AI-Powered Segmentation & Strategy in a Shifting Beverage Economy

A leading beverage company operating in New Zealand faced the challenge of staying relevant in the Sparkling Soft Drinks market amid significant economic pressures. With inflation and cost-of-living concerns shaping consumer decisions, the brand needed to understand how these financial stresses were influencing perceptions of value, shopping behavior, and emotional drivers in the category. Without clear insights into emerging tensions, barriers, and shifting consumer priorities, the company risked misaligned marketing and product strategies, potentially losing competitiveness in a rapidly evolving market.

Yabble’s Virtual Audiences enabled the client to gain a deep, nuanced understanding of Sparkling Soft Drink consumers in New Zealand. The tool generated rich AI-driven consumer personas based on real buyer behavior, which were then contextualized with category-specific data to reveal attitudes, motivations, and purchasing behaviors.

The team could interact with each persona through live chat, asking targeted questions to uncover both emotional and rational drivers behind purchase decisions. To make the insights tangible and actionable, Virtual Audiences also created AI-generated imagery for each persona, helping teams visualize segments and inspiring ideas for marketing and product activation.

The project delivered a comprehensive, actionable understanding of New Zealand Sparkling Soft Drink consumers in under two weeks and at a cost of just $6,500 USD—dramatically faster and more cost-effective than traditional methods, which typically take 8–12 weeks and exceed $50,000 USD.

Six distinct consumer segments were defined, each with detailed insights into motivations, emotional drivers, shopping behaviors, and changing perceptions of value amid economic pressures. The team gained access to ongoing live persona chats for continuous exploration, an 80-page strategic insights report, and an interactive workshop to embed findings and co-create strategies. Insights revealed how economic shifts were influencing brand loyalty, treat-worthiness, and channel preferences, while highlighting competitive threats and sparking tailored marketing activation ideas.

By turning AI-generated personas into humanized, dynamic insights, the client was empowered to make confident, insight-led decisions faster, smarter, and more affordably than ever before.