Why holidays are a great strategy exercise

Strategy usually ends in a meeting room — but it rarely starts there.

It starts in places where people simply act like people. At an ice cream stand. In a local supermarket. At an airport where everyone suddenly becomes a different version of themselves. By a pool where a towel on a sunbed still seems to count as a valid territorial claim. (Seriously, don’t do that!) 

During your holidays, you can sometimes learn more than from any desk research report.

Because no one is “playing consumer.” No one is filling out artificial surveys with declared opinions, needs, or behavior. People hesitate, choose, complain, wait, negotiate with their kids, forget sunscreen, and buy things they would never buy at home. 

When we’re not on holiday, we look too hard with the intention of finding something clever. We search for patterns, draw models, stick post-its everywhere, and try to fit human behavior neatly into slides. But people rarely fit neatly into PowerPoints. Although — when they’re wearing flip-flops, they might become slightly easier to read… if you really pay attention.

You’re not actively looking for an insight either. You’re just trying to order a coffee at a local market stall without getting ripped off. You stand in a queue and notice who respects the rules and who thinks rules are more like decoration. You walk through a supermarket and understand more about a country in ten minutes than after reading three trend reports. 

So yes — holidays mean rest. But also: observing without judgment. Listening without a briefing. Watching without the pressure to sell something right away.

Maybe that’s a nice strategy exercise for this summer. 

5 Summer Strategy Tips

1. Go to a local supermarket 

Not just for chips, water, or “something healthy.” Look at what gets the most space, what feels premium, what people are buying, and which packaging you instantly trust.

2. Observe a queue 

At the bakery, the airport, an ice cream stand, or a museum. A line reveals almost everything: patience, status, frustration, politeness, chaos — and who thinks the rules apply to others.

3. Notice what people argue about 

Sunscreen, screen time, directions, what to eat, when to leave… Small arguments often hide big human insights wearing flip-flops.

4. Spot rituals 

The first coffee. The evening walk. The regular table. Ice cream after dinner. The towel on the same chair. Rituals are behaviors that have become habits.

5. Remember what you still recall three days later 

Not everything that grabs attention actually sticks. What stays usually has a reason.

That applies to holidays — and to campaigns too.