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Dig In is your go to source for insights innovation. It's for anyone with a genuine interest in fostering brand and product growth, exploring groundbreaking innovations, and embracing the dynamic world of expanding businesses and brands.
Jess Gaedeke (00:00)
Hi everybody. Welcome to the DIG inspiration conversation where I get to unpack my recent interview with Jenna Levine at Danone And she talked about a really exciting launch that Danone recently did at the Oikos Fusion product.
And she talked about how she was able to leverage our technology, team here at DIG achieve that launch. So I thought, well, I get to take this chance and this excuse to talk to my good friend, Kevin Hare. He is EVP here at DIG, who leads some of our most significant growth areas, including Upsiide programs, just like what Jenna talked about. So, Kevin, welcome to it. Thank you for being here. And of course, we had to bring a little bit of our extra spirit to the conversation. For those listening auditorially, what are you wearing?
Kevin (00:43)
I have the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes Jersey. Yeah.
Jess Gaedeke (00:47)
Interesting, yes. And conversely,
I am wearing the San Francisco 49ers George Kittle jersey because we have a little bit of a not so playful at times rivalry going when it comes to the NFL.
Kevin (00:57)
⁓
It definitely depends on the week and how we're feeling come Monday or Tuesday morning. And unfortunately, as we are recording this, things are not looking good for me. So I'm hoping when this airs, inevitability will sink in and the Chiefs will be doing well in the playoffs. And hopefully that is actually what happens.
Jess Gaedeke (01:13)
Wow, it's really weird to think that that's the future us that we're gonna have to work through, right? We've got a number of weeks left to this one. so we'll bring that competitive yet camaraderie spirit to this conversation as well. Because there's just no better person to chat with about this conversation I had with Jenna, right? So she talked about the Oikos Fusion launch.
Kevin (01:18)
You
Jess Gaedeke (01:33)
really a strong partnership where we worked with her and supported her team across a number of different decisions they had to make. And as she described this agile push, right? They needed a validated concept in six weeks. talk to us about why Upsiide and partnering with our teams, especially in those types of engagements, it really is good at helping in those situations.
Kevin (01:53)
Yeah, I guess, you know, first and foremost, we've really built a lot of methodologies that make iterating faster into the platform. So within Upsiide, the ability to test things iteratively quickly, visualizations, the speed to insight that we often sort of talk about is really sort of leveraging the platform in a way that it was built to be able to do sort of engagement and to really iterate sort of quickly. So that's something that the platform is particularly strong at and well suited for.
then I guess just on top of that, the fact that we've built out a number of different teams who are just sort of ready to go and very sort of fluent in being able to do innovation testing and do work quite iteratively the platform really helps build that sort of speed and that of our clients to sort of benefit from that expertise and how we're thinking about using the platform in many sort of standardized ways. So it can really take what we had initially sort of conceived as being like,
let's do concept testing, let's do innovation and early stage screening. it just really super charges that process to be able to go from a rough idea and maybe iterating on it and testing very quickly and sort of moving and sort of confirming that there really is an opportunity. So we have a number of clients who are benefiting from the ability to leverage the platform across a number of different steps as they move from like super early stage, like idea or benefit conceptualization.
all the way to taking that to sort of a fully fleshed out concept in a relatively short period of time. thought Jenna did a great job sort of explaining how that works at Danone and a lot of the success we've seen with other organizations has been taking a very similar approach to sort iterating and making an innovation lifecycle quite quickly.
Jess Gaedeke (03:27)
I think that's really interesting because she said, you know, we needed a validated concept in six weeks. Some might take that as saying, I need to go test a concept and make sure I have the right story within six weeks. But that was not the case. It was no, we need to understand.
statements, we need to understand claims, we need to understand packaging, we need to get to this final concept in six weeks. And I think a lot of people think about Upsiide for just idea testing. But in this instance, Danone and Jenna's team really did leverage it for so many different ways. So are some of the more surprising things that you can actually do in Upsiide that people might not be aware of?
