What PSB Insights does

PSB Insights is a strategic research and consulting firm that helps enterprise clients make high-stakes business decisions through proprietary research methodologies. The company traces its origins to Penn & Schoen, founded in 1977 in New York City as an innovator in overnight political polling, and today operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP plc with offices across the United States (Washington D.C., New York, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Los Angeles), the United Kingdom (London), and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). PSB serves enterprise buyers — including CEOs, CMOs, corporate researchers, product leads, and public affairs strategists — across verticals such as Technology/Media/Telecom, Financial Services, Government & Public Policy, Healthcare, and Consumer Goods. Named clients include the U.S. Census Bureau, Microsoft, AWS, Pearson, HSBC, Fannie Mae, the Motion Picture Association, and ADNOC, among others.

The company's core product suite is organized under the PSB Labs innovation brand and consists of three proprietary methodology families: Narrative Intelligence™ (an AI-enabled tool that converts open-ended consumer stories into quantitative metrics through AI-powered follow-up questions), Unstructured Analytics (which extracts insights from text, image, and video content across social media, reviews, and support channels), and Choice Modeling (a portfolio of proprietary discrete choice models including Guided DCM, Integrated DCM, Message CM, Risk MaxDiff, Journey MaxDiff, Duo MaxDiff, and Kano CM). Underlying AI capabilities span natural language processing, generative AI, predictive analytics, and process automation, applied across multimodal inputs (text, image, video). The firm complements these methodologies with four professional service lines: Communications Research, Product Research, Brand Research, and Audience Research.

PSB operates a custom, project-based professional services revenue model with fixed-fee engagements negotiated through Statements of Work, billed monthly, with 30-day payment terms. The firm sells exclusively through direct enterprise engagement and relationship-based business development, supported by content marketing, case studies, and selective event participation. Strategic intellectual property is concentrated in trademarked methodologies (Narrative Intelligence™), proprietary choice models, and accumulated sector expertise — including 81 markets served in TMT alone and 36 markets in Government & Public Policy, with 2024 marking the launch of Narrative Intelligence™ following the 2023 acquisition of Stratesci.

Name

PSB Insights

Legal name

PSB INSIGHTS LLC

Website

https://psbinsights.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

PSB Insights is a strategic research consultancy that uses proprietary AI-enabled and choice-based methodologies — including Narrative Intelligence™, Choice Modeling, and Unstructured Analytics — to help enterprise CEOs, CMOs, and product leaders make high-stakes business decisions across Technology, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, and Consumer Goods.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research & Insights Consulting

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Market research consulting
• Consumer insights services
• Choice modeling research
• Conversational research analytics
• Brand strategy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Encino

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Custom Research Services: Fixed-fee billing for bespoke research projects and consulting services. Services are priced on a project basis with fees negotiated through Statements of Work (SOW). Payment terms include 30 days from invoice receipt, with monthly invoicing unless otherwise specified in the SOW.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PSB Insights is a global strategic insights consultancy that delivers custom research and consulting to enterprise clients. Its core offerings combine proprietary AI-enabled research methodologies—Narrative Intelligence™, Unstructured Analytics, and a Choice Modeling portfolio (DCM, MaxDiff variants, Guided DCM, Integrated DCM)—with bespoke advisory services across communications, product/innovation, brand/strategy/reputation, and audience insights engagements.

Product overview

PSB Insights is a strategic research and consulting firm offering a unified portfolio of proprietary research products and professional services. The core product suite consists of three main research methodologies: Narrative Intelligence (an AI-enabled conversational survey tool that extracts metrics from consumer stories), Unstructured Analytics (which turns publicly available unstructured data into focused strategy), and Choice Modeling (a portfolio of choice-based methodologies including DCMs, MaxDiff, and custom variants). These core methodologies are supported by specialized sub-products such as Guided DCM, Integrated DCM, Message CM, Risk MaxDiff, Journey MaxDiff, Duo MaxDiff, Journey Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, Customer Choice Analysis, and Breakthrough Brand Intelligence. PSB also delivers four professional service lines — Communications Research, Product Research, Brand Research, and Audience Research — applying these methodologies to client-specific business decisions across industries including technology, media, telecom, financial services, healthcare, and government.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PSB Labs: Innovation division focused on research methodology development including Narrative Intelligence, Unstructured Analytics, and Choice Modeling.
• Narrative Intelligence
• Unstructured Analytics
• Choice Modeling

