Goodway Group to Build Media Plans on Synthetic Consumers

Goodway Group has struck a deal with data company Arima to incorporate insights from a "synthetic population" of U.S., British and German consumers into its media planning processes, Digiday has learned.

The partnership marks the latest sign that media planners, creative strategists and CMOs are increasingly basing marketing decisions on insights gleaned from the behavior of synthetic consumers — simulated profiles built from real behavioral data — rather than relying solely on live campaign tests.

What does the Arima deal change for Goodway?

According to Paul Frampton-Calero, CEO of Goodway Group, the solution will allow Goodway staff to run incrementality tests in a simulated environment before verifying results with small-scale media activations.

The workflow shifts in two ways:

• Media plans get tested virtually first, cutting the cost and time of early-stage experimentation.
• Verification still happens in the real market, but through smaller, cheaper activations than full campaign rollouts.

The goal, Frampton-Calero indicated, is to execute against more accurate media plans, armed with rapidly generated test data.

Why are agencies turning to synthetic audiences?

The move reflects a broader industry trend. More agencies and their clients are using synthetic populations to pressure-test media strategy before committing budget. For practitioners, the implications are straightforward:

• Incrementality measurement, traditionally expensive and slow when run against live media, can be simulated at scale across three major markets — the U.S., the U.K. and Germany.
• Campaign budgets can be validated in a sandbox before spend goes live, potentially reducing wasted impressions.
• Results still require real-world confirmation, meaning synthetic insights complement rather than replace live testing.

What should marketers watch next?

The official confirmation covers the deal itself and its intended use in Goodway's planning process. Broader claims about measurable performance gains from synthetic audiences remain unverified in the source, and marketers should treat vendor promises in this space with the same scrutiny they apply to any new measurement methodology.

Expect adoption to broaden if Goodway's hybrid model — simulate first, verify with small activations — demonstrates faster and cheaper planning cycles without sacrificing accuracy. Frampton-Calteo's framing suggests the immediate payoff is speed of test data generation; whether that translates into measurably better media outcomes will depend on the results of the live verification layer.