Sam McNerney

Consumer insights & research lead in Brooklyn

I help brands and agencies figure out who to talk to, how to position themselves, and what to say. Mostly by asking people better questions, then turning what they tell me into an argument a team can act on. Consumer insights lead with 10+ years of helping brands and agencies decide who to target, how to position, and what to say. Founded Publicis North America's first behavioral science unit. Since 2020, founder of McNerney Insights & Marketing, serving clients across food and beverage, CPG, publishing, fintech, and the public sector.

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I've spent years telling clients that stiff, corporate questions get stiff, corporate answers. So here's my resume both ways.

How I got here

2008–2011

Hamilton College · B.A., Philosophy

Studied philosophy, which turned out to be four years of noticing how the way you ask a question shapes the answer you get. Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy. Graduated 2011.
2011–2013

Freelance Writer

Started a psychology blog right out of school. Within a year it went from about 500 monthly readers to 30,000 and got cited in the New York Times. Then I wrote “Moments of Genius,” a blog on the psychology of creativity, for Big Think. Built two psychology blogs (Why We Reason; Big Think's “Moments of Genius”) to 400,000+ combined page views. Both cited in the New York Times' “The Stone.”
2012

BBH · Intern

Spent three months at BBH after my three-person team won the agency's internship competition. Our pitch, Good Books, had celebrities each write and design one page of a children's book. Earned a three-month internship at Bartle Bogle Hegarty by winning its internship competition on a three-person team, pitching “Good Books,” a concept in which celebrities each write and design one page of a children's book.
2013–2014

Simon & Schuster · Executive Editor, 250 Words

Launched 250 Words, a daily business publication. Nine months in, it had 400,000 page views and 7,000 subscribers, and I'd interviewed people like Arianna Huffington, Andrew Yang, and Robert Sutton. Launched a daily business publication that reached 400,000 page views and 7,000 subscribers in nine months. Interviewed leaders including Arianna Huffington, Andrew Yang, and Robert Sutton. Built cross-publishing partnerships with Fortune, Fast Company, and Inc.
2015–2020

Publicis North America · Behavioral Science & Insights Lead

Publicis North America didn't have a behavioral science team, so I started one: me and one direct report. We ran research for Oral-B, Swiffer, Bounty, Citi, and Merck, and built three tools (Prospect, Crosshairs, and Madeleine) that got used across the agency and the wider Publicis network. Founded the agency's first behavioral science unit and led it as a two-person team, managing one direct report. Led research engagements for Oral-B, Swiffer, Bounty, Citi, and Merck. Co-built three research tools (Prospect, Crosshairs, and Madeleine) used across the agency and the wider Groupe network.
2020

Flamingo · Principal, Behavioral Science & Analytics

A London-based cultural insights consultancy brought me on to build its quant practice in North America. I started in March 2020, so you can guess how that went. Recruited by the London-based cultural insights consultancy to build new quantitative research products and grow its North American business.
2020–now

McNerney Insights & Marketing · Founder

Went out on my own. Since then I've run research for brands like Nespresso, Condé Nast, and Cleo, and agencies like Giant Spoon and Shepherd. Most of it answers some version of the same three questions: who should we target, how should we position, and what should we say? Lead end-to-end quantitative studies for brands and agencies, including audience segmentation, brand positioning, and message testing, from framing the business question through analysis and recommendations.
2023–now

The City College of New York · Adjunct Professor

I also teach Consumer Behavior & Persuasion to graduate students in City College's Branding & Integrated Communications program. Teach Consumer Behavior & Persuasion in the graduate Branding & Integrated Communications program.

Results for clients

The newsletter is where I experiment. This is where the work changed something in the room. Selected client outcomes, endorsements, and project wins.

pitch
win

via

February 1, 2025

Helped Giant Spoon win the Olipop business.

Research that shaped the pitch and gave the team an argument that landed.

Wanted to share some great news — we won the Olipop business. Your research was a huge part of the conversation and won hearts and minds. Looking forward to working more together in the very…

— Corbin, Giant Spoon

CMO
praise

via

October 30, 2024

Research and strategy work earned direct praise from Lyft’s CMO.

A reminder that when the research section is good, people notice it — not just researchers, but the client’s senior leadership.

It went extremely well. The CMO and I were JUST talking about how we were so impressed by the research and strategy sections today.

— Corbin, Giant Spoon

statewide
campaign

via

2025–2026

Ran the statewide survey behind Texas’s water-awareness campaign.

Designed and analyzed the study, then presented the findings to the agency’s communications leadership.

Quote coming.

long-term
partner

2022–2024

Three years as Cleo’s brand tracking and research partner.

Ongoing consumer research and broader brand tracking work, not as a one-off project but as a trusted research relationship.

US market research contractor who has supported us with our consumer research & broader brand tracking surveys to date.

— Roxanne Nejad, CMO, Cleo

retail +
investors

2021–2022

Awareness work that ended up in investor and retailer decks.

Helped Hydrant on pack-claims work and an aided/unaided awareness study that became useful well beyond the research team itself.

The aided/unaided awareness study work you did for us has been super helpful and is being used in pitch decks by my team to retailers and by me to investors.

— John Sherwin, Founder, Hydrant

Research I run for my newsletter

Every week I run a small study on something nobody asked about and write it up for my newsletter. It's my lab for trying new methods. It's also my proof that research doesn't have to die in a deck: about [X] people read it each week, and GeoGuessr's Head of Growth reached out after I published a piece about the game. Publisher of a weekly newsletter featuring original consumer research, read by approximately [X] subscribers. Published studies have generated inbound interest from companies including GeoGuessr.

“This is fantastic. I just forwarded this to the whole agency.”

[Name, title, company]

Audience segmentation

North American sports fandom

A segmentation of North American sports fandom, showing the different ways fans cluster around teams and leagues.

What a brand could do with it: See how fandom breaks into distinct groups, then decide which kind of fan a product, sponsorship, or campaign should speak to.

Read the study