#180 - Synthetic Data with Kate O’Keeffe, CEO and Co-Founder at Heatseeker
Mon Jan 26 2026
We’re all starting to hear about it, but what is synthetic data? Simply put, synthetic data is "fake" data that is mathematically manufactured to mirror the patterns and behaviours of real-world datasets.
For B2B marketers, this means using AI to create a digital "twin" of your customer base. Instead of waiting weeks for a survey to come back, you use a model trained on your existing customer calls, ads, and behavioural data to predict how an audience will react.
However, it isn't a silver bullet. Marketers need to be aware of significant concerns: the "rubbish in, rubbish out" risk (if your training data is biased, your AI will be too) and the danger of oversimplification, where nuance gets lost in statistical significance.
In this episode, Kate O’Keeffe, CEO and Co-Founder at Heatseeker, joins Jodi to explain how to navigate these challenges and put synthetic data to work. Kate walks us through how to maximise the effectiveness of your data to minimise risk in your decision-making. We explore the fascinating process of chatting with an agent that embodies your ideal target persona - learning their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on your brand as if they were in the room with you.
This conversation gets to the heart of how synthetic data can do truly immense things for large organisations, providing a unified perspective that aligns boards and teams. Kate and Jodi don’t shy away from the controversial bits, covering data quality, the "honesty" of AI personas, and how to handle rapid consumer shifts.
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We’re all starting to hear about it, but what is synthetic data? Simply put, synthetic data is "fake" data that is mathematically manufactured to mirror the patterns and behaviours of real-world datasets. For B2B marketers, this means using AI to create a digital "twin" of your customer base. Instead of waiting weeks for a survey to come back, you use a model trained on your existing customer calls, ads, and behavioural data to predict how an audience will react. However, it isn't a silver bullet. Marketers need to be aware of significant concerns: the "rubbish in, rubbish out" risk (if your training data is biased, your AI will be too) and the danger of oversimplification, where nuance gets lost in statistical significance. In this episode, Kate O’Keeffe, CEO and Co-Founder at Heatseeker, joins Jodi to explain how to navigate these challenges and put synthetic data to work. Kate walks us through how to maximise the effectiveness of your data to minimise risk in your decision-making. We explore the fascinating process of chatting with an agent that embodies your ideal target persona - learning their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on your brand as if they were in the room with you. This conversation gets to the heart of how synthetic data can do truly immense things for large organisations, providing a unified perspective that aligns boards and teams. Kate and Jodi don’t shy away from the controversial bits, covering data quality, the "honesty" of AI personas, and how to handle rapid consumer shifts.