My summer readings : the outstanding, the good and the worse
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Summer is usually the time for me to rejuvenate my creativity and get prepared for the second part of the year to come. I love to chain-read to encourage ideation. This year I packed my beloved Kindle with a few…
Why you should not wear health devices
So far insurances had to rely on your declarative questionnaires to evaluate the risk you represented. Those have been found to be very intrusive; so intrusive in fact that Belgian consumers' defense organization Test Achats has urged insurance companies to…
Users change their behaviors to please algorithms
Technology and especially algorithms have invaded the public space. According to Alain Damasio “Freedom is not a desirable concept anymore”. Security and ease-of-use now comes first, as the success of recommendation engines tends to prove. We are surrounded by computer…
Facebook : how do people perceive NewsFeed curation algorithm
Curation algorithms aren’t fundamentally different from recommendation engines (see the article we just published on the latter here). They select what you ought to see, for instance on your Facebook Newsfeeds. Two studies have addressed customers’ perception of automated curation…
Recommendation algorithms : how big is the Filter Bubble in actuality
Recommendation algorithms have been accused to trap users in a filter bubble, to promote the balkanization of information and hence to reduce serependity. The biggest opponent of recommendation engine is probably Eli Pariser who invented the very term of “filter…
Big Data: let your customers improve your segmentation
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Companies are keen on obtaining as much data as possible on their customers to improve behavioral profiling. Yet, few companies harness the power of their customers to enrich their data with new types of data, allowing new segments to be…
Joe Sayegh opens amazing new store in Paris
Joe Sayegh just opened a store at 29 Rue du Roi de Sicile in Paris. This is the first B2C store of this brand which was long reserved to architects, designers and … very rich people. We couldn’t resist visiting…
1 month using TOR : it ain’t easy to protect his privacy
Those of you who watched Ed Snowden’s movie “Citizen Four” are certainly aware of privacy issues that come with the use of the Internet. Privacy was first a value of the internet and progressively became a myth. The initial libertarian…
Digital innovation: does your market segment care ?
Tech-savvy entrepreneurs love to imagine solutions to digitalize our world and change consumers’ usages. Adoption is usually the problem that occurs. It’s therefore essential to ask you this question beforehand: “do your target customers care enough to change their habits”…
Let’s reinvent recommendation engines
Recommendation engines (a series of algorithms aiming at targeting what you'd like best to see / get / purchase / you name it) are everywhere. You use them without knowing it. The first recommendation engine is actually Google (or any…
Great promotion for Canada at Lyon (France) airport
While traveling in France I spotted a very nice communication campaign at Lyon Saint-Exupery airport on the occasion of the opening of the Lyon – Montreal connection. To celebrate this new connection, passengers were invited to discover North American culture…
Pokemon Go: what does this game reveal about ourselves?
Newspapers and magazines have been quick to celebrate the amazing popularity of Pokemon Go. The stock market followed quickly and Nintendo share sky rocketed as a result of an excess of enthusiasm, before investors that Nintendo was not at the…
Liberals share less serious content on Facebook than conservatives
In my quest to understand how algorithms limit our freedom, my attention was caught by a piece of research published in June 2015 in Science. This research was funded by Facebook (which is an important piece of information) and aims…
How I got in the TOP10 of Linkedin’s most viewed profiles
8 weeks ago I started an experiment. I wanted to jump into the TOP10 most viewed profiles of my Linkedin network. I succeeded. Read further if you want to find out how I achieved jumping from the 100th place to…
The economy of the attention ensures a world of mediocrity
We live in a world of mediocrity. We are more than ever bombarded with stimuli of all kinds and our brains are about to explode. We are hardly able to concentrate on one task at a time and are constantly…
French Universities scandalous selection algorithm revealed
Big Data technologies and in particular selection algorithms attract more and more criticism from libertarian advocates. I echoed growing concerns myself in an article calling for more transparent algorithms. French newspaper Liberation revealed that National Education ministry faces legal pressure…
Market research: Snapchat 2nd most popular social media
The results of a recent market research on snapchat were made available by the Danish television (see the presentation at the end of the article, courtesy Rasmus Thaarup). Here are the key learning points. Snapchat : market research facts 2nd…
Customers are kings ? No ! Not all !