Kevin (04:01)
Some of it you had mentioned right there, like ideas, names, claims, packs. think, you know, we've done a lot of interesting work would even show that you don't need sort of like the image. We've done work to sort of validate whether or not an idea was presented with a visual image for somebody to react to, or if it was just the text. And so we've understood that there's real opportunities to just really streamline things that you don't have to sort of wait until an image has been created to test something.
it could be a larger number of ideas. It's quite well suited for And that was sort of the initial ways that we were thinking about leveraging the platform and doing analysis. But we're at a point now where we've really sort of built out a number of different use cases. We have a number of clients who are testing scripts for ads, final creative, early stage packaging, ability to show different videos and video stimuli is particularly important as we're...
thinking about different use cases for a number of our clients who are leveraging it to test things in an iterative way, understanding that the stimuli might sort of change as they go. So we've really built out a number of the opportunities and ways that we're testing stimuli that have unlocked sort of later stage. So it's not just that initial early stage idea testing, which it was designed initially for. We've got a number of different use cases in ways that clients have been sort of pushing us to say, could we do this? And just as the platform has advanced and it's grown to
for different question types and different analyses. That in particular has been sort of an unlock, I think, for a lot of our clients and in the way that we're thinking about designing research that can sort of go through the Upsiide platform. then guess, I mean, just a few of the different ways that it really comes to Jess, that I know you're a strong advocate for is our market simulator. we've recently SMR award
Jess Gaedeke (05:34)
No.
Kevin (05:37)
the predictive analytics and in particular for the modeling that we have coming out of it and just I guess the TLDR on what it is is it'll do a share estimate on ideas and concepts that were tested and project sort of the share if those products were available in market and what we can do from that is run volumetric analysis if you know we're able to tie our share performance within the exercise back to real in market volumes
and make a bunch of those projections that a lot of our clients really rely heavily on and sort of take it to the next level. So that's been a really sort of interesting build and something that many of our clients are leveraging. And I think the other one that I sort of mentioned here our ability to integrate Onecliq which is a recent acquisition Dig has made that provides a lot of sort of social context, pulling in different conversations from different social media. And it really is sort of a different data set that it's not.
primary data that we've collected within the survey that's sort of, you know, is really purposeful on a specific topic. it brings in the social context and the social conversation. And just one example is we were testing a number of cookie to sort of understand which ones might be incremental to this portfolio. And we went and we did some learning in terms of what was the social conversations happening different sort of limited time offers or different types of cookies or different
innovation ideas that had tested and what was the sort of themes of what people were saying on social because we really started to understand know, just what people tell you in the surveys is sort of a reaction to what you put in front of them. But there's a lot of conversation different topics and things that are happening that we want to be able to pull in and provide that additional layer and context. So that was particularly interesting that we were able to do, you know, a concept test, but pull in what people were saying about this particular brand and their innovations that they had launched recently. So
weaving in a number of different data sources is what we're starting to see as like adding value above and beyond just doing an idea screen or a test that you might do.
Jess Gaedeke (07:24)
yeah, I love that example because it just complements so well what you might see in the Upsiide dashboard in terms of the market performance, you know, the potential incrementality where maybe certain products are prone to cannibalization within the portfolio, but then adds that layer of context and that very rich commentary. mean, people talk online. I mean, I think I saw that cookie report. Like people are pretty, pretty passionate about those brands and bringing in that passion to the conversation.
I'm also picturing and talking with clients about how it's going to support their retail or selling conversations when they're going to bring it into Kroger or Walmart and bringing in that added layer of not just here's the predicted performance of this item, but here's the sort of the social passion around it, right? It's really powerful.
Kevin (08:10)
think it's also sort of a mirror in many cases to like, you know, some iteration or some brainstorming, or there's been some work done, you know, either internally at our clients, organizations, or with an agency around like, what is the idea for a potential new product or innovation or concept? is it actually mapping back to what people are saying? And so, you know, the ability to sort of say, it might've been built for this intention. Are we actually measuring it that it's having that impact or consumers are associating, know, what our client is testing with?
