• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 16, 2021

Research company MotivBase has launched a new weekly podcast called "Why Meaning Matters."

The podcast debuts Sept. 16 and is hosted by journalist Erin Trafford and MotivBase co-founders Ujwal Arkalgud and Jason Partridge.  

The series will explore implicit meanings behind what consumers talk about. That exploration is designed to shed light on how meaning shapes our experience and expectations. 

The podcast is aligned with the company’s research approach — studying businesses through the lens of cultural anthropology to decode the implicit meanings behind what consumers talk about. 

The first episode will cover how meaning shapes everything and why going beyond what people say, and exploring the "why" behind it, can predict the future. 

Founded in 2015 by CEO Arkalgud and company president Partridge, MotivBase was an early user of big data to study and decode implicit and symbol meaning and deliver ethnographic research to Fortune 500 companies worldwide.

“Culture is always changing because the meanings people associate with topics and trends are constantly in flux,” said Arkalgud.  “But when you study and measure these shifts in meaning, you can start to predict where the world is headed.” 

Future podcast topics include the changing dynamics of masculinity, mood management and motherhood.