The Hsm Group

What The Hsm Group does

The HSM Group is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based B2B behavioral science consultancy that applies Decision Heuristics Science — a proprietary framework integrating psychological science, behavioral economics, and decision heuristics — to marketing messaging, concept testing, brand health, and consumer journey work. The firm serves enterprise Insights, Marketing, Brand, and Agency teams at B2C companies, claiming to be the "#1 Decision Heuristics Science consultancy in the world." Its founding team combines a Fortune 500 pharma executive, a communications strategist, a pioneering market researcher, and a management consultant, and the company is now organized as a division of Newristics, LLC (legal domicile USA, LLC).

The product portfolio is anchored by three flagship systems: CMO (Choose Message Optimizer, Patent 11340923), a quantitative message-testing methodology that embeds decision heuristics into the testing process; AiGILE, a five-day agile messaging optimization service grounded in Nobel-prize-winning decision heuristics; and Concept Potential 360, which scores concepts across Rational, Emotional, and Weighted Behavioral quotients. Supporting offerings include Brand Potential 360 (brand health tracking with perceptual and behavioral metrics), Path to Purchase 360 (non-linear consumer journey analytics), Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research (with ML and AI-augmented analytics), and add-on Claims & RTB Development and Product & Brand Renovation modules. The company cites a meta-analytic base of 75+ studies, 16,000+ messages tested, and 34,000+ respondents, and reports that CMO helped 7 out of 10 brands take or extend market leadership.

Revenue is generated through two streams: project-based consulting and strategic services engagements with enterprise clients, and a subscription-based delivery of AiGILE. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is structured around custom quotes per engagement. Distribution is direct enterprise sales into CPG, telecom, technology, financial services, hardware, utilities, healthcare, and nonprofit buyers, with named customers including Verizon, Microsoft, Nestle, Mondelez, Lactalis, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Intuit, WeightWatchers, WD-40, and World Vision. Go-to-market relies on LinkedIn-driven thought leadership in behavioral science and a strategic partnership network that includes academic alliances with the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania, plus professional affiliations with the American Psychological Association and Intellus Worldwide.

Name

The Hsm Group

Legal name

Newristics, LLC

Website

https://hsmgroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The HSM Group is a B2B behavioral science consultancy applying Decision Heuristics Science to optimize marketing messaging, concept testing, and consumer insights. It serves enterprise Insights, Marketing, Brand, and Agency teams across CPG, telecom, tech, and financial services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marketing Research Consulting

NAICS

Marketing Consulting Services (541613), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer, Marketing & Sales Consulting (BPAHACAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Brand & Portfolio Strategy Consulting (MPAAAFAB)

Keywords

• Behavioral science consulting
• Messaging optimization services
• Market research solutions
• Consumer insights analytics
• Decision heuristics consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Scottsdale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting and Strategic Services: The HSM Group offers consulting, project management, and strategic planning services. Revenue is generated through behavioral science consulting engagements for messaging optimization, brand tracking, and market research.
2. Subscription Services (AiGILE): AiGILE messaging optimization is available via subscription model, providing ongoing access to message optimization capabilities. This enables clients to have continuous messaging improvement support.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

The HSM Group delivers behavioral science-powered marketing research consulting built around Decision Heuristics Science, offering proprietary methodologies for messaging optimization (CMO, AiGILE), concept testing (Concept Potential 360), brand tracking (Brand Potential 360), consumer journey insights (Path to Purchase 360), and qualitative and quantitative research. Services are sold primarily as customized consulting engagements to enterprise Insights, Marketing, Brand, and Agency teams across CPG, financial services, telecom, tech, and other industries.

Product overview

The HSM Group is a behavioral science-powered marketing research consultancy offering a unified platform of consulting, project management, and strategic planning solutions built around Decision Heuristics Science. The core product portfolio centers on three proprietary systems: CMO (Choose Message Optimizer) for quantitative message testing with patent protection; AiGILE for rapid 5-day messaging optimization using Nobel prize-winning heuristics science; and Concept Potential 360 for new product development concept testing. Supporting these flagship products are Brand Potential 360 for brand tracking, Path to Purchase 360 for consumer journey insights, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Claims & RTB Development, and Product & Brand Renovation services. The integrated offering enables clients to engineer, test, and optimize messaging and concepts using behavioral science, proprietary algorithms, and decision heuristics to predict and influence consumer behavior across the full marketing lifecycle.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CMO (Choose Message Optimizer): Superior quantitative message testing methodology for Categories and Brands, designed and proven to identify winning message bundles and storyflows that improve performance in-market. Patent 11340923.
• AiGILE
• Concept Potential 360
• Brand Potential 360
• Heuristic Science Institute
• HSM Pays It Forward

