The Role of Synthetic Data in Marketing

Recently I posted about why I am paying attention to synthetic data as a CMO, and I wanted to hone in on one of the reasons why I think it holds so much value for marketers -- the ability to address bias in data. As marketers, we might not be using AI technologies to save lives. As such, one could argue that a bias in our data has minimal real-world repercussions. But that hardly means that we don't have the ability to improve lives as marketers. We're in the unique position of connecting brands and purpose with people and their purpose. I lead a team of marketers at a company that values and creates technology to help organizations make better decisions, and at the forefront of that we consider ethics and trustworthiness of our tech. This company value also happens to be my own value. To be ethical marketers (and, honestly, humans), my team and I need to do our part in reducing bias, independent of perceived real-world impact. Again, enter synthetic data. Synthetic data generation can help by creating more representative datasets. If certain groups are underrepresented in our experiential data used for a marketing campaign, it will lead to an output of biased model predictions. By leveraging synthetic data, we can create supplementary data for underrepresented groups, ensuring a fair distribution for our campaign. We can also design synthetic data sets specifically to exclude biases that are present in our available experiential data. Consider a marketing team at a bank. With synthetic data, that team can create data for demographics that have been historically underserved, offering them a financial future may not have previously dreamed possible. Owning a home or starting a small business because a bank loan helped bring a person's aspirations to fruition -- an opportunity like this one to use synthetic data can actually improve lives and make an impact in the bank's community. There isn't a downside to mitigating bias. This matters to me, to my marketers, and to furthering a mission of promoting ethical and trustworthy AI practices across the board. #SyntheticData #marketing

Are you diving into the world of synthetic data and wondering how it can revolutionize your marketing strategies? This guide on synthetic data generators can help frame your strategic approach. 🔍 Why This Post Matters: Client-Side Leaders: Assess the so-called "black box" of synthetic data generators like GANs, VAEs, SMOTE, RNNs, Bayesian Networks, and Agent-Based Models. Understand their benefits, costs, and specific use cases to make informed decisions and enhance your data strategy. Vendors: Define your path for leveraging synthetic data technology. Our guide provides clear insights into each generator's strengths and applications, helping you align your offerings with market needs. 📈 Key Takeaways: Detailed Analysis: Dive deep into how each synthetic data generator works, their best use cases in marketing, and how they can drive better business outcomes. Comparative Summary: A handy chart comparing benefits and costs, making it easy to understand which generator suits your needs. Real-World Examples: See practical applications of synthetic data in customer segmentation, ad creative generation, market simulation, and more. Whether you're a marketing leader seeking to innovate or a vendor looking to enhance your solutions, this guide is your roadmap to success with synthetic data. 💡 Read the full post and transform your marketing strategies with synthetic data today! #SyntheticData #MarketingInnovation #DataScience

🚀 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵—𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁. Here are 4 disruptive shifts I see reshaping how we understand customers and markets, with real examples: 🔹 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀  62% of firms use Gen AI to synthesize interviews, analyze data & draft reports faster. WeightWatchers found users were more candid with AI interviewers than humans. 🔹 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮  EY tested synthetic personas via Evidenza—AI-derived responses matched real survey results 95% of the time. Think simulation at scale. 🔹 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝗽𝘀  General Mills is exploring synthetic data to accelerate product ideation. Imagine testing concepts with 1,000+ virtual consumers instantly. 🔹 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 & 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 CivicSync builds hyper-personalized twins using real user behavior—Ogilvy then A/B tests creative before campaigns launch. 💡 The promise? AI as your insights co-pilot—always on, scalable, and surprisingly human. #GenAI #CustomerInsights #DigitalTwins #SyntheticData #AIinMarketing #Leadership #B2BMarketing #AIacceleration https://lnkd.in/esqW6m7M

“Market Research Pitfalls” - new cartoon and post https://lnkd.in/gkShm_Q2 Early in my marketing career, at General Mills, we used to hold focus groups in a Minneapolis suburb called Eden Prairie. I once overheard a couple of our agency partners jokingly refer to this focus group ritual as going to see the “Oracles of Eden Prairie.” Whether new products, campaign strategy, or ad creative, the Oracles of Eden Prairie had major sway. Focus groups (and all the rest of our market research tools) were imperfect, mysterious, expensive, and seemingly took forever, but they were the best we had at the time. Market research is one of the areas of marketing most ripe for change, and where we’re seeing some of the most exciting potential impact from new technology, including AI. Sorin Patilinet, Senior Director at Mars, describes some of the common frustrations with market research: “In today’s world, you don’t have the time or the luxury to measure creative and to make decisions in three months, everyone screams that you need decisions today.” Sorin led a team at Mars that created an analytic tool called ACE (Agile Creative Expertise) that measures audience’s emotional reaction and attention to ads to predict effectiveness in driving sales. Evidenza, founded by Peter Weinberg, Jon Lombardo, and Brian Watroba, is taking market research even further. They’re pioneering the use of synthetic data to create AI copies of customers. Their platform creates digital personas that marketers can interview about just about any burning question in real-time. Adweek reported that Toni Clayton-Hine, CMO of EY, ran a fascinating test of Evidenza versus traditional market research. They fielded their annual brand survey — asking executives at large companies to share investment plans and thoughts on EY — both ways. What typically stretched six to eight weeks took Evidenza a day or two, with the same results. Toni said, “It was astounding that the matches were so similar. I mean, it was 95% correlation.” Ad agencies like Pereira O’Dell, Supernatural, and Media.Monks have also started to experiment with AI-generated focus groups. This is a new age for the Oracles of Eden Prairie. >>> For related cartoons and all the links in this post, click here: https://lnkd.in/gkShm_Q2 To sign up for my weekly marketoon email newsletter, click here: https://lnkd.in/gteDRRTd #marketing #cartoon #marketoon

B2B marketers spend millions of dollars trying to understand executives… Who won’t even give up 30 minutes of their time. I’ve seen it all: • $500 Amazon cards offered, and ignored. • $5K in executive recruiters for 3 no-shows • Surveys with 2% response rates, celebrated as wins. Here’s what no one wants to admit… The ragazzi making million-dollar decisions? They don’t take surveys. They don’t join focus groups. They don’t respond to dinner invites. But what if you didn’t need their time? What if you could: ✓ Understand how 1,000 CEOs think about your category ✓ Test 50 messages with CEOs before your first cappuccino ✓ Model the enterprise buying committee at scale Not through surveys. Through AI. At Evidenza, we use synthetic data to build intelligent simulations of real audiences --- modeled, tested, and stress-checked based on real human data. It’s not a panel. It’s not a poll. It’s a new paradigm for market research. The best marketing teams are already doing this, across industries, continents, and categories. And when CFOs see that marketers actually understand the market…They say yes to investment. If you want to see what Evidenza can do for your brand, reach out on LinkedIn or sign up for a demo on our website (www.evidenza.ai).   We’ll show you what we’ve built in our underground laboratorio… …and why the biggest brands in B2B now swear by synthetic.