Unlocking Dolby’s product opportunities for social media creator audiences

Disclaimer: Due to a NDA, data and slides from the original project cannot be shared. As a result, while some recreated slides are shared, the majority of this case study focuses on the process and impact.

Business Challenge

Dolby looked to expand its reach into the fast-growing social media content creator economy. To identify where and how, we mapped the creator landscape to determine where Dolby has the strongest opportunity to deliver value and differentiate its offerings. I collaborated with an agency for execution, and led the project until our team hired a research manager.

Research Goals

  1. Understand motivations and aspirations of creators and segment creators into frequently occurring profiles

  2. Map creators’ audiovisual production workflow and their key pain points

  3. Identify strategic opportunities for Dolby with creators

Approach

I led project scoping and methodology with the agency, prior to the research manager's hire. While the agency executed the project, I provided feedback on discussion guides, reviewed the data collected, and sat in on interviews to give moderators direction.

33 diaries

Allow participants to open up more authentically about their identity, history with creativity, and perceptions of content creation as trust builds each day

18 one-hour interviews

Enable researchers to dig into creators' evolution and creative process while having the opportunity to explore interesting threads that come up

12 in-person ethnographies

Understand creators' lived realities in a way that’s not possible with self-reporting by examining their creative space, tools, and support network

I partnered closely with the agency on recruitment, as it was a careful balance between the types of creators the business was interested in, and what was realistic. Ultimately, we recruited a range of professional or professional aspiring creators across following size, platform and genre.

Key Learnings

The research manager and I guided the agency on analysis and findings through multiple discussions, online meetings, and deck iterations. I translated the agency’s deliverable into a presentation tailored for internal audiences, which aligned better with our stakeholders’ goals and context. The research manager further refined this version and led share-out.

  • Findings by segment: Segments that have a strong emphasis on high-quality production are the best near-term opportunity, as their needs match Dolby's current offerings. Other segments are a long-term opportunity that can be reached through the product opportunity above.

  • Findings for product: Contrary to internal beliefs, creators experience the most frustration with certain foundational content quality issues, suggesting a high-impact area for product intervention.

Impact

This foundational study reshaped the product and business strategy around the social media creator opportunity. The product team pivoted their roadmap based on research insights, and began engaging prominent creators as strategic partners to shape future direction.

It also sparked an innovation workstream, led by the research manager and supported by me, to envision a full Dolby product ecosystem for all social media creators.

Reflection

During the agency selection process, I deliberately chose a partner that had ties to the creative community and employed many creatives themselves. Where I focused on the business's strategic objectives, the agency lead on understanding creators as people. This complementary approach helped us uncover strong insights for both segmentation and product opportunities, and ultimately shaped how I approach generative research.