Russell Evans, Principal at ZS, shares how he built Atlas - an AI-powered consumer insight platform - from inside a global consulting firm. When traditional research methods broke under the scale of 60,000 interviews, Russell and his team engineered a new way to extract insights from the signal trails consumers leave across product reviews, social media, and online behavior.This conversation explores the intersection of intrapreneurship, AI innovation, and consumer intelligence - from discovering that people use mini marshmallows as coffee sweetener to rebuilding how brands bring lovable products to market.What You'll Learn:​Why 60,000 consumer interviews led to building something entirely new​How to find "unknown unknowns" hiding in consumer signal trails​The difference between curated data and black box AI approaches​Using AI to design products from consumer "Lego blocks"​Navigating intrapreneurship inside a 14,000-person consulting firm​Why clients wanted service over another tool​Balancing AI speed with human decision-making capacity​The industry shift from pilots to actual adoption​How AI search is changing brand strategy Chapter Markers:

Introduction and Welcome

From Toyota and Honda to Consumer Brands

What is ZS and How They Work

The 60,000 Interview Problem

Building Atlas: Engineering Consumer Intelligence

The Marshmallow Discovery: Unknown Unknowns

Curated Data vs. Black Box AI

Intrapreneurship Within a Large Organization

Client Adoption: Learnings and Roadblocks

New Product Development with Consumer Lego Blocks

AI Search and Brand Positioning

From Pilots to Integration