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Big spoiler alert for all Sex and the City fans who haven&#8217;t yet watched the first episode of the reboot TV show, &#8216;And Just Like That…&#8217;.
Even if you haven’t seen the &#8216;He&#8217;s Alive&#8217; episode, you’ve probably heard about the recent product placement wreck involving &#8216;Mr. Big&#8217; and his Peloton exercise bike. This created not only potential damage to the Peloton brand, but its publicly traded stock tumbled significantly as well. <a href="https://cooltool.com/">CoolTool</a> wondered: Just how strong is this connection between inappropriate product placement and damage to the Peloton brand? 
<h2>Let&#8217;s start from the beginning</h2>
All Sex and the City fans looked forward to the reboot called &#8216;And Just Like That…&#8217; to see the return of all their favorite characters (except Samantha &#8211; a bummer she didn’t return). 
The first episode was intriguing not only due to the reintroduction of familiar characters after so many years, but also because of the surprising death of the love of Carrie’s life, Mr. Big. 
How did he die? Well, he had a heart attack after a workout on his Peloton exercise bike. During the two days of the series launch, Peloton shares fell 15.3%. Not such a great product placement, right?
<div id="attachment_32510" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32510" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32510 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-13-at-15.58-1-1024x726.png" alt="chart of peloton stock price via yahoo finance" width="1024" height="726" /><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PTON?p=PTON">YAHOO FINANCE</a></div>
<h2>So, let’s have a look at what happened</h2>
Yes, it is a sad fact &#8211; Peloton played an indirect role in the demise of one of the most iconic romantic leads in TV, which put the brand in an awkward position. However, it&#8217;s crucial to mention that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/13/22831861/peloton-and-just-like-that-big-commercial-response">Peloton claims</a> it knew nothing about Mr. Big&#8217;s death; it was not aware of the plotline because of confidentiality requirements of the script. The brand coordinated with HBO on the placement of the bike but did not pay for the product placement. What a bargain, right? However, it claims it didn&#8217;t know exactly how its bike was going to be used. So, we would imagine that somewhere within Peloton HQ, marketers and execs may have had their own cardiac event after watching the episode with Mr. Big&#8217;s death. 

 <div class="post-related-post">
 <h3>Related</h3>
 <h4><a href="https://www.greenbook.org/insights/validating-advertising-campaigns-during-a-tumultuous-year">Validating Advertising Campaigns During a Tumultuous Year</a></h4>
 </div>
 
In a panic, marketers from Peloton immediately launched the ad &#8216;He&#8217;s Alive&#8217; in an effort to undo the brand damage and cheer up <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a38474592/and-just-like-that-big-death-reactions/">upset fans</a> who responded negatively over Mr. Big’s death. In this video, we see a resurrected Mr. Big with the title &#8216;And just like that &#8230; he&#8217;s alive&#8217;. In this &#8216;recovery&#8217; ad, Mr. Big (AKA Chris Noth, who is 67 years old) seems to enjoy the company of a 30-something &#8216;riding&#8217; companion. So&#8230; Mr. Big is still alive but left his wife, Carrie Bradshaw, for a younger woman?? It was not the best move for Sex and the City fans, considering the history of Carrie and Mr. Big. But, that&#8217;s for you to judge 
Update: Following these events, Peloton had to pull this ad because star Chris Noth was accused of sexual assault by two women. However, you still can watch this video with eye-tracking and emotion measurement data on CoolTool&#8217;s Youtube channel. 
<iframe title="Opacity map video" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pLiFGaRBaA0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is not the first advertising blunder for Peloton. Remember the <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/12/peloton-bike-lady-needs-help-someone-please-help-her">woman</a> who was already stick-thin but was riding her Peloton to lose even more weight? Remember that backlash? 
<h2>So, our question is: What really is the impact on Peloton’s brand with this most recent &#8216;Big&#8217; blunder?</h2>
To answer this, we conducted a study using both online surveys and neuromarketing tools that allow us to capture people’s nonconscious reactions. Why measure nonconscious reactions? With any socially charged or widely discussed topic, people often give stated answers that could be formed by social pressures or other people. At the same time, their &#8216;real&#8217; attitude could be different. 
