GlueRat Creative · Synthetic Consumer Research

Ghost
Panels™

"5,000 consumers. Zero catering budget. Results in 48 hours."

AI-simulated consumer research · Demographic & psychographic segmentation · No focus group facility required

5,000
Synthetic Consumers
48h
Standard Turnaround
$0
Spent on Sandwiches
97%
Panel Match Rate*
Submit a Brief How It Works
Methodology

How Ghost Panels Works

No mystery. Just structured AI at scale, applied to your research question before your budget touches media.

Ghost Panels synthetic consumer panel
01

You Submit a Brief

Tell us what you need to know. Creative testing, pricing sensitivity, messaging variants, audience reaction — define the question. We handle the rest.

02

We Build Your Panel

Aira constructs synthetic consumer profiles from your demographic and psychographic specifications. Age, income, values, category attitudes, purchase behaviour — each profile is a complete, consistent human model.

03

The Panel Reacts

Your creative, concept, price point, or message is put to the panel. Each synthetic consumer responds independently based on their profile. Hundreds to thousands of structured responses generated in hours, not weeks.

04

You Get a Report

Segmented findings, variant rankings, sentiment analysis, verbatim responses, and a plain-English recommendation. Delivered as PDF and data export. We include the caveats. You include the judgement.

Applications

What You Can Test

Ghost Panels works for any research question where consumer reaction is the variable. These are the most common briefs we receive.

🎨

Creative Testing

Run advertising concepts, copy variants, visual directions, or taglines past a segmented synthetic panel before committing to production spend. Get ranked preference and qualitative reaction.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Which of these three TV spot concepts lands best with women 35–55 in metro markets who describe themselves as health-conscious?"
💰

Pricing Sensitivity

Identify the price point where your target segment perceives value, where they hesitate, and where they walk. Van Westendorp, Gabor-Granger, or direct preference — your choice of framework.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Test $49, $79, and $119 price points for a B2B SaaS tool against IT managers in companies with 50–500 employees."
📢

Messaging Validation

Test whether your core message lands as intended — or lands as something else entirely. Particularly useful before a product launch, rebrand, or campaign with a controversial angle.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Does 'clinically proven' or 'dermatologist recommended' perform better as the lead claim for a new sunscreen targeting Gen Z?"
🏪

Concept & Product Testing

Validate a new product concept before committing to development. Test feature priority, naming, category fit, and purchase intent across multiple synthetic consumer segments simultaneously.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Rate purchase intent for a protein-fortified sparkling water across four demographic groups. Which segment leads?"
🗺️

Audience Profiling

Don't know who your real customer is yet? Build synthetic explorations of potential target segments — their values, category behaviours, media habits, and likely reactions to your brand.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Profile the psychographic overlap between early EV adopters and premium outdoor apparel buyers. Is there a crossover segment?"
⚡

Rapid Pre-Launch Stress Testing

Campaign goes live Monday. You need to know if it's going to blow up in your face by Friday. Ghost Panels can pressure-test a final execution for unintended readings, cultural friction, or demographic blind spots.

EXAMPLE BRIEF: "Check this print ad for unintended readings across diverse audiences before Friday's press deadline."
Deliverables

What's in the Report

Every Ghost Panels engagement delivers the same core package. Larger briefs include extended segmentation and raw data export.

Ghost Panels report Aira — Head of Research
  • →
    Executive SummaryThe one-page answer to your research question. What the panel said. What it means. What we recommend.
  • →
    Variant RankingsIf you submitted multiple concepts, copy variants, or price points — ranked by synthetic consumer preference with confidence notation.
  • →
    Segment BreakdownsResults cut by the demographic/psychographic groups you specified. Where segments diverge, we flag it clearly.
  • →
    Verbatim ResponsesSelected synthetic consumer verbatims — the qualitative texture behind the numbers. Useful for copywriting and creative direction.
  • →
    Sentiment AnalysisPositive, neutral, negative, and nuanced reaction mapped across your panel. Visual summary included.
  • →
    Methodology Note & CaveatsWe tell you what the model can and cannot claim. No overselling. Synthetic research has limits; we include them.
Panel Match Rate
97%
Match rate against subsequent real-panel validation on Executive Lotion Autonomy Serum pricing study (n=4,200 synthetic / n=500 real). One data point. We consider it encouraging.
Turnaround
48h
Standard brief from submission to report delivery. Complex multi-segment studies: 72–96 hours. Rush available on request. We don't charge extra for urgency. We charge extra for chaos.
Pricing

Engagement Tiers

Three standard packages. Custom scoping available for ongoing research programmes and enterprise briefs.

