Who We Are
At Humanise, we’re driven by curiosity and a belief that real customer truths change everything. We’re down-to-earth people who want both clients and customers to come out as winners - because the best ideas live where those worlds meet.
Lynne Barcoe started MumPanel back in 2007, while working in marketing. She spotted the gap between how brands thought parents lived and what daily life was really like. Rather than going through two layers of agencies and databases, she went straight to the source - listening, observing, and spending time where real conversations happen.
“On my 21st birthday cake, I asked my mum to personalise it with three iced symbols: a red heart, a paw print and a quill.
As I hold that photograph now, looking at my younger self showing that cake to camera, I can see I’ve tried to live by those three symbols ever since. Family, friends, furry companions and truth-telling sit at my core. Real connections matter to me. And to build them, you have to give; time, empathy and quiet understanding.
I believe in these values. And I hope I bring them to Humanise and to the work that we do; to uncover and reveal human truths that genuinely have impact”. Lynne.
Paul Coleman is a BAFTA-winning storyteller. He co-wrote Car Share with Peter Kay and The Power of Parker with Sian Gibson, after early stints in marketing teams at EMAP and BBC and in innovation at ?What If!. He’s brilliant at weaving humour, nuance, and clarity into the most complex of subjects.
“A review in the Daily Telegraph once compared my writing to Alan Bennett, I was worried this was a misprint and should have said Lenny Bennett (ask your grandparents). As a teenager I got hold of everything I could from Alan Bennett, plays, diaries etc, loving the way he captured the everyday -ness of real people. In his work I saw the people I knew, using language I recognised. I’ve always been an observer of people, watching family members and friends talk, react and perform. This is where my insight work and my writing collide, through my fascination with people”. Paul
Lynne brings decades of expertise in qualitative and contextual insight and community understanding, while Paul brings the craft of storytelling and a knack for making sense of the messy, human side of life.
Together we have been shaping insight and strategy for global brands for over 20 years, across all sectors. We combine analytical rigour with creative spark. It’s a partnership built on different strengths but a shared purpose: to uncover truths, bring them to life, and make them matter.
And yes - we genuinely love what we do.
Time With People
Spend time with real people, in their real lives to uncover human truth.
Land Your Strategy
Translate human truths into clear direction and decision making.
Craft The Story
Bringing insight and strategy to life so people understand, remember and act on it.
“Humanise’s insights provided a clear understanding of our customers and how their lifestyle is changing in the digital world. the Humanise team are brilliant at seeing patterns of behaviour and spotting new trends”.
- Bauer Media
“I would highly recommend working with team at Humanise. They understood the brief and what we were trying to achieve, collaborated with me to make it fit in our budget and to our timeline, and demonstrated their expertise in working with the family consumer market - a niche sometimes difficult to access”.
— Denise Namakando, Managing Director, Dote
