.jpg)
Watch Webinar On-Demand: Click Here
We are excited to invite you to an exclusive webinar hosted by Michalis A. Michael, CEO of listening247, where he will introduce DataVinci, our advanced Generative AI (Gen AI). This event is designed for consumer brands interested in using data and AI to enhance their marketing strategy and make smarter, more informed decisions.
The webinar took place on Wednesday, 30th of October at 1:30 PM (UK time), and last s45 minutes, including a Q&A session and interactive polls. This online event will provide valuable insights on how brands can better understand their customers, improve engagement, and optimise their marketing efforts.
But that’s not all! We’re also excited to introduce our special guest speaker, Tom Molnar, Co-Founder and CEO of GAIL’s, the renowned British bakery and coffee shop chain.
During the webinar, Michalis A. Michael will explain how DataVinci combined with listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics, can change the way you use digital media.
Tom Molnar, CEO of GAIL’s, will provide a real-world look at how DataVinci is impacting GAIL's business.
Michalis will explain how listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics solution gathers data from platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook, and more. It also tracks mentions in news articles, forums, and online publications, providing a full view of your brand’s digital presence.
With this information, listening247 tracks and analyses key factors such as brand sentiment and customer opinions.
DataVinci then takes this data and turns it into meaningful insights. Using advanced AI capabilities, it identifies patterns and opportunities within the data and translates these findings into detailed reports and strategic recommendations. These reports don’t just highlight trends; they also provide the major conversation drivers that influence how your brand is perceived as well as specific actions that your marketing team can take to improve engagement and align with customer interests.
But DataVinci doesn’t stop at analysis. It goes further by offering ready-to-go social media posts, complete with image briefs, designed for your brand to publish. This feature simplifies the content creation process and ensures that the messaging is data-driven and resonates with your audience. DataVinci also helps your team stay on top of trends and topics that matter to your customers, ensuring that your content remains relevant and impactful.
This webinar is tailored for C-Suite Execs of SMEs consumer brand leaders, marketers, and decision-makers who want to use data more effectively. It’s an opportunity to learn how Gen AI can help you make informed decisions, improve customer engagement, and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.
Watch Replay: Click Here
On November 8, 2023, Michalis Michael, CEO of listening247 and GIHE Research Fellow, spoke at the Montreux International Tourism Forum in Switzerland. He discussed the role of AI in analyzing unstructured data within the tourism industry. You can watch his full presentation here.
1. Human resources: what are the solutions to the current shortage?
2. Artificial intelligence and tourism – definitions and realities;
3. Unlocking the potential of AI for tourism SMEs: insights from Europe-wide research;
4. “Service recovery” in tourism in a world of multiple crises;
5. Tourism and sustainable development;
6. A life for tourism.
1. Any researchers and any professional involved in the toursim sector.
2. Organisations that prioritise toursim strategies and operations that involves some form of A.I.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
On October 10, 2023, Michalis Michael, CEO of listening247 spoke at the Data & Insights Network’s online event, "AI for Marketing & Business." His presentation was presented in English. For more details, visit the event page, which can be translated using Google Translate if needed.
1. Gain a deeper understanding of how AI is transforming marketing and business practices;
2. Delve deeper into the opportunities and threats of generative AI,
3. Engage with fellow members and industry experts in a dynamic, digital setting;
4. Understand the potential challenges and ethical considerations of using generative AI in business;
5. Experience an online Education Day tailored specifically for members, providing an intimate and focused learning environment.
1. This session (entirely in English) is exclusively for (teacher) members of the Data & Insights Network and NIMA
2. Anyone who is interested in becoming a member, and is interested in the education sector.
3. All those who play a crucuial role in the education sector.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
This material includes a used case infographic, which presents the 20 Questions you should be asking when evaluating Social Media Listening vendors. It dives deeper into helping organisations understand the process in choosing the right tool for their organisation and whatever they are trying to achieve.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
.jpg)
This material includes a used case infographic, which demonstrates how text analytics alone can miss key insights as more people use images and videos to express their views on social media. To fully understand brand sentiment, a deep learning approach can be employed to analyze visual content, while speech-to-text technology converts audio into text for comprehensive analysis
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
This ebook explores the evolving discipline of social listening, its many names, and the key questions organizations should ask before getting started. If you are new to social media monitoring or don’t have the answers to these questions, read on...
1. See how web listening provides a unique consumer portal at a time when response rates for research projects are dropping and it’s getting harder to reach your key customers;
2. Understand why It is now more vital than ever for organizations to understand what is being said about them, so that they can effectively manage their brands and their reputation online;
3. Learn how findings from web listening can improve business performance, whether it’s communication, targeting or product development or using the findings to enhance data from existing sources.