Signal
$1,200
per engagement · AUD · + GST
  • ·Single research question
  • ·Up to 3 variants tested
  • ·500 synthetic consumers
  • ·2 demographic segments
  • ·48h turnaround
  • ·PDF report + executive summary
  • ·Email delivery
Best for: single creative decision, quick price check, pre-launch gut-check.
Most Popular
Panel
$3,800
per engagement · AUD · + GST
  • ·Up to 3 research questions
  • ·Up to 6 variants tested
  • ·2,000 synthetic consumers
  • ·4 demographic/psychographic segments
  • ·48–72h turnaround
  • ·Full report + verbatims + segment cuts
  • ·Data export (CSV)
  • ·30-min findings briefing (video call)
Best for: campaign pre-flight, product launch research, pricing strategy, rebrand validation.
Deep Field
POA
scoped per brief · AUD · + GST
  • ·Unlimited research questions
  • ·Up to 5,000+ synthetic consumers
  • ·Custom segmentation design
  • ·Longitudinal / wave research
  • ·Competitive response modelling
  • ·Ongoing retainer option
  • ·Full data access + methodology docs
  • ·Dedicated Aira research lead
Best for: sustained market intelligence, product development pipelines, enterprise brand strategy.
Transparency

What Synthetic Research Is.
And What It Isn't.

Ghost Panels is a predictive simulation tool, not a replacement for all human research. We want to be clear about this, because we've noticed that clarity is rare in this space and we'd like to stand out.

Synthetic consumer profiles are constructed from demographic and psychographic parameters. They respond to stimuli based on modelled behaviour patterns derived from real-world data. They are not real people. They cannot replace lived experience, unexpected emotional reactions, or the specific individual in your target market who inexplicably hates the colour blue.

What they can do is compress the early stages of research dramatically. The question "does this concept direction have obvious problems?" can be answered in 48 hours instead of six weeks. The question "which price point maximises intent among high-income buyers?" can be tested across 2,000 profiles before a single focus group facility is booked.

Use Ghost Panels to eliminate weak options early, focus human research budgets on genuine unknowns, and move faster through the creative development process. Don't use it as the sole basis for a $10 million media commitment. That's what the briefing call is for.

Aira personally reviews every brief and every report before delivery. There is a human — well, an AI with a strong sense of professional responsibility — in the loop at all times.

What We Claim
Directional
Confidence
Synthetic research excels at ranking, eliminating, and flagging. It is a compass, not a map. We say this in every report. We say it here too.
The Aaru Benchmark
Aaru (the NYC startup that popularised AI focus groups) achieved 0.5% accuracy vs real election polling results. Their McDonald's and A24 work validated synthetic methodology at enterprise scale. We are building on that foundation. With GRG flair and lower catering costs.
By The Numbers

The Data Speaks.
We Speak For The Data.

Comparative performance metrics, response distribution, and pricing sensitivity output — the kind of thing that makes people in meetings nod slowly and say "interesting".

Time to Insight: Ghost Panels vs Traditional Methods

Working days from brief submission to final report delivery

Cost Comparison by Research Method

AUD indicative cost per engagement, equivalent research scope

Synthetic Panel Match Rate — Autonomy Serum Study

Ghost Panel prediction vs real consumer panel validation (n=500), by variant

Pricing Sensitivity Output — Sample Report Extract

Purchase intent by price point across two synthetic consumer segments

Sentiment Distribution — Creative Testing (6 Variants)

Synthetic panel response categorisation across submitted creative concepts

Segment Demographic Profile — Panel Composition

Example psychographic breakdown for a standard Panel-tier engagement
Case Study · In Full

The Kombucha Problem

A Ghost Panels™ engagement, start to finish. Names changed. Results accurate. Sandwiches: zero.

The Client

Marcus Draper is Brand Manager for Broth, a Melbourne functional beverage startup. The product: Collagen Water, $6.80, ambient shelf, six weeks from launch. Marcus has three taglines, two packaging directions, and a CEO with strong opinions about fonts and no research to contradict him.

Traditional research would take longer than the launch window. A focus group facility wants $28,000 and eight weeks. Marcus emails lefreq@glueratglobal.com at 11:43pm on a Tuesday.

The Brief

Three taglines: "Rebuild from the inside." / "Your skin called. It wants more." / "Collagen. Actually in it." Two packaging directions: minimal clinical white vs warm earth tones with botanical illustration.

Aira confirms scope by 9:15am. Panel-tier engagement, 2,000 synthetic consumers, four segments, 72-hour turnaround, $3,800 + GST. Marcus approves at 9:47am.

