By knowing how to interpret data into actionable insights and strategies, the artificial intelligence now at our fingertips can be evolved into very real human intelligence that creates stronger emotive connections between brands and audiences. It provides the knowledge we need to position brands to be values-based, lifestyle-centric and authentically-relevant.”

Choice is endless. Audience values are ever-changing. Behaviours are paradoxical. Brand relationships are complex. These are just some of the intricacies that make it difficult to simply classify and appeal to specific consumer and business needs. The dynamic nature of the market asks for brand owners to read between the lines of what audiences say they want and what their personalities and affinities demonstrate they value.

With 60% of people recognising their priorities keep changing as a result of everything going on in the world¹, 
AI-driven audience intelligence is the most powerful tool to help brands keep up with evolving needs. Continually refreshed, in-depth data shows us how audiences are responding to, connecting with and exhibiting distinct traits in the brand choices they make, the social accounts they engage with and the online content they share. Together, these deliver a live picture of how brands should be positioned to engage and grow.

Values. Lifestyle. Authenticity.

Crafting a brand around audience insights isn’t new. Traditional market research methods have been guiding brands and marketers for nearly a century. But as the digital era delivers broadening AI capabilities and deeper machine learning potential, our ability to directly speak to audiences on a personal level provides the opportunity for an altogether more intelligent way to build brands.

By knowing how to interpret data into actionable insights and strategies, the artificial intelligence now at our fingertips can be evolved into very real human intelligence that creates stronger emotive connections between brands and audiences. It provides the knowledge we need to position brands to be values-based, lifestyle-centric and authentically-relevant.

On a practical level, it delivers target audiences that are naturally predisposed to what values the brand holds, what stories it tells and what identity it has. We can choose to shape brand assets and content so that existing audiences are more receptive to them and we can create new ideas and narratives that will directly resonate with untapped and competitor audiences.

In the long-term, this resulting brand intelligence fosters aligned perspectives and mutual conversations that will lead to stronger brand relationships and attachments – growing audiences that are more likely to exhibit brand loyalty.

Working Smarter

The key to all this lies in our ability to learn from behaviours online. Every second, consumers and businesses are creating data footprints across social media and in their digital engagements. From these, cognitive technologies have made it faster and more accurate to understand their personalities and affinities, at scale.

The more people and businesses use social media, the more we can use machine learning to decipher safely anonymised patterns and insights cost effectively – to the extent that we now integrate deep analysis of AI data and audience insights into our brand development processes at every stage. Analysing millions of behaviours, engagements and clusters of people we can efficiently deliver a digestible and holistic view of any audience.

Broadly speaking, as well as traditional demographics and geographics, we focus on two core areas of science and technology to position our clients’ brands as relevant and authentic to their audiences – personality analysis and audience affinities.

Personality Analysis
Personality profiling and psychology play a vital role in converting brand assets and activations into tangible results. Much like using Myers-Briggs for employment fit, analysing an audience under the O.C.E.A.N. personality model equips us with the tools for relevant personalisation, emotional trigger points and messaging nuances.

Starting with the foundational ‘big 5’ traits – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism – the full analysis includes a total of 52 traits, needs and values. Each one is scored, benchmarked against the population baseline, and cross-referenced against one another to provide specific insights into the tendencies of those exhibiting the unique combination. These tendencies cover a multitude of audience behaviours, choices, receptiveness and priorities, which we can translate into authentic brands with consumer relevance and strong emotive connections.

Audience Affinities
Audience affinities tell us what brands, interests, passions, media and influencers an audience engages with. When analysed, tracked and interpreted, these affinities help us define the most effective strategies, communications and partnerships for a brand – whether they be B2C, B2B2C or B2B. These affinities can also support critical business decisions, for example when assessing the existing interest and openness of a particular segment (existing or target) to a new product or marketing idea, or to a specific partnership or media platform.

Delivering Actionable Strategies

There is no doubt brands need to be adaptable and innovative to do more with less today – less time, less budget, less input, less reliability etc. By making full spectrum audience insights the priority and AI the means by which to equip ourselves, we can be faster to respond, more cost effective with budgets and more astute in our strategic decisions.

The combination of personality and affinity delivers a multi-dimensional, live stream into the minds of those most important to brands. And we can view this on demand, from anywhere, through a spectrum of channels and filters including the type of audience (existing, competitor, primed, stakeholders, partners); a defined area of activity (industry, interest, trend, media, demographic or location); or by B2B focus (job title, employer, job title).

For further insight into how to integrate AI and Brand Intelligence, please contact us.

¹ Accenture: The Human Paradox research report, July 2022