Machine intelligence does the reading.
Human intelligence does the shaping.
Have fans, not customers.
Powerful insight is a collision between data and intuition.
We wrote that in a client deck in 2004. The collision has not changed. The intelligence and speed have.
Three ways in. Pick the one that fits.
This is not theory. It is what worked.
At Radio 1, the method helped add five million fans. At Spotify, it inspired innovations that helped add a hundred million more. At American Idol, it helped read the biggest voted moments in television history. Sony Music. Warner Music. The BBC. Cisco. Unicef. Unilever. Amongst many others.
Twenty five years. The same truth, proven in a different context every time. And most businesses are still building for customers. That is the gap we are solving.
Your agency came back with Foodies, Gym Junkies and Brand Buyers.
Not one of those is a person you could meet. You cannot build for a segment. You can only build for someone.
So we do not segment your audience. We map it by behaviour. By how deeply people already care.
This is the Cone.
Four behaviours. Fanatics, Enthusiasts, Casuals, Indifferents. It lies on its side, narrow at the hot tip, wide at the cool end. It is not a funnel and it is not a ladder. Nobody climbs it. The idea travels through it, carried by Enthusiasts.

This is the Fan Map.
The Cone cut a second time. By generation, community, role or cluster. The behaviours stop being categories and start being people you could name, meet and talk to.

This is what you do with it.
Derive the insight. Innovate against it. Strategise the activation. Cone, then Applied, then Strategise.




Look at our mark. Those four bars are the Cone.
We do not move people up the Cone. We meet fans where they are. Where are you?
That is the method. It is also how this page is built. Find yourself below.
Fanatics. You already do this.
You know what a fan map is. You have built something close to ours. You want the machine, not the lesson.
Go to FandomOS →Enthusiasts. You would run this yourself, if you knew how.
Learn this on Monday. Collaborate with your AI coach to run it on Wednesday. Show your team the results on Friday.
Go to The Fandom Program →Casuals. You have got a live problem.
Something is not working, and the research came back with Foodies and Gym Junkies. Start with the A to Z. It is free and it is the whole language. If you want to run it yourself, the Program. If the problem is live and cannot wait, book a demo.
Get the A to Z free →Indifferents. You are just here.
Fair enough. Take one idea and go. A gallery, click through. Free. Let us inspire you.
Check the Future of Fandom →