Deep Listening

Recently, a client reached out, frustrated by what her brand tracker was telling her, or rather, what it wasn’t. According to the data, her brand was just like the others: equally innovative, equally good value, equally... everything.

"I wish I knew what sets us apart and what truly drives our brand’s performance?"

What We Did Differently:It’s a common issue. Traditional surveys ask people to rate brands against fixed attribute lists. But brands don’t live in checkboxes, they live in people’s minds, stories, and experiences. So, instead of asking consumers to rate brands on pre-set attributes, we started a conversation with consumers, starting with a simple, open question through Lisa, our conversational AI research platform:

“What do you think of this brand?”

No checkboxes. No leading scales. Just authentic, open dialogue at scale.Lisa enabled us to deeply explore how people really talk, think, and feel about the brand. Through hundreds of these 1:1 conversations, we discovered real, meaningful differences capturing nuance and emotional ‘depth that structured surveys miss.

We call this deep listening.

What We Learned:

While both brands showed up similarly in the standard radar chart, our deep listening uncovered:
- One brand consistently outperformed on multiple key attributes - as told by consumers themselves.
- Subtle but powerful distinctions in how people described and valued the brand.
- A clear link between these distinctions and in-market performance.

This is the power of deep listening. When you engage beyond the tick-box, you don’t just collect opinions, you uncover validated, structured, and action-ready insights.

Key Takeaway:

If your research is telling you that your brand is “just like the others,” it might be time to stop asking what people think and start listening to how they think. When you listen differently, you learn differently.