We used the <a href="https://www.greenbook.org/market-research-firms/implicit-association">implicit research</a> method to determine whether Peloton’s poor product placement caused damage to the Peloton brand or category. At the same time, we researched whether the company&#8217;s lightning-fast response &#8211; the video &#8216;He&#8217;s Alive&#8216; &#8211; helped the situation or added fuel to the fire. Let&#8217;s figure it out. But first&#8230; 
<h2>A bit of boring but necessary research methodology background</h2>
Sample size: United States, nationwide sample, online, 333 respondents
Date: December 14, 2021
Time from study idea to insights: less than 24 hours 
Technologies used (via CoolTool online insights platform): 
<ul>
<li>AI-powered webcam eye-tracking (tracks viewers’ attention)</li>
<li>Emotion measurement (measures emotional reactions through facial coding)</li>
<li> Implicit tests (measures implicit connections toward the brand)</li>
<li>Surveys (used to gain demographic data, and answers to closed- and open-ended questions)</li>
</ul>
Audience and sample structure: 
<ul>
<li>Group #1: Did not watch the first episode of &#8216;And Just Like That&#8230;&#8217; and was not exposed to the &#8216;He’s Alive&#8217; ad. </li>
<li>Group #2: Watched the first episode of &#8216;And Just Like That&#8230;&#8217;, and was not exposed to the &#8216;He’s Alive&#8217; ad. </li>
<li>Group #3: A combination of those who watched the first episode and those who did not, with all exposed to the &#8216;He’s Alive&#8217; ad. </li>
</ul>
A few more details about our respondents: 
<ul>
<li>89% declare they do cardio training, 49% regularly </li>
<li>37% declare they are big fans of Sex and the City, 47% like it, 14% neutral, and only 2% have a negative attitude toward the show</li>
<li>25% declare they own Peloton sport equipment </li>
<li>33% male, 67% female </li>
<li>Ages 18-65 </li>
<li>All respondents were aware of the Peloton brand &#8211; this was a part of the recruitment criteria</li>
</ul>
<h2>How big is Mr. Big’s death?</h2>
When we ran this study, one-third (35%) of all consumers had already heard that Peloton stock fell due to this case. And among all consumers, only 20% had seen the Sex and the City reboot series. We recruited a boost sample to gain 110 consumers who had seen the new series to measure their reactions. 
We measured attitude towards the Peloton brand using two different implicit reaction methods: IPT (Implicit Priming Test) and RTT (Reaction Time Test). 
We discovered that the overall attitude towards the brand (Brand Emotional Appeal) has not significantly changed (see the chart below), yet there are directional differences in the Affordable and Harmful brand associations that warrant further research. Consumers who have watched the new &#8216;And Just Like That…&#8217; series tend to lose their implicit confidence that Peloton is not harmful.
<div id="attachment_32511" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32511" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32511 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Emotional-Appeal-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart of emotional appeal of peloton brand" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
<div id="attachment_32512" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32512" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32512 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/RTT-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart displaying image perception of peloton" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
From this date, it doesn’t appear that the potential negative impact is significant. We also checked results for different groups and didn&#8217;t find significant threats for Peloton brand users and other audiences. So, was Peloton&#8217;s response reasonable?
<h2>How well does the &#8216;He&#8217;s Alive&#8217; campaign fit the mission to protect the Peloton brand?</h2>
To understand the potential impact of this campaign, we used implicit testing. We measured people&#8217;s attention and reactions using webcam eye-tracking and facial expressions analysis. This allows us to uncover what users see and feel behind their conscious control. 
We also checked traditional survey questions and everything looked pretty good &#8211; the ad was perceived as likable, clear, and believable. However, as we dived into the implicit (nonconscious) reactions, we saw a different story. 
<div id="attachment_32515" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32515" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32515 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Evaluation-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart of evaluation of the peloton 'he's alive' ad (explicit reaction)" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
Among people who watched the ad, the brand&#8217;s emotional appeal (brand attractiveness on an implicit level) worsened compared to the audience who never viewed it. 
We also see this ad slightly reduced both emotional valence and arousal, which is not a good sign for the brand. 

