The Social Intelligence Lab

Thirty years of work
on one idea

In the early 1990s, Ross Honeywill began developing the idea that consumer society had divided into two different ways of deciding what is worth having. In 1997 KPMG bought his Values Bank Research Centre, and he went on to head KPMG’s Centre for Consumer Behaviour in Asia Pacific.

Working with a team of data scientists and evidence from more than 800,000 people across three continents, he tested the idea and developed the NEO classification. It identifies the NEO mindset through attitudes, values, emotional cues, and behaviour, and it is configured on Roy Morgan Single Source.

The Lab’s current work measures the NEO Economy: the A$628 billion of Australian household consumption, and the US$9 trillion in the United States, that takes place among people with a NEO mindset.

Clients

Over fifteen years, the Lab has worked with:

LVMH · Moët-Hennessy · Qantas · ING · Telstra · David Jones · Lexus · JB Hi-Fi · Citigroup · Amex · NAB · Macquarie Bank · Tourism Tasmania

“Upwards of 80% of our value was generated by the 40% of NEOs in our customer base.”

Scott Browning, former Marketing Director, JB Hi-Fi

“Ross Honeywill understands better than anyone else how the consumer revolution is changing the future of business.”

Robert Gottliebsen, The Australian

People

Dr Ross Honeywill

Chair

Social scientist, internationally published author and corporate adviser. Formerly head of KPMG’s Centre for Consumer Behaviour in Asia Pacific. His seven previous books have been published in Australia, North America and China. He is co-author of The NEO Economy with Jonathan Coles and Iain Good.

Applying the research

The NEO classification is applied commercially through NEO OS at The Right Customer. It joins NEO mindset intelligence with Roy Morgan category evidence, AI agents and expert judgement, so that what a business learns about its customers keeps reaching its decisions.

Visit The Right Customer