Delivering the Kalibrate Standard: Ed Borden

In this blog series, we take a closer look at how our team supports our clients in achieving their strategic objectives. In some organizations, it might be going ‘above and beyond’ to get the job done – but we just call it ‘the Kalibrate Standard’.

This edition features Ed Borden, Director of Marketing Services.

Tell us a little about your role.

I’m the Director of Marketing Services at Kalibrate, and I lead a team that focuses on what we call “single-site projects.” These are often site-specific forecasts or studies for clients who need to understand the potential volume of a new unit. Additionally, we estimate how a proposed unit might impact their existing units.

The role is all about providing tailored solutions. My team and I work across industries including retail, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, and services like banks or car washes. I’ve been in this space for over 20 years, primarily with Home Depot, so I’ve had the chance to work in markets all over North America. On any given day, I’m managing a team of analysts, coordinating field surveys, reviewing reports, and meeting with clients to discuss their goals.

How does your role interact with the rest of the team?

My job is very team-focused. I work closely with our analysts to guide them through projects, review their work, and make sure it meets client expectations. At the same time, I’m also onboarding clients, explaining our process, and helping them understand the insights we deliver.

It’s not just our team of analysts though, there’s collaboration with sales, modeling, and the survey teams for projects that need boots-on-the-ground research. I’m the go-between for a lot of moving parts, making sure everything runs smoothly and that our clients feel confident in the process.

What types of problems are the clients you work with trying to solve?

A lot of our clients are trying to figure out the potential of new locations or understand how one site might impact another. We work with different types of clients from large corporate retail chains to small owner-operators and franchisees.

Large operators, like Home Depot, rely on us as their market research team because they value our independent perspective, and trust us to give them unbiased, data-driven answers because we don’t have any commercial interest in a project going ahead or not. Additionally, we help them with specific challenges such as creating demographic maps, strategizing for multiple units, or forecasting in markets they’re unfamiliar with.

On the smaller side, we work with owner-operators and franchise operators that need third-party validation on sales potential or on the impact of a new opening. This data provides them with information to help make a “go, no go” decision or secure financing for development.

Give us an example of a particularly challenging client question.

One recent challenge came from a large chain, multinational operator as they were looking to acquire a small local chain. Their facilities were very different than the multinational operator. With little or no existing data to guide us, we had to come up with a way to accurately forecast their performance as if they were part of the larger chain’s portfolio.

Another tricky project involved a restaurant chain exploring “drive-thru only” models. It’s not something we’d studied before, so we had to figure out how to adapt our process to analyze the impact without any historical benchmarks to rely on.

And how did you solve that?

For the acquisition, we built a custom methodology that factored in the target’s market positioning and existing market penetration (using mobility data) and adjusted it to align with the acquiring chain’s operations. We employed a combination of science (data analysis and regression modeling), and art (utilizing our experience with the chain’s operations and our on-the-ground experience in the market).

For the “drive-thru only” concept, we leaned heavily on mobility data and trade area analysis to understand traffic flow and customer behavior. Then, we worked with the client to validate the assumptions we were making, which helped us refine the results.

What’s the most rewarding part of your role?

Honestly, it’s the creativity and variety. No two projects are ever the same, and that keeps things interesting. I love figuring out how to tackle new challenges and blending hard data with qualitative insights to get to the right answer.

I also enjoy the relationships we build with clients. It’s rewarding to work with them through tough questions, be upfront about what we know (and don’t know), and collaborate to find the best solutions.

On a personal note, I’ve always loved traveling and seeing different markets. It’s fascinating to experience the dynamics of different regions and how they shape the work we do. Additionally, I enjoy sharing this with both my clients and my analyst team. For me, it’s the perfect mix of creative problem-solving, exploration, and teaching.