Merging Minds and Machines: How TMRE @ Home Redefined Insights for the Future 

Overall takeaways from the track follow, but click the below links to dive into each session:

1. Artificial Intelligence + Human Intelligence = The Next Era in Insights: Lisa Courtade, AVP, Global Business Insights & Analytics, Organon, Olaf Lenzmann, Chief Innovation & Product Officer, Market Logic Software, Teresa Correa-Pavlat, Consumer, Business, Insights & Analytics Lead, Brand & Incubator, Haleon, Anna Estlund, Senior Director, Strategic Insights, Pernod Ricard, & Tripp Hughes, Senior Director, Consumer Strategy, Organic Valley
2. From Knowledge Management to AI Knowledge Empowerment: John Ferreira, Chief Insights Officer & Mara Aussendorf, AVP, Insights, Finch Brands
3. The Anthropology Advantage: Uncovering Hidden Consumer Needs for Breakthrough Innovation: Cheryl Auger, Senior Director of Research for Predictive Anthropology, Lux Research & Natalie Taake, Senior Innovation Manager, The Kroger Company
4. AI-Powered Insights for Product Innovation with HP & Discuss: Jilleun Eglin, Senior Director of Product, Discuss.io & Sapna Mistry, Director of Insights, HP
5. From Data Mining to Data Dining: How a QSR is Transforming its Approach to Consumer Insights to Develop an Understanding of its Guests Beyond the Numbers: Jordan Cusner, Senior Director, Consumer Insights and Research, InspireBrands
6. Fireside Chat: From Confirmation to Influence: Redefining the Role of Insights in Creative Development: Julio Franco, Chief Customer Officer, Zappi & Doug Healy, Head of North America Insights, Kraft Heinz

Key Takeaways 

1. AI Enhances, But Humans Illuminate: AI tools can turbocharge research speed and scale, but human expertise remains essential for emotion, nuance, and creativity. 

2. Proactive Insights Are the New Standard: Gone are the days of static research; the future belongs to always-on, proactive insights engines. 

3. Customer Centricity Starts with Real-World Connection: Data alone isn’t enough — brands must see, feel, and experience their consumers’ worlds firsthand. 

Humans + AI = The Ultimate Power Couple 

The day kicked off with a strong theme: AI isn’t replacing researchers — it’s supercharging them. Lisa Courtade’s panel showed how teams across industries are embracing AI to boost efficiency and free up brainpower for what humans do best: thinking strategically, interpreting nuance, and bringing empathy to insights. Whether it was Anna Estlund cautioning about AI’s struggles with emotion or Olaf Lenzmann painting a future where researchers “delegate” to AI sidekicks, one thing was clear — machines and humans working together will unlock a new level of impact. 

The same energy carried into Finch Brands’ unveiling of “Charlie,” their AI-powered knowledge platform. John Ferreira and Mara Aussendorf showed how smart prompting and proactive monitoring can transform static knowledge libraries into living, breathing insight ecosystems. It wasn’t about automating everything — it was about amplifying human insight. Charlie isn’t replacing the researcher; it’s giving every team member an “insights ninja” in their back pocket. 

From Reactive Research to Always-On Discovery 

TMRE @ Home made it clear that passive research days are numbered. Sessions across the board stressed the need for proactive, real-time understanding. Whether it was Charlie flagging emerging trends before anyone even asks, or HP democratizing customer interviews to speed up product innovation, brands are no longer waiting for quarterly reports to tell them what’s happening. They’re actively listening — all the time. 

Jilleun Eglin and Sapna Mistry showed how HP’s product teams are no longer sitting back and waiting for researchers to hand them insights — they’re getting their hands dirty, talking directly to customers through AI-driven platforms like Discuss. By empowering non-researchers with smart, supportive tools, HP is building a culture where everyone feels responsible for staying close to the consumer. 

