From Static Reports to a Living Consumer

Overview

Every Man Jack completed a comprehensive segmentation study identifying five key customer groups. Working with KNow Research, the team used Living Persona to translate that validated research into a living buyer psychology model—nicknamed "Jack"—that reflects how this persona actually makes decisions. Teams now use Jack to pressure-test messaging, explore product concepts, and prepare stronger inputs for quant.

Result: qualitative answers in minutes, consistent with the underlying research, and durable across teams.

Before: Decks that land in drawers, costly primary research, slow A/B cycles

After: Real-time buyer feedback, faster iteration, shared consumer voice

Client & Challenge

Client

One of the original clean men's care brands, Every Man Jack pairs effective formulas with sustainable choices across body, hair, and beard care. Born at the base of Mt. Tam, the brand reflects an active, wellness-driven lifestyle.

Market Context & Challenge

Men's grooming is evolving as younger consumers redefine masculinity and wellness. EMJ needed a faster, more precise way to operationalize consumer understanding—beyond static reports or one-off studies—without introducing bias or drift.

Challenges

• Insights trapped in decks — knowledge fades as teams change
• Focus groups risk groupthink and extend timelines
• A/B tests consume weeks and budget before direction is clear
• Concept language written on instinct before quant

"This gives you, in some ways, a more objective way to talk with consumers… it avoids group think."

— Head of Product Development, Every Man Jack

Solution: The Living Persona Build

The Living Persona System™ transforms validated research into an interactive, psychologically-grounded buyer model that teams can actually talk to.

KNow Research and Living Persona audited EMJ's segmentation and archives to confirm depth and validity. Living Persona then converted the primary segment (via the Living Persona™ System) into a living, guardrailed buyer model—grounded only in EMJ's validated inputs—and enabled access for brand, creative, product, and e-commerce teams.

Key Steps

• Research Audit: Confirm input quality and consistency so only verified, client-owned data feeds the build.
• Buyer Model Construction: Extract and translate 15 primary buyer psychology motivators into a conversational structure with weighted logic.
• Guardrails & Behavior Design: Set response rules—no guesses, no fabrications, clear uncertainty handling—to ensure analytical integrity.
• Reasoning Logic: Layer psychological weighting and contextual patterning so every response reflects real, multi-layered buyer thinking.

"It's based only on the validated research we put in—nothing from outside sources."

— Director of Brand

Not a Chatbot. A Guardrailed Buyer Model.

Psychology, Not Just Data Upload

Living Persona doesn't "upload a report into GPT." It distills buyer psychology from the research using a proprietary framework of 15 Buyer Qualifiers. Each qualifier is weighted to reflect its influence on actual purchase behavior, so the model answers the way this buyer decides.

Encoded Decision Rules (Weights + Evidence Discipline)

Responses are guided by weighted traits and require multiple evidence signals so answers aren't repetitive or single-issue. When the data is mixed (e.g., different scent preferences), the model reflects context (work/gym/date night) rather than forcing false certainty. If an answer would require data EMJ doesn't have, the model explicitly says "I don't know," then redirects to a psych-fit read or a simple test recommendation.

Guardrails You Can Trust

The model refuses to fabricate numbers, avoids market-share forecasts, and will not "wordsmith for the sake of it." If copy, product, or ideas are already strong, it says so briefly and explains why—keeping teams efficient and honest. This preserves rigor while accelerating decisions.

The Buyer Qualifiers:

Our System interprets and translates your primary research into the real ways we choose, spend, and buy. These include:

• Identity Markers
• Motivators
• Anxieties
• Decision Style
• Price Heuristics
• Reactance Triggers
• and more.

Use Cases in Action

A. Messaging & Creative Development

The Challenge: Copy and claims testing traditionally requires weeks and thousands of dollars. Teams often rely on instinct or incomplete feedback loops.

How EMJ Uses Jack: Brand and creative teams paste in headlines, ad copy, or product descriptions and ask Jack for immediate psychological feedback—Does this fit? What language feels off? Would you click?

The Result: Teams validate tone, refine phrasing, and strengthen hypotheses before committing to paid media or quant testing. No groupthink. No waiting.

"We can test messaging concepts without waiting for full studies or risking bias from internal opinions."

— Brand Team Lead

B. Product & Concept Development

The Challenge: Product concepts tested too late often fail in-market. Prototyping without buyer input is expensive guesswork.

How EMJ Uses Jack: Product and innovation teams describe new SKUs, scents, or formats and ask Jack: Does this fit my life? What would make me switch? What seems gimmicky?

The Result: Jack flags misalignment before production (e.g., overly technical packaging or "wellness theater" claims that don't resonate). Teams enter quant with stronger, psych-aligned concepts.

"Jack helped us kill a packaging idea that looked great internally but felt performative to the target buyer. Saved us months."

— Product Development Manager

C. Replace & Enhance Qualitative Research

The Challenge: Traditional focus groups introduce groupthink, scheduling delays, and facilitator bias. They're also expensive and logistically complex.

How EMJ Uses Jack: Rather than assemble a group, teams query Jack directly—getting psychological depth without the logistics. Jack reflects validated research without the noise of group dynamics.

The Result: Faster, clearer insights that mirror the underlying segmentation without drift or contamination. Teams still use quant for validation, but Jack accelerates early-stage exploration.

"This gives you, in some ways, a more objective way to talk with consumers… it avoids group think."

— Head of Product Development

D. Institutional Knowledge & Team Continuity

The Challenge: Research decks fade. Teams change. Consumer understanding gets lost or re-litigated with every new hire or agency partner.

How EMJ Uses Jack: Jack serves as the living archive of EMJ's primary buyer. New team members, contractors, and agency partners can onboard by talking to Jack—asking questions, exploring nuances, understanding the "why" behind past decisions.

The Result: Institutional knowledge stays durable and accessible. No more hunting for old decks or re-running expensive studies to answer the same questions.

E. Cross-Team Adoption & Shared Consumer Voice

The Challenge: Brand, e-commerce, product, and creative teams often operate with different (or conflicting) mental models of "the customer."

How EMJ Uses Jack: All teams access the same buyer model. Brand tests messaging. Product tests concepts. E-com tests landing page language. Everyone speaks to the same Jack—ensuring alignment without translation loss.

The Result: Cross-functional teams move faster with less friction. No more "my research says X, your research says Y." One consistent buyer voice across the org.

Results & Impact

• Speed: Qualitative feedback in minutes instead of weeks
• Cost: Eliminated recurring spend on redundant focus groups and early-stage concept tests
• Rigor: Maintained research integrity with guardrails and evidence discipline
• Adoption: Used across brand, product, creative, and e-commerce teams
• Durability: Institutional knowledge preserved as teams change

"He's turned research from a static report into a real-time creative partner."

— Director of Brand Management

Next Steps

We build Living Personas™ for established brands with customer data or upcoming market research.

Custom builds start at $7,500 and take 2-3 weeks from kickoff to launch.

Book a call with Katie Read: https://read.setmore.com