<div id="attachment_32513" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32513" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32513 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Valence-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart of valence vs. arousal" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
<h2>Why do the survey and implicit results indicate different findings?</h2>
Ads are about emotions. Sex and the City is all about emotions. So, we measured users&#8217; emotions via webcam while they watched the ads and captured emotional changes as the ad was shown. As you can see in the below chart, this ad provoked strong negative emotions &#8211; especially at the end, when the brand was revealed.
<div id="attachment_32514" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32514" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32514 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Emotions1-1024x567.jpg" alt="line graph displaying negative vs. positive emotions of users while they watched the ad" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
These negative emotions rose only among those who watched the new Sex and the City series. And, the leading negative emotion here is skepticism. The data indicates that viewers who lost a favorite character in the series don&#8217;t feel any relief from this ad.
<div id="attachment_32516" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32516" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32516 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Emotions3-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart measuring skepticism vs. delight" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
Not surprisingly, the new character (a young fitness instructor, Jess King) provoked more skepticism than anything else in the video. We also used CoolTool’s eye-tracking capabilities to capture not only emotional impact, but also the areas that experienced the highest visual engagement among viewers of the ad.
<div id="attachment_32517" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32517" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32517 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/eye-tracking-1024x567.jpg" alt="eye tracking chart" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
Women were also much more skeptical watching the ad than men. The main points provoking skepticism are the appearance of Jess King, the audio track describing how healthy cardio training is, and the logo displayed at the end. Probably &#8211; and it&#8217;s just an assumption &#8211; skepticism appeared because viewers realized that it was just an advertisement and not a teaser for a new episode where Mr. Big is alive. Or, maybe it&#8217;s due to the voice intonation in the ad&#8217;s audio track &#8211; we are used to hearing these kinds of &#8220;official&#8221; voices when listening to warnings about the side effects of drugs, so this could provoke such an unexpected implicit reaction of skepticism.
<div id="attachment_32518" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32518" decoding="async" class="wp-image-32518 size-large" src="https://greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Audio-skepticism-1024x567.jpg" alt="chart displaying skepticism of male vs. female subjects" width="1024" height="567" />COOLTOOL</div>
To take this further, we did subgroup analysis and discovered one group for whom this ad was most emotionally engaging. Those who didn&#8217;t watch the new series actually perceived the ad more positively, reacting to content without negative emotions and responding positively to jokes (the overall intensity of these emotions is pretty low, though).
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But even for this audience, the ad didn&#8217;t improve the overall implicit attitude (emotional appeal) toward the Peloton brand and even made it slightly worse.
We can see that the panic reaction of the &#8220;He’s Alive&#8221; ad to reclaim brand damage had a doubtful positive effect on those who have never seen the series. But, it does provoke profound skepticism and a rather negative impact on those who have seen the Sex and the City reboot.
<h2>The lesson to learn&#8230;</h2>
This marketing story is fascinating. Did the Peloton team overreact? Flash reaction to a market situation is essential &#8211; remember, the Peloton team created this ad within just two days &#8211; but maybe it is better to spend one more day and test it? We advocate for this approach. CoolTool provides efficient tools that allow this type of research to be fast and low cost. We did this research in less than 24 hours using a very small marketing budget. Had we relied on survey results only, we would have come away with an inaccurate assessment of the impact on Peloton’s brand. The nonconscious results led us to the moment of truth.
Thanks for reading and don&#8217;t hesitate to share your thoughts and discussions with us.
A version of the preceding article was originally published on <a href="https://cooltool.com/blog/did-peloton-just-experience-the-worst-product-placement-in-history-">CoolTool&#8217;s blog</a>.
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Did Peloton Just Experience the Worst Product Placement in History?

Editor&#8217;s Note: One of the highlights of IIeX is the Insight Innovation competition.  Early stage research/insight companies compete onstage for a significant cash prize (donated generously by Dynata) and the industry recognition that winning brings.  Past winners include firms like Zappi, Decooda, Remesh, and Riwi, that have gone on great success after the contest.  This year’s winner is UXReality, and below they tell their story.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from them in the coming years. 
<hr />
<h3>A word from the winners</h3>
The MR industry has voted for the best idea at IIeX North America&#8217;s Insight Innovation Competition. And the winner is… <a href="https://www.uxreality.com/">UXReality app</a>!
