On October 30, 2024, Zappi, a leading consumer insights platform, announced the launch of its Innovation System. This new system aims to help brands accelerate innovation cycles, reduce time to market, and gain predictive insights into in-market performance. Leveraging AI, the Innovation System integrates Zappi’s proprietary data with Large Language Model (LLM) technology, creating an end-to-end platform that aligns product development with evolving consumer needs.
Zappi’s innovation testing tools have already supported over 350 major brands, including PepsiCo, Heineken, McDonald’s, and Reckitt, enhancing over 100,000 product ideas. The Innovation System adds value by incorporating AI at critical stages of the product development process, shortening innovation timelines to under four hours. This allows teams to rapidly create, test, analyze, and optimize ideas, ultimately improving product launch success through real-time, connected insights.
“According to McKinsey, one-third of C-suite leaders consider innovation the top lever for growth, yet 75% of innovation in the CPG industry fails. This disconnect stems from new products not aligning with consumer desires,” said Aaron Kechley, CEO of Zappi. “Our Innovation System and AI-driven Concept Creation Agents empower brands to stay ahead of consumer needs and set trends. By embedding consumer-centric innovation at every product development stage, brands can mitigate risks, capture market share, and excel in their categories.”
Also Read: Viant Licenses Comscore Data for Training ViantAI
How Zappi’s Innovation System Leverages AI-Powered Tools:
Create: Customizable AI-powered Concept Creation Agents enhance traditional ideation, generating new product or service concepts in as little as five minutes. These specialized agents combine a brand’s connected data with advanced LLMs to produce unique, market-relevant ideas validated by consumers. By leveraging feedback from previous innovation tests, the agents ensure that ideas are not only quickly generated but also resonate with consumers, saving time and resources while improving success rates.
Test: Zappi offers a suite of testing tools—Screen It, Optimize It, and Activate It—that enable brands to test concepts at any development stage. Whether validating early ideas or optimizing nearly finished products, these agile research tools provide fast, tailored solutions to assess consumer responses and refine ideas in real time.
Analyze: With AI Quick Reports, brands can instantly analyze concept test results, merging qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights. This feature automatically generates comprehensive reports that can be easily shared with stakeholders, saving time and enabling quicker decision-making.
Optimize: Zappi’s AI Concept Optimizer enhances concepts through continuous consumer feedback, showing improvements in 65% of key metrics and significant gains in 20% compared to the original concept. This tool allows for iterative refinements, ensuring that product ideas are optimized for success and closely aligned with consumer preferences before launch.
Mariline Alsuar-Dean, Global Insights Director for Intimate Wellness at Reckitt, praised Zappi’s AI Concept Optimizer, stating, “The Zappi AI Optimizer helps us determine how to strengthen our innovation concepts and maximize their chances of success at launch in seconds. It also guides us on how to adjust our messaging for different audiences. The speed and agility provided by Zappi AI Optimizer are crucial in a rapidly changing space like sexual wellness, influenced by shifting trends in culture, politics, and technology.”
Zappi’s platform also stores and utilizes 100% of past research, allowing brands to create a learning loop that maximizes the value of consumer insights. Each project contributes to a centralized data asset, enabling brands to connect more deeply with consumers. By building on historical insights and real-time feedback, brands can make informed, data-driven decisions and continuously refine their strategies to stay ahead of market shifts.
“Zappi is transforming insights teams from project managers to strategic advisors,” said Steve Phillips, founder and Chief Innovation Officer. “By leveraging AI throughout the product development journey, we empower insights teams to incorporate the consumer’s voice into every strategic decision. Building a centralized, democratized, and connected data asset allows brands to consistently engage with consumers and drive faster, more consumer-centric innovation.”
Zappi has been recognized as the Best Marketing Insights Platform by the 2023 and 2024 MarTech Breakthrough Awards and named Best AI Startup by SaaStock, underscoring its commitment to delivering cutting-edge, AI-powered consumer insights.