leading brands know that a key strategy for maintaining and growing market share is to connect with parents. The reasoning behind this is twofold. First, it allows brands to capture mind and wallet share of individuals (parents) that are often making decisions for multiple people at once (themselves and their kids). Second, it allows brands to begin building a relationship with kids through their parents–the payoff here is the kids’ loyalty in the future.

Read on and fill out the form for an excerpt from our
Activate American Parents Through Culture:2  presentation.

Collage group’s newest research within the Parents & Kids program provides insights brands can use to execute on this family-focused strategy. We provide data-driven insights and action steps brands can use to deepen their connection with American parents and the children they are raising.  This current study reveals how American parents differ from their non-parent peers with respect to key cultural values such as community-seeking, optimism, and being culture-focused. The presentation uses both a gender and race/ethnicity lens to unearth in-depth insights about both moms and dads.

Below are 3 key findings and action steps from this study you can use to drive better connection with these key decision-makers. 

    1. Parents are inherently optimistic about the future, including achieving success. Recognize parents’ optimism by leaning on themes that speak to bright days ahead, while being careful not to discount current worries and hardships. Appeal to parents’ desire to achieve their goals, particularly in the context of having a family and multiple obligations, by showing how your products will help them find the time to do everything they need—and want—to do.
    2. Parents, especially multicultural parents, prioritize cultural heritage and stewardship. Celebrate the importance of cultural heritage and passing on traditions in families, while reminding consumers how your products can support this.
    3. Dads are more likely than men without kids to open up about their emotions. Highlight dads’ emotional, less reserved, and caring side in your marketing efforts. Recognize and validate in communications that dads also go through changes once they have children, which are often not as visible.

Contact us at the form below to learn more about how you can gain access to these diverse consumer insights and much more in our Cultural Intelligence Platform.

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Other Recent Parents & Kids Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

Bryan Miller

Bryan Miller
Director, Syndicated and Solutions

As Director of Content, Bryan leads the content team that produces all of Collage Group’s syndicated research and oversees the AdRate and BrandRate ratings products. Bryan holds a Master of Arts from Georgia State University’s Philosophy and Brains & Behavior Program, a Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of North Dakota, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in the Philosophy of Science, the Philosophy of Psychology and Bioethics. Outside of work, Bryan is a passionate film buff and lover of great food.

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In Wake of Higher Prices, Grocery Shoppers Buy Cheaper Brands, Make Fewer Purchases

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In Wake of Higher Prices, Grocery Shoppers Buy Cheaper Brands, Make Fewer Purchases

As prices for everyday items continue to soar, a number of Americans find themselves priced out of buying certain products, and others are able to afford but refuse to pay the steeper costs.

August 1, 2022
Quintin Simmons – Public Relations & Communications Manager

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When it comes to grocery shopping the choice to not buy isn’t a realistic option. Inflation has taken a noticeable toll on the cost of goods of all kinds, from home purchases to vehicle buys. The grocery store is no exception.

Fill out the form for more details in an excerpt of our Category Essential on Food.

To contend with higher grocery bills, a segment of shoppers have changed their shopping habits. Overall, most shoppers reported that they have decided to select cheaper brands, or they have opted to purchase fewer items.

Across racial and ethnicity lines, the reaction to grocery price hikes has been largely similar. Hispanic, Black, and Asian American consumers were more likely to report changing where they shop. These three groups also said they have stopped or have reduced making bulk food purchases.

All three segments – plus White American shoppers – said that affordability is indeed a factor when they decide which foods to buy. Of the White Americans polled, 78% answered that they often or always make a special effort to buy foods that are affordable. Black shoppers also see affordability as an important factor, as 73% responded in kind. Close behind them were Asians at 72%. 

Americans Food Choices

When asked what matters most when choosing a store for grocery shopping, 57% of all races responded, “low prices.” Moreover, collectively 42% of Hispanic, Black, Asians, and Whites said they recently decided to purchase cheaper items or generic brands due to the higher grocery costs. Some have bought less groceries and a portion have decided to shop for food elsewhere.

As prices and food bills continue to mount, buyers of all backgrounds have taken notice, and many are making adjustments.