It’s an inspirational time of victories for our team! Exactly one month ago we published cheery news that the <a href="https://cooltool.com/blog/uxreality-app-by-cooltool-has-won-at-the-martech-award-2019">UXReality has taken the 1st place at The MarTech Award 2019</a>. And we&#8217;ve done it again!
On April 25th 2019, Lana Babii, Head of BD of CoolTool, took to the stage with a five-minute pitch at Insight Innovation startup competition 2019 in Austin. By impressing a panel of judges which included individuals from Kantar, Dynata, Lowe&#8217;s Companies, and SnackNation, Lana has got the victory with UXReality.
<a href="https://www.uxreality.com/">UXReality</a> is an outstanding solution that represents the newest tendency in the mobile UX world. Our team aspires to utilize the power of AI, webcam eye tracking and facial coding in market research in order to modernize the industry approaches, accelerate all the research process and create brand new opportunities for both clients and researchers. The app replaces bulky and expensive usability lab by turning any smartphone into a fully-featured tool for studying user behavior as close to reality as possible.
<img decoding="async" class="wp-image-22500 aligncenter" src="https://wp.greenbook.org/mr/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/UXReality.jpg" alt="" width="507" height="380" />
&#8220;Limitations &#8211; this is what unites all existing tools for mobile user testing. Usability labs are awfully uncomfortable using the artificial environment of data collection, and such data is extremely hard to analyze. Different online tools, like Google analytics are usually good to show consumer’s digital footprints but can’t explain the why of user behavior, can’t measure either user attention or emotions. It&#8217;s high time to transmit from words to actions. We put lots of effort into creating the unique and universal solution, and today I&#8217;m proud that our UXReality was found worthy of victory at IIex 2019&#8243; &#8211; Dmitry Gaiduk, CEO of Cool Tool 
Organized by GreenBook, and made possible by Dynata, the Insight Innovation Competition helps entrepreneurs bring their ideas for upgrading the insights industry to life. The list of past winners includes such companies as Zappi, Dalia Research, Measure.
&#8220;Awesome and well-deserved win in a hard-fought competition&#8221; &#8211;Leonard Murphy, Executive Editor &amp; Producer, GreenBook via twitter
We are extremely proud to say that as a winner of this Insight Innovation Competition UXReality is now officially part of the market research industry innovation upgrading process.
More information on the Insight Innovation Competition can be found <a href="https://competition.insightinnovation.org/page/1320519/sponsors" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. For more information on our UXReality solution, go<a href="https://www.uxreality.com/"> here</a>.

UXReality is the Newest Winner of the  Insight Innovation Competition

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;In the digital world, every company tries to collect more and more data about you. Not only Facebook. Ordinary users are quite aware that by sharing information about themselves, their political or religion views, and brand preferences on a social network, they \&quot;give\&quot; their profile to all in this world. Facebook was just a social network for communication, loved by millions until it was \&quot;helped\&quot; to turn into a weapon pointed at the users themselves. \n\n\&quot;Pure\&quot; technologies working towards digitization and automation are being presented as monsters hunting for your private data. It's not only about Mark Zuckerberg’s company.\n\nWHO IS NEXT?\n\nIn terms of the volume and depth of data, the market research industry is ahead of Facebook. Automation gives us the power. Nonconscious and Artificial Intelligence gives us even more power. We can measure real consumer reactions now. Soon we will be literally able to read consumer minds. \nCombining data from multiple data sources with survey and nonconscious data allows us to predict customer needs faster and more accurately than ever before. Yes, research professionals collect personal data, but it's not a monster on the hunt.\n\nIf data from consumers helps us to see what consumers want, the lack of such data will make us blind. \n\nWho wants to be thrown back into the Stone Age? \n\nCOLLECTING DATA FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND, NOT THE BAD. \n\nIn order to get intelligent insights, you have to dig out things they would rather prefer to conceal than to reveal. In any case, trends are pushing you to “get inside their heads”. \n\nHumans don’t have an access to their own deep mental processes – they are hidden from their conscious. That's why people often can’t properly explain reasons for their recent behavior. Implicit research methods are designed to identify \&quot;real responses\&quot; – the hidden truth that people are not conscious of. Thus, in order to get right insights, we should measure explicit and implicit responses together. \n\nMISUNDERSTANDING BREEDS FEAR\n\nThere are two more factors we need to consider:\n\n#1. The consumers’ fears.\nPeople want more control over the usage of their data (GDPR emerged as the response to this demand). Still, they remain open to sharing their personal data. However, only if they understand that it will help to improve their quality of life. But people are driven by the press, the media and publicity. And if a negative perception is created (the way it is currently happening with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica), they could rapidly change their minds.