Clearwater & Syno: supporting fast-turnaround consumer research for M&A advisory

When M&A advisory work involves consumer-facing companies, reliable consumer insight can be an important part of the process.

Through a long-term collaboration with Syno, Clearwater has established an efficient way to access high-quality consumer data for both Swedish and other international projects when timelines are tight.

The Challenge

In M&A processes, much of the focus is placed on financial audits, business performance, and desktop analysis of the market, competition, and category trends.

For companies that engage directly with consumers, that is only part of the picture. Understanding how consumers view brands in a category can also be an important input.

The challenge is that M&A timelines move fast. Consumer insight is needed quickly, but it also needs to be reliable.

The Approach

Through its long-term relationship with Syno, Clearwater has established a standardized research setup.

When Clearwater needs consumer insight for a category, this setup helps projects move quickly. Agreed pricing, pre-made survey modules, translations, fieldwork duration, and reporting are already in place, making it easier to start new studies quickly when needed.

Syno supports the process from survey scripting in its survey platform to fieldwork through partner panels, followed by data cleaning and reporting. With teams covering several time zones, projects can typically be delivered within 2–3 days.

Over the last four years, Clearwater and Syno have worked together on around 30 projects across Sweden and other international markets.

The Outcome

With Syno as a long-term research partner, Clearwater can access high-quality consumer data on brand awareness, brand image, NPS, and other measures across categories when needed.

The collaboration helps Clearwater get the consumer insight it needs quickly, through a process built for speed and consistency.

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Sebastian Hjorth, M&A Analyst, Clearwater:

In consumer-facing sectors, understanding brand perception adds an important dimension to our analysis. Together with Syno, we can generate robust consumer insights within a short timeframe and integrate them directly into our work.

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Per-Erik Kärnekull, Head of EMEA, Syno International:

We take pride in being solution-oriented and working fast when needed. In this case, we support Clearwater from survey scripting to fieldwork, data cleaning, and reporting - helping make the process efficient and giving the client access to the consumer data they need within a short timeframe.