MotivBase, The Intersection Of AI and Human Empathy
What if you could assess what the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will have on your business or industry? Would having a glimpse of what your customers, competitors and society as a whole might look like on the other side of the Covid--19 curve help you not just react but innovate? I would like to introduce you to MotivBase, whose extraordinary business helps brands worldwide get a glimpse ahead of the curve.
Most great ideas and brands are born from equal parts insightful observations and extraordinary creativity. The research firm MotivBase takes insights into the modern world by combining the traditions of ethnography and human observation with state-of-the art artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are able to listen to early trend signals and then apply data analysis to forecast the likelihood of these trends becoming big ideas. This type of modelling and insight forecasting is rare in the research world. MotivBase holds a unique position among researchers. I have personally seen the effectiveness of their insight applied to brand strategy and growth. So many insights we study repeat back the current popular societal norms rather than truly forecasting what will come. The MotivBase platform focuses on predicting future behaviors by identifying the small ideas developing within microcultures. They then illustrate how these ideas will affect majority culture in the future. I personally find it so much more useful to understand where influence and early culture is leading us rather than just repackaging obvious observations of today’s norms.
MotivBase delivers both technology-enabled research and a real-time predictive platform. They have shifted the classic project-based consumer research model that typically comes with long timelines, considerable expense, and much political wrangling. This traditional model also usually comes with the clients wanting to prove their hardened perceptions and to confirm the biases that make them feel good. Instead, MotivBase's new membership-based business model allows clients to conduct real-time queries within their AI-enabled predictive data base. This database is comprised of billions of data points gathered by analyzing millions of consumers that have been online and observed over many years. MotivBase then uses this information to understand when new ideas and behaviors move from early adopters to later cohorts. Upon request, they have a team of PhD level social scientists that can even go further and generate deep contextual reports that richly bring to life the findings generated from the platform and other adaptive research techniques.
The real innovation is in the real-time ability to use their platform tool. This creates the possibility for a true testing and prototyping culture resulting in fluid innovation for a company. It can provide the insight seeds that you can then quickly quant test across segments or in-person prototype with your prospective consumer to understand how your brand or product will be perceived.
MotivBase's founders, Ujwal Arkalgud and Jason Partridge, have built their business based on thinking about the traditional research model differently. They have dared to embrace the question of how we can “hack” the normal ways things have been done to get to a more predictive, measurable and nimble way to illustrate how culture and trends will change. I appreciate their honest and humble approach to their platform and the questions they can - and can’t - answer. They are curious leaders who don’t assume they know everything. They are generous and want people to succeed. They openly share ideas and get engaged when times like this Covid-19 epidemic create the need for people to gain understanding. They respond by sharing what they have found about how people will adapt and change.
MotivBase just published their second book titled “Microcultures: Understanding The Consumer Forces That Will Shape The Future Of Your Business.” I love the way they illustrate that looking at the competition and typical trends will never allow you to stay ahead of the curve. It is a must-read for all leaders of brands.
The brands where I have used insights from MotivBase have stayed consistently ahead of their competition. I always want to share with you great support partner businesses whenever I can. I am including here some links to their latest work and insights. I have found them super helpful as I am processing how Covid-19 is changing the globe and its people in such a fast and dynamic way.
