Synthetic Audience Masterclass

Cut through the hype and leave knowing exactly when, why and how to use synthetic audiences.

Evaluate, challenge and use synthetic audiences for yourself — and leave with the frameworks, confidence and hands-on experience to deploy them intelligently in your own organisation.

Synthetic audiences are no longer a fringe experiment. They're being adopted by brand, product and commercial teams, insight functions and agencies worldwide and the pressure to understand, evaluate and deploy them intelligently is growing fast. But the claims are bold and the quality is highly variable. How do you know what's real? How do you explain it to your stakeholders? And how do you know when to use them and when not to?

This client-side masterclass cuts through the noise. Led by two practitioners at the heart of building and applying synthetic audience methodology, it gives insight professionals and senior leaders the knowledge, frameworks and hands-on experience to engage with this technology on their own terms.

You'll gain a clear-eyed view of how synthetic audiences are built, what separates rigorous methodology from hype, and how to communicate the approach credibly inside your organisation. Case studies are woven throughout, and platform access is included so you can stress-test the methodology for yourself, not just in theory.

Learning outcomes/learning objectives

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Explain what synthetic audiences are, how they are built, and the types of synthetic audiences the current market offers
• Evaluate synthetic audience quality using practical frameworks and hold vendors to account
• Identify the brief types and decision contexts where synthetic audiences deliver the most value
• Recognise the situations where synthetic methodology should not be used and traditional research remains essential
• Communicate synthetic audience methodology credibly to stakeholders at any level
• Apply a clear set of principles and watch-outs to guide their team's use of the technology

Who will benefit?

This masterclass is designed for insight and research professionals and senior client-side insight leaders who are evaluating, commissioning or overseeing synthetic audience work. No technical background is required — just curiosity and a desire to engage with one of the most significant methodological shifts in the industry.

Learning method

Expert-led instruction, live case studies, group discussion, and a hands-on platform session in which attendees design and run their own synthetic audience research and stress-test the methodology directly.

Course delivery mode

Online Classroom

Trainer biography

Matthew Phillips is Head of Product at Electric Twin and holds a PhD in neuroscience from UCL. A former researcher at DeepMind, he subsequently founded a VC-backed technology startup before joining Electric Twin to lead product development. Matthew brings rare technical depth to the question of what makes synthetic audiences valid — grounding the methodology in scientific rigour and offering an honest account of where behavioural simulation can and cannot reliably go.

Leanne Tomasevic leads Insight, Strategy and Partnerships at Electric Twin, an AI synthetic audience platform redefining how brands understand and predict consumer behaviour. A Fellow of the Market Research Society, she has spent her career helping global brands including Vodafone, L'Oréal, Ralph Lauren and Activision Blizzard turn insight into growth. Before Electric Twin, she served as UK & US Head of Insights at Tracksuit and was Founding Partner at Truth Consulting, scaling the business to a private-equity-backed exit.