It is essential to understand the voice of the customer and integrate it into business decisions—not to get ahead but to keep up in the first place. Lara Koslow explains how BCG's Center for Customer Insight can help your company lead the charge on consumer research.

Lara Koslow is global leader of Boston Consulting Group’s Center for Customer Insight and part of the firm’s global Marketing, Sales & Pricing leadership team. She is the former global co-leader and North American leader of BCG’s marketing topic.

Since joining BCG in 2004, Lara has developed growth, turnaround, brand resurgence, marketing, and consumer targeting strategies for multiple well-known, iconic brands. She focuses on commercial strategy and execution across industries, though a significant portion of her work is in the consumer, travel and tourism, retail, and automotive areas. Lara has also worked in financial services, health care, technology, and media.

Lara is a former professional ballet dancer. Before joining BCG, she held several director-level positions at Public Storage, including director of business development, director of finance and strategy, and director in the office of the CEO. Lara also worked in marketing and sales at The Gettys Group—a hotel design, development, and procurement firm—and at Ibbotson Associates, now a division of Morningstar.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

EDUCATION

  • MBA, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
  • BS, Northwestern University

Publications and Videos

The Consumer Sentiment Series Rectangle

The Consumer Sentiment Series

Emerging from the isolation of the past 15 months, US consumers express optimism—some cautiously and others confidently—about resuming their pre-pandemic activities.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #13: Picking a POTUS

In an election season like no other, the pandemic weighs heavily on most voters’ minds.
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Consumer Sentiment Snapshot Key Charts: June

Although the numbers of new cases in different countries—and in different states within the US—vary widely, consumers show striking similarity in their views of the pandemic and their plans for future activities.
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How Marketers Can Win with Gen Z and Millennials Post-COVID-19

Younger generations’ buying habits will have a huge impact on the future direction of the global economy. But which of their current preferences have staying power?
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #12: The Pace Car

China has been managing the coronavirus much longer than the rest of the world. What do its consumers’ plans and behaviors reveal about the post-pandemic future?
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Edition 2: COVID-19 and the Emerging-Market Consumer—The Power of Resilience

Several trends we identified a month ago have endured, while important and potentially lasting shifts in consumer thinking and behavior are also becoming apparent.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #11: Getting to the Other Side

As companies assess what life after COVID-19 will look like, they need to distinguish new consumer habits that have staying power from short-term expedients.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #10: The Trip Back

COVID-19 has hit the travel and tourism industry hard, but consumers’ pent-up desire for leisure travel is powerful and promises better days ahead.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #9: A Lighthouse to Navigate the New Reality

BCG’s AI platform for decision support and scenario planning permits deep-dive analyses of the specific consumer categories affected by the coronavirus.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot: Special Feature—Asia-Pacific

Australia, Japan, and India entered lockdown at different times and under very different circumstances. Here’s how consumers in these countries—and elsewhere—assess their prospects.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #8: A Glimpse of the Horizon

Consumers are unreliable predictors of their own future behavior—but a strong analytical framework can help distinguish lasting habits from temporary inclinations.
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COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Snapshot #7: Retracing the Old Normal

A look back at BCG’s November 2019 consumer sentiment survey in light of post-coronavirus-era behavior reveals areas of continuity as well as some unexpected contrasts.
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