I am driven by a need to understand the human side of change and to find solutions to the problems that constrain growth.
The Rest of the Story
My mom tells me my first word was “why.” That tracks.
I grew up in the Midwest, lived and studied in Japan, and have spent my career everywhere in between. I raised my daughter as a single mom while traveling the world doing the work I love. She is the thing I am most proud of, the person she is and how she looks at the world. That matters more to me than anything on this page.
I tell you this because it is where my lens comes from. A life spent a little outside the frame teaches you to see what others often walk past.
The why never stopped. The work started on the floor, running stores with teams in the hundreds. I learned early that you cannot lead through process alone. You have to understand what people actually need. That thread runs through everything I have done since.
At Victoria’s Secret, I helped lay the foundation for what became PINK. At Big Red Rooster, a retail strategy and design firm, I became a partner and led insights and strategy, helping grow the firm over nine years and position it for acquisition by JLL. From there I founded PrimalGrowth, an experience strategy firm I bootstrapped and sold to EY in under two years.
At EY, I spent a decade as a Managing Director, building the Cultural Insights and Customer Strategy practice and founding the Global Generational Dynamics Lab, work that helped drive hundreds of millions in revenue over the decade that followed.
Through it all, I have had the privilege of working across the C-suite at some of the world’s most innovative and respected companies, like Toyota, Royal Caribbean, Starbucks, and Nike, as well as with four-star generals and prime ministers on some of the most complex human challenges of our time.
Today I do that work directly with the leaders who value it most.
What makes this different
“I walk in already seeing things that others spend years trying to surface.”
I am a cultural anthropologist and business strategist. Not one or the other depending on the room. Both at the same time, always. That combination changes what I look for and what I find.
I have spent my career studying what drives how people want to live, work, and play. Combined with decades of ongoing research into generational and societal dynamics, I understand not just what is shifting, but why, and which insights point toward real competitive advantage. Because of that, I don't need months to find the answer.
My perspective has been sharpened through three decades spent in the rooms where the biggest decisions get made. Not as an observer. As the person helping leaders make sense of what is changing, understand why it matters, and figure out what to do next.
I work closely with the leaders I partner with. Not as a vendor or a consultant parachuting in with a deck. As someone who gets intimate with your business, your people, and your reality, and stays there until we've found the truth worth acting on.
The Research
For more than three decades I have conducted original, ongoing research into generational dynamics, societal change, and the implications for business.
That body of work includes major global studies spanning continents and tens of thousands of respondents, over a hundred practitioner research reports, and a decade of longitudinal research on Gen Z that remains among the most cited in its field.
That research is the engine behind everything I do. I don’t start from scratch. I bring decades of context to every challenge from day one.
The Classroom
Teaching wasn't something I planned. It is something that found me. I have guest lectured at some of the best business schools in the country, NYU, University of Michigan, and Northwestern, and most recently at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, where I now teach strategy and consulting.
What I love about the classroom is the same thing I love about the work: the moment when something clicks and a new possibility comes into view.
The Formal Bios
Short Bio
Marcie Merriman is a cultural anthropologist and business strategist who helps businesses close the gap between outdated assumptions and the human truths driving tomorrow.
Driven by the belief that the businesses that understand people best win, Marcie spent three decades shaping industry leaders. She helped lay the foundation for Victoria’s Secret’s PINK brand, helped grow a retail strategy and design firm to acquisition by JLL, and bootstrapped an experience strategy firm to acquisition by EY. She spent a decade building EY’s Generational Dynamics Lab and leading their Cultural Insights and Customer Strategy practice for clients like Starbucks, Nike, and U.S. Special Operations Command.
A leading authority on generational shifts, her Gen Z research is among the most cited in its field. Marcie has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival and Forbes’ CMO Summit, with insights featured by CNBC, BBC, and The Wall Street Journal.
Today, she continues to guide companies through market disruption, teaches strategy at The Ohio State University, and publishes Cultural Undercurrents on Substack.
Long Bio
Marcie Merriman is a cultural anthropologist and business strategist who helps corporate leaders close the gap between outdated assumptions and the human truths driving tomorrow.
For more than three decades, Marcie has built her career around one belief: the businesses that understand people best, win. She put that conviction into practice while helping lay the foundation for Victoria’s Secret’s PINK brand. It sharpened over the next decade at Big Red Rooster, a retail strategy and design firm, where she became a partner and helped grow the business ahead of its acquisition by JLL. In 2012, she put that belief to the ultimate test, founding PrimalGrowth, an experience strategy firm, and bootstrapping it to acquisition by Ernst & Young in under two years.
At EY, she built something larger: the Global Generational Dynamics Lab and the firm’s Cultural Insights and Customer Strategy practice. Her work unlocked hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and fundamentally reshaped global organizations like Royal Caribbean, Starbucks, and Nike, as well as the U.S. Special Operations Command, think about the people they serve.
Marcie’s edge is seeing what sits beneath the obvious: the human needs, tensions, and expectations organizations often overlook. Her original research spans generations of consumers and workers, over one hundred practitioner reports, and a decade of longitudinal research on Gen Z that remains among the most cited in its field. She walks into a room seeing what others spend months trying to find.
As a sought-after speaker, Marcie has keynoted the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Dubai Global Islamic Economy Summit, and Forbes’ CMO Summit. Her insights on generational shifts and market disruption are frequently featured by CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Today, she continues to actively advise executive teams and guide boards through market disruption. She teaches strategy as an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and writes about the friction between human truths and market realities in her Substack publication, Cultural Undercurrents.
Marcie holds an Executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University, completed Harvard Business School’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Programs, and earned her undergraduate degree in social science from Michigan State University. She is a proud member of WomenExecs on Boards.
Let’s Talk
You know your business. I bring a new way of seeing it. If you are curious what I would see in yours, let’s talk.
Not ready for a conversation? Cultural Undercurrents is where I share what I am seeing, every two to three weeks.