Earnies champions human insight with new DEEPER division

Earnies has launched its insight division: ‘DEEPER’, developed as a response to the growing wave of AI-driven insights plaguing briefs and agencies.

Launching at a time when reputable media outlets are increasingly rejecting AI-generated content and press releases, the value of authenticity and ‘human’ campaigns has never been higher.

So, whilst synthetic research (that uses ‘artificial’ participants instead of people) promises speed and efficiency, DEEPER takes a deliberate stance: that over-reliance on AI in the creative process risks stripping away the emotion, tension and nuance that only conversations with real people can uncover.

DEEPER will offer qualitative research, creative testing and campaign measurement for brands who want to stay connected to what real people across the UK are actually thinking and feeling. It’s powered by a rich database of national audiences, under-researched voices and influential journalists, giving clients direct access to unfiltered, authentic opinions.

The launch builds on Earnies’ track record of creating campaigns that cut through because they feel genuinely human – rooted in real experiences and meaningful insights. With DEEPER, clients can expect immersive, concise reports alongside audio-visual outputs that help bring findings to life. DEEPER has already been piloted by Earnies’ client Stripe & Stare, helping deliver rigorous audience testing across diverse female demographics, helping to shape and inform upcoming campaign work.

The division is led by Earnies strategy director, Holly Hunt, who previously established John Doe’s insight department, Elsewhere. There, she helped brands like Nike, Guinness and Baileys gain a deeper understanding of their audiences’ everyday lives and measure how campaigns landed in the real world. Before this, at Platform13, she championed the power of authentic insight, leading a range of UK and global research projects for brands such as Bumble, Dr. Martens and Squarespace.

This announcement follows a string of industry awards for Earnies, including being named PRovoke Media’s New Agency of the Year 2025 in both the UK and globally, topping PRovoke’s Global Creative Index weighted by size, being named among PRovoke’s 100 Best Consumer Agencies in the World and 70 Best Agencies in the UK for 2026, as well as a recent inauguration into PRWeek’s Top 150 Agencies.

Holly said: “When everything around us is feeling more unreal by the day, it feels necessary to remember why we do what we do. To create campaigns that get people talking, because they connect with the nuances and truths of the human experience. Just last month Anthropic announced the world’s largest qualitative study, between an AI moderator and 80,000 participants, and whilst synthetic research might be able to provide a bird’s-eye summary of ‘what’, it can never get deeper than a conversation between real people, with lived experience, can.”

Jess O’Donohoe, managing director, said: “As the industry leans further into automation, the value of real human understanding only increases. DEEPER is an investment in that belief – helping our clients stay grounded in culture, emotion and lived experience, not just data. At the heart of everything we do is people. This is about listening more closely, understanding more deeply and helping our clients create work that feels real.”