SURVEY FAST: Consumer Research for Innovation Teams Who Need Insights Fast
Innovation teams face a familiar paradox: more data than ever – but not always the right data – and still too little consumer insight to drive decisions, all with less time and fewer resources. Traditional market research often takes 2–4 months and costs $50K–$150K per study. Disruption caused by AI is making it harder to reach and truly understand the right audiences.
The result? Promising concepts die in boardrooms, killed by stale data or research that arrives after the launch window closes.
Enters SURVEY FAST™, a consumer research solution built to collapse those timelines without sacrificing rigor. The platform is a collaboration between McClatchy Media and Trend Hunter leveraging the Qualtrics XM platform. By leveraging McClatchy Media’s highly engaged 90 million monthly U.S. website audience, Trend Hunter’s Research Advisory Team, and Qualtrics XM, SURVEY FAST delivers a unique market perspective derived from real, everyday Americans.
How SURVEY FAST Taps the Right Audience1
“In an era of AI generated ideas, research, content and chaos, it has become more important than ever to validate your ideas with HUMANs, and that's what SURVEY FAST is designed to do, quickly,” says Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter. SURVEY FAST's foundation is McClatchy Media's 90-million-person U.S. news audience. This is not a panel recruited for surveys. It is readers actively engaged with local and national news and entertainment content.
The targeting precision comes from McClatchy Media's unified data stack. Want to survey soccer moms in suburban Atlanta? Gen Z coffee drinkers in Portland? Rural retirees concerned about healthcare? The platform can find them—and reach them while they're reading content they care about, not rushing through a panel survey. "We're not hitting consumers in moments where they're busy," notes Amanda Hamilton, Senior Director of Platform
Operations at McClatchy Media. "We are engaging with consumers who are in a mindset of reading and engagement."
Built by an Innovation Leader
The Trend Hunter team partnered with Kareth Middlemass, an Insights Innovation & Marketing Director with over 25 years of experience at companies like Unilever, Pfizer and Nestle, to develop SURVEY FAST. Having led innovation research and over 100 new product launches, Kareth understands exactly which insights are crucial for bringing successful new products to market. “Our job is to design a survey that delivers against your research objectives, delivers the data & insights you need to confidently make strategic business decisions,” stated Kareth.
Combining the McClatchy Media’s Audience, Trend Hunter expertise and the surveys designed by Qualtrics-certified researchers means that clients receive premium quality survey results, with fast turnaround times and at lower costs.
Looking Ahead
For organizations wrestling with rising costs, compressed timelines, and data overload, SURVEY FAST offers a rare combination: the credibility of enterprise-grade research, the agility of a start-up, and the consultative intelligence of veteran innovators.
“We built SURVEY FAST to give our clients an unfair advantage,” Gutsche says. “As the old research timelines collapse and cookies disappear, this is the future of insight — faster, smarter, and built on truth.”
Ready to test, optimize, and validate with confidence? Visit trendhunter.com/surveyfast or contact surveryfast@trendhunter.com to start a conversation.
About Trend Hunter
Trend Hunter is the world’s #1 trend platform, empowering 3,000+ brands with AI-powered research and custom innovation workshops.
About McClatchy Media
McClatchy’s portfolio of local media sites reaches 90 million Americans every month, delivering trusted journalism and rich first-party audience data.
