SubtleTea Solutions
SubtleTea Solutions is a boutique consultancy helping organizations design communication, coordination, and change strategies using social science and technology.
Communication and Social Science for High-Stakes Decisions
We work where miscommunication is expensive and trial-and-error is too slow: marketing and influence campaigns, organizational change, and public-facing initiatives. Our focus is on how language and framing interact with real social systems—how messages spread, how they are interpreted across groups, and how they can unintentionally force polarization.
Much of what makes communication fail is already known. Social science has identified how language activates identities, shapes interpretation, and hardens positions—even without intent, and especially when used deliberately. SubtleTea Solutions uses this knowledge to eliminate fragile messaging upfront. When testing is useful, it is done deliberately, to refine already-stable communication rather than to discover fundamentals.
Communication
SubtleTea Communication supports organizations in developing messages that remain effective across audiences and resilient to misinterpretation.
Engagements typically involve:
- diagnosing how existing language lands with different audiences,
- sharpening narratives, metaphors, and framing to support organizational goals,
- tuning high-stakes or subtle communication where failure would be costly.
This work emphasizes structural clarity grounded in social and cognitive science principles. Testing, when appropriate, is principled and targeted.
Research
SubtleTea Research provides the conceptual, analytical, and methodological backbone for SubtleTea Solutions work. This includes longer-horizon research, internal tooling, and selective collaborations at the intersection of social science, technology, and sustainability.
Intelligence & Education
SubtleTea Intelligence and Education offerings translate research into decision support, custom analyses, and instruction that help organizations build their own strategic capacity.
Engagements
SubtleTea Solutions works on a limited number of high-trust engagements at a time. Pricing reflects the strategic, reputational, and organizational stakes of the work.
Ongoing Advisory
Monthly Advisory Retainer
- Strategic review and updates to communication materials
- Ongoing consultation on messaging, framing, and audience dynamics
- Includes up to four hours of one-on-one consulting per month
$1,000 / month
Custom Tools & Software
For some engagements, custom analytical or computational tools are the most effective way to support decision-making. SubtleTea Solutions develops bespoke software selectively, when it materially improves clarity or reduces risk.
Scope and pricing by consultation.
Academic and non-profit discounts are available. Please enquire.
Social Intelligence & Forensics
Social Forensics Report
An analytical assessment of observed social behavior to clarify underlying motives, network dynamics, coordination failures, or sources of conflict. This work is often used to understand why an organization, campaign, or community is experiencing unexpected resistance or fragmentation.
~2,000-word report from $15,000