Digging Deeper: Anthropology, Emotion, and the “Why” 

While AI and speed were major stars of the day, another crucial theme ran quietly (but powerfully) underneath: true innovation demands emotional depth. Cheryl Auger and Natalie Taake’s session on predictive anthropology made it crystal clear: if you only ask consumers what they want, you’re missing the bigger picture. Real insights come from observing what people do, how they talk naturally online, and what deeper needs they may not even articulate. 

Whether it was decoding the emotional struggles of healthy aging consumers or learning why plant-based foods boomed (then plateaued), anthropology offered a powerful reminder: the real action is below the surface. AI can help scale this kind of discovery — analyzing mountains of online behavior — but it’s the human researcher who interprets the emotions, the cultural cues, and the context behind it all. 

Getting Out from Behind the Dashboard 

Another major shift? Moving insights beyond spreadsheets and into real life. Jordan Cusner of Inspire Brands delivered one of the most energizing reminders of the day: you can’t understand your customers if you never see them. Instead of only mining POS data, Jordan’s team now “dines on data” — literally visiting restaurants, observing customers, chatting with guests, and documenting real-world behavior and emotional moments. 

Instead of relying solely on vendor reports, Inspire’s insights team is now creating their own trend analyses (“The Chow Down Report”), combining numbers with first-hand field experiences. It’s a simple but radical idea: if you want to be a customer-centric brand, you must live where your customers live — not just read about them on a dashboard. 

Shifting Insights from Scorekeeper to Creative Catalyst 

The day wrapped with a fireside chat that perfectly summed up TMRE @ Home’s biggest theme: insights are no longer the judges; they’re the fuel. Julio Franco and Doug Healy’s conversation about Kraft Heinz’s creative development journey was a masterclass in how to reposition insights from a “pass/fail” role to an inspiring, guiding force. 

Instead of late-stage “tests” that kill creative ideas, Kraft Heinz now uses insights throughout the process to optimize and elevate work — helping creatives connect more deeply with consumers instead of policing their output. Language matters too: no more talk of “validation” or “testing.” It’s about learning, growing, and making creativity stronger by staying tightly connected to real human needs, not gut instinct or internal bias. 

The Future Belongs to the Bold (and the Balanced) 

If you walked away from today’s TMRE @ Home with one thought, it was probably this: the future of insights is both faster and deeper. 
It’s about smart machines and sharper humans working side-by-side. 
It’s about proactive discovery, real-world immersion, and creative partnerships built on empathy, not judgment. 

Those who can merge speed with soul — who can blend analytics with anthropology — are the ones who will not just keep up with the future of consumer insights, but shape it. 

10 KEY ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS

1. AI-Human Collaboration in Research
   • Create a hybrid workflow that clearly defines which tasks are AI-assisted versus human-led
2. Proactive Insights Generation
   • Implement an always-on monitoring system that flags emerging trends before they become mainstream
3. Real-World Consumer Connection
   • Schedule monthly field visits for researchers to directly observe and interact with customers in their natural environment
4. Knowledge Democratization
   • Deploy an AI-powered knowledge platform that makes insights accessible to all team members
5. Anthropological Research Integration
   • Incorporate observational research methods to uncover unstated consumer needs
6. Creative Development Partnership
   • Shift from “testing” to “optimization” by integrating insights throughout the creative process
7. Data Immersion Beyond Dashboards
   • Create a “live with customers” program where team members experience products/services firsthand
8. Emotional Intelligence in Research
   • Develop a framework for capturing and analyzing emotional and cultural nuances in consumer behavior
9. Cross-Team Empowerment
   • Enable non-researchers with AI-driven tools to conduct basic customer interviews
10. Strategic Insights Evolution
    • Transform insights reporting from static presentations to dynamic, action-oriented recommendations

TMRE @ Home 2025:

Day 1: From Insights to Impact: How TMRE @ Home 2025 Brought Research to Life

Day 2: Merging Minds and Machines: How TMRE @ Home Redefined Insights for the Future

Day 3: AI, Insight, and the Human Factor: A New Blueprint for Market Research