LUX FORUM CHICAGO
The Future of Insight and Innovation: AI and Consumer-Centric Research​

The Future of Agile Research: Using AI-Enabled Tools for Improved Research 

In a landscape where “agile research” has become a buzzword, there's a gap between rhetoric and reality. This session delves into the true essence of agility in research and demonstrates how AI, in synergy with anthropology, can catalyze a genuinely iterative and responsive research process.

Agility is about the absence of a rigid plan and the presence of iterative exploration. While AI alone may not embody agility, it finds its stride when paired with the fluidity of anthropological methods. Anthropology doesn't merely seek to answer questions; it unveils how questions are framed and understood within the cultural fabric of society. It exposes the underlying patterns, the “breadcrumbs,” which lead researchers on an exploratory journey through the human experience.

In this session, we'll illustrate how AI amplifies this process, transforming insights into actionable strategies.

Cheryl Auger
Senior Director of Research, Predictive Anthropology at Lux Research

Miranda Helmer
Vice President, Innovation Discovery at The Clorox Company

The Safety Gap: Leaping from Human-Centric Insight to Technological Solution

The CPG industry is beset by the rapidly increasing rate of policy development and shifting consumer expectations and understanding of product safety. Reports outlining the health effects of microplastics, pesticides, and other environmental contaminants abound, and policies that challenge current business units have and will continue to be applied in response, as in the case of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. But these emerging regulatory standards of safety often diverge from the expectations of consumers. While building emerging standards into your innovation roadmap is nonnegotiable, if technological innovation addresses only the safety concerns of policymakers without meeting the consumer meaning of “safety,” then organizations risk failing to make consumers feel safe.

In this session, we’ll explore the value of connecting anthropological insights and technology assessments to uncover unexpected consumer safety challenges for innovation roadmaps spanning the value chain — from upstream supply chain risks to alternative ingredients to downstream end of life. You’ll leave this session with a unique perspective on how to advance your innovation roadmaps by selecting the technologies and strategies that balance unavoidable regulatory standards and shifting consumer expectations.

Derek Gingrich
Research Director, Predictive Anthropology at Lux Research

Josh Haslun, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Agrifood and Health at Lux Research

Building Empathy Through AI: An Iterative Process in Agile Innovation 

Implementing an agile process in a big corporation requires change in many different areas of the business: from cultural shifts to technological upskilling and re-imagining the way we understand consumers.

In this presentation, we will discuss the game-changing potential of ethnographic AI and the role it plays to build deep human empathy, keep the consumer at the heart of innovation, and build meaningful partnerships that allow us to iterate and dig deeper into the human truths at corporations like Mars.

Steve Steck
Associate Director of Research & Client Strategy at Lux Research

Ana Plasencia
Innovation Explorer Director at Mars Wrigley

Pitch Contest: Harnessing AI to Craft Winning Product Concepts

The challenge? To utilize MotivAI's capabilities to identify key insights from a given brief and then, within your breakout group, employ our AI research assistant to conceptualize five innovative product concepts. These concepts should not only address the business problem at hand but also resonate with the identified human insights, ensuring relevance and impact. The session will end with a concept showcase and a winning team will be picked by our judges.

Research Coaches:

Cheryl Auger
Senior Director of Research, Predictive Anthropology at Lux Research

Derek Gingrich
Research Director, Predictive Anthropology at Lux Research

Josh Haslun, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Agrifood and Health at Lux Research

Steve Steck
Associate Director of Research & Client Strategy at Lux Research

Judge(s):

Miranda Helmer
Vice President, Innovation Discovery at The Clorox Company

Closing Remarks

Marisa Kopec
CEO at Lux Research