\n\n#2. Clumsy regulation\nReading consumers’ minds and predicting their choices sound brilliant for marketing but could be scary for politicians. Some of them would like to have a monopoly on using these technologies.\n\nThe level of tech background amongst politicians is very weak. Some might be good lawyers (20 years ago) but they couldn’t understand how Internet and data science works. Mark Zuckerberg’s hearings in front of congress clearly shows this.\n\nWhat kind of regulation will we have? Will it happen in the proper way or become the next regulation blocker for technical progress? For example, blockchain technology is fundamentally incompatible with GDPR. It means that thousands of companies will automatically become the victim of these new rules because they already use blockchain principles in their work.\n\nDON’T BE A PASSIVE OBSERVER \n\nWe must struggle not only for our personal rights, but also for the rights of the insights industry.\n\nEven if 'monsters' exist, it's not blockchain or unconscious research technologies. The government bans things that it can not control or understand. In fact, these technologies are the powers that can protect us from data-hunters. The GDPR method of regulation in its current version will not provide either security or privacy. We should discuss it and invite IT professionals into our dialog. \n\nGreat power demands great responsibility. However, prohibition cannot stop progress, but instead always creates additional barriers. To prevent closing ourselves off from the future, let's improve technology instead of thoughtlessly limit them.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:[null,0],&quot;12&quot;:0}">Editor’s Note: This post is part of our Big Ideas series, a column highlighting the innovative thinking and thought leadership at IIeX events around the world. Dmitry Gaiduk <span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;In the digital world, every company tries to collect more and more data about you. Not only Facebook. Ordinary users are quite aware that by sharing information about themselves, their political or religion views, and brand preferences on a social network, they \&quot;give\&quot; their profile to all in this world. Facebook was just a social network for communication, loved by millions until it was \&quot;helped\&quot; to turn into a weapon pointed at the users themselves. \n\n\&quot;Pure\&quot; technologies working towards digitization and automation are being presented as monsters hunting for your private data. It's not only about Mark Zuckerberg’s company.\n\nWHO IS NEXT?\n\nIn terms of the volume and depth of data, the market research industry is ahead of Facebook. Automation gives us the power. Nonconscious and Artificial Intelligence gives us even more power. We can measure real consumer reactions now. Soon we will be literally able to read consumer minds. \nCombining data from multiple data sources with survey and nonconscious data allows us to predict customer needs faster and more accurately than ever before. Yes, research professionals collect personal data, but it's not a monster on the hunt.\n\nIf data from consumers helps us to see what consumers want, the lack of such data will make us blind. \n\nWho wants to be thrown back into the Stone Age? \n\nCOLLECTING DATA FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND, NOT THE BAD. \n\nIn order to get intelligent insights, you have to dig out things they would rather prefer to conceal than to reveal. In any case, trends are pushing you to “get inside their heads”. \n\nHumans don’t have an access to their own deep mental processes – they are hidden from their conscious. That's why people often can’t properly explain reasons for their recent behavior. Implicit research methods are designed to identify \&quot;real responses\&quot; – the hidden truth that people are not conscious of. Thus, in order to get right insights, we should measure explicit and implicit responses together. \n\nMISUNDERSTANDING BREEDS FEAR\n\nThere are two more factors we need to consider:\n\n#1. The consumers’ fears.\nPeople want more control over the usage of their data (GDPR emerged as the response to this demand). Still, they remain open to sharing their personal data. However, only if they understand that it will help to improve their quality of life. But people are driven by the press, the media and publicity. And if a negative perception is created (the way it is currently happening with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica), they could rapidly change their minds.\n\n#2. Clumsy regulation\nReading consumers’ minds and predicting their choices sound brilliant for marketing but could be scary for politicians. Some of them would like to have a monopoly on using these technologies.\n\nThe level of tech background amongst politicians is very weak. Some might be good lawyers (20 years ago) but they couldn’t understand how Internet and data science works. Mark Zuckerberg’s hearings in front of congress clearly shows this.\n\nWhat kind of regulation will we have? Will it happen in the proper way or become the next regulation blocker for technical progress? For example, blockchain technology is fundamentally incompatible with GDPR. It means that thousands of companies will automatically become the victim of these new rules because they already use blockchain principles in their work.\n\nDON’T BE A PASSIVE OBSERVER \n\nWe must struggle not only for our personal rights, but also for the rights of the insights industry.\n\nEven if 'monsters' exist, it's not blockchain or unconscious research technologies. The government bans things that it can not control or understand. In fact, these technologies are the powers that can protect us from data-hunters. The GDPR method of regulation in its current version will not provide either security or privacy. We should discuss it and invite IT professionals into our dialog. \n\nGreat power demands great responsibility. However, prohibition cannot stop progress, but instead always creates additional barriers. To prevent closing ourselves off from the future, let's improve technology instead of thoughtlessly limit them.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:[null,0],&quot;12&quot;:0}">will be speaking at <a href="https://iiex-na.insightinnovation.org/">IIeX North America</a> (June 11-13 in Atlanta). If you liked this article, you’ll LOVE IIeX North America. <a href="https://iiex-na.insightinnovation.org">Click here to learn more.</a>
