‘Our vision is to become the definitive source’: Digital strategy experts launch new competitive intelligence platform for brands
Digital strategy specialists Abby Johnston and Amelia Hearn have launched a new digital intelligence platform, Mumbrella can exclusively reveal, designed to help brands face a challenge they see far too often.
After over 15 years of working with brands, the pair kept seeing the same challenge – clients making crucial digital strategy decisions based on incomplete information and biased landscape reviews.
They said that even for clients with access to internal data, there was “no clear way to understand how they truly measured up against competitors”, or what “good” really looked like for their category.
To solve the problem, the duo have launched Sitch – a digital intelligence platform that ranks, scores, and analyses the digital performance of every brand in a category.
By assessing more than 110 data points per brand, across 7 criteria and 27 sub-criteria, Sitch is described to help brands see exactly where they stand, and how to improve.
The methodology spans technical analysis of website performance and structure to expert review of user experience and brand execution, to market data on traffic, engagement and conversion, and even to competitive intelligence across more specific features and functions.
Hearn explained: “Every data point in our methodology has clear, measurable criteria. Where we use expert review, we have detailed rubrics and expert cross-checks. We also weight and normalise relevant datapoints for fairer comparison across brands of different sizes and segments.”
While the pair acknowledged that there are already digital analytics or competitive intelligence platforms out there, Hearn said Sitch differs greatly – while most platforms give you numbers without answers, Sitch will have the answers.
“They might tell you your bounce rate or how many keywords you rank for, but they don’t tell you if that’s good for your category or what to do about it,” she said. “Sitch is different because we combine comprehensive data analysis with strategic expertise to not just measure performance, but rank and score it against your competitive set and provide clear recommendations for improvement.”
Johnston added that traditional competitive reviews tend to be “one-off exercises”, while Sitch is “fundamentally different”.
“First, our methodology is continuous – we track the same 110+ data points across every brand every year, so you can see not just where you stand today, but how you’re trending and whether your investments are moving the needle relative to competitors,” she explained.
“Second, we’re completely independent. We don’t sell services or solutions, so our analysis is genuinely unbiased. We’re not trying to sell you on a particular approach – we’re giving you the clear, unvarnished truth about your digital performance so you can make better strategic decisions.”
Sitch’s first piece of research has been in the automotive category, and it found that 79% of automotive brands are delivering average or below-average digital experiences, despite that being a crucial channel for car buyers.
It found that only one in 10 brands execute digital lead generation at a high standard, even though nine in 10 use the same tactics, suggesting brands are following the same playbook, but not executing it well.
The research found three key challenges – technical fundamentals are often overlooked in favour of flashy features; brands struggle to balance deep product information with immersive experiences; and customer support hasn’t evolved to meet digital-first consumer expectations.
The pair plan to release more studies across major category throughout the course of the year, focusing on areas where digital transformation is creating competitive pressure.
“Our vision is to become the definitive source of digital competitive intelligence across all categories in Australia,” Hearn said.
Beyond the scoring platform, Hearn and Johnston are also building a “comprehensive” resource for digital strategy, including detailed case studies, best practice guides, and trend analysis.
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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