Fill out the form below to learn more about how you can access the full report.

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Quintin Simmons

Quintin Simmons
Public Relations & Communications Manager

Quintin Simmons is Public Relations & Communications manager at Collage Group. He has over two decades of journalism and communications experience, having written and edited for a variety of publications, and servicing as media rep for a number of national outlets. Quintin, a communications and media relations expert, is always looking to connect and engage with writers and reporters.

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Authentically Engage Multicultural America Now

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Authentically Engage Multicultural America Now

Collage Group joins The Quirk’s Event for a Conversation About Understanding & Engaging Multicultural America Now.

June 29, 2022
David Wellisch – CEO and Co-Founder

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It’s no secret that over the past two years, multicultural consumers have changed how they evaluate and view brands.

But, do brands truly know how multicultural American consumers’—responsible for more than 100 percent of total population growth—have changed since the unprecedented social, economic and public health upheavals since 2020? Or how to effectively engage them through advertising?

Fill out the form to download an excerpt from the presentation and read on for further insights.

Read on and fill out the form for an excerpt from our
Authentically Engage Multicultural America Now presentation.

To answer this question and more, I was joined by my colleagues David Evans, Collage Group Chief Insights Officer, and Jack Mackinnon, Director of Product & Content, to present at the Quirk’s Event in New York City: a valuable collection of sessions and networking opportunities with leaders in the marketing research and insights field.

Previous
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In the first part of our session, which included highlights from our “America Now” study, Jack Mackinnon unveiled key changes in Asian, Black and Hispanic consumers’ attitudes and priorities since 2020. Attendees learned what these changes in perspectives mean for their brands, such as how to support the changing landscape of diverse American consumers.

One key takeaway from America Now: when brands that act on social movements, they are more likely to connect with multicultural consumers. However, brands also must accurately portray diverse stories and communities while ensuring that they are being authentic themselves.

Currently, many multicultural Americans are not satisfied with how they are being portrayed by brands. Which means there is an important opportunity for brands to explore how they are portraying multicultural consumers and ensure those representations are authentic. Consumers want brands to portray race and ethnicity accurately, but also want them to include the unique stories that are often not portrayed in advertising. This requires brands dig deeper into multicultural Americans and their stories and develop the diverse advertising campaigns more likely to connect across multicultural consumer groups.

Furthermore, shying away from action on social movements can be harmful for brands, specifically among younger consumer groups, and requires much more than running diverse ad campaigns. In fact, 25% of Black consumers and 21% of Hispanic consumers say they will stop buying from brands that do not take a stance on a social or political issues that are important to them. And for all multicultural consumers, they want to see diversity woven throughout the organization, including internal diversity vs. simply limiting support for a cause to an advertising campaign.

Brands must "practice what they preach"

So then how do brands ensure they are connecting with multicultural Americans authentically? The answer is in embedding Cultural Fluency throughout the organization–to engage efficiently and effectively across consumer segments.

In his presentation explaining the “halo effect” of diverse advertising, David Evans explained that Cultural Fluency is an emerging marketing mandate that can no longer be understood as a sideshow to the main act of “mainstream marketing.” It’s a necessary component for connection and growth among multicultural American consumers.

David explained that Culturally Fluent ads that aim to connect with a single story or community can have a halo effect across other consumer segments. For example, many Black and Hispanic centered segmented campaigns halo across other segments, allowing brands to reach even more consumers authentically, especially if the focus is on the “story”. Further White consumers are also responding well to multicultural ads.

We know this because help brands succeed with Cultural Fluent advertising, Collage Group created CultureRate, which leverages 10+ years of research and expertise in the survey design methods needed to understand diverse America. CultureRate is generating 30+ million datapoints annually, with nearly one million consumer responses collected since 2018. It allows our research team–and member brands–to reference the largest database of culturally focused consumer response to ads and brands growing at an annual rate of 100-120 ads, 50,000 of responses or 9 million datapoints.

From an deep analysis of this database, David and his team have unveiled 4 key areas for advertisers to take action on to increase their ROI from the halo effects. Download the excerpt above from the presentation to learn more.

