Basis Global and AnswerRocket Launch Strategic Partnership to Redefine Market Research in the Age of AI

LONDON & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 18, 2026--

Basis Global, a market research and brand intelligence firm, today announced a strategic partnership with AnswerRocket, an enterprise AI solutions consultancy, to redesign how market research insights are created and delivered to clients. Most AI adoption in research has optimized for efficiency rather than better outcomes, producing faster surveys, quicker summaries, and dashboards that still leave teams debating what to trust and what to leave out. For years, the industry has treated the tradeoff between depth, speed, and practicality as inevitable. This partnership takes a different approach: rethinking how market research could be improved using AI, so that tradeoff no longer holds.

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"The brand decisions our clients are making aren't getting simpler. They're getting more complex, and the research they rely on needs to keep pace," said Rune Mortensen, CEO of Basis Global. "The question we kept coming back to was: what are our clients not getting today, and why? It's not just about speed. Our clients don't need faster versions of the same research. They need deeper, more complete insights that actually drive decisions. AI makes that possible in ways it wasn't before, and that's what this partnership is designed to deliver."

First Initiative: A New Researcher + AI Approach for Brand Tracking

The partnership’s first initiative introduces a new Researcher + AI approach to brand tracking at Basis Global. Brand tracking datasets have grown so large and complex that no research team could realistically explore every dimension of the data manually. AI makes it possible to systematically analyze the full dataset, testing hundreds of hypotheses across markets, audiences, and time periods to uncover patterns that would otherwise go undetected. Researchers remain at the center of the process, designing the research framework and translating those findings into clear strategic guidance. Basis calls this combination of AI-powered scale and human judgment Integrated Intelligence. The approach also lays the foundation for a connected data ecosystem combining survey, social, and search signals to create a more complete view of brand performance.

For clients, the difference shows up in the work itself. Guided by the researcher, the AI develops a comprehensive analysis plan and systematically evaluates the data, with each insight verified against the evidence for accuracy. What clients receive is a more complete understanding of their brand, backed by traceable data, and delivered as actionable guidance from senior researchers who know their business.

“Basis has the research expertise and the vision for what the future of insights should be. What we bring is the AI engineering expertise to bring that vision to life in the form of scalable, secure, and reliable enterprise-grade solutions. When you combine those two capabilities, clients get undeniably higher quality insights they can trust,” said Jim Johnson, President of AnswerRocket.

An Innovation Roadmap Shaped by Industry Needs

Brand tracking is the first application in the partnership’s innovation roadmap. Basis Global and AnswerRocket will convene client roundtables bringing together research and insights leaders to examine where AI is creating real value, where skepticism remains, and what the industry needs next. For participants, that means a curated peer group, early access to innovations before they go to market, and a direct voice in the partnership’s development priorities.

To learn more about the partnership, visit https://basisglobal.co/news-and-awards/basis-answerrocket-partnership.

About Basis Global

Basis Global is an award-winning insight consultancy that combines two decades of expertise with cutting-edge AI to help brands lead in a changing world. With teams across the U.K. and U.S., Basis operates across five practice areas, including Consumer, B2B, Health, Ideas (AI and Foresight), and Studio (Creative Activation), partnering with some of the world’s most ambitious brands. Basis Global specializes in brand tracking, segmentation, innovation, pricing, and foresight, delivering integrated qualitative and quantitative programs that connect human understanding with commercial impact. Through its Integrated Intelligence framework and Ideas First methodology, Basis helps organizations uncover growth opportunities earlier and act on them with confidence. Discover more at basisglobal.co.

About AnswerRocket

Since 2013, AnswerRocket helps companies achieve business outcomes with AI, delivering measurable results tied to revenue, efficiency, and growth. The company meets clients where they are in their AI journey, combining deep domain expertise with proven execution to build agentic AI solutions that work. AnswerRocket's approach sequences work for the fastest time-to-value, with each phase funding the next through business outcomes. Services span AI strategy, data architecture and engineering, custom AI development, and operationalization. To learn more, visit www.answerrocket.com.

Basis & AnswerRocket Logo

NOME, Alaska (AP) — Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes cruised to a repeat victory in the Iditarod, the roughly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) sled dog race in Alaska.

Holmes guided his dog team across the finish line Tuesday night in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community.

The race started March 8 in Willow, a day after the ceremonial start was held in Anchorage. The course took dog teams and their mushers over two mountain ranges, along the frozen Yukon River and across the unpredictable Bering Sea ice.

Holmes, a former cast member on the National Geographic reality show “Life Below Zero,” is the third competitor in the 54-year history of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to repeat the year after winning for the first time. The others were Susan Butcher in 1986-1987 and Lance Mackey in 2007-2008. Both went on to win four titles.

Holmes told The Associated Press before the Iditarod that this year’s race was the most important of his career. “That’s hard to put that on yourself because you got to live with that pressure every day,” Holmes said. “And if I do not make it, it is going to absolutely crush me.”

He will pocket about $80,000 for this year’s win, up from the $57,000-plus he took home last year. This year's purse was boosted by financial support from Norwegian billionaire Kjell Rokke, who participated in a newly created, noncompetitive amateur category. Rokke reached Nome on Monday, under rules that allowed him to have outside support from a former Iditarod champ, flexible rest periods and to swap out dogs.

Holmes' first Iditarod was in 2018. His seventh place finish earned him rookie of the year honors. He has now raced in the Iditarod nine times, earning seven top 10 finishes. He’s been in the top five the last five races.

He appeared for eight years on the National Geographic reality show “Life Below Zero,” which chronicled the hardships of people living in rural Alaska.

Holmes used the money he earned from the show to buy better dogs and equipment, and also was able to purchase raw land near Denali National Park and Preserve. A carpenter by trade, he’s carved his homestead in the wilderness, where his closest neighbor is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away.

Rokke, who now lives in Switzerland, provided $100,000 in additional prize money and $170,000 to Alaska Native villages that serve as checkpoints. Another musher in the noncompetitive “expedition” class, Canadian entrepreneur Steve Curtis, pledged $50,000 to help youth sports programs in the villages. Curtis did not finish the race.

The race’s biggest critic, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has claimed that more than 150 dogs have died in the history of the Iditarod. It urged Rokke to spend his money to help dogs rather than put them through “hazards and misery.”

The Iditarod has never provided its count of dogs who have died on the race.

One dog has died in this year's race, a 4-year-old female named Charly on musher Mille Porsild's team, the Iditarod said in a statement Tuesday. A necropsy will be conducted.

Thirty-four competitive mushers started, matching the inaugural 1973 race for the second fewest in race history. The retirements of many longtime mushers and the high cost of supplies, such as dog food, have kept the fields small this decade.

Jessie Holmes poses with his lead dogs Zeus, left, and Polar, after claiming his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship, in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Jessie Holmes hugs his dogs at the finish line, after claiming his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship, in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Jessie Holmes poses with his lead dogs Zeus, left, and Polar, after claiming his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship, in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Jessie Holmes arrives first to the finish lane, claiming his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship, in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Defending Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Jessie Holmes poses for a selfie with a fan during the ceremonial start of this year's race in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)