Singapore – Around 87% of Singaporeans said brands need to take responsibility to help safeguard the future of the planet, a study by Human8 and Space Doctors revealed.

According to the study, a huge number of Singaporeans believe that now is the right time to push for sustainability, with 82% already feeling worried about the state of the planet for future generations and 80% saying that drastic measures are now needed to change our lifestyles.

However, jumping in on making more sustainable choices is not that easy. While 19% of consumers in Singapore can confidently say that they are living a sustainable lifestyle, some would need time to fully adapt to this lifestyle.

The study emphasised price (48%), availability (46%), and education (39%) of or on sustainable options as some factors that need to be considered to help consumers adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

However, it is important to note that what 8 in 10 Singaporean respondents want is to actually move beyond sustainability and into working to reverse the damage done to the planet.

This means that consumers are now extending their concern beyond environmental considerations to a broader scope of regeneration that covers the entire planet, including people and communities.

And with calls for more regenerative sustainability, a huge number of consumers are also looking for brands that show inspiration and vision to move people towards positive change, as 78% of them think that making the world a better place is something that can’t be done alone.

Based on the study’s results, 87% of consumers want brands to provide more information about their sustainability efforts, with 54% saying that brands that don’t communicate about sustainability aren’t actually sustainable.

Meanwhile, 51% of respondents state that fighting dominant norms and labels used in society is draining and ineffective, making it better to create your own way of doing things.

Maz Amirahmadi, managing director for APAC at Human8, said, “The key takeaway is that the majority of consumers no longer believe the status quo mindset when it comes to the state of our environment and our communities is sufficient. With regenerative sustainability, brands are challenged to foster a more harmonious relationship between commerce and caring for our people and planet. A healthy environment and social equity are interconnected components of a truly sustainable and regenerative future.”

He added, “We need to fundamentally change how we do things if we want to safeguard the wellbeing of present and future generations. Our What Matters 2024 report outlines actions that brands and stakeholders operating in the region can and must take to respond to what matters to people. While we expect challenges to continue on multiple fronts in Singapore in 2024, the study reveals insights into the consumer reality that offer inspiration and opportunities for brands and stakeholders alike.”

Maya Madhusoodan, managing director at Space Doctors APAC, also shared, “As a certified B-Corporation, the movement for regeneration is part of Space Doctors DNA. With this in mind, we started our 2024 Do What Matters journey by developing a cultural framework of positive transformation, a model which revealed the four main dimensions of positive change that all brands should be aware of. These dimensions provide the context for a further eight cultural codes of transformation—meaningful and actionable paths to adopting a regenerative mindset and identifying powerful, systemic solutions.”

Singapore – Consultancy firm Human8 has recently unveiled its employee AI prompt school, accompanied by its own AI research assistant. 

To address concerns regarding data ownership and the impact on confidential research data and PI information, earlier this year OpenAI developed a proprietary AI research assistant utilising the ChatGPT algorithm, enabling them to conduct real research data experiments and evaluate the capabilities of generative AI.

Annelies Verhaeghe, chief platform officer of Human8, said, “Just like with the internet and social media revolution, as an agency we’ve always embraced tech and innovation, investing in discovery to accelerate success. However, to safely and creatively experiment with AI, we first needed to overcome the data privacy obstacle.”

Meanwhile, Maz Amirahmadi, Managing Director, APAC, said, “In Asia Pacific, AI adoption has taken off in 2023 across various verticals and markets. According to an IDC report, a top adoption driver is improving employee productivity. The tool will enable our team of consultants in APAC to keep pace with the acceleration, and we are already seeing strong appetite among colleagues and clients to collaborate with AI.” 

Human8’s trials show that using generative AI as an analytical tool with thick data from primary research produces far more actionable research results. This emphasises the significance of using up-to-date data.

Verhaeghe added, “With our proprietary AI tech at hand, we defined a series of A/B experiments to gain a better understanding of the potential and implications of generative AI systems for our business and the industry at large. Our experiments were designed to explore well-known challenges related to AI data quality, data sampling and even data hallucination.”

Human8 has incorporated its personal AI research assistant across its global operations. By utilising AI automation for more analysis of unstructured data, this has opened up more opportunities for human interpretation and consulting. 

Singapore – Human8, the marketing consultancy, which is previously known as InSites Consulting, has entered a strategic community partnership with Japan-based SevenSeas Marketing Research, the local reference for customer-centric intelligence. The partnership is in line with Human8’s global ambitions with a focus on helping SevenSeas successfully bring communities to its clients in Japan. 

Alongside its ambitious buy-and-build journey of the past five years, Human8 has also previously invested in strategic regional partnerships, expanding its community technology and services reach across the globe. In early 2021, the global group announced its LatAm partnership with Provokers, spanning seven offices across the region. Said partnership provides widespread access to Human8 communities in the region and enables Provokers to serve its own global clients.

At present, Human8 eyes to target anew the Asia Pacific region again, following successful acquisitions of ABN Impact (Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul) and Answer Global (Taipei). The global community pioneer is now looking at Japan, the third biggest market for research services within APAC.

“Our shared vision on the future of consumer insights, our strong focus on consultative services and the complementarity in terms of geography, form a strong foundation for this strategic partnership in Japan. Via our collaboration, SevenSeas can benefit from our community expertise and technology and our award-winning innovative research approaches. SevenSeas can also tap into the vast experience of our people – from insight consultants and data scientists to strategists and technologists – which will help them optimally service clients in the Japanese market,” said Maz Amirahmadi, managing director of Human8 for APAC. 

“We are very proud to join this strategic partnership with Human8. It’s exciting to work with their pioneering community technology and expertise. Combined with SevenSeas’ wealth of Japanese market and consumer knowledge, we bring a strong and innovative offer to the Japanese market,” said Hideyuki (Yuki) Niwa, President & CEO at SevenSeas Marketing Research.

The partnership unites a group of over 900 people across 24 offices and 8 partner hubs spanning 6 continents.