Products and services

• Narrative Intelligence AI-enabled research tool that extracts metrics, models, and insights from consumers' open-ended stories through conversational surveys with AI-powered follow-up questions; uncovers subconscious beliefs, emotional drivers, and retroactive analysis of unstructured feedback for enterprise decision-makers.
• Unstructured Analytics Service that analyzes unfiltered, publicly available data including social media conversations, customer reviews, support emails, video content, and images to identify breakthrough insights competitors miss and spot trends before they appear in traditional metrics.
• Choice Modeling Portfolio of choice-based research methodologies (Discrete Choice Models, MaxDiff, Kano CM and custom variants) that reveal how audiences choose, predict in-market success, and optimize feature-benefit-price-package combinations.
• Guided DCM Proprietary extension of discrete choice modeling using AI-powered conversational follow-ups to engage respondents with why-questions throughout the survey, improving engagement and richer insights over traditional DCM.
• Integrated DCM Approach combining a comprehensive benchmark study with specialized microstudies that can be revisited repeatedly without rebuilding from scratch, enabling clients with rapidly evolving product portfolios to extend research shelf life.
• Message CM Choice modeling variant focused on cracking messaging codes that drive consumer action, identifying which messages motivate behavior change and differentiate brand communications.
• Risk MaxDiff MaxDiff variant for brand risk management that prioritizes and quantifies which potential threats pose the greatest risk to a brand's reputational bottom line.
• Journey MaxDiff MaxDiff variant for customer journey optimization that identifies which touchpoints and stages in a customer journey create the most value as competitive advantages.
• Duo MaxDiff Advanced MaxDiff technique that breaks conventional rules to yield better results by capturing brand differentiation and value perception simultaneously.
• Journey Intelligence AI-enabled tool that maps and analyzes customer journeys to identify where brands can meet customers most effectively along the path to purchase.
• Competitive Intelligence Unstructured analytics service that identifies what competitors are saying and how audiences are responding, revealing where a brand is winning or losing on key drivers of choice.
• Customer Choice Analysis Unstructured analytics service that reveals how customers make choices and what factors drive their decisions relative to competitors.
• Communications Research Consumer research applied early in the creative development process, using choice-based methodologies and message testing to craft communication strategies that cut through with confidence for enterprise marketing and communications leaders.
• Product Research Product positioning and go-to-market research that identifies the right feature-benefit-price-package combination for market breakthrough, using proprietary choice modeling and open-ended response integration for product and innovation leaders.
• Brand Research Custom brand research that builds resilient brands through tailored models, narrative intelligence storytelling approaches, and crisis preparedness strategies to navigate uncertainty for enterprise brand and reputation leaders.
• Audience Research Deep audience understanding through segmentation, customer insights, and strategic research that reveals hidden customer needs to drive growth and confident decision-making for enterprise strategy and insights leaders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fast-food chain avoided $0.25/meal cost increase by discovering supplier switch impact exceeded proposed savings
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability9 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered key and core.

• PearsonkeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint research partnership with Pearson and AWS to explore AI readiness in education. PSB conducted multi-market, mixed-methods study across 6 countries examining the gap between higher education and AI-powered workplace.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)keyStrategic or Co-development PartnerTripartite research partnership with Pearson on AI Readiness study examining how educational systems can prepare graduates for AI-driven workplace transformation.
• WPP AgenciescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPSB and other WPP agencies collaborated on the $700M US Census 2020 communications campaign, combining research capabilities across the WPP network to inform national outreach strategy.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Escalent: Escalent is a mid-size human insights and analytics firm specializing in industries like financial services, technology, healthcare, and automotive. It is comparable to PSB in size, methodology (choice-based and qualitative research), and vertical mix.
• C Space: C Space is a global customer insights and innovation agency focused on uncovering unmet customer needs through community-based research. It is comparable to PSB in audience research, brand strategy, and innovation consulting for enterprise clients.
• Kantar: Kantar is a WPP-owned global insights and consulting firm offering brand, media, and consumer research at much larger scale. It is the most directly comparable peer to PSB given overlapping methodologies (choice modeling, brand tracking), shared WPP ownership, and similar enterprise client base.
• Ipsos: Ipsos is one of the world's largest market research and consumer insight firms, offering brand and communications research, choice modeling, and public opinion research. It competes head-to-head with PSB for enterprise research budgets across the same verticals (TMT, financial services, government, healthcare).
• Mintel: Mintel is a global market intelligence firm providing syndicated and custom research across consumer goods, beauty, food, and lifestyle categories. It is comparable to PSB's audience and product research offerings for CPG and brand-side clients.
• Material: Material is a global insights and experience strategy firm helping brands understand consumers through research, analytics, and design. It overlaps with PSB in brand strategy research, audience segmentation, and customer experience insights.
• NielsenIQ: NielsenIQ is a global consumer intelligence firm combining panel data, retail measurement, and custom research. It competes with PSB in consumer insights, audience segmentation, and brand performance analytics for CPG and retail clients.
• GfK (an NIQ company): GfK, now part of NielsenIQ, is a global market research firm specializing in consumer goods, retail, and technology insights. It overlaps with PSB in product research, choice modeling, and audience analytics.
• Hall & Partners: Hall & Partners is a brand and communications research consultancy serving enterprise clients in tech, financial services, and consumer goods. It is closely comparable to PSB in methodology focus (brand tracking, communications effectiveness, choice modeling) and client type.
• Savanta: Savanta is a research and insights firm offering brand tracking, communications research, and audience intelligence. It competes with PSB for mid-to-large enterprise research engagements across similar verticals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/psbinsights
• Xx.com/psbinsights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PSB Insights