Get closer to the stakeholders who determine your success & make complex decisions with confidence and clarity
We help leaders in complex, regulated markets adapt to change and win in high stakes environments by building strong relationships between them and their stakeholders.
✓ Anticipate market shifts
Stay ahead of regulatory changes, customer needs, and competitor moves before they become costly shocks.
✓ Validate your response
Test strategies, messaging, or growth decisions with the people that matter most before they are deployed.
✓ Strengthen your position
Win more business with heightened credibility, stakeholder buy-in, and rich insight that is up-to-date and relevant to your situation.
Trusted by leaders in complex, regulated markets such as financial services, energy & environment, and government transformation, our solutions provide you with the clarity to decide, and confidence to act.
Six reasons why your current approach to may not be producing results
The wrong voices are driving your commercial strategy
Generic panels can’t reach decision-makers in regulated or high-stakes environments
It’s not always clear which audiences matter most
Stakeholders aren't aligned on the audience, so research lacks direction - or worse, becomes political.
Strategic teams are stuck wasting time on operations
Valuable time is being lost sourcing niche audiences instead of generating insight and action.
Every research cycle starts from scratch
You don’t have an ongoing system for engaging key audiences - so momentum is lost between research cycles.
Insights lack influence
Without credible voices in the room, your findings lack weight to influence strategy, policy or investment decisions.
Proximity is promised by rarely delivered
Most firms claim to be customer-centric - only some build the infrastructure to actually stay close to the people who matter.
If you’re struggling to get credible, actionable insight from the people who truly shape your market, the answer isn’t bigger panels or more platforms.
It’s better proximity to the right people - with the governance, compliance, and rigour your industry demands.
Polar Insight are Stakeholder Proximity™ specialists focused on getting you closer to the audiences you care about.
We do this through stakeholder recruitment, insight & strategy and always-on audience access programmes, providing you with a comprehensive solution for regulated insight and market engagement.
What is Stakeholder Proximity?™
Stakeholder Proximity™ is the ability to continuously and seamlessly access and engage the people whose expectations, constraints, or decisions shape your organisation’s success - from policymakers and regulators to strategic buyers and end users.
Closing this gap helps organisations reduce risk, accelerate change, and make decisions with confidence.
Stakeholder Proximity Solutions For Complex & Regulated Markets
Stakeholder Recruitment
High-quality, hard-to-reach audiences, recruited fast, on your behalf, to accelerate your time-to-insight
Insight
& Strategy
From stakeholder interviews to investment-grade insight reporting - all built for board-level decision making and executive clarity.
Always-On Audience Access
Maintain proximity through repeatable, compliant audience access systems that evolve with your market
Ways to work with us
⚡︎
SPRINT
Fast, targeted projects
Quick-turnaround stakeholder research or recruitment delivered in 15-30 days.
Ideal when you need rapid evidence to guide a decision or validate an idea.
↠
ACCELERATOR
Build momentum in 90 days
2-6 month programs designed to deepen stakeholder closeness, build internal capability, and generate a sustained flow of actionable insights.
⛶
PARTNERSHIP
Continuous Stakeholder Proximity™
Year-round stakeholder engagement with guaranteed access, regular roundtables, and strategic advisory keeping you consistently close to your market.
Senior leaders operating in complex, regulated, environments love working with Polar Insight
"I've had the pleasure of being a client of Polar Insight on multiple occasions over the last eight years. Each time the team have been professional and insightful. They have mobilised quickly and produced high quality work. The research conducted has enabled my teams to better understand user needs, and create winning proposals which have improved citizen experiences for critical government services."
Ash, MD, Growth, Government Transformation Sector
“From the outset, [they] demonstrated a deep commitment to understanding our organisation, our challenges, and objectives. [They] approached the project with a sense of ownership and professionalism that was evident in every interaction. [Their] strategic thinking, responsiveness, and collaborative approach made them a highly effective and trusted partner. The work delivered was insightful, actionable, and aligned with our goals. I would confidently recommend James and Polar Insight to any organisation seeking high-quality, research-driven strategy with a thoughtful and personalised approach.”
Sanya, Product Lead, Healthcare Sector
VIDEO - How Embedding Stakeholder Proximity Led To A £369m Win For Sopra Steria
-
✓ Reduced risk
De-risk strategic decisions with direct stakeholder input
-
✓ Faster insight
Cut time-to-insight by up to 60% with pre-screened participants
-
✓ Greater team alignment
Align internal teams with external stakeholder expectations
-
✓ Heightened influence
9/10 clients say the insight they received directly influenced positive policy, product, or funding decisions
Case Studies: Proximity at Work
-
Financial Services
By getting close to both brokers and commercial clients, a City lender turned insight into action. Structured conversations revealed where brokers truly influence lending decisions; those findings informed new onboarding and education that people actually used-lifting broker engagement and strengthening client relationships.
-
ESG
Proximity to day-to-day operations helped a sustainability brand reposition its offer. Speaking directly with leaders across construction, retail and logistics surfaced real constraints and priorities around waste management, which guided a sharpened proposition and sales narrative aligned to what buyers value most.
-
Policy
Bringing stakeholders across four countries together created shared ownership for a think tank. We convened senior public-sector leaders in focused roundtables and co-creation sessions, drawing out areas of agreement and tension. The resulting recommendations shaped the next phase of international programming.
-
Consulting
Buyer-side proximity de-risked a go-to-market move. Rapid access to procurement decision-makers helped a global consultancy test messaging against real buying criteria; the validated story unlocked a promising new vertical and provided clear proof points for sales.
-
Energy & Environment
Grounding decisions in SME reality improved adoption. Direct conversations with business leaders clarified how time-of-use tariffs are understood and chosen, informing pricing and messaging changes that made switching easier and increased uptake.
-
Healthcare
Proximity to the intricacies of the inpatient journey led to targeted fixes. Engaging patients, family members and frontline staff surfaced the specific friction points that mattered most for a private healthcare group; the resulting operational changes improved patient satisfaction and supported better staff retention.
Is Polar Insight right for you?
✓ You work in a regulated or complex market where decisions carry weight
✓ You need to engage decision-makers and senior B2B audiences, not just consumers
✓ You’re tired of slow or generic participant recruitment slowing down your research
✓ You want insights that lead to strategic action, not just reports
✓ You run recurring research cycles but lack consistent audience access
✓ You need a partner who understands commercial, policy, or operational outcomes
If you value proximity to decision-makers - not just another list of data - we may be a good fit for your organisation, and would encourage you reach out and connect with our team.
Still not sure? Check our fit below:
Let’s get you closer to the voices who matter.
Share what you’re working on, and we’ll show you how to connect with the stakeholders who can unlock clarity, confidence, and momentum for your next big move. Once your message has been received, a member of the Polar Insight team will be in touch within 24 hours to explore next steps.
FREE WEBINAR (ON-DEMAND)
‘How Leading Teams Get Closer to the People Who Matter Most’
Why building proximity to the audiences you care about outperforms traditional research
In complex and regulated environments, the best insight doesn’t come from generic panels - it comes from engaging the people who make or influence decisions.
Our approach ensures your research meets the standard required by boards, regulators, and strategic leaders.
CX & Digital
Strategy & Planning
Product & Innovation
Brand & Comms
ESG & Policy