Products and services

• CMO - Choose Message Optimizer Patent-protected quantitative message testing methodology (CMO Patent 11340923) that identifies winning message bundles and storyflows for enterprise B2C brands by embedding decision heuristics directly into the testing process, optimizing brand positioning, promotions, and behavioral triggers for real-world impact.
• AiGILE Five-day messaging optimization process that uses Nobel prize-winning decision heuristics science to improve written, oral, and visual messaging for B2C brands. Creates heuristicized articulations guaranteed to be better than current messaging and available via subscription for ongoing engagement.
• Concept Potential 360 New product development solution applying holistic concept-testing using behavioral science, proprietary algorithms, and insights to identify winning concepts by capturing rational, emotional, and behavioral decision-making attributes for B2C brands.
• Brand Potential 360 360-degree brand health tracking solution combining perceptual and behavioral metrics with brand empathy assessment, driver analysis framework, and continuous refreshing for market potential analytics versus competitors, designed for B2C enterprise brand teams.
• Path to Purchase 360 Modern cyclical consumer journey insights solution revealing non-linear purchase journeys across digital and physical channels using behavioral science to decode rational drivers, emotional triggers, and behavioral signals for enterprise B2C marketers.
• Qualitative Research Custom qualitative research offering that includes research design, recruiting, fielding, voice of customer, expert moderation, and multi-lens behavioral science analysis with empathetic storytelling for uncovering conscious and unconscious consumer drivers.
• Quantitative Research Advanced quantitative research offering leveraging machine learning technology, AI, and behavioral science with expert-led survey design, advanced analytical techniques including factor analysis, regression, and cluster analysis, plus flexible in-house survey programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% success rate improving message effectiveness
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers26 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBehavioral science partnership including collaboration on behavioral science competitions and serving as a client for their consulting teams. Channing Stave speaks at the annual UChicago Marketing Pathways Forum for students, providing career pathway and networking opportunities. The company annually hires interns from the University.
• University of PennsylvaniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharter Industry Affiliate for the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences (MBDS) program. Participates in annual Design Challenges where students partner with Industry Affiliates to apply behavioral economics, decision sciences, and network analysis to real-life problems. Provides internships and has hired program graduates.
• Heuristic Science InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-disciplinary team of experts advancing the field of decision heuristics science. Connected to Newristics, LLC (parent company).
• American Psychological AssociationminorOthersProfessional membership organization in psychology.
• Intellus WorldwideminorOthersProfessional membership organization for market research.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ipsos: Ipsos is a global market research firm with deep expertise in advertising research, brand health tracking, and consumer understanding. Comparable in providing brand tracking and message testing services to enterprise clients but at much larger scale and with broader geographic coverage.
• NielsenIQ: NielsenIQ provides consumer intelligence and market research with deep CPG and retail relationships. Comparable in serving similar enterprise CPG clients for brand and consumer insights but as a much larger incumbent with broader data and analytics portfolio.
• Forrester Research: Forrester Research is a global research and advisory firm serving enterprise marketing, brand, and customer experience leaders. Comparable in providing research-backed insights to enterprise brand and marketing teams, though broader in scope than HSM's behavioral science specialization.
• Kantar: Kantar is one of the world's largest market research and consulting firms offering brand tracking, advertising effectiveness, and consumer research at global scale. Comparable in serving similar Fortune 500 CPG and enterprise clients, but offers broader portfolio beyond behavioral science specialization.

Direct peers

• Hall & Partners: Hall & Partners is a brand research and consulting agency offering brand tracking, communications development, and market research for global brands. Comparable in targeting similar enterprise insights and brand teams with custom qualitative and quantitative research services.
• Realeyes: Realeyes uses computer vision and AI to measure attention and emotion in advertising. Comparable in applying technology to predict and optimize consumer response to messaging and creative content for brand and marketing teams.
• SKIM: SKIM is a decision-behavior research consultancy specializing in understanding how consumers make choices across pricing, messaging, and product decisions. Direct peer in applying behavioral science to marketing decisions for enterprise clients.
• Ace Metrix (iSpot.tv): Ace Metrix provides data-driven creative effectiveness measurement for video and digital advertising. Comparable in measuring and predicting messaging/advertising performance using analytics, addressing similar enterprise marketing teams and brand managers.
• System1 (formerly BrainJuicer): System1 applies behavioral science (specifically System1/2 thinking popularized by Daniel Kahneman's work) to advertising and brand effectiveness measurement. Closest direct competitor to HSM Group's heuristics-based messaging optimization, with overlapping methodology and CPG/enterprise client base.

Emerging players

• BVA Group: BVA Group is a behavioral science-led research and consulting firm with presence in Europe and beyond. Comparable in applying behavioral economics and decision science to marketing challenges, though with stronger European footprint and different vertical mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thehsmgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about The Hsm Group