From Rituals To Revenue: How Everyday Behaviours Can Fuel Brand Meaning

Building lasting brand connections isn’t just a goal; it’s essential in today’s fast-paced, choice-saturated market. As consumers seek structure, meaning and moments of respite, brands that integrate with consumers' rituals—daily, deeply personal practices—have a unique chance to create genuine, lasting loyalty.

Harnessing the Power of Rituals: Where Marketing Meets Meaning by MSQ and WARC Advisory, explores the powerful role these rituals play in peoples’ lives and how brands can leverage these emotional touchpoints to foster deeper connections.

The analysis combines a survey of 4,000 consumers across Germany, France, UK and the US, and in-depth expert interviews with marketers, culture experts, behavioural scientists and neuroscientists.

In addition, through utilising its Texture tool to analyse over 688,000 social media data sources and 200 million search data points, Freemavens (an MSQ agency) unearthed eight Ritual Types that show a range of individualised and collective behaviours within three specific categories - Personal Care, Alcoholic Beverages, Finances.

The research highlights that 72 per cent of consumers weave brands into their personal rituals, presenting brands with a significant opportunity to forge deeper emotional ties. In a marketplace saturated with options, engaging consumers on an emotional level has never been more crucial.

Rituals play a key role in helping individuals regain a sense of stability and control in their lives. According to the survey, the top three benefits people experience from rituals are structure (33 per cent), escape (32 per cent), and a sense of control (31 per cent). Consumers are now looking for brands that understand their lifestyles and can offer solutions that fit seamlessly into their daily rituals, making this an opportune moment for brands to innovate and adapt.

Through extensive unpromoted consumer data MSQ’s Freemavens identified eight types of consumer rituals that offer brands a blueprint for building lasting relationships.

• Security

• Maintenance

• Celebration

• Identity

• Commencement

• Connection

• Enhancement

• Calming

These insights could transform how brands approach marketing, offering a new way to achieve relevance and distinctiveness by understanding their consumers’ desire for different types of rituals and the roles their brands can authentically play

To understand how brands can meaningfully tap into these insights, MSQ's Kit Altin, CSO of The Gate and Eleanor Lloyd Malcolm, managing director at Freemavens, share their perspectives on the power of rituals and the collaborative research process behind their findings. They discuss how brands can connect with consumers by embedding themselves in the everyday moments that matter, ultimately enhancing engagement and fostering lasting meaning.

What was the motivation behind conducting this research?

Kit Altin: When we approach research, we aim to create something rich, meaningful and different. The reality is that the marketing industry is flooded with research, projects, and press releases that often feel like the same old BS. We wanted to break away from that and draw inspiration from fields beyond marketing—like anthropology, culture, neuroscience, and behavioural science.

We were particularly inspired by the work Orlando Wood (chief innovation officer of the System1 Group) did with the IPA, which led to his books Lemon and Look Out. Those works explored rich subjects like neurology and art history. Our goal was to create something similarly textured, steering clear of the usual nonsense.

The topic of rituals felt like the perfect opportunity to achieve this. It aligned with our strengths as a multidisciplinary group, allowing us to apply various perspectives to a complex subject. The multifaceted nature of rituals suited our diverse teams and enabled us to explore the topic deeply.

Eleanor Lloyd Malcolm: What excites us about the conversation around rituals is that they have existed since the dawn of human society, yet they still hold relevance today. They are an incredibly powerful human tool, and we wanted to delve deeper into why that is.

There's a lot of focus on driving efficiency in marketing, but what the best brands do so effectively is understand deep human behaviour and their role in people's lives. This exploration of rituals felt like a compelling way to reach that understanding.

MSQ's cross-agency collaboration played a critical role in this project. Can you explain how the expertise from The Gate, Freemavens and the US team contributed to the research's success?

Lloyd Malcolm: We initiated this research in collaboration with WARC, conducting interviews with experts such as behavioural scientists and cultural anthropologists to explore the question: Why do rituals exist? In partnership with WARC, we also carried out a comprehensive quantitative survey to understand what modern rituals look like in today’s society, examining key themes and their prevalence across global markets—not just in the UK, but also in Europe and the US.

