Our Mindsets of Maine research put a number on something Maine business leaders have probably understood for a while. Mainers will enthusiastically recommend this state as a place to live — Net Promoter Score of +38. Ask them whether they’d recommend it as a place to start or grow a business, and that number drops […]
LD 1822 is dead. But it exposed something most Maine businesses haven’t thought through. Last night, the Maine House voted down LD 1822 for the final time, 70-79. The Maine Online Data Privacy Act, which had been the most lobbied bill in the Legislature for two consecutive sessions, is officially done.
Most marketing problems don’t announce themselves clearly. The strategy made sense when it was built. The creative is thoughtful. The investment is real. And yet, when the campaign is reviewed, someone in the room says what everyone is already thinking: “This should be working better than it is.” The instinct is usually to adjust the […]
Over the past few years, we’ve been studying how people in Maine actually approach decisions. Not just where they live, how old they are, or what industry they work in, but how they think. What builds trust. What raises skepticism. What makes them feel a message is meant for them. One of the clearest patterns […]
Over the years, I’ve been in plenty of rooms where a leadership team is reviewing campaign results and someone finally says, “This should be working better than it is.”
The meeting that makes it obvious something’s off is usually the one where all the activity looks the same, but the results don’t. The team is doing what it’s always done. Campaigns are running. Channels are active. Ideas are being added. And yet, performance hasn’t moved the way anyone expected it to. That’s often the […]
After sharing our recent piece on insight gaps, the responses were telling. Not pushback. Not debate. But recognition. Several leaders reached out to say some version of the same thing: Yes. That’s exactly what it feels like. The organization is active. The team is capable. Work is getting done. And yet, clarity doesn’t feel as […]
How Strong Organizations Drift Without Realizing It This week, we’re taking a brief step back from sharing insights about Maine to talk instead about why insights themselves matter so much, and why acknowledging their role in good decision-making was one of the reasons we created the Maine Insights Lab in the first place. One of the […]
As you step into 2026, here’s a simple truth: no matter what industry you’re in, your success this year depends on your ability to communicate clearly with the people you serve. And the most effective messages are the ones that feel like they were written for the way your audience sees the world. So here’s […]
As we wrap up 2025, here’s a little gift from the Maine Insights Lab: a fun way to spot the three dominant Mindsets of Maine—Proud Mainers, Change Seekers, and Disparagers—right in your living room. Think of it as bingo for people-watching. Recent national research shows that nearly 70% of Americans say they actually enjoy talking […]
Being real works better than being impressive, especially in Maine. One of the clearest patterns we see working with Maine-based organizations is this: people may say they want innovation and aspiration, but their buying behavior tells a different story. Recent studies show 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor in choosing which brands […]
Why the same message won’t work everywhere, even inside one state. Maine may be a single state on a map, but it’s home to multiple mindsets that shape how people think, act, and buy.In our proprietary Mindsets of Maine research, we identified three attitudinal groups that drive much of the state’s marketing behavior: Change Seekers, […]