
Prospective – The Business dream at Carouge
The advertising agency Enigma conducted a prospective analysis of businesses in the city of Carouge, including the current context, upcoming trends and various expectations for the future.
Ambition
The goal was to define Carouge’s identity, bring together the community with a common vision, and find concrete solutions to make local businesses more attractive.
Action
Prospective analysis
Local businesses reflect the past, the present and the future. It was crucial to us to understand the current context and to study potential trends. We conducted a prospective study of consumers in 2025 in which we analyzed the evolution of cities, opportunities and new contexts that may shape the future.
Persona et interviews
Enigma Lab selected a number of strategic locations to conduct interviews of consumers, residents and business people of Carouge. These interviews made us understand the habits, expectations and dreams of the various constituencies in the area. Enigma Lab then created Personas that help define Carouge’s perception. These Personas give a global vision of the interaction between consumers and the various services offered in the city. The mapping of consumers’ needs and trends was fleshed out thanks to shadowing and participative workshops.

Shadowing
Enigma Lab has created a new version of the Shadowing method that helped outline a mental barrier between the cities of Geneva and Carouge that prevents consumers from going to Carouge. This new variation of shadowing techniques studies each movement and emotion of local consumers during their shopping experience and their exploration of businesses.




Workshop
The engagement of the community is essential. Enigma Lab and les Intérêts de Carouge invited all kinds of people from Carouge to engage in participative workshops. These workshops helped define the various perceptions of Carouge among various segments of the community. We then confronted these visions with the prospective analysis of future scenarios, and opened a debate about the role of business people in Carouge in the future.
Thanks to the various tools and their different approaches (prospective and Service Design), the 2-day workshops helped participants generate more than 200 innovative ideas.





Report
We have summarized the various conclusions of our prospective and Service Design analyses in a practical and visual report. This report in electronic format looks like a toolbox made to be used. Each chapter presents the data collected on the ground and gives tools to get into action immediately.


Impact
This study has established solid foundations to think about possible solutions for Carouge. Workshops helped participants become aware of the current context and of future opportunities. The community of Carouge is more engaged and more determined to adapt to change; it is already implementing ideas with the strongest potential—ideas that were generated by the study.