What Gongos does

Gongos, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Royal Oak, Michigan, is a consultative market-research and customer-insight firm that now operates globally as Human8 following the combination of ten industry specialists over the past five years. The firm helps large enterprises operationalize customer centricity through three solution pillars — Innovation, Brand, and Experience — supported by five capability pillars: Insight, Data & analytics, Activation, Consulting, and AI & technology. Its named client roster spans roughly twenty multinational brands across consumer goods (L'Oréal, Unilever, Nestlé, Beiersdorf), food and beverage (AB Inbev, Coca-Cola, Danone, JDE, Pernod Ricard, Mars Wrigley), healthcare and personal care (Haleon, Philips), retail and apparel (Bloomingdale's, Beyond Meat, Barbie/Mattel, Miele), automotive (Volkswagen, Ford), financial services (Standard Chartered, Axa), and electronics (Samsung).

The business model is professional services: revenue derives from project-based consulting engagements, retained advisory relationships, and the recurring publication of proprietary thought-leadership IP — including the annual 'What Matters' trend report (now in its sixth edition), the 'Silver is the New Gold' silver-generation study, and the 'Dopamine Divers' digital-dependence report produced by its cultural-foresight subsidiary Space Doctors. Distribution is direct-to-enterprise via field sales and thought-leadership content (blog, eBooks, events, case studies, newsletter). Pricing is not publicly disclosed but follows project and retainer structures typical for enterprise brand and insight consultancies.

Technology footprint is light at the core platform level — the firm is explicitly not a software product company — but capability investment is visible through the 2022 acquisition of Deckchair Data for analytics, an AI & technology capability pillar, and AI-augmented client deliverables such as AI-rendered customer personas. Global delivery is supported by offices in Amsterdam (European headquarters), London, New York, Singapore (APAC hub), Shanghai, and Brussels.

Name

Gongos

Legal name

Human8

Website

https://gongos.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Gongos, now operating as Human8, is a global consultative insights and brand-transformation consultancy serving multinational enterprises. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Royal Oak, Michigan, it combines ten merged specialists to deliver customer-centric strategy across consumer goods, F&B, healthcare, automotive, and financial services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Royal Oak

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting and Advisory Services: Human8 generates revenue through professional consulting engagements with enterprise clients, providing strategic advisory services across innovation, brand, and experience pillars. Revenue is derived from project-based consulting fees, retainer arrangements, and potentially ongoing advisory relationships with major brand owners.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Gongos delivers consultative market research and growth strategy services designed to operationalize customer centricity within enterprise organizations. Its work spans innovation strategy, brand transformation, and experience design, supported by insight generation, data and analytics, activation, and applied AI capabilities, structured around an integrated set of solution pillars (Innovation, Brand, Experience).

Product overview

Human8 is a global human-driven consultancy that turns human understanding into big ideas and bold strategies for brands. The company operates three solution pillars (Innovation, Brand, Experience) supported by five capability pillars: Insight, Data & analytics, Activation, Consulting, and AI & technology. As a services-based consultancy rather than a software product company, no discrete product names, sub-products, or named modules were identified in the available sources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Space Doctors: Cultural and foresight specialists focusing on digital dependence, attention economy research, and Cultural Mindsets framework.

Products and services

• Innovation consulting Consulting engagement focused on innovation strategy, innovation pipeline development, and bringing new products and experiences to market, intended for enterprise brand owners seeking to grow through customer-centric innovation.
• Brand consulting Brand strategy and brand transformation consulting for global enterprises, combining consumer insight with brand positioning and activation work to keep brands culturally relevant.
• Experience consulting Customer experience design and optimization consulting, including experience strategy and experiential solution design, targeted at enterprise clients looking to design differentiated customer experiences.
• Consumer insight research Insight generation services spanning qualitative and quantitative consumer research, trend and cultural research, and the Cultural Mindsets framework, delivered for enterprise clients as standalone research engagements or as the foundation of broader consulting work.
• Data and analytics services Data science and advanced analytics support applied within consulting engagements, including segmentation, persona development, and analytics-enabled insight generation for enterprise clients.
• Activation services Activation services supporting the translation of insight into in-market execution, including campaign support and experience activation, for enterprise brand owners.
• Strategic consulting Strategic consulting delivered across innovation, brand, and experience pillars, covering strategy workshops, transformation roadmaps, and ongoing advisory engagements with senior enterprise client stakeholders.
• AI-enabled insight services Applied AI and technology services used to operationalize consumer insight within consulting engagements, including AI-based persona work and analytics-augmented research, delivered for enterprise clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Increased Anheuser-Busch's share of innovation from 10% to 50%

Named customers22 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Space DoctorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpace Doctors is a cultural and foresight consultancy that operates as a subsidiary within the Human8 network. The partnership provides specialized capabilities in cultural insight, digital behavior analysis, and future trend forecasting. Space Doctors contributes the 'Cultural Mindsets' framework and produces specialized reports such as 'Dopamine Divers' on digital dependence in the attention economy.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mintel: Market research firm specializing in consumer products, beauty, food, and lifestyle insights with syndicated and custom research for many of the same brand owners.
• NielsenIQ: Consumer intelligence company combining panel data with consulting and analytics for CPG/FMCG brands, competing for the same insight and innovation budgets Human8 serves.
• Kantar: Global market research and insights consultancy with overlapping brand-tracking, innovation, and consumer understanding services for the same Fortune 500 FMCG clients (Unilever, Coca-Cola, etc.).
• Ipsos: Paris-headquartered market research firm operating across consumer insights, brand, and innovation with similar project-based consulting models for global brand owners.
• GfK: Consumer and shopper intelligence provider offering market research, analytics, and consulting to global FMCG, retail, and technology clients competing directly for research engagements.
• Escalent: Mid-sized insights and analytics consultancy serving financial services, consumer products, and healthcare clients with comparable custom research and consulting offerings.

Emerging players

• Savanta: Data, analytics, and insights firm offering custom research and brand tracking for enterprise clients, often competing for budget in the same mid-market consumer insights category.
• Material: Brand and customer experience consultancy that combines research, strategy, and design; competes for consumer-brand strategy and experience engagements similar to Human8's Brand and Experience pillars.

Broad incumbents

• Forrester Research: Public research and advisory firm combining syndicated research with consulting for CMOs and brand leaders, with overlapping buyer personas but a tech/research focus rather than pure-play consumer insights.
• Landor & Fitch: Global branding and design consultancy working with CPG, beverage, and consumer brands on identity, innovation, and strategy work that overlaps with Human8's Brand and Innovation pillars.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/_gongos
• Facebookfacebook.com/gongosinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Gongos