We then applied our advanced analytics tool, Texture, to this quantitative data to delve deeper into the conversations surrounding the identified rituals. We explored the rich verbal and visual dialogues people have around concepts like celebration or the way they start their day. We aimed to uncover genuine stories that surfaced, as well as insights into what’s growing versus declining. The analysis from Texture provided a clear sense of what’s happening today and enabled us to identify the eight Ritual Types most prevalent in culture and across key categories.

To understand how the eight Ritual Types manifested across global markets we conducted ethnographic observation, gleaning rich insight on how people achieve the emotional transformation they sought.

Additionally, we engaged with senior marketing leaders from across North America, Europe and Asia, to understand how they are incorporating rituals into their planning cycles and what they observe within their categories. This integrated approach to research allowed us to gain a holistic view of why rituals are important, what’s happening today, and how different categories are responding.

Altin: So many people across the whole group contributed to the success of this project. We came together from different disciplines, creating a lovely Venn diagram where we all share elements. The project is led by three strategists from The Gate, Freemavens, and MSQ US—each of us bringing unique strengths and perspectives.

Everyone played a part, supported by teams assisting us with various tasks, alongside WARC as our research partner and all the experts who contributed. It was a true collaborative effort, with everyone actively engaged—interviewing CMOs, diving into ethnographic results, and more. This experience really showcased the power of a multi-disciplinary team.

Lloyd Malcolm: While there was a core team involved, we also leveraged the wider MSQ network, which allows us to consider the implications across the marketing mix. For instance, once we understand these deep human rituals, we can examine how they affect media strategies and the way we build digital experiences.

It’s essential to consider how these insights impact the entire journey that a customer or consumer goes through with a brand throughout their lives. This broader perspective not only enhanced our approach to the research but also illuminated how others can apply these findings effectively.

Why are rituals such a relevant focus right now?

Altin: One of the reasons we were excited to delve into this is that it’s an incredibly rich area with real potency for brands, and no one else has really dug into it yet. We wanted to open up something new.

Rituals are among our most ancient behaviours, and they’re never going to go away. If we still have them now, they will always persist. The question becomes: how are they evolving? How are they changing? What do we need to know about them, and how do we harness their potential?

It might sound cliché, but we’re living in interesting times, and that gives us more material to explore around rituals. There are significant societal and cultural shifts happening that mean people are adopting and utilizing rituals in different ways. They’re using rituals to help themselves cope with the complexities of the world around them.

The relevance of rituals today is truly endless. Ultimately, they help us transition from one emotional state to another. Whether we’re responding to a world of endless chaos or a culture that prizes relentless efficiency, rituals have never been more important because we need that support. They’re not just a panacea for when things go wrong; they also elevate our experiences. They’ve always been relevant, and based on our research, they are only becoming more so.

Have any brands reached out to you for engagement following the release?

Lloyd Malcolm: Not only did we receive an amazing response and have great conversations at Cannes from the preliminary research headline, but it also sparked numerous discussions among attendees. Following the release of the white paper, we’ve seen incredible engagement with the downloads—people are diving deep into the content and eager to learn more. Several global clients have reached out to us to run tailored sessions with their teams to explore what this means for them, and we’ve been facilitating strategic planning workshops based on that.

What’s crucial is how the concept of rituals gets embedded into their broader planning frameworks. We’ve had fantastic conversations across various categories. While we expected interest from FMCG brands, we’ve also seen strong engagement from sectors like financial services. What’s truly exciting is that it feels relevant to a wide range of categories and global clients.

What other categories do you think would benefit from this?

Lloyd Malcolm: Any category can benefit from this approach. It’s fundamentally about human behaviour. Some categories, particularly those with high-frequency behaviours, like food and beverage or personal care, may seem more relevant because they involve everyday rituals occurring constantly. However, even something as routine as getting into your car has its own rituals and meaningful roles, facilitating our journeys from one place to another.

