Al in Strategic Insights:

7 Myths vs Realities

Over the past year or so, the evolution of generative Al has drummed up both fear and excitement in equal measures. One thing is certain – it has already completely transformed how we gather, analyse and act on insight.

As with any disruption, distinguishing fact from fiction is paramount. This is especially true in the case of Al, which is having a massive impact in our industry. 

While insight teams are eager to understand how Al can truly benefit them, many myths about its capabilities still persist. So let’s explore…

Myth 1

AI is a
distraction

Reality:

Generative Al empowers insight teams to gather, analyse, and act on insights in ways never before possible, ultimately augmenting human capabilities and unlocking entirely new methods for delivery.

Myth 2

AI will replace
all jobs

Reality:

AI will create new job opportunities and enhance existing roles within insight departments, as well as facilitating innovation and efficiency across industries.

Myth 3

AI lacks the nuance
of human insight

Reality:

AI can uncover deep consumer insights by processing and analysing data at a scale and depth impossible for humans alone, offering nuanced understanding of customer behaviours and preferences. However, enriching the AI-generated data analysis with human interpretation is crucial for a nuanced understanding of consumer insights. 

Myth 4

Generative AI
isn’t representative

Reality:

Controlled and customised AI can deliver highly representative insights. However, as humans, we need to control the sources and frame the context to deliver recommendations with more impact. 

Myth 5

AI is too complex
for everyday use

Reality:

AI tools are becoming more user-friendly, with interfaces and applications designed to be accessible to non-experts, simplifying complex processes and decision-making.

Myth 6

AI's security
is questionable

Reality:

Advancements in AI ensure data privacy and security, with sophisticated encryption and compliance with international data protection standards safeguarding sensitive information.

Myth 7

AI cannot
grasp context

Reality:

AI’s evolving NLP (Natural Language Processing) capabilities offer a nuanced understanding of context, enabling it to interpret and respond to complex queries with an understanding of subtlety and nuance in language.

“An insight department using generative AI is always going to outperform insight departments that aren’t.”

Paul Jackson, Managing Director,

STRAT7 Bonamy Finch

s7-headshot-joe-lockey

Joe Lockey

Senior Analyst

Joe joined us after completing rotations across our consumer, services and health sectors, whilst gaining exposure to both qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

Headshot-Alice-Hedlund

Alice Hedlund

Principal

Alice has experience in customer-centric growth, brand strategy and innovation at global scale. She specialises in brand transformation journeys, bridging the gap between business and brand strategy to create holistic and actionable plans for impactful growth.

Helen Donald

Name

Job Title

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Tom Carvell

Principal

Tom has a science background with a PhD in Materials Chemistry. He has spent most of his career working on in-house front-end innovation where he delivered mid/long term strategic projects for brands such as Durex, Scholl, Veet and KY. He is focussed on delivering pragmatic but provocative innovation strategy for CPG categories.

Manick Pratheeban

Senior Principal

Manick is a brand strategy and consumer insight specialist with 15+ years’ experience helping to grow some of the world’s biggest brands. He has a proven track record of translating trends, consumer, and market data into actionable insights to formulate growth strategies.

Kate Jones

Senior Principal

Kate has over a decade of experience in creating transformative strategies for customer-focused businesses. With a background in consumer insight and behaviour change across consumer health, packaged goods, leisure, banking and other sectors she focuses on elevating the customer experience to create human-centric innovations and foster impactful growth.

Jacob Gascoine-Becker

Partner

Jacob specialises in leveraging consumer research to inform investment strategy and business case development. A management consultant since 2014, he previously spent eight years working in ecommerce and digital marketing.

Ines Achabal

Senior Analyst

Ines is inately curious and creative. She is known for her expansive thinking when exploring client challenges and elevating the visual quality of outputs to maximise their impact.

Helene Mills

Partner

Helene has 20+ years’ experience advising business leaders and investors on growth strategy based upon consumer and market intelligence. Her particular specialism lies in leisure, retail, food and beverage sectors.

Helen Donald

Helen Donald

Partner

Helen has consulted businesses at different stages of growth across a variety of sectors, specialising in consumer packaged goods and consumer healthcare. She is an adept strategist, bringing clarity to the most complex of situations and connecting dots to create rich, future-proofed platforms for innovation, brand positioning and growth.

Allan Chen STRAT7 Advisory

Allan Chen

Senior Principal

Allan’s core skillset provides an analytical and commercial lens to address client challenges. He started his career as an actuary, and since then has held a broad range of strategic roles, improving performance across the private and public sector.

headshot-Bjorn-Dufwenberg

Björn Dufwenberg

Managing Director​

Björn has 15+ years’ experience in insight-driven transformation, across management consulting, as well as brand and innovation agency roles. Most recently he headed up the Customer-Led Transformation practice at PwC Sweden, until joining STRAT7 in 2021. He’s worked on global projects covering consumer goods, durables, spirits and beverages, retail, banking, and private equity.

Kamilla Dala

Senior Principal

Kamilla has 10+ years’ experience leading and implementing insight-driven transformation within global matrix organisations in durable and consumable goods. Areas of expertise cover segmentation, uncovering and translating actionable consumer insights within innovation, product development, brand positioning, strategy and marketing.