The platform allows product teams to process up to 300 ideas simultaneously, generating relative rankings and feedback on distinctiveness in minutes. By moving consumer input to the very beginning of the development cycle, Zappi aims to replace internal guesswork and stakeholder bias with data-driven evidence. According to the company, the system is grounded in real demographic profiles and validated against extensive historical survey data. Internal testing shows that 88% of concepts identified as high-performers by the synthetic tool achieved similar results in subsequent human-based evaluations.

Steve Phillips, Zappi’s founder and Chief Innovation Officer, noted that traditional research has historically been too slow and costly to apply to the initial brainstorming phase. This new solution is currently available in beta for select customers in the U.S. and U.K. focusing on FMCG and QSR sectors. A broader rollout is scheduled for later this year, signaling a shift toward integrating AI-driven simulation as a standard gatekeeper for brand innovation pipelines.