In our research, we also focused on financial services, which was crucial for us. We examined both high-interest categories like wellbeing and low-interest categories like services. In today’s volatile world, people are seeking control in their lives, and the role that financial services or insurance can play is critical. If we can foster more meaningful interactions in those moments, that’s incredibly powerful.

What signs can marketers look for to know they’ve been accepted into a consumer’s personal rituals, and how can they keep that trust over time?

Altin: There are two parts to this. First, we have obvious examples—brands that have been around for ages and have pushed hard on rituals, like Guinness, Oreo, or Kit Kat. They’ve integrated these rituals into the culture, which is fantastic. It takes significant time and investment to make that happen, but if you can achieve it, that’s great.

On the other side, there’s something potentially more interesting, especially for brands that haven’t yet ventured into this space. Here, you can start to observe the size of behaviours around your brand that are just beginning to emerge. For instance, in FMCG, it might be how people interact with packaging or the way they consume a product. In other categories, it could manifest differently, but the key is to identify these organic, nascent behaviours that are starting to bubble up.

There will be specific behaviours forming around your product or service, and that’s where you can begin to play a role. The challenge is to think about how you can facilitate this. How can you breathe life into it? How can you support it and turn it into something larger?

What we’ve discovered is that it’s often more effective to enhance and facilitate existing behaviours rather than trying to create something from scratch. The exciting part is that for many brands and categories, these organic behaviours are already there. They might start small, perhaps within tight-knit groups, but they have the potential to grow significantly.

Lloyd Malcolm: Where brands are getting it really right and responding effectively is when they genuinely observe what people are doing naturally with their products and categories. It's essential to think with a wide-angle perspective—not just looking at how someone engages with my chocolate bar, coffee brand, or moisturizer, but more broadly, considering what’s happening in the entire category.

Brands should keenly observe how consumers are hacking different services or products to make them more useful and meaningful in their lives. What are they doing to enhance their experiences? It’s also vital to engage in dialogue with clients about these insights. The brands that embrace this holistic approach are the ones that will see rituals beginning to weave themselves into the fabric of their customers' lives.

How do you measure success when a brand becomes part of a consumer’s ritual?

Lloyd Malcolm: Ultimately, this is about embedding brands more deeply into people’s lives. Metrics like penetration or consumer lifetime value come into play here. We haven’t proven that out just yet—it’s something we’ll continue to explore in chapter two. But in the end, it’s all about finding ways to weave those brands into people’s lives more often.

Another thing we found is this idea of scope and breadth. Once a brand becomes known for a moment, for an emotional transformation, you can essentially bottle that up and bring it into wider contexts. Take Magnum ice cream, for example. That crunch into the chocolate instantly conjures a sense of summer and pure indulgence. And if you look at their Cannes-winning ad this year, they took that brand idea and transposed it into winter: the moment sunlight breaks through, you crunch into the chocolate and are instantly transported to summer, to a moment of joy. So, if you truly understand the assets and emotional role your brand plays, you can expand the scope and the conversation you’re able to have with consumers.

Altin: The magic in rituals for brands is that their elements can be deeply idiosyncratic. One of the things we’ve discovered is that, while rituals used to be more rigid—tied to big collectives where only certain things by certain people could be part of them, like religious or cultural rituals—today, people are creating them with whatever they’ve got. And that’s powerful because it means your brand could be part of that.

Even better, once something becomes part of a ritual, it’s tough to replace. If someone’s ritual before a big meeting is to drink a can of Coke, then Pepsi simply won’t do. That’s how rituals work—they rely on particular ingredients that create a personal transformation. So, for brands, there’s a loyalty factor in play, and it’s lasting because, as we found in our research, people often stick with their rituals for five years or more. It’s a loyalty play and a longevity play all in one.

But there’s also the meaning and emotional side. We know that, unfortunately, people don’t care about brands—or at least, not as much as we’d like them to. But if your brand is part of someone’s ritual, then it becomes part of something they do care about, something meaningful to them. And suddenly, your brand has a far stronger emotional connection with that person.

