The Rise of Deep Research

In recent months, both tech behemoths and nimble startups have unveiled powerful new “deep research” tools designed to empower teams to work smarter and faster. These tools are already being integrated by holding companies and independent shops alike, impacting strategy, media, creative, and communications teams. The applications are vast, ranging from crafting compelling pitches to shaping insightful creative briefs and even simulating detailed audience personas. This paradigm shift has far-reaching implications for U.S. agencies accustomed to traditional research methods.

Unlike conventional search engines or basic dashboards, deep research tools such as Perplexity leverage AI-enabled reasoning to autonomously execute multi-step workflows.These systems can scan the open web, proprietary datasets, and specialized databases to generate rich, synthesized insights in a matter of minutes. OpenAI describes deep research as equipping platforms like ChatGPT to perform “at the level of a research analyst.” This is akin to having a highly skilled, tireless researcher instantly available to tackle complex challenges – a game-changer for agencies competing in a fast-paced market.

The ultimate goal is to compress hours of manual research into automated briefings that can fuel everything from complete brand audits to innovative creative platforms. For U.S. agencies, this translates to potential gains in efficiency, allowing strategy teams to rethink workflows, staffing models, and even pricing structures. This conversion mirrors similar trends in other industries, such as the legal sector, where AI is being used to automate legal research and document review, and the financial sector, where AI algorithms are used for fraud detection and risk assessment.

Havas Group: An AI “Planning Buddy”

One early adopter of this technology is Havas group, which has seamlessly integrated deep research into its proprietary data sources within the Converge platform.”we’re finding that the marketing and new business space is very much the sweet spot,” said Dan Hagen, global chief data and technology officer at Havas. Hagen recalls imagining a decade ago that he’d someday have an AI “planning buddy” to help him quickly learn new topics; now, that dream is a reality. According to hagen, “It’s like a dream from 10 years ago sort of finally coming true.”

The quick turnaround time for marketing projects makes AI particularly valuable. “You’ve got four weeks to turn something around and you want to be able to understand a brand, a category, maybe even some individual people… And the way that [these tools] are structured means it’s super accessible,” Hagen noted.

Havas is experimenting with deep research to create interactive tools, such as custom GPTs that can simulate consumer behavior as “digital twins” of different audience segments or client types. These tools find, synthesize, and upload information from various external and internal sources, including internal datasets, cultural reports, and client-specific data, while adhering to strict data protection protocols. This capability is particularly relevant in the U.S. market, where consumer privacy regulations like the california Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar laws in other states require businesses to handle data responsibly.

Hagen explains, “Now you’ve got effectively a hardcore runner you can have a conversation with which has been really captivating to sort of explore some stuff.” This allows teams to explore different facets of consumer identity in a dynamic, conversational format with a wider and deeper dataset. This capability could lead to highly targeted and personalized marketing campaigns that resonate with specific consumer segments.

golin and The Brooklyn Brothers: From Efficiency to Efficacy

IPG-owned Golin, along with its subsidiary creative agency, The Brooklyn Brothers, are also leveraging deep research to enhance both client work and new business development. Initially used for efficient background research, it has now been integrated into strategic development, creative brief writing, brand audits, and audience profiling.

Paul Parton, Group Chief Strategy Officer of Golin and founding partner of The Brooklyn Brothers stated, “It has real utility… It’s shifting a conversation from efficiency definitely to efficacy and it’s actively making work better.”

Golin employs an iterative approach to improve the quality of insights with each round of strategy development. The process begins with broad prompts and refines them into detailed outputs such as company profiles, brand audits, and competitive analyses. Creative and strategy teams also utilize different AI tools to maximize results, often using Anthropic’s Claude generative AI platform for initial synthesis before turning to Waldo for deeper, sourced research that feeds back into the process with marketing-focused workflows like the “four Cs.” This multi-faceted approach reflects a growing trend among agencies to combine different AI solutions to achieve optimal outcomes.

Mighty & True: Democratizing Insights

Austin-based agency Mighty & True is integrating deep research into its proprietary tools like Flow, which help account managers and customers create briefs, said Mighty & True Founder and CEO Kevin Kerner. The agency is also developing agent-powered dashboards that analyze media campaign data from various sources to compare performance against benchmarks and surface strategic recommendations. Additionally, startups like Relay – an AI agent builder – are being used to create smaller custom agents that help Mighty & True with its own marketing by automating content creation. This highlights the potential for AI to not only improve client work but also enhance an agency’s own marketing efforts.

In Kerner’s view, B2B companies could also benefit from using deep research for more efficient, comprehensive, and possibly unbiased information when conducting research and making purchasing decisions. This viewpoint is particularly relevant in the U.S. market, where B2B marketing is a meaningful sector.

Deep Research: A Closer Look

over the last several months, major AI players have introduced their own versions of deep research tools to provide individual users and enterprise customers with more detailed insights that would traditionally require significant time and effort. Following Google’s deep research debut in December, both perplexity and OpenAI debuted new offerings in February with examples of how marketers might use the tools.

Deep research tools differentiate themselves from standard generative AI search by operating at a dramatically larger scale.They analyze thousands to hundreds of thousands of documents, compared to the few hundred typically processed by general-purpose platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini. This volume-driven approach enables a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of complex topics that results in a shift from surface-level synthesis to true analytical depth.

Waldo’s Rise in the Agency World

Among the emerging deep research agents, Waldo is gaining traction within marketing agencies and consultancies, thanks to dozens of industry-specific workflows and what customers say are user-friendly features and helpful data citations.

Havas and Golin are already clients, along with others like WPP, accenture, BCG, and smaller independent agencies that use waldo to punch above their weight. Waldo also has a brand-based pricing model that mirrors how agencies actually operate and allows teams to collaborate across functions without worrying about seat limits. This flexible pricing structure is appealing to agencies with varying budgets and needs.

Rather than simply scanning the open web, the startup integrates with social platforms, ad libraries, and other industry-specific databases. Its proprietary research engine, automation tools, and other features also help users extract trends, analyze audiences, and surface insights at scale. This comprehensive approach provides agencies with a holistic view of the market and their target audiences.

Justin Wohlstadter, Founder and CEO of Waldo, emphasizes that the goal is to eliminate silos between teams. New features include Waldo’s “Brand Audit” and “Brief Agent” tools that further push the envelope, offering real-time brand analysis and dynamic, guided research experiences.

Wohlstadter said, “Waldo has kind of become the start screen for strategy. The one place where all these strategists can go and they can get the social, they can get the audience stuff, they can get whatever it is, all in one simple place.”