<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;In the digital world, every company tries to collect more and more data about you. Not only Facebook. Ordinary users are quite aware that by sharing information about themselves, their political or religion views, and brand preferences on a social network, they \&quot;give\&quot; their profile to all in this world. Facebook was just a social network for communication, loved by millions until it was \&quot;helped\&quot; to turn into a weapon pointed at the users themselves. \n\n\&quot;Pure\&quot; technologies working towards digitization and automation are being presented as monsters hunting for your private data. It's not only about Mark Zuckerberg’s company.\n\nWHO IS NEXT?\n\nIn terms of the volume and depth of data, the market research industry is ahead of Facebook. Automation gives us the power. Nonconscious and Artificial Intelligence gives us even more power. We can measure real consumer reactions now. Soon we will be literally able to read consumer minds. \nCombining data from multiple data sources with survey and nonconscious data allows us to predict customer needs faster and more accurately than ever before. Yes, research professionals collect personal data, but it's not a monster on the hunt.\n\nIf data from consumers helps us to see what consumers want, the lack of such data will make us blind. \n\nWho wants to be thrown back into the Stone Age? \n\nCOLLECTING DATA FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND, NOT THE BAD. \n\nIn order to get intelligent insights, you have to dig out things they would rather prefer to conceal than to reveal. In any case, trends are pushing you to “get inside their heads”. \n\nHumans don’t have an access to their own deep mental processes – they are hidden from their conscious. That's why people often can’t properly explain reasons for their recent behavior. Implicit research methods are designed to identify \&quot;real responses\&quot; – the hidden truth that people are not conscious of. Thus, in order to get right insights, we should measure explicit and implicit responses together. \n\nMISUNDERSTANDING BREEDS FEAR\n\nThere are two more factors we need to consider:\n\n#1. The consumers’ fears.\nPeople want more control over the usage of their data (GDPR emerged as the response to this demand). Still, they remain open to sharing their personal data. However, only if they understand that it will help to improve their quality of life. But people are driven by the press, the media and publicity. And if a negative perception is created (the way it is currently happening with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica), they could rapidly change their minds.\n\n#2. Clumsy regulation\nReading consumers’ minds and predicting their choices sound brilliant for marketing but could be scary for politicians. Some of them would like to have a monopoly on using these technologies.\n\nThe level of tech background amongst politicians is very weak. Some might be good lawyers (20 years ago) but they couldn’t understand how Internet and data science works. Mark Zuckerberg’s hearings in front of congress clearly shows this.\n\nWhat kind of regulation will we have? Will it happen in the proper way or become the next regulation blocker for technical progress? For example, blockchain technology is fundamentally incompatible with GDPR. It means that thousands of companies will automatically become the victim of these new rules because they already use blockchain principles in their work.\n\nDON’T BE A PASSIVE OBSERVER \n\nWe must struggle not only for our personal rights, but also for the rights of the insights industry.\n\nEven if 'monsters' exist, it's not blockchain or unconscious research technologies. The government bans things that it can not control or understand. In fact, these technologies are the powers that can protect us from data-hunters. The GDPR method of regulation in its current version will not provide either security or privacy. We should discuss it and invite IT professionals into our dialog. \n\nGreat power demands great responsibility. However, prohibition cannot stop progress, but instead always creates additional barriers. To prevent closing ourselves off from the future, let's improve technology instead of thoughtlessly limit them.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:[null,0],&quot;12&quot;:0}">In the digital world, every company tries to collect more and more data about you, not only Facebook. Ordinary users are quite aware that by sharing information about themselves, their political or religious views, and brand preferences on a social network, they &#8220;give&#8221; their profile to all in this world. Facebook was just a social network for communication, loved by millions until it was &#8220;helped&#8221; to turn into a weapon pointed at the users themselves.
