Senior Client Strategist

Hershey targets the health-conscious with savoury Halloween snacks. Halloween trick-or-treating could be less sugary than usual this year as consumers look for healthier snacks and candy companies such as Hershey, opens new tab, the United States' biggest chocolate-maker, adapt their product offerings. Fuelled by GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and a growing focus on health, eating habits are changing, leading the makers of sweet and salty snacks to adjust their portfolios to offer more protein, smaller-sized products and fewer calories. Hershey's vice president for demand creation, strategy and innovation, Dan Mohnshine, told Reuters, "Certainly, the Lesser Evil brand and our salty snacks brands broadly, Skinny Pop and Pirate's Booty, having a greater presence in Halloween is in response to the 'Healthy Eating' dynamic." However, he said chocolate will still be the Halloween snack of choice. He said, "When it comes to GLP-1s, we've seen pretty strong resilience in the chocolate category here in the US." Without giving precise figures, he said early-season sales of snack-size bags of chocolates and sweets had risen in double-digits versus a year ago. Sugar-free versions, sweetened with sugar alcohols rather than conventional sugar, are also a growth area. US dollar sales in Hershey's Zero Sugar candy, mint and gum business grew around 4.3 times from 2020 through 2025, Mohnshine said. AI-Driven Innovation And The 'Trunk Or Treat' Trend According to Hershey's 'Unwrapping Halloween' report, published in partnership with data intelligence firm Morning Consult this month, three of the five biggest-selling US candies at Halloween are Hershey's products and two-thirds of parents have already bought Halloween treats in the summer. Further research from the National Confectioners Association found that in 2024, Americans spent $7.4 billion on treats, accounting for 18% of all confectionery retail sales that year. Given the amount at stake, Hershey is using artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up product development. Mohnshine said, "Foodprocessingbazaar has removed about three months from the typical timeframe it takes to go from consumer insight to approved concept. "As a result, our innovation pipeline over the last nine months has expanded 75%." AI also identifies "trunk-or-treat" parties as a growing trend. They began in Covid lockdowns and are still favoured by communities and families who gather with their cars to exchange treats. Mohnshine is expecting them to be more popular than ever this year and says the Reese's maker is at the ready with its expanded range of small, individually wrapped pieces that he said are "the key to remaining relevant."

Brands harness Morning Consult's AI Connector to enhance market strategies. The AI Connector enables brands to leverage real-time consumer insights through conversational queries, transforming market research from static reports to dynamic, actionable data. Key facts. * CAVA's revenue doubled as purchase intent rose, indicating strong predictive power of intent data. * Global brand favorability varies significantly; single metrics can obscure market realities and risks. * Automating reporting saved 90% of time, highlighting efficiency gains and potential for strategic focus. * Olay's diverging metrics show improved brand perception but declining satisfaction, signaling a risk. * Early demand signals allowed brands to adjust strategies preemptively, enhancing competitive agility. Summary. Morning Consult deployed its AI Connector (MCP) to help clients streamline data analysis and reporting processes. By integrating real-time consumer intelligence with existing AI tools, brands improved their forecasting accuracy and reporting efficiency. One notable outcome was a restaurant brand that gained a leading indicator for performance forecasting, allowing for proactive decision-making. Background. Morning Consult is a data intelligence company specializing in consumer insights, leveraging a database built on over 100 million survey interviews across 48 countries. Before deploying the AI Connector, clients faced challenges in accessing and analyzing consumer data efficiently, often relying on manual processes that were time-consuming and prone to delays. Challenge. Clients struggled with slow data retrieval and analysis, which hindered their ability to make timely decisions based on consumer sentiment and market trends. They needed a solution to quickly access and interpret real-time data to enhance forecasting and reporting. Solution. Morning Consult implemented the AI Connector, allowing clients to query its intelligence database through popular AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT. This integration enabled users to ask questions in plain language and receive immediate, actionable insights. For example, a restaurant brand connected its internal revenue data with Morning Consult's purchase intent metrics, facilitating real-time performance forecasting. Results. The deployment of the AI Connector led to significant improvements in data analysis and reporting. For instance, CAVA, a Mediterranean fast-casual chain, found a strong statistical correlation (0.80) between purchase intent and revenue, with intent moving ahead of revenue by about a quarter. Additionally, an organization automated approximately 90% of its quarterly board reporting process across five brands, drastically reducing the time spent on manual data compilation. Key insights. The case study highlights the importance of real-time data access in decision-making. By integrating consumer intelligence with existing AI tools, brands can enhance forecasting accuracy and streamline reporting processes. This approach allows for quicker responses to market changes and consumer trends. Customer testimonial. No direct quotes were provided in the source material. AI Connector Morning Consult Intelligence Organizations Key concepts. AI in market research real-time data access brand performance forecasting global market insights automated reporting consumer intent tracking brand trust measurement data-driven decision making Definitions. * AI Connector (MCP) - An AI Connector, or Model Context Protocol (MCP), allows AI assistants to connect directly to external data sources in real time, providing instant access to consumer intelligence. * Morning Consult Intelligence - Morning Consult Intelligence is a comprehensive platform offering dashboards, self-serve exploration, and reports for accessing consumer data and insights. * Purchase Intent - Purchase Intent is a metric that indicates the likelihood of consumers to buy a product or service, often used to forecast business performance. * Net Favorability - Net Favorability measures the overall positive perception of a brand among consumers, calculated by subtracting negative responses from positive ones. * NPS (Net Promoter Score) - NPS is a metric used to gauge customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking how likely customers are to recommend a brand to others. Use cases. * | Forecasting brand performance using internal revenue data * | Comparing brand trust across different global markets * | Automating quarterly board reporting for brand portfolios * | Tracking daily purchase intent alongside revenue metrics * | Generating real-time insights for marketing strategies * | Creating presentation-ready reports from consumer data Frequently asked questions. What is an AI Connector (MCP)? An AI Connector, also known as MCP, allows AI assistants to access real-time data from external sources like Morning Consult. It retrieves actual survey results and methodology notes, enabling users to ask questions in plain language. How is this different from Morning Consult Intelligence? Morning Consult Intelligence is the full platform offering dashboards and reports, while the AI Connector allows access to data within AI tools. Both draw from the same dataset but serve different user needs. How is this different from Morning Consult's AI Chat? The AI chat in Morning Consult Intelligence is optimized for their data, while the AI Connector integrates this data into your own AI tools, allowing for a more personalized experience. Who generates the analysis: Morning Consult or my AI tool? The data is sourced from Morning Consult, and your AI tool uses this data to generate insights. You can review how the data was used to ensure transparency in the analysis. How often is the data updated? Morning Consult updates its data daily, fielding 30,000 new surveys across multiple countries. This ensures that the insights provided through the AI Connector reflect current consumer sentiments.