Jess Gaedeke (08:28)
Bye.
Kevin (08:37)
that desired use case or with that desired occasion or it's touching on nostalgia in that case that we spoke about. So it is helpful to sort of have that frame of reference as we're saying, you providing more to the data that we're able to share with them.
Jess Gaedeke (08:51)
Yeah. Can we spend a moment on nostalgia, Kev? Because listen, we're not young chickens. I'm a little bit of an older chicken than you. But I feel like we're at this point where I'm max nostalgia. Like I love anything from the 80s. Just gets my attention. That's why the show Stranger Things and other shows like that. I am here for the nostalgic moment that we were having as a social construct.
Kevin (09:17)
I mean Stranger Things is a big one. I think was season three that they were at the mall and like just Reminders for me of like how much time I spent at a mall. We're not doing that even like living within that I don't know what it was like six or seven episodes and being just like oh transported back to a place where you know You might have been 25 or 30 years ago. Maybe depending old you were thinking back to sort of the 80s and 90s
I mean, it's clearly resonating with people who have purchasing power at this point. And that's probably why it continues to be something that a lot of brands are tapping into is just sort of that comfort of like something that you remembered from the past. And we've seen, you know, a number of different concepts that will test within our research that are really sort of like focused or honed on, you know, something of sort of like that return to the past. And so, you know, what's old is new again, and I'm here for it as well.
Jess Gaedeke (10:03)
Well, another hot topic that we talk about frequently on this podcast is GLP-1s And obviously the Oikos launch was all surrounding that and really trying to appeal to that demographic. Kevin, you've been at a long time. Where are we now? we, how many years? 10 years. Okay. you've seen a lot of generations of DIG. You've seen a lot of the different capabilities that the company has.
Kevin (10:19)
A little over 10 years. Yeah.
Jess Gaedeke (10:27)
brought in and developed in our trends and innovation team is one of our newest acquisitions and sort of compliments to our consultative power. And so it just got me thinking about how compelling it is to be able to help clients look and explore those futures, new categories, ways to appeal and sort of stay ahead of the market, then also have the capabilities to quantify and validate those types of propositions. And so from your experience having been here 10 years,
What does that mean for clients now that we can help them in more ways and sort of across that innovation spectrum?
Kevin (11:02)
think it's, you know, it's been a bit of an unlock for us as I think about, well, I guess what we call market signals. And so our ability to sort of understand what might be on the leading edge of something that's worth paying attention to or quantifying. so our trends and innovation team are and it's, you know, it's their expertise to really understand and take that are happening within culture and within the social context and say, you know, this is something know, might be sort of primed for.
an opportunity for this brand and sort of translating what they're seeing in different market manifestations and signals that are happening. And so we didn't have that before. And so it just really sort of lets us get a little bit earlier, I think, in where a lot of clients had typically come to us, which was, I have a concept that I need validation for. And now the conversation that we can have with them can start with, what are you seeing in the market? What's leading you to believe that this will be an opportunity? Where are there adjacent categories or spaces that we're seeing?
something touching on that benefit. So in the case GLP-1s, which we've done a lot of work on, it's really understanding a lot of the consumer story and a lot of what's going on that's leading to potential product innovation, but you really need to ground yourself in the consumer and what's happening in the market. And I think our T&I team is particularly strong at understanding and translating those signals into something that we can then test and validate. And so that is a massive change for us to say, we can start our engagements with our clients
far sooner than maybe they thought that we could five or 10 years ago. And so that bridge between understanding what the social or market context is, it into the Upsiide platform for validation, and then iterating with them and been workshopping and working through maybe potential opportunities has been awesome to see. And I think our T&I team who now leverage our Upsiide platform, it's really letting them sort of work in different ways too, where they're not saying, here's what we're seeing.
know, we can now take it to the point where we can start sizing it and understanding, you know, what's what's the velocity of some of these trends? What's the velocity of some of these benefits? Is it resonating and tracking that over time? really setting us up to sort of work with clients at an earlier stage and I think add a lot of value along the way because that our T&I team in particular strategic when it comes to sort of understanding the opportunities for market signals and now we're powering with this idea to
the platform, can really validate and translate into a quantifiable opportunity.
