More insights you never asked for but wrote them anyway…Rich Boland, Client Services, Precision Group
Every so often a piece of research lands that you weren’t looking for, and then can’t stop thinking about. The Research Agency’s (TRA) latest report Rituals: Owned by people, earned by brands is one of those. So, in the spirit of the unsolicited, here’s the insight nobody asked us for about the things lots of people asked TRA for.
The headline finding surprised us most. Rituals aren’t fading from modern life; they’re growing. Across Australia and New Zealand, more than half of people expect rituals to matter more in future. As the world feels less stable and predictable, people are leaning into the moments that give them meaning and control. For anyone who produces the print, direct mail and fulfilment that lands in those moments that shift is worth understanding. Brand rituals, it turns out, are some of the most valuable spaces in marketing.
In the report TRA draws a sharp line between rituals, routines and habits. As a result, it changes how you should think about almost every touchpoint you own.
A habit is automatic. A ritual is intentional
Habits and routines rest on reduction, whereas rituals do the opposite. They add. They add mindful attention, emotion, a sense of occasion, identity and order. For example, the report’s point is that a ritual is something you do on purpose and you’d feel its absence if it disappeared. The Sunday roast isn’t logistics; it’s connection. The match-day jersey isn’t laundry; it’s belonging.
Routines are background noise you can’t really get into. Rituals, by contrast, are emotionally loaded moments that people actively protect and return to. That makes them some of the most valuable spaces a brand can occupy. TRA states it simply: rituals are owned by people and earned by brands. People may let you in but only on their terms, and only if you add to the moment rather than hijack it. Try to claim it, gamify it or interrupt it, and you’re out.
Friday night is a curry night ritual for one of our own here at Precision
One of our team has had an Indian curry for dinner every Friday night for the past 35 years. No. Matter. What.
That ritual was one that did not surprise us because it came from Rich who works in Client Services and Marketing. And for those that know him he does exude an air of planned meaningfulness and a stubborn regard for “other things.”
Some fast facts Rich gave us:
- Around 1820 curries; 80% meat based
- Madras and Rogan Josh are his favourites. OK with a Balti
- Has eaten curries in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and never India…yet
- Never not wanted a curry
- Always naan and poppadum’s and sometimes rice
We asked him if this was merely superstition or a habit formed over the years and he said not really. Growing up in the UK his neighbours came from Pakistan and India and they would share their curries every day. He lived, studied and worked in parts of the UK that had spice markets, Indian dessert food stores and hundreds of “curry houses.” This love of Indian food is deeply felt and nostalgic. And his Friday night curries are a cherished ritual recently shared with SBS On Demand and their coverage of the 2026 World Cup. A welcome addition to the ritual.
Where physical earns its place
Here’s where it got interesting for us. TRA also mapped how brands actually earn permission to take part. Notably, the list reads like an argument for tangible, physical touchpoints: “…simply be there, consistently. Make the moment easier and smoother. Provide the tools and products that make it feel right. Upgrade the ordinary into an occasion. Create a sensory signature…”
Read that as a marketer and notice something. Most of it is something you can hold. A well-considered piece of mail doesn’t shoulder its way into someone’s day; instead, it arrives into the home, into personal space, opened on the recipient’s terms. It’s the “simply be there, consistently” role made real.
The sensory dimension is where print genuinely performs. The report points to “savouring” the way a ritual slows people down and pulls attention to detail. Weight, finish, texture and craft all do that. As a result, they signal that a moment is worth marking. It’s why TRA cites Apple’s unboxing culture. The device matters; but the sequence of opening it (the packaging, the reveal) is what turns a purchase into “a new chapter.”
That sequence is fulfilment. It’s 3PL. The order things are packed in, what’s in the box, how it feels to open. It’s the choreography of a moment your customer has been waiting for. Done with intent, the pick, pack and dispatch becomes the brand experience.
The honest caveat
We’d be doing the research a disservice if we pretended this was a case for “more print.” It isn’t. Physical done thoughtlessly is just clutter. Indeed, the report’s warning about disruption applies as much to a tone-deaf mailer as to a badly targeted ad. The point is the opposite of volume. Rituals reward consistency, recognition and usefulness over time. Ultimately, the opportunity is print, mail and fulfilment that earn their place because they’re reliable, recognisable and genuinely additive to a moment people already care about.
So, has your brand earned its place?
TRA closes with a good question: has your brand earned a place in people’s rituals? We’d add a follow-up. If it has, the way you show up is often physical, the thing that lands, the thing they hold, the moment you helped turn into an occasion. That’s the part we think about. It’s also, as it happens, the part we’re rather good at.
Thinking about how print, mail and fulfilment could earn your brand a place in the moments that matter? Talk to the Precision Group team and start a conversation.
