We find the thread
Qualitative research for decisions built on what people actually think, feel and do.
Healthcare · Consumer · UX
Hilo means thread. The thread you pull to unravel something. The thread that connects dots that didn't seem related. The thread that gives shape to what felt formless.
In a moment when so much is being automated, optimized and predicted, we believe the most valuable thing in research is still the thing that resists quantification: a human being in conversation with another human being. The emotional. The tone of voice. The thing said in the last five minutes of an interview, when the guard comes down.
That's what we're here to find. So your decisions are built on what people actually think, feel and do.
Selected clients
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META
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Airbnb
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Booking
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Pfizer
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Johnson & Johnson
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Astra Zeneka
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Novartis
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Pernord Ricard
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Warner Media
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Roche
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Sanofi
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WiZink
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MAKRO
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Sports Direct
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Opticalia
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Galp
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Momentum Reim
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OCASO
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AJE
〰️ META 〰️ Airbnb 〰️ Booking 〰️ Pfizer 〰️ Johnson & Johnson 〰️ Astra Zeneka 〰️ Novartis 〰️ Pernord Ricard 〰️ Warner Media 〰️ Roche 〰️ Sanofi 〰️ WiZink 〰️ MAKRO 〰️ Sports Direct 〰️ Opticalia 〰️ Galp 〰️ Momentum Reim 〰️ OCASO 〰️ AJE
Services
1
Fieldwork
Getting close to your audience
Some research questions need a room. Others need a street, a home, or a waiting area. Hilo conducts in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnographic fieldwork, and online communities - and where the brief calls for it, extends into sensory and photographic methods that capture what words alone don't reach.
Conducted in Spanish, Italian, and English across Healthcare, Consumer, and UX markets.
2
Analysis, Reporting & Strategy
Turning findings into decisions
The mechanical work - transcription, coding, pattern detection - is handled with AI tools so that Hilo's attention stays where it matters: on the interpretation.
Frameworks from behavioural sciences and cultural analysis are applied where relevant. The output is a debrief built for decisions, not a document built for filing.
3
Project Management
One hand from brief to debrief
One point of contact from brief to debrief. Hilo manages the full research process — study design, fieldwork, analysis, and delivery — so clients don't carry the coordination weight. For multi-market or international projects, local researchers are brought in as needed, always briefed and supervised directly by Hilo.
For studies requiring both qualitative and quantitative components, Hilo works with a trusted network of specialist partners.
selected work
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selected work *
Healthcare Research
Redesigning the oncology day hospital
When a clinical unit works technically but fails humanly. How ethnographic immersion and co-creation workshops led to the full physical redesign of a Madrid oncology unit, from waiting areas to treatment bays.
When patients get lost
Exploring why patients with atopic dermatitis drop out of the healthcare system. A multi-country study into the cultural and emotional barriers that don't show up in clinical data
Living with Alzheimer
A study on the emotional weight and the gap between clinical protocols and the lived reality of caregivers in Spain and Italy.
Consumer Research
Performing real
A deep dive into how Spanish Gen Z and Millennials judge what’s real and what’s wallpaper. Exploring the generational fault lines and cultural codes that global frameworks don’t always reach.
Rethinking Car Wash experience
Mapping behaviors and unmet needs in the retail sector. Insights that identified key friction points—from payment to sustainability—providing the foundational evidence needed for a new service concept.
UX Research
Remote assistance for the elderly
Observing real interactions in participants' homes to bridge the gap between perceived utility and actual usability. Insights that redefined the role of voice-based assistance for senior populations.
Testing a New Reward System in Social Media
When popularity becomes currency. A combination of usability testing and IDIs that mapped how a new generation is rethinking social rewards in an increasingly saturated digital landscape.
The new rituals of digital consumption
Beyond the play button: an ethnographic study on the new rituals of digital consumption. Exploring how heavy viewers in Spain navigate a saturated market, moving from pure escapism to a search for didactic value and social relevance.
Hilo Research is built to notice
Hilo Research was founded by Pablo Conejo after 12+ years conducting qualitative studies for international research agencies and direct clients across Healthcare and Consumer sectors.
Before that: an MA in Urban Sociology at Goldsmiths, London, and a formation in Advertising, Documentary Photography, and Visual Culture. A long-standing curiosity about cities, people, and the cultural shifts that move between them — that's what Hilo brings to the field.
In Healthcare, Pablo has conducted 200+ in-depth interviews across a wide range of therapeutic areas, working with HCPs, KOLs, Payers, and Patients. In Consumer, across FMCG, Retail, Finance, Tech, and UX research.
Hilo operates as a full research studio for direct clients and as an embedded partner for agencies. When the project requires it, a network of trusted local researchers brings the same standard of immersion to their own contexts. Based in Madrid. Working internationally.
