Huge, the IPG agency that pivoted last year to become a creative consultancy is unveiling today a new product for clients -- an AI-powered tool designed to help brands better understand the cultural trends important to their customers.  

By analyzing billions of data points, the proprietary tool, which has been dubbed the Culture Decoder, assesses trend relevance for target customer groups and calculates the size, sentiment, and momentum of each trend. It also provides recommendations to help brands drive engagement.  

“For years, brands have struggled to stay relevant and authentic in their attempts to keep up with what is important to their customers,” said newly anointed global chief executive officer, Lisa De Bonis. 

De Bonis, who succeeded Mat Baxter as head of the firm last month, asserted that the new offering can provide clients a better understanding of existing customers and make it “easier to connect with new audiences as well.”  

According to the consultancy, brands in the automotive, banking, financial services, insurance, and retail industries can leverage Culture Decoder to develop insights within a handful of metrics, including customer fit, or the significance or relevance of a trend within a target audience.  

The momentum (including past and forecast momentum) and size of trends can also be assessed, as well as sentiment. Size refers to the approximate number of content entries related to a trend and sentiment refers to the emotional tone surrounding a trend. 

The tool also offers guidance on how to address trends including suggestions for action, exploring, watching or ignoring trends depending on revealed insights.  

According to the firm it also provides users with the context and reason trends matter within an industry, as well as the relationship seen between those trends.  

Culture Decoder, which is being offered as an annual subscription, is launching in the United States and United Kingdom. Additional countries and industries will be included in future iterations of the tool. 

The tool is indicative of the firm's effort to shift from a project-focused business model to a solutions model with products and fixed pricing.