How can marketers create rituals that resonate with consumers and stand out in a crowded media landscape?

Altin: In today’s world of fandoms and passionate communities, there’s always going to be a tribe out there for your brand. And if you can elevate your brand to that emotional platform, you’ll naturally find the people you're meant to connect with.

We’re especially interested in exploring what rituals at scale mean in Chapter Two. Rituals often feel very individual, almost idiosyncratic to smaller groups, which brings up the question—how do you scale that for a global brand? You wouldn’t want to activate a ritual with only five people in London if you're aiming to resonate worldwide. We don’t have a full answer yet, but it’s something we're keen to explore.

Then there’s the challenge of standing out. Working with retail clients, we see these moments throughout the year that tend to follow predictable seasonal rhythms—"step into autumn with new boots," or "It’s summer, bring out the bronzer." But looking through a ritual lens instantly pushes you beyond these standard seasonal campaigns—Christmas, back-to-school, what have you—into a far richer, more original space.

For marketers and brands, what are some of the key takeaways from this research?

Lloyd Malcolm: It’s about understanding and facilitating moments, rather than imposing a ritual. Our advice to clients is not to sit in a boardroom and dream up a clever ritual to impose on people’s lives. It’s more about observing what people are already doing within the broader moment of your category. In personal care, for instance, how are people preparing for the day? What are the steps, the processes, the rituals, the emotions they go through? And what role does your product or service genuinely play in that journey?

Authenticity is crucial—don’t try to hack your way into a ritual where your brand has no real place. And then, bring your distinctiveness to it.

Lately, we’ve had some interesting conversations with clients about keeping things simple. What are your key brand assets at that moment? And it’s not only about visuals. It might be a sound, a feeling, a small detail. Think about Apple packaging—the act of unwrapping is a ritual in itself. Or the classic Kit Kat moment of running your finger down the foil, or the lime in a Corona. These assets trigger the emotional shifts people crave, wherever they are.

One of my key reflections is that rituals have the power to transform people’s lives from routine, black-and-white habits into something vibrant, emotional, and Technicolor. This is a powerful insight, especially for marketers. In a world focused on efficiency and automation, many businesses gather consumer insights at scale, which can risk becoming impersonal. But understanding rituals can bring real depth to our understanding of who we’re serving, keeping businesses genuinely consumer-first. It breathes life into customer relationships in a vivid way that enhances both relevance and distinctiveness, giving brands a competitive edge. And that's why, for us, this approach is genuinely exciting.

What’s next for Ritualized in terms of expanding on these findings?

Altin: For us, this was always intended as a long-term platform, and we feel like we've only just scratched the surface. There’s so much more depth we want to explore—different types of rituals we’ve uncovered, how they manifest across categories, and what they look like in different parts of the world. That would be incredibly rich. We've touched on it lightly, but diving into it would be fascinating. And then there are generational shifts—how younger cohorts are redefining and reinventing rituals compared to older generations. There’s so much to unpack, and we’re excited about where we're heading in Chapter Two.

Lloyd Malcolm: There are markets we didn’t cover fully in the first round of research but we believe it holds immense potential for exploration in how rituals manifest differently in different cultures. We're keen to understand both the commonalities and the expected differences across regions. As Kit mentioned, what we’ve established in our research is a framework for thinking about rituals. We identified eight key Ritual Types, fundamentally grounded in a needs and motivation framework. However, what those traditional frameworks often overlook is the emotional shift that people seek in those moments and the specific types of rituals they display.

Diving into these nuances and their implications for different categories is incredibly interesting. We’re also keen to further explore category roles. What’s fascinating, based on our conversations with clients, is how this research is prompting them to think differently about their brand roles. Take alcohol, for example; it's undergoing a significant shift in how it fits into people's lives. Our findings are helping brands rethink not just the role they play but also where they can effectively engage. It’s a captivating area of inquiry.

The full report can be downloaded here.