Thank you again to our peers and partners at Quirk’s Media for the opportunity to share this important research. Contact us below to learn how membership to our cultural intelligence platform will help your brand harness cultural insights for growth.

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David Wellisch

David Wellisch
CEO and Co-Founder

David Wellisch is CEO & Co-Founder of Collage Group, a consumer insights and intelligence company with a focus on research exploring race/ethnicity, generation, sexuality and gender. Since the inception of Collage Group in 2009, David has led the company through growth, now serving more than 200 brands in across 15 industries. David is passionate about entrepreneurship and company building, and often works directly with members to help guide the integration of multicultural consumer insights and marketing strategies.

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Collage Group Raises $25 Million in Growth Capital to Continue to Fuel Member Engagement with Diverse Consumers

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Collage Group Raises $25 Million in Growth Capital to Continue to Fuel Member Engagement with Diverse Consumers

June 29, 2022
David Wellisch – CEO and Co-Founder

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With deep humility, pride, and excitement, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Collage Group has raised $25 million in growth capital led by Boston-based growth equity firm Wavecrest Growth Partners, with participation from Dennis Ainge, an industry veteran and investor.  This new funding will be used to continue to accelerate our robust growth and further invest in our technology infrastructure and product innovation, thus continuing to support America’s iconic consumer brands in their journey toward Cultural Fluency.

I could not be more grateful for the honor and opportunity that our brand partners have provided our team, allowing us to serve as their cultural partner. I am truly inspired by the current moment and feel responsible to continue to innovate given today’s complex climate in America. Such forward-looking development will help brands to continue to super serve Diverse America, and, in doing so, amplify the voices of under-represented consumers. I would also like to take this occasion to thank our talented team at Collage Group, who are mission driven, committed to the cause, and at the ready to do what it takes to serve our member brands.

As America’s demographic landscape continues to shift through the accelerated growth of diverse consumers, it is imperative for brands to deeply understand this cultural transformation across race, ethnicity, generation, sexuality, and family relationships. Collage Group was founded on this mission­–to help corporations unleash the power of culture to drive brand growth.

Since 2009, we’ve grown our first mover Cultural Intelligence Platform to be the leading SaaS platform in the space, which now includes four unique data and insights offerings–Multicultural, Generations, LGBTQ+ & Gender and Parents & Kids. The insights and best practices available in the Platform, as well as our custom research and advisory solutions, offer more than 300 of America’s iconic brands continued support. Effectively engaging and resonating with today’s American consumer is a challenging mandate. Our insights, data, and tools have become an important enabler to effectively engage and connect with diverse America, while at the same time generate incremental ROI.

Our investors echo our excitement:

“The spending power of diverse consumers represents most of the potential growth opportunity for America’s leading B2C brands. Furthermore, the current U.S. social environment necessitates a greater understanding of the wants and needs of these consumers. We believe Collage Group provides an essential data and service offering to empower and enable revenue growth, and its traction with over 300 top brands speaks for itself. We’re very excited to be partnering with David and his team to help them capitalize on the market opportunity. Our investment will continue to fuel the company’s growth by expanding the depth of their team, their technological infrastructure and product innovation, and their sales and marketing efforts.”

- Deepak Sindwani, Managing Partner at Wavecrest

“During the past seven years, I’ve watched David assemble an incredible team of professionals who have a passion for evangelizing the benefits of Collage Group’s unique solutions for America’s top brands. The strength of this team, Collage Group’s existing and planned solutions, and the combined value-add of the Wavecrest team guarantees a very bright future for Collage Group and the more than 300 brands they support.”

- Dennis Ainge, founding executive of TARGUSinfo and former Neustar executive

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David Wellisch

David Wellisch
CEO and Co-Founder

David Wellisch is CEO & Co-Founder of Collage Group, a consumer insights and intelligence company with a focus on research exploring race/ethnicity, generation, sexuality and gender. Since the inception of Collage Group in 2009, David has led the company through growth, now serving more than 200 brands in across 15 industries. David is passionate about entrepreneurship and company building, and often works directly with members to help guide the integration of multicultural consumer insights and marketing strategies.

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