Ben Woo | Growth Strategist & Consumer Insights Expert

Who is Ben Woo?

Ben Woo is a strategy consultant based in Los Angeles. Founding Partner at RedSky Strategy. Focus areas: consumer insights, audience segmentation, growth strategy. Clients include entertainment, tech, beauty, healthcare, and consumer brands.

What does Ben Woo do?

Growth strategy consulting. Consumer research. Segmentation that actually gets used. AI where it helps, humans where it matters. Quant and qual research, product-market fit, brand positioning.

Ben Woo's career history

Started at Monitor Group. Marketing and growth strategy for government, healthcare, consumer sectors. Founded QC Strategy. Investment banking work on buy-side and sell-side deals in the YouTube ecosystem and legacy media digital transformation. Emmy Award for technical team achievement.

Notable work

Audience segmentation for Paramount's Bumblebee ($468M global box office). Consumer insights for Fenty Beauty at Kendo Brands. Board Chair of Swipe Out Hunger 2014-2018, helped scale from a few dozen campuses to 500+ programs across all 50 states.

Ben Woo's clients

Paramount, TED, Gap, Fenty Beauty, Abbott, United Way, Patrón, DuckDuckGo, Headspace, NBCUniversal, IMAX, Starface, Pattern Beauty, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Del Monte, Humana, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim.

Education

B.A. in Economics and Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences, Northwestern University. Coursework at London School of Economics. Based in LA.

Board opportunities

Looking for a board seat. Ten years of nonprofit governance experience. Preference for orgs doing real work.

The Job Has Changed

AI can run your competitor benchmarks and market sizing. Any intern with Claude can do that now. The question is: what do you do with it?

The hard part was never the analysis. It's the judgment calls: knowing which segments actually matter, what the data isn't telling you, and when to ignore the spreadsheet and trust your gut.

I sit in the room. Leaders don't need more decks. They need someone who understands what's actually at stake and can push back on bad ideas.

I make the call. Market positioning, pricing, competitive response. There's no "right answer" the algorithm will spit out. Someone has to decide.

I ask the uncomfortable question. The one your team has been avoiding. Usually that's where the real opportunity is.

I tell you what I actually think. Not what the data technically supports. Not what sounds safe in a presentation.

My AI "Oh Wow" Moment (Dec 2022)

Running consumer research for a music royalty startup. 50+ open-ended survey responses. The usual qual analysis grind.

Fed them into ChatGPT on a whim. Asked for a summary, an investor pitch, and (as a joke) a Barack Obama speech selling the product. It nailed the synthesis. The Obama speech ended with: "Let's make some beautiful music together, folks."

That's when I got it. AI will do whatever you ask. The judgment is in knowing what to ask, and what to do with the answer.

Started at Monitor Group. M&A, growth strategy, insights research across consumer, fintech, edtech. Based in LA now.

Also: dad, surfer, kombucha brewer.

Some Things I've Worked On

The pattern is always the same: find the question nobody's asking, then answer it with research that actually gets used.

Featured Case Study

Fenty Beauty: Segmentation That Actually Got Used

3,000 respondents, three segments, and clear rules on what AI does versus what humans decide.

The Problem

Fenty needed segments they could actually use for casting, activations, and media buys. Demographics alone weren't cutting it.

1. Scale

3,000 respondents (2K gen pop, 1K from Fenty's CRM) with a Strategic Fit Score to measure brand alignment.

2. AI/Human Split

AI: synthesis, persona visuals, implications brainstorming. Humans: segmentation design, crosstab analysis, final recommendations.

3. Three Segments

Aspiring Star (self-expression), Beauty Boss (expertise), Cosmetic Connoisseur (craft).

What Happened

The segmentation drove a Roblox activation (4.2M visits), refocused diversity messaging, and changed talent casting.