Jess Gaedeke (13:14)
Yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful combination when those things come together. So what's the Chief's record right now?
Kevin (13:21)
We're five and five. Yeah.
Jess Gaedeke (13:23)
Got it, okay, got it.
So that means, Kevin, so far that half the games you've watched, you've probably had like a positive experience, a great time, probably half the games, not so much. outside of football, because I love, Jen was saying, you know, she's like listening to Good Hang with Amy Poehler, which I totally started listening to and I am in love with it. What are some of the ways that you are spending your downtime? What are you watching? What are you listening to that's bringing you joy?
Kevin (13:49)
I mean, it's you're right. I'm not getting enough joy from the Kansas City Chiefs right now. It's that's just not the joy that I need. It's another ringer podcast. So Amy Poehler's good hang is a very good listen another one called the rewatchables, which the premise of this is basically they just go back and they'll dissect a movie for like an hour and a half conversation. And usually they are movies that
ran on cable and you could jump in at any moment to just sort of like pick up that movie because it was so rewatchable and typically it's sort of been shown so many different times. podcast in particular sort of breaks down a movie into sort of like casting decisions and what ifs and it runs through a bunch of different scenarios. And so I find it hilarious because it's usually, and there's sort of a run of them that they're doing 80s action movies, which I mean, you have to just.
Jess Gaedeke (14:33)
⁓ man.
Kevin (14:35)
not take seriously but realize how ridiculous they are to enjoy them. I've, anytime that's on, I get a really good laugh of it. And that also makes me nostalgic to some of the movies that I used to watch.
Jess Gaedeke (14:46)
Yeah, well, what's one of the recent movies they unpacked?
Kevin (14:48)
The Naked that one was, like the jokes per minute on that one. It's like a, it's a tight, I guess like 85 minute runtime. Like there's just no wasted space. And Leslie Nielsen just is absolutely kills in that movie. It's, he's fantastic.
Jess Gaedeke (14:49)
⁓ yeah.
Yeah, I think I need to get my kids to watch that one. I think that's where we are. Yeah. you know, speaking of nostalgia and some action, mean, if you have not watched the Cobra Kai series, Kevin, you your boys maybe not quite old enough because there's a little bit of like teenage humor in there. But and stuff. my gosh, it is like reliving the movie over the series of whatever it is. 18 episode. It's just a delightful experience. And
man, those guys are aging well and I'm just proud of them and I support them, whatever they're doing to maintain their chi and their, you that's something that our family, like we watched the whole series together and it's good because it's like forcing your kids to spend a little time with you in an area where, you know, you're fighting for attention.
Kevin (15:45)
Okay, well.
⁓ My kids aren't of the age yet where they're getting closer to watching the same thing that we're watching. We're not quite there. having spent probably or six years kind of reducing myself to what they're watching, we just draw like a fine line. I was like, I can't watch another grizzy and the lemmings. It's just not gonna happen. There's just no, there's anyway. So I do look forward to the time when they're a little bit older and we can share something like Cobra Kai.
Jess Gaedeke (16:01)
Thank
You also are going to miss some of it though, Kev. You're making fun of it now, but I'm telling you, once you don't have an excuse to watch Octonauts anymore, it's a sad, sad time.
Kevin (16:21)
yeah, I guess you can just go back and watch it by yourself. I don't know if that's enjoyable at all.
Jess Gaedeke (16:24)
It's not really,
a good look, Well, Kevin, thanks so much for taking time. It was great to talk about Jenna's episode and it's such a tremendous partnership that we have with Danone. And, thank you for leading the team and the group that really makes those Upsiide engagements that powerful, that enjoyable for our clients to work with. So thanks for letting me take the excuse to give you a little, we'll give a little shed as well on the old chiefs thing, but. ⁓
see in January. We'll see where we
Kevin (16:51)
hope so. right. Thanks, Jess.