CASE STUDY | KPMG INTERNATIONAL
Building a truly global point of view.
Helping KPMG turn large-scale consumer research into a distinctive, internationally credible thought leadership platform.
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01 | THE BRIEF
Me, My Life, My Wallet was a flagship thought leadership initiative led by KPMG International and the US firm’s innovation group, Ignition — designed to establish a distinctive point of view on consumer behaviour, and a more nuanced understanding of what really shapes customer attitudes, motivations, and decision-making.
The ambition was significant: create a flagship publication capable of positioning KPMG as a serious global voice on ‘customer’. And one capable of feeling internationally coherent while still reflecting the realities, tensions, and distinct consumer contexts found across different markets.
This sat at the heart of the challenge.
Because global thought leadership often claims international relevance while in fact reflecting the assumptions, priorities, and worldview of a single dominant market.
Our starting point? How to create a truly global point of view without collapsing different realities into one story, defaulting to consensus, or producing something so broad it says nothing at all.
02 | THE SYSTEM
Smarter inputs, not just more of them.
Global thought leadership doesn’t earn credibility simply by adding more stakeholders and voices to the process.
Truth be told, it often makes the challenge harder: competing priorities emerge, local truths collide, and the publication risks becoming either fragmented or overly cautious… either full of compromises or an utterly unmanageable, never-ending read.
Instead, the work centred on building an editorial system capable of creating alignment without demanding uniformity, or forcing consistency where it didn't exist.
That meant developing a shared narrative architecture, establishing principles for tone and interpretation, and creating enough trust across firms and leadership teams that disagreement and pushback could improve the work rather than dilute it.
We weren’t building a publication that sought out the lowest common denominator, but one capable of expressing a recognisable, coherent point of view while still reflecting the lived realities of consumers around the world.
03 | THE REAL WORK
The work behind the work.
Brought in from the outset as editorial director and lead writer, my role extended beyond developing the narrative and writing the publication itself. The work involved operating across markets, disciplines, and senior stakeholder groups:
⇢ helping maintain momentum;
⇢ challenging assumptions;
⇢ reconciling competing priorities;
⇢ and keeping multiple executive sponsors aligned around a shared point of view.
That meant translating between different kinds of expertise: research teams, innovation specialists, regional leaders, subject matter experts, and publication stakeholders — each with their own objectives, perspectives, and definitions of success. Writing was part of the work, but a large part of the contribution sat outside of it:
⇢ creating enough editorial trust that difficult conversations could happen early;
⇢ knowing when local specificity strengthened the story, or when it weakened the overall argument;
⇢ and recognising where consistency mattered, and where the differences themselves were the point.
The role involved writing and shaping a flagship publication, but equally became about helping a multinational organisation develop and express a coherent perspective on a global scale.
04 | THE OUTPUTS
A legacy and an evolution.
The result wasn’t 'just' another report. Me, My Life, My Wallet became a globally-recognised platform through which KPMG could develop and express a more distinctive point of view on consumer behaviour — one capable of evolving across markets, themes, and future editions without losing its coherence.
The success of the inaugural publication — independently ranked as the firm’s number one thought leadership output of the year — led directly to an expanded second volume the following year, increasing both the number of markets involved and the scale of coordination required to deliver it.
And a decade on, the ideas continue to resonate — recently refreshed, expanded, and reintroduced through a new flagship publication for 2026.
If you’re working through something important, I’m always open to a conversation.
Usually around something complex, unresolved, or important enough to warrant thinking through properly.
thomas@thinkstuff.media
uk.linkedin.com/in/ThinkStuff
BASED IN CORNWALL, UK
Working with clients globally.
ThinkStuff
© Thomas Brown, 2026