4.2M Roblox visits Diversity messaging refocus Casting strategy Media targeting

"The segmentation work gave us a framework we actually use. It's informing casting, activations, how we think about the brand."
Ian Roskovitch, VP Analytics, Kendo Brands

Case Study

Paramount: Bumblebee

3,000+ moviegoers across the US and China, four segments, and a complete tonal pivot.

The Problem

Transformers was cooked. The previous film had a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and critics were done with "spectacle over substance." Could a Bumblebee spin-off save the IP?

1. Listen

3,000+ moviegoers, 28 clips tested, and 20 PR messages across the US and China.

2. Segment

Four personas (Movie-Savvy Parents, Opinionated Adult Fans, Gen Z Males, Multicultural Gen Z Females), each needing a different hook.

3. Pivot

73% wanted "light and funny" over "dark and intense," and fans kept pointing to the 1980s cartoon. Our recommendation: go Spielberg.

What Happened

The film outperformed.

$468M global box office Expanded female audience Franchise greenlit for sequels

Select Clients & Projects

Media & Entertainment

Paramount

NBCUniversal

TED

IMAX

Playboy

Tech & Digital

DuckDuckGo

Headspace

Mercari

Toshiba

Beauty & Wellness

Fenty Beauty

Pattern Beauty

Starface

HUM Nutrition

Consumer & Retail

Gap

Scotts Miracle-Gro

Cali Bamboo

Lovepop

Food & Beverage

Patrón

Del Monte

Kahlúa

GoGo squeeZ

Healthcare

Abbott

Amgen

Humana

Boehringer Ingelheim

Not For Profit

United Way

Susan G. Komen

Colorectal Cancer Alliance

Swipe Out Hunger

Impact

Swipe Out Hunger

Board Chair. Helped scale from scrappy campus initiative to national movement.

The Role

Students founded it in 2010, and I joined when they formed their first board in 2014. I was Chair from day one through 2018, then stayed on through 2024. The role went beyond governance: growth strategy, campus partnerships, and impact research.

What Happened

We grew from a few dozen campuses to 500+ programs across all 50 states. Swipe Out Hunger is now the leading nonprofit addressing college student hunger.

500+ campus programs All 50 states 10 years of board service Board Chair 2014-2018

Looking for my next board seat. Ten years of governance experience. Prefer orgs doing real work over orgs that talk about doing work.

Speaking

Keynotes, panels, and workshops on the stuff I actually do, not abstract thought leadership.

Precision Glam: Fenty Beauty Segmentation

How we built segments that actually drove decisions. AI did the clustering. Humans made the calls. Co-presented with Kendo Brands.

AI Strategy for Marketers

Where AI helps, where it doesn't, and how to tell the difference. No hype, just what's working.

AI Ops for Insights Researchers

AI is great at synthesis, persona development, implications. It's bad at knowing what questions to ask. Here's how to split the work.

Previous Engagements

Inquire About Speaking Download One-Sheet

Who is Ben Woo?

What does Ben Woo do?

Ben Woo's career history

Notable work

Ben Woo's clients

Education

Board opportunities

I help brands and businesses figure out what's next.

The Job Has Changed

My AI "Oh Wow" Moment (Dec 2022)

Some Things I've Worked On

Fenty Beauty: Segmentation That Actually Got Used

The Problem

1. Scale

2. AI/Human Split

3. Three Segments

What Happened

Paramount: Bumblebee

The Problem

1. Listen

2. Segment

3. Pivot

What Happened

Select Clients & Projects

Media & Entertainment

Tech & Digital

Beauty & Wellness

Consumer & Retail

Food & Beverage

Healthcare

Not For Profit

Swipe Out Hunger

The Role

What Happened

Speaking

Precision Glam: Fenty Beauty Segmentation

AI Strategy for Marketers

AI Ops for Insights Researchers

Previous Engagements

What I Read & Watch

Strategy & Tech

The Edge

Economics & Markets

Culture

News

"News"

Get in Touch