TalkHouse x Panoplai: Using Digital Twins to Rethink Consumer Testing

Industry

CPG

Challenge

Talkhouse Encore—a premium, spirit-based canned cocktail brand—was preparing to expand beyond New York but faced a common pre-scale dilemma: how to make confident decisions on price, flavor, lineup, and go-to-market strategy without the cost and delays of traditional pilots or focus groups. They needed a fast, insight-driven way to identify the attributes that truly drive purchase intent, understand regional differences, and refine their marketing before a full rollout.

Results

Partnering with Panoplai, Talkhouse used digital twins to simulate real consumer reactions, revealing taste as the strongest driver of purchase intent. Acting on this insight, they refined recipes for consistency, shifted to taste-first marketing, and expanded in-store trial programs. This repositioning helped secure new retail placements in multiple states, optimized go-to-market planning in four regions, and accelerated time-to-insight from three months to one week. Their data-driven strategy and category insights were featured in MarketWatch, boosting brand credibility and awareness as they scaled.

drinks.talkencore.com/

42M+

combined reach from media outlets

Faster insights

25%

Reduction in research cost

"As a small company with limited resources, Panoplai gave us the data-backed confidence to expand. It validated our instincts—but also sharpened them. We’re now growing beyond New York with clarity about what works, where, and why. We believe this gives us a true edge over other RTD brands at our stage."

Rob Minucci

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Talkhouse

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About Talkhouse Encore

Talkhouse Encore is a Hamptons-inspired ready-to-drink alcohol brand offering vodka and tequila sodas made with real fruit juice, low sugar, and about 5% ABV. Founded by Ruby Honerkamp and tied to the iconic Stephen Talkhouse music venue, the brand leans on authenticity and local culture to stand out in the crowded RTD market. With flavors like Pineapple Tequila Soda, Cranberry Vodka Soda, and Hampton Mule, it positions itself as a premium, “better-for-you” alternative to mass-market seltzers. The company has grown rapidly in New York and New England, reporting over 70% year-over-year sales growth.

The Challenge

Talkhouse Encore—a premium, spirit-based canned cocktail brand—had all the right ingredients: strong design, real fruit juice, great taste, and premium appeal. But it faced a familiar launch dilemma:

How do you make big bets on price, flavor, lineups, and go-to-market strategy before you’ve hit scale?

Traditional research methods like focus groups, early in-market pilots, and concept tests are costly, slow, and often unreliable, especially for a fast-moving, resource-conscious startup. Talkhouse needed something difference: an agile, insight-driven approach to test hypotheses and guide smart expansion.

They were looking to:

Identify which product attributes truly drive conversion
Understand regional differences in response to flavor, packaging, and price
Optimize marketing and distribution strategy ahead of launch
Validate assumptions about their audience and positioning

And they needed answers—fast.

The Solution

Talkhouse reimagined consumer research by partnering with Panoplai — leveraging digital twins to simulate real customer reactions before launching.

Using Panoplai's platform, the team:

Built high-fidelity digital twins of their target consumers using first-party survey ahd behavioral data
Tested localized strategies across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, incorporating regional nuances
Simulated real-world purchase behavior — evaluating how price, packaging, and flavor impacted intent
Gathered rich, open-ended feedback to refine messaging tone, and channel priorities

This wasn't just a theoretical exercise. It was a predictive, data-driven way to test, learn, and iterate — without burning through budget or time.

Dive deeper into digital twins. Get the complete playbook for creating and using validated digital twins with our all-in-one guide.

The Outcome

The digital twin research revealed one core truth: Taste was the #1 driver of purchase intent — far surpassing aesthetic cues or ingredient claims.

Armed with this data, Talkhouse:

Refined its flavor strategy — doubling down on recipe quality and taste consistency across batches
Repositioned its messaging — shifting from visual appeal to "taste-first" storytelling in ads, promotions, and digital content
Strengthened trial programs — increasing in-store tastings and strategic partnerships to get more product into more hands

Why it worked:

Agility - Dozens of hypotheses in days, not months
Tangibility - Simulations closely mirrored real buyer behavior
Integration - Insights directly informed creative, marketing, and retail strategies

Real Business Impact

Panoplai's research became a launchpad for growth, helping Talkhouse achieve meaningful business results:

Impact Area	Result
Time to Insight	Reduced from 12 weeks to just 7 days
Testing Costs	Cut by an estimated 60% by replacing focus groups & pilots
Retail Expansion	Optimized GTM strategy across 4 states, targeting 250+ locations
New Market Entry	Distributor demand led to entry into an additional state
On-Premise Wins	Outselling other RTDs in key bar and restaurants
Messaging Effectiveness	Taste-first campaigns projected to drive 20-40% higher impact than aesthetic-led messaging
National Visibility	Featured in MarketWatch article: "Is booze making a comeback?" and Beverage Daily article: "Gen Z drinking trends: 5 things to think about when targeting this key demographic"

What once required costly pilots and delayed insights is now a dynamic, predictive process—helping Talkhouse stay bold without betting blind.

About Panoplai

Panoplai is an AI-powered end-to-end research platform built for teams that need speed without sacrificing depth. We help content strategists, marketers, and product leaders uncover AI consumer insights, run advanced survey-based audience targeting, and build dynamic digital twin personas. From lead generation to content ops to product-market fit, Panoplai turns static data into fast, scalable intelligence. Want to see for yourself? Let's talk.