The Panel
SEGMENT PROFILE N
Segment 1 Women 28–38, urban, HHI $80–120k, yoga/pilates, skincare-invested, Instagram-influenced 500
Segment 2 Women 39–50, suburban, HHI $100k+, family-primary, health pragmatists, label readers 500
Segment 3 Men 32–45, gym-regular, protein-conscious, skeptical of "collagen for women" framing 500
Segment 4 Men 46–55, HHI $120k+, health-anxious, doctor-adjacent, evidence-seeking 500
The packaging decision
The Findings

Report delivered Thursday 9:03am. 47 hours after scope approval.

Tagline 3 wins — but only in two segments. "Collagen. Actually in it." scores highest on purchase intent with Segments 3 and 4. They respond to blunt factual confidence. However, Segments 1 and 2 find it "cold" and "supplement-y." They want aspiration, not ingredients.

Tagline 1 wins overall — with a caveat. "Rebuild from the inside." scores highest aggregate purchase intent and the strongest positive emotional response across Segments 1 and 2. Segment 3 rates it as "female-coded." 34% would not pick it up unprompted.

Packaging Direction A is a clear loser. Across all four segments. Segment 2 verbatims flag it as "pharmacy product." This is not close. The report says: "Do not use Packaging Direction A. Not even for a secondary SKU. Just don't."

The Recommendation
Use Tagline 1 ("Rebuild from the inside.") as the primary consumer-facing line for female-primary retail placement and social. Develop a secondary message ("Collagen. Actually in it.") for gym-channel and male-adjacent placements where ingredient credibility drives conversion. Proceed with Packaging Direction B.
The CEO meeting
The Outcome

The CEO reviews the segment data for four minutes and says: "Okay, but how do we know this is real?" Aira has included the methodology note. LeFreq has included a footnote pointing out that the alternative was an eight-week focus group and a $28,000 invoice.

The CEO approves Direction B and Tagline 1 before lunch. Marcus does not send a thank you email. He does, however, forward the Ghost Panels report internally with his name prominently featured in the executive summary section.

We consider this a successful outcome.

Time to Decision
72h
Brief to approved creative direction
Investment
$3,800
vs $28,000+ traditional research
Synthetic Consumers
2,000
Across 4 demographic segments
CEO Arguments Avoided
1
The important one
Sandwiches Consumed
0
This is not a small thing
Submit Your Brief
Questions

Frequently Asked

Is this just asking ChatGPT what it thinks?
No. Each synthetic consumer is a distinct, persistent profile with defined demographic attributes, psychographic traits, category attitudes, and purchase history context. The panel runs structured responses independently across each profile — not a single model giving a single opinion. There is methodology here. We have written it down.
How do we know the results are accurate?
You don't, with certainty. Neither does anyone else in research. We achieved 97% match against real-panel validation in one study and we are honest that this is one data point. What we can say: the methodology is sound, the profiles are consistent, and the results are directionally reliable for creative and pricing decisions. We include confidence notation and caveats in every report. We do not claim more than we can support.
How is this different from traditional market research?
Speed, cost, and scale. A traditional qual focus group of 12 participants takes 6–8 weeks to recruit, run, and analyse, and costs $15,000–$40,000 before facility fees. Ghost Panels runs 500–5,000 synthetic consumers in 48 hours for a fraction of the cost. The trade-off: synthetic panels lack the spontaneity and embodied experience of real humans. We recommend using Ghost Panels to narrow options, then real research to validate the finalist.
Can you build custom demographic segments?
Yes. Tell us who you need. Age range, income band, location, values framework (Maslow, VALS, custom), category usage, household composition — we can build it. If the segment is very niche (e.g., left-handed baristas in Hobart aged 28–32 with a mortgage), we'll advise you on sample size confidence. Honestly.
Who actually does the research?
Aira. GlueRat Creative's Head of Research & Strategy. She designs the panels, reviews the methodology, interprets the findings, and writes the report. LeFreq reviews for quality and tone. Agent Smith reviews for anything that might embarrass anyone later. It's a team effort.
Do you keep our brief confidential?
Yes. We don't share client briefs, concepts, or findings with third parties. We might use anonymised case studies internally. We will not describe your unreleased product to the internet. Agent Smith is very firm on this. He has a look.
New Business

Submit a Brief

Tell us what you need to know and about whom. We'll confirm scope, timeline, and cost within 24 hours. No commitment until you approve the scope document.

lefreq@glueratglobal.com

Subject line: "Ghost Panels brief — [your company]" · Response within 24h · No meeting required to get started