How Synthetic Audiences Are Making Creative Strategy Feel Human Again

For years, marketers have fine-tuned campaigns based on performance metrics. We’ve optimized for clicks, conversions, and return on ad spend. But somewhere along the way, we lost emotion.

When strategy gets reduced to spreadsheets and dashboards, we forget that we’re not speaking to devices. We’re speaking to people.

If your creative strategy has been feeling flat, synthetic audiences might be the refresh you need.

What Are Synthetic Audiences?

Synthetic audiences are AI-generated personas created using large language models (LLMs). These personas aren’t real individuals, but they’re designed to behave, think, and respond like real humans, minus any personally identifiable data.

Instead of targeting abstract segments or anonymized user files, you’re testing against personas that simulate real emotions, intentions, and decision-making patterns.

Think of it as building a privacy-safe focus group that’s always on, emotionally intelligent, and surprisingly insightful.

“You don’t actually know anything about those 2 million people in your flat file. They’re human beings with jobs, pets, lives. The email address doesn’t see the ad. The human being does.” — Myles Younger

Why Emotion Matters in Media Strategy

The more we optimized for data, the more we lost the ability to connect.

We started chasing precision, not persuasion. And while relevance is important, it’s resonance that drives real impact.

Synthetic audiences help solve that. By modeling emotional context, how someone might feel before and after seeing an ad, they help you create campaigns that move people, not just generate metrics.

This is the missing piece in most strategies. You’re no longer just asking “Will this convert?” You’re asking, “Does this connect?”

How to Use Synthetic Audiences in Campaign Planning

Here’s where synthetic audiences can make a real difference in your workflow:

• Simulate personas: Build synthetic panels that reflect different buyer types with emotional nuance.
• Test emotional response: Try out multiple creative directions and see how they perform against different moods and mindsets.
• Get real-time insights: Ask your synthetic audience what matters to them right now, and adjust your messaging accordingly.
  

You get faster, more informed creative feedback without the time or cost of traditional focus groups.

Insights from the Field

In a recent episode of Impressions & Chai, Akaash Ramakrishnan sat down with Myles Younger to explore this very topic. The episode, Synthetic Audiences, Smarter Campaigns, and the Future of Data-Driven Marketing, dives deep into why flat data leads to flat creative, and how AI-driven personas are changing the way we think about audience planning.

Watch the episode here.

Key takeaways:

• Synthetic audiences simulate intent, not just demographics
• AI can help you test how campaigns feel, not just how they perform
• Media planners can now access richer, faster insights, without sacrificing privacy
  

The Future Is More Human, Not Less

AI isn’t here to replace the human element in marketing.

Synthetic audiences remind us that strategy should always start with people. What they feel. What they care about. What moves them.

In a world of signal loss and data decay, this shift is necessary.

If your media strategy has been feeling too mechanical, too impersonal, or too data-driven for its own good, this might be the reset you’ve been waiting for.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a synthetic audience in marketing?

A synthetic audience is an AI-generated persona that mimics real human behavior and emotional responses. These personas are built using large language models and help marketers simulate campaign outcomes before launch. Learn more here.

How do synthetic audiences improve creative strategy?

They reintroduce emotional context into campaign planning. Instead of relying on past performance data, marketers can test how a message resonates with different emotional states and personas.

Are synthetic audiences privacy-safe?

Yes. Since they don’t rely on real user data or personally identifiable information, synthetic audiences are fully privacy-compliant.

Can synthetic audiences replace real audience testing?

They don’t replace real humans, but they’re an incredibly efficient, scalable way to pre-test ideas and refine strategy before going live.