About
The Social Intelligence Lab
The Social Intelligence Lab studies how people decide what is worth having, and measures the economy those decisions sustain. Owned and led by Dr Ross Honeywill, the Lab is based in Melbourne and works with evidence across the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Thirty years of work
on one idea
In the early 1990s, Ross Honeywill began developing the idea that consumer society had divided into two different ways of deciding what is worth having. In 1997 KPMG bought his Values Bank Research Centre, and he went on to head KPMG’s Centre for Consumer Behaviour in Asia Pacific.
Working with a team of data scientists and evidence from more than 800,000 people across three continents, he tested the idea and developed the NEO classification. It identifies the NEO mindset through attitudes, values, emotional cues, and behaviour, and it is configured on Roy Morgan Single Source.
The Lab’s current work quantifies the NEO Economy across three countries: US$9 trillion of annual consumption in the United States, A$628 billion in Australia and £780 billion in the United Kingdom, attributed to people with a NEO mindset.
Clients
Over fifteen years, the Lab has worked with:
Citigroup · Amex · LVMH · Moët-Hennessy · Lexus · ING · Qantas · Telstra · David Jones · JB Hi-Fi · NAB · Macquarie Bank · Tourism Tasmania
“Upwards of 80% of our value was generated by the 40% of NEOs in our customer base.”
Scott Browning, former Marketing Director, JB Hi-Fi
“Ross Honeywill understands better than anyone else how the consumer revolution is changing the future of business.”
Robert Gottliebsen, The Australian
People
Dr Ross Honeywill
Chair
Social scientist, internationally published author and corporate adviser. Formerly head of KPMG’s Centre for Consumer Behaviour in Asia Pacific. His seven previous books have been published in Australia, North America and China. He is co-author of The NEO Economy with Jonathan Coles and Iain Good.
Applying the research
The NEO classification is applied commercially through NEO OS at The Right Customer. It joins NEO mindset intelligence with Roy Morgan category evidence, AI agents and expert judgement, so that what a business learns about its customers keeps reaching its decisions.
Social Intelligence Lab
The NEO Economy The Book Research About Contact
NEO Economy is a registered trademark owned by The Honeywill Trust.
Research use and disclaimer
Attributed quotations are welcome. Other reproduction, adaptation or commercial exploitation of our original research materials requires prior written approval, except as permitted by law. Do not remove attribution, claim authorship or imply our endorsement. Publication grants no licence to our proprietary tools or methods. Findings are general information, not advice for a particular business; any application is at the user’s own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Social Intelligence Lab, its owner and contributors exclude liability for resulting loss.