The platform offers marketing and insight teams one-to-one interviews and focus groups with multiple virtual personas, either self-moderated or aided by an AI research agent.

Virtual personas are AI-generated approximations of people – based on behavioural data, psychographic traits and other data – designed to represent how a person behaves and makes decisions.

Savanta’s product technology team and researchers have designed and developed the platform, which is based on the agency’s data and integrates the ‘Ocean Big Five’ personality traits and the Schwartz theory of basic human values. According to the company, this combination simulates reasoning, motivational drivers and personality.

Savanta chief executive Christine Petersen said ‘Virtual Personas’ would allow brands to “maintain an always-on view of their audiences rather than relying on periodic snapshots”.

Petersen added: “We’re not here to replace traditional research but to make it sharper, faster and more cost-efficient.”

Nick Baker, chief research officer at Savanta, said the platform is a “psychological simulation that preserves human complexity, modelling how consumers feel rather than simply what they say”.

Baker said users can use the technology to identify what they don’t know and narrow down their options before validating them in a group session.

Savanta has launched the proposition with an initial free access tier for its existing clients and new users, offering access to eight pre-defined personas across four segments.