By Mellyza Tanoto, Head of Sales (Data & Insights) ANZ
Online conversations are happening everywhere — from TikTok trends to Reddit threads to search queries. For brands, that can be both exciting and overwhelming. There’s more data than ever, but cutting through the noise to understand what people really care about? That’s getting harder.
Most social listening tools do a decent job of telling you what’s trending. But often, they stop there – tracking keywords and surface-level sentiment without uncovering the bigger picture: Why are people talking about this? What does it reveal about their values, needs, or behaviours?
That’s where a deeper approach comes in. At Pureprofile, we’ve partnered with Quilt.Ai to take social listening to social meaning, helping brands move beyond the “what” and dive into the “why.” Our new offering is designed to decode online discourse, revealing cultural signals and sentiment with far greater depth and nuance.
With intuitive design and AI-powered analysis, our tools surface the golden nuggets – those overlooked insights and subtle shifts that drive bold ideas and strategy. Whether you’re validating a campaign, spotting white space, or staying ahead of trends, our solutions – Social Meaning, Emerging Consumer Trends, and Beauty Trends – help you uncover the motivations shaping consumer behaviour.
From online discourse to strategic insights, in minutes
Say there’s a spike in searches for “most value-for-money streaming service in Australia.” Most social listening tools would flag the trend, highlighting related keywords and hashtags. Social Meaning takes it further – offering deeper analysis to uncover behavioural shifts behind the data.
For example, it revealed that Australians are searching for better-value streaming options because they’re reassessing the cost of juggling multiple subscriptions – from Netflix, Stan, and Amazon Prime Video to Disney+, Binge, Foxtel Now, Kayo, and Apple TV+ (just to name a few).
But it doesn’t stop at price sensitivity. Social Meaning also uncovers broader cultural changes. In this case, it showed that Australians are becoming more intentional with their media consumption – cycling through subscriptions based on seasonal content, or turning to free, ad-supported platforms like SBS On Demand and YouTube.
This is where Social Meaning shines. Instead of static dashboards or surface-level sentiment, it helps brands explore the why behind the data. Users can go beyond the numbers and ask natural language questions like:
- “How do Aussies compare Disney+ to Stan or Binge?”
- “Which online streaming platforms are seen as delivering the best value for money, and why?”
- “What’s driving loyalty toward Netflix in Australia in 2025?”
And in under 15 minutes, users will get responses framed through a research lens.
However it’s more than just about speed. Social Meaning blends quantitative scale with qualitative depth to reveal the cultural context behind consumer sentiment – uncovering motivations that would typically take days, and even weeks, to surface through manual research.
Staying ahead or playing catch up?
In fast-moving markets, spotting cultural shifts before they hit mainstream is what separates the leaders from the laggards. The Emerging Consumer Trends solution is built for exactly that – helping brands identify early signals while they’re still gaining traction.
Whether it’s the rise of functional wellness beverages or the return of hyper-local travel, this platform continuously scans real-time conversations across industries like tech, fashion, F&B, media, travel, and more – giving brands a running start on what’s coming next
At its heart is the Trend Momentum Tracker, which categorises trends by velocity:
- Exploding: Mainstream with rapid adoption
- Gaining Steam: Building momentum
- Flatlining: Losing traction
This isn’t just trendspotting – it’s strategic foresight. By knowing where a trend sits on the curve, brands can prioritise early signals worth investing in, or pivot away from ideas that have plateaued.
And when timing is everything, the ability to make real-time, data-validated decisions can mean the difference between being a trendsetter or playing catch-up.
A new lens on beauty
Australia’s beauty and personal care industry is thriving – valued at $7.42 billion in 2024 and set to climb to $7.85 billion by 2025, the market is being reshaped by rapidly evolving consumer expectations and cultural shifts.
The Beauty Trends solution provides a strategic lens for brands operating in this dynamic beauty space. Purpose-built to decode change, it tracks emerging and established trends across skincare, makeup, and fragrance by analysing real-time consumer signals from search and social platforms – translating raw conversation into actionable insight.
What’s exciting is how it surfaces both granular and big-picture insights. For example, a fragrance brand can monitor the rise of “skin scents” among communities while also tracking how attitudes toward “clean beauty” are shifting globally, and locally in Australia. With advanced trend segmentation, marketers can compare consumer sentiment across regions and product categories – unlocking sharper, more informed strategies, and ensuring their brand stays at the forefront of what matters most to modern beauty consumers.
This Beauty Trends offering has been used by brands like Estée Lauder – in fact, a senior executive even confessed he wanted to ‘’keep it a secret’’, as the solution has been ‘’giving them a clear competitive advantage’’.
Even global giants like Sephora are leaning into curated brand strategies and cultural relevance to stay ahead. In an otherwise uneven first quarter for parent company LVMH, Sephora stood out as a key growth driver – credited to its exclusive product launches, experiential retail approach, and values-led campaigns. As digital competition from players like Amazon heats up, Sephora’s momentum highlights the value of staying tapped into cultural trends and consumer sentiment – something Quilt’s Beauty Trends solution makes possible at scale.
By helping brands react to the “now” and anticipate what’s next, Quilt’s Beauty Trends solution empowers beauty brands to move with cultural momentum.
Marrying machine intelligence with human Insight
One of the most powerful elements of these solutions is how they work in harmony with traditional research. With these new tools, brands can benefit from both digital signals and deeper, validated insights. AI helps us uncover the story from online chatter. Human expertise helps us understand it on a much deeper level.
For example, if the Social Insights tool reveals growing financial anxiety among young adults, we can follow up with qualitative, targeted surveys to Pureprofile’s global panel to unpack the “why” behind the search data. Are they overwhelmed by choice? Distrustful of institutions? Looking for values-aligned solutions? This hybrid approach brings together the best of both worlds: machine-scale intelligence and human-centred research.
Surface-level listening is no longer enough
Let’s face it – whether you’re building a pitch, searching for content ideas, or trying to stay in tune with your audience, digging through fragmented sources and outdated tools can be a serious time drain. And after all that effort, the insights often miss the mark – shallow, disconnected, or already outdated.
In today’s landscape of overwhelming data and fleeting consumer attention, manually stitching insights from scattered sources simply doesn’t cut it. That’s why we’re helping our clients turn online noise into strategic insight.
Because in a world moving at digital speed, those who understand the “why” behind the “what” will always be one step ahead.
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Want to see how it works? Get in touch to explore how our social insights tools can future-proof your next move.
Mellyza Tanoto
Mellyza Tanoto is the Head of Sales, Data & Insights, where she leads the ANZ team in delivering innovative, data-driven solutions to clients.
With over nine years at Pureprofile and 16 years in the market research industry, Mellyza brings extensive experience in sales strategy, client partnerships, and insights delivery.
