REWATCH OUR LIVE PANEL DISCUSSION
Learn how connecting directly with people can power your brand to success
REWATCH OUR LIVE PANEL DISCUSSION
Learn how connecting directly with people can power your brand to success
Dive into the world of Real Reality with our live panel webinar, where we explore how you can harness the power of human insight to tailor your products better and connect with audiences looking for relatable brands.
Watch now to hear from Pernod Ricard, Warner Bros. Discovery and Ipsos experts:
Anna Estlund
Vice President, Strategy, Insights Analytics
Natasha Hritzuk
Vice President and Head of Corporate Research
Janelle James
Head of Cultural Intelligence
Ben Meyerson
Vice President, Marketing
Key highlights and takeaways:
Designing for the "vibrant fringes" creates universal success:
Janelle James emphasized that by focusing on the "vibrant fringes,” users with the most constraints or those from underrepresented groups, UX and product teams can create more robust, universally successful platforms because these users highlight the flaws in average design first.
"When you focus on the vibrant fringes or the underserved, underrepresented audiences, you end up creating better products because they are navigating systems and experiences that weren't created for them. They were created for the average."
Data science requires human insights for context:
Natasha Hritzuk pointed out that relying solely on "walled garden" platform data creates user segments that lack actionable meaning for marketers and product developers, making human context essential to bring the data to life.
"Data scientists are brilliant, but they're mathematicians. So, you know, they are looking for numerical connections that sometimes don't make sense without context ... The minute you fold in people's relationship to content ... it brings the segments to life."
Gen Z's risk aversion drives content discovery:
Natasha Hritzuk revealed that Gen Z craves deep engagement but suffers from profound risk aversion due to choice fatigue. Critically, they often choose older, established media properties to guarantee a return on their time investment.
"What we found is that that was driven by a profound risk aversion. ... The last thing you want to do is carve out that time, start watching something new and it's horrible. And then you've set aside the time, you've built up the anticipation and it's like an aborted journey. "
Balancing "bullseye relevance" with broad reach is essential:
Anna Estlund highlighted that brands must balance creating highly targeted, culturally relevant products with maintaining broad appeal. Success comes from starting with deep, specific human truths and scaling them outward, rather than starting broad and hoping to connect.
"The human learning I think usually starts with the bullseye relevance. So then you have to figure out how you can get broad reach."
Using human insights to myth-bust executive assumptions:
Anna Estlund highlighted how qualitative human research is essential for challenging preconceived notions, particularly regarding demographics like Gen Z. She said observing real behaviors uncovers nuanced needs that contradict the assumption that younger people only want digital, frictionless experiences.
"All of that understanding for us was really helpful to then bring to our leadership to say, ‘Oh, it's not that they only shop online, don't like shopping in the store, don't want to talk to people. No. They actually need a little bit of help and education."
Top creatives use research to refine and shape their final products:
Natasha Hritzuk shared a story about acclaimed filmmaker Ryan Coogler to illustrate that even the most visionary creatives rely on audience insights. She highlighted how Coogler used stacks of research not just as an initial input, but as a crucial tool to polish the emotional resonance, calibrate the narrative, and refine the final product.
"Ryan Coogler... somebody who's that creative who comes up with something like ‘Sinners,’ you would think wouldn't have any appetite for research. ... And he said, ‘I really relied on research.’ … He actually was using it to refine and shape the final product, which I think was fascinating and so heartening that this amazing creative was using research as a tool in his process.”
Reach out to Ipsos experts for more
Reach out to the Ipsos experts cited within this article or to your Ipsos account representative, or InsightstoActivate@ipsos.com
Anna Estlund
Vice President, Strategy, Insights Analytics
Natasha Hritzuk
Vice President and Head of Corporate Research
Janelle James
Head of Cultural Intelligence
Ben Meyerson
Vice President, Marketing