Synthetic Personas, Creative Testing, and AI-Driven Insight for Modern Marketers
Traditional marketing research often cannot keep pace with the speed of campaign development, creative testing, and product innovation.
This two-hour virtual workshop explores how AI-powered synthetic personas and focus groups enable marketers to generate faster, lower-cost, and more scalable insights. Participants will learn how to build synthetic personas, simulate focus group discussions, test ad creative, and generate and evaluate AI-generated product concepts before committing to full research investments.
The session highlights the strategic benefits of synthetic research, including speed, cost efficiency, and emerging evidence of strong alignment with human responses in early-stage, text-based research. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for integrating AI-enabled research into everyday marketing, creative, and innovation workflows.
Online | May 20, 2026 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Central Time
Key Takeaways
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Build and apply synthetic AI personas to explore customer motivations, behaviors, and needs.
- Conduct synthetic focus groups to surface early-stage insights, objections, and opportunities.
- Use synthetic personas to test advertising creative, messaging, and positioning.
- Generate new product or service concepts with AI and evaluate them through persona-based testing.
- Apply AI-driven research responsibly, understanding both its strategic advantages and limitations.
Get 10% off pricing by purchasing 3 or more tickets for your group or team!
Users will be assigned once the purchase is complete.
Are you an AMA Professional Certified Marketer®️? This training is worth 2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to maintain your PCM®️ certification.
AMA Members Get the Best Pricing
Not only do members get discounts on training like this, but they also receive exclusive content, downloadable tools, unlimited access to AMA Journals, membership in networking communities and more.
Training Backed By Research
AMA training is unique because of its data-backed approach. The AMA Competency Model Framework identifies the most impactful skills marketers need to advance their careers. It’s based on our research with more than 1,000 marketing professionals and academic leaders.
AMA Event Policies
May 20, 2026 | 10:00am-12:00pm Central Time
Opening and Context: Why Market Research Must Evolve
- Shifting marketing realities: speed, personalization, compressed campaign cycles
- Why traditional research struggles to keep pace
- Where AI-enabled synthetic research fits (early insight, iteration, concept shaping)
- Session roadmap and learning goals
Traditional vs. Synthetic Personas
- What personas are and how they are traditionally developed
- Limitations of static personas (time, cost, snapshot bias)
- What synthetic personas are and how they differ
- Key benefits:
- Speed (hours vs. weeks)
- Cost efficiency
- Scalability
- Real-time interaction and evolution
Live Exercise: Build a Synthetic Persona
Synthetic Focus Groups and Insight Simulation (15 minutes)
- How synthetic focus groups build on individual personas
- How moderation works in AI environments
- Types of insight extracted (themes, objections, emotional language)
- How marketers translate AI outputs into research direction
Creative Testing with Synthetic Personas
- Using personas to evaluate advertising creative and messaging
- Testing headlines, value propositions, and campaign ideas
- Identifying resonance, confusion, and credibility gaps
- Where this fits before agency testing and media investment
AI-Generated Product Concepts + Persona Testing
- Using AI to generate early-stage product and service ideas
- Feeding concepts into synthetic personas
- Identifying value drivers, barriers, and differentiation opportunities
- Supporting innovation teams with rapid directional insight
Integration, Limitations, and Best Practices
- Where synthetic research performs best
- Why human validation still matters
- Bias management and ethical considerations
- Building synthetic research into marketing workflows
Wrap-Up and Action Planning
Mark Burgess
President and CMO at Blue Focus MarketingMark Burgess is a leading voice in digital and AI-driven marketing, serving as a strategist, educator, author, and global speaker who shapes how brands compete in a rapidly evolving landscape. His career spans Madison Avenue and major global enterprises, from leading the L’Oréal account at McCann New York to driving global content strategy at PwC.
As founder of Blue Focus Marketing, he has advised world-class organizations including IBM, LinkedIn, and Wharton. Mark teaches digital marketing in Rutgers’ Executive MBA program. He is the author of two pioneering books, “The New Marketing” and “The Social Employee,” and a TEDx speaker. Mark is also a LinkedIn Learning instructor whose Integrated Marketing Strategies course has engaged more than 102,000 learners.
What’s Included?
- 2 hours of live instruction starting at 10:00 a.m. CT
- Interactive Q&A
- Resources, tips and best practices
- Access to recording and resources for three months
Who Should Attend?
This session is designed for early-career to mid-career marketing professionals who are actively involved in campaign development, audience targeting, creative execution, and innovation work. No formal market research background required.
Can’t Attend Live But Want the Information?
We will send a link to the recording and resources within one business day of the event to registrants! Access will be available for three months.