We think that not all customers deserve the same level of attention. Actually some customers should even be left dissatisfied. Looks like a strong statement ? Read further to be convinced that you should change the way you decide on…
Data Scientists are NOT the solution
In a recent meeting with Big Data managers in the broadcasting industry, one complaint came over and over again. Data scientists have no feeling for business, and business people even less for statistics and Big Data. How to bridge the…
Big Data can save lives
At the conference organized together by Microsoft Europe and Louvain University, Adeline Decuyper proposed a fresh look at Big Data. She rightly made the point that Big Data can also serve non commercial purposes and contribute to Greater Good. She…
Bpost / PostNL : the historical context behind the merger
The Belgian post (bpost) had offered to buy the Dutch post (PostNL). Although CEO Van Gerven declared on May 30th that the negotiations would stop, one may wonder what triggered Bpost offer and what potential consequences for employees could have…
Why does Bpost want to buy Post.nl ?
Bpost has announced it had made an offer to buy Post.nl This important (and clever) move by Bpost should be understood within a larger historical context. We will explain you in a another article this context but for the moment…
Big Data : what are the trends in the retail and insurance sectors ?
In partnership with Microsoft Europe (Brussels), the University of Louvain (Belgium) organized a conference on 13 May where I discussed the future impact of Big Data in the retail and insurance sectors. I started by outlining the 4 sectors that…
Pros and cons of focus groups vs. interviews: an in-depth review
[caption id="attachment_41932" align="alignright" width="470"] Our guide to market research can be downloaded free of charge[/caption] Last update: March 2020. In an earlier article we discussed the major differences between focus groups and face-to-face interviews. Today we’d like to compare both…
The Financial Times found the most perfect KPI’s to measure success
The success of any marketing action needs to be measured with the right KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). The Financial Times found a unique KPI that allows outstanding predictions of their churn rate. Read further to learn more. KPI’s are difficult…
Market research: all our knowledge made available in one place
Market research is often understood as doing a survey. This is not true as many other techniques and tools need to be used to get a comprehensive picture of the market. We have very often published articles on market research…
Will Amazon revolutionize supply-chain management?
Two years ago we were analyzing on this blog the rise of a new logistics giant : Amazon. Amazon was successfully testing new delivery experiences with DHL and Audi. We also predicted Amazon was ready to compete directly with the…
How to do a desk research on a market you don’t know yet (PART 2/2)
In the previous part of this article on desk research, we explained how to get a first glimpse into a market you don’t know. Today we continue with the two last steps: structure the information and verify it. Desk research…
How to do a desk research on a market you don’t know yet (PART 1/2)
Market research is especially difficult when the market you have to investigate is not known to you. Desk research is usually the technique chosen to get a first idea of what a market looks like (think about checking our series…
iOT : this object offers a new music experience
Music can be experienced in very different ways. But nowadays it’s mainly digital (despite vinyl revival). Beyond.io, an Antwerp-based iOT agency, wanted to create a new music experience. X-II was their answer. Music sharing has changed They launched the X-II…
Will banks sell your data to retailers?
Your bank knows a lot about you and, as a matter of fact, the banking sector has been investing huge amount in Big Data for years. Similarly retailers know also a lot about you through the purchases you make. Is…
Insurances : towards the end of the risk sharing principle ?
There is one very important underlying principle of any insurance : risk sharing. Good drivers cover a part of the risk of bad drivers; people in good health pay for those who fall ill. Americans call this a “socialist” way…
“What else” : do you remember where it comes from ?
“What Else” has become Nespresso’s tagline. But do you remember where it comes from ? When a friend of mine asked me this question, I couldn’t. Watch this 2006 video and you’ll remember quickly … Image : Rob d / Shutterstock.com
Hospitality : this postcard leverages customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are increasingly expressed online. Capturing this information remains instrumental for most sectors, especially for hotels and restaurants. Bad word-of-mouth can destroy reputation and cut revenues. In the hospitality sectors the norm is usually to have satisfaction…
Mobile Me : your car has no secrets for Mercedes
Nowadays cars can be connected with your smartphone ; not only to make calls but also to control your car at distance. The Mercedes Me application enables the owner to monitor basic and more advanced functionalities of the vehicle through…
Service quality : the next retail challenge after Big Data
Algorithms have become instrumental in retailers' strategies to increase loyalty among customers. We don't know of any major retailer not having a Big Data team working on a.o. predicting churn, couponning, increasing loyalty, new segmentation, ... Yet, what we also…
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