As the news headlines continue reflecting the many headwinds and uncertainties facing the economy at the macro level, and business outlook at the micro level, many of our clients across sectors and industries are being asked to do more with less. Market research budgets are often on the chopping block, with new project needs scrutinized. How do we find new insights that open new pathways to grow in this context? What can our current knowledge base tell us about where fresh opportunities may lie?

S+R AQuA™ (Advanced Qualitative Analytics) is our advanced web-based tech stack, designed to unlock insights hidden in the mountains of interview transcripts, reports, notes, etc. accumulated from research done for your brands over time. It’s unique in how it blends concepts of keyword search, supervised machine learning, and human intelligence.  We can line up themes and concepts to easily see where patterns emerge or diverge, look at how common ideas are framed to determine their true meaning, and put video next to themes to account for non-verbal sentiment and cues (e.g., body language, facial expression, etc.). Alone or with Luminoso™, an AI-enabled text analytic engine licensed from MIT, we generate a full picture of overt and latent connections in the data with more depth and in less time than humans could alone.

As teams attempt to become agile, and do more with less, their biggest opportunity is to leverage these existing longitudinal data because the experience of the past has the power to inform the present and inspire the future. Here are a couple of cases where S+R AQuA™ has unlocked fresh new insights that open new opportunities for our clients.

For example, in one Life Sciences research project, this powerful tech stack helped turn a drug’s drawback into a benefit and provided potential synergy across indications. In this case, our client wanted to better understand the implications of a new indication for an existing asset. We deployed ML/AI advantage that S+R AQuA™ brings to analyze physician reactions to the targeted product profile. The analysis revealed that heaviest users frequently spoke to a specific adverse event (AE) – the drug’s diuretic effect; however, this AE was viewed as an added benefit and a reason to prescribe across patient types. As a result, the client team was able to leverage this otherwise hidden advantage to drive in-market impact, current and well into the future.

In another example, one of our clients (in the retail space) was under pressure to change the fortunes of their underperforming business. They reached out to commission a market mapping and customer segmentation project to plot their new strategy. And they needed these results in 90 days. A tough ask!

We did a very unusual thing – instead of proposing new research, we decided to synthesize their past learnings, and dig for insights. Leveraging S+R AQuA™, we explored common threads, consistent hypotheses, and dug deeper into unexpected themes and connections that the AI engine identified. This intense synthesis helped us identify the key consumer issue. In chasing new markets and customers, the brand had stopped delivering on their core value proposition. The brand did not need a new white space or a new customer segment. It just needed to recommit to its core customers and begin to deliver on its brand promise.

We got this analysis done in less than 6 weeks. The client saved almost 80% of the budget they had established for this project and deployed it into working media dollars. The business responded with sales up over 20% and market valuation +45% within 6 months.

A key learning for our clients and us: Do not imprison your data. Set it free. It will make you rich. We would be happy to talk through these examples, and others, if you’re interested, and/or brainstorm where and how we can help address your needs efficiently and effectively. Reach out at [email protected] and let us know.