Filled with Depth
Dumpling is Yulin.Yulin has eighteen years of qualitative research experience, across agency and client-side roles in Asia Pacific. The kind of work that keeps pulling you back — not for the briefs, but for what people reveal when you ask the right questions.Rooted in the region, bilingual in English and Mandarin, and versed in 20 markets spanning SEA, North Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas — the kind of range that makes cultural nuance second nature.Off the clock — enthusiastic foodie, off-the-beaten-path traveller, and lover of stand-up comedy.
The work is qualitative at its core — but it draws on whatever else is useful. Trackers, trend reports, social listening, desk research. The investigation is sharper when you know what’s already been asked.Methodology is a toolkit, not an identity. Ethnography, semiotics, cultural decodes, AI-assisted approaches, focus groups — the method fits the problem, not the other way around.The craft is in the synthesis. Pulling it all together into something coherent, specific, and human — a finding that stays long after the debrief is done.
INNOVATION
Mapping the landscape
Know what’s already known before talking to consumers — where the category is heading, where the gaps are, what insiders see that surveys miss. Via trend reports, desk research, expert interviews.Living the unmet need
The most valuable consumer truths are never volunteered. To surface what people live but can’t name — via ethnography and video diaries in their natural context.Shaping the opportunity
A co-creation session brings consumers, marketers, and designers into the same room — to push raw territory into directions worth pursuing.Pressure testing
A long list of ideas meets a wider audience — to let the strongest rise to the top and arrive at a shortlist worth taking forward. Via qual at scale, AI-enabled concept testing.
Creative
Reading the culture
Every campaign lives or dies in culture. Before any idea goes on a page — what’s already saturated, what’s emerging, where the tension is. Via media analysis, cultural decodes, social listening.Creative Convergence
The best creative ideas emerge when unlikely voices are in the same room. A co-creation workshop brings together consumers, agency creatives, marketers, and cultural voices — to spark, build, and align on raw idea narratives that feel alive.Concept Recycling
Right after the workshop, ideas go straight to consumers — in working FGDs where each concept gets rewritten on the spot, informed by real reactions. Iterated, sharpened, and polished in a sprint rather than weeks.Sharpening the field
Identifying which narratives deserve the airtime — and refining how they’re told to be more resonant and differentiated. Via qual at scale, AI-enabled interviews.Optimising before production
The last chance to get it right before the budget is committed. Storyboards and animatics in front of real audiences — to refine what works and cut what doesn’t.
Customer Experience
Diagnosing the current state
The experience as it actually is, not as it was designed to be — mapping gaps, frustrations, and moments that matter. Via in-depth interviews and self-recorded video diaries.Looking outside the category
The best solutions are rarely found where you’re looking. Best-in-class experiences from analogous categories — identified, borrowed, and brought across. Via desk research and online consumer thinktanks.Designing what’s next
Whether renovation or complete reimagination — an experience design workshop turns findings into directions, with the people who will build it in the room.
Shopper
Mapping the journey
Every abandoned basket has a story. The stages, touchpoints, and moments of hesitation and decision — to understand the fuels and frictions that determine what gets chosen and what gets left behind. Via in-depth interviews, AI-moderated or human-led.Getting into the environment
What people say they do and what they actually do rarely match. In-person shopalongs or screen-recorded virtual sessions reveal the real variables at play — the distractions, the instincts, the context no survey captures.Designing for the experience
For briefs that go beyond understanding into creation — ideating the shopping environment itself. The kind of thinking that turns a store into a destination. Via ideation workshops.
For Clients
Full-service qualitative research — from design and fieldwork through to report and debrief
Workshop design and facilitation
Meta-analysis and strategic synthesis
For Agency Collaborators
Qualitative moderation in English and Mandarin — across all methodologies
Analysis and reporting
Desk research
APAC project management — recruitment partner liaison, fieldwork oversight, and market coordination
Research design consultancy — sounding board, pitch input, approach and report refinement
For the fieldwork, recruitment is handled by trusted local partners across markets. Dumpling is responsible for recruitment quality and fieldwork execution oversight.
A brief, a question, or just a conversation — reach out.[email protected]
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