&#8220;Pure&#8221; technologies working towards digitization and automation are being presented as monsters hunting for your private data. It&#8217;s not only about Mark Zuckerberg’s company.
<h4>Who is Next?</h4>
In terms of the volume and depth of data, the market research industry is ahead of Facebook. Automation gives us the power. Nonconscious and Artificial Intelligence gives us even more power. We can measure real consumer reactions now. Soon we will be able to literally read consumer minds. Combining data from multiple data sources with survey and nonconscious data allows us to predict customer needs faster and more accurately than ever before. Yes, research professionals collect personal data, but it&#8217;s not a monster on the hunt.
If data from consumers helps us to see what consumers want, the lack of such data will make us blind.
Who wants to be thrown back into the Stone Age?
<h4>Collecting Data for the Good of Mankind, Not the Bad</h4>
In order to get intelligent insights, you have to dig out things they would rather prefer to conceal than to reveal. In any case, trends are pushing you to “get inside their heads”.
Humans don’t have an access to their own deep mental processes – they are hidden from their conscious. That&#8217;s why people often can’t properly explain reasons for their recent behavior. Implicit research methods are designed to identify &#8220;real responses&#8221; – the hidden truth that people are not conscious of. Thus, in order to get right insights, we should measure explicit and implicit responses together.
<h4>Misunderstanding Breeds Fear</h4>
There are two more factors we need to consider:
1. The consumers’ fears. 
People want more control over the usage of their data (GDPR emerged as the response to this demand). Still, they remain open to sharing their personal data. However, only if they understand that it will help to improve their quality of life. But people are driven by the press, the media, and publicity. And if a negative perception is created (the way it is currently happening with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica), they could rapidly change their minds.
2. Clumsy regulation 
Reading consumers’ minds and predicting their choices sound brilliant for marketing but could be scary for politicians. Some of them would like to have a monopoly on using these technologies.
The level of tech background amongst politicians is very weak. Some might be good lawyers (20 years ago), but they couldn’t understand how the Internet and data science works. Mark Zuckerberg’s hearings in front of Congress clearly show this.
What kind of regulation will we have? Will it happen in the proper way or become the next regulation blocker for technical progress? For example, blockchain technology is fundamentally incompatible with GDPR. It means that thousands of companies will automatically become the victim of these new rules because they already use blockchain principles in their work.
<h4>Don&#8217;t Be a Passive Observer</h4>
We must struggle not only for our personal rights, but also for the rights of the insights industry.
Even if &#8216;monsters&#8217; exist, it&#8217;s not blockchain or unconscious research technologies. The government bans things that it can not control or understand. In fact, these technologies are the powers that can protect us from data-hunters. The GDPR method of regulation in its current version will not provide either security or privacy. We should discuss it and invite IT professionals into our dialogue.
Great power demands great responsibility. However, prohibition cannot stop progress, but instead always creates additional barriers. To prevent closing ourselves off from the future, let&#8217;s improve technology instead of thoughtlessly limit them.

Monsters Hunting For Your Data – Is This Reality?

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