1. Any organisation, brand manager and employees within the marketing department who specialise in the discipline of social media.
2. Market research agencies who want to learn about social media monitoring or web listening.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
listening247 In the Press
The future of Customer Experience Management (CXM) is set to be transformed by the ability to analyze all customer interactions, regardless of their source or language. This shift is not speculative but rather a natural progression of existing technology. With AI-driven tools becoming increasingly capable of processing vast amounts of customer data, the industry is moving towards a universal approach that captures every customer opinion, whether solicited or unsolicited. As CXM professionals adapt to this new reality, they will face both challenges and opportunities in harnessing the full potential of this comprehensive analysis.
The future of Customer Experience Management (CXM) will be significantly impacted by the ability to access and analyze all customer opinions, particularly in tracking multiple relevant KPIs. While many companies currently rely on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge customer loyalty and satisfaction, this single KPI may not capture the full complexity and nuance that new technology offers by analyzing every customer interaction.
As CXM evolves, we can expect a shift towards using multiple, composite KPIs that synthesize data from various customer interaction sources, such as sentiment, purchase intent, and social media engagement. While these findings may still be presented in a simplified score, like DMR’s Net Sentiment Score (NSS) or Social Presence Score (SPS), the measurement of market performance will need to reflect the sophistication and depth of the available data.
Access to comprehensive customer interaction data will not only enhance market position insights but also revolutionize how companies address pain points. With all customer feedback at their disposal, businesses will be able to prioritize and address issues more effectively, both proactively and reactively. Reactive measures may involve refining call center protocols and complaints handling, while proactive solutions could focus on real-time operational fixes to mitigate issues before they escalate.
These advancements are already feasible with current technology and specialist expertise, enabling companies to convert customer opinions into actionable strategies. By tackling pain points and optimizing customer retention, businesses can significantly reduce churn. Future discussions will shift towards leveraging customer strengths and gain points to further improve CX.
The growing reliance on advanced technology for Customer Experience Management (CXM) will introduce new challenges, particularly regarding the accuracy of AI-driven annotations for sentiment and purchase intent. Ensuring precise analysis of millions of interactions across various languages is crucial for effective CXM. As the industry adapts to these technologies, a virtuous cycle may emerge: enhanced annotation accuracy leads to better analysis, which in turn improves CXM capabilities, promising robust business growth and a more satisfying customer experience.
In conclusion, the integration of advanced AI technologies in Customer Experience Management (CXM) holds the promise of transforming how businesses understand and respond to customer interactions. By leveraging precise, language-agnostic data analysis, companies can move beyond traditional KPIs and gain a deeper, more nuanced view of customer sentiment and behavior. This shift enables proactive and reactive solutions to pain points, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and retention. As the industry embraces these innovations, the emphasis on accurate data annotation and comprehensive analysis will drive significant growth and elevate the overall customer experience.
Origal Source: Finance Digest
This ebook aims to demonstrate how integrating Social Listening and Analytics data with survey data, and other traditional research methods, can help companies uncover some of the most accurate insights possible. A case study revolving around Health & Wellness, as discussed online in Arabic, was selected as an example to illustrate the untapped power of social listening analytics.
1. Find out how to uncover and synthesize accurate insights by integrating data from various sources;
2. Discover the untapped power of social listening analytics;
3. Understand why traditional methods are no longer sufficient or fully representative;
4. Learn about trends and ideas related to Health & Wellness in the MENA region.
1. Any organisation within the health & wellness sector who want to enhance their market research activities to uncover some of the most accurate insights possible.
2. Market research agencies who want to learn about the importance of accuracy when it comes to social insights about trends and ideas related to health and wellness in the MENA region.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
A global company needed to enhance product perception and performance without increasing costs, as traditional market research methods were too slow and expensive. listening247 responded with a private online community platform that allowed real-time consumer interactions and feedback, offering a cost-effective and timely solution for strategic insights and marketing decisions.
A global company faced the dual challenge of improving product perception and performance without increasing expenditure. Tasked by the CEO to deliver actionable insights, the Marketing Director needed a solution that was both quick and cost-effective, as traditional market research methods were proving too slow and expensive for the dynamic market landscape.
To address these challenges, listening247 introduced an innovative solution: a private online community platform designed to serve as an advisory board comprising consumers. This platform facilitated real-time interactions and allowed the marketing team to conduct various activities like polls, asynchronous discussions, and video diary sessions.
1. Accelerated Decision-Making: The client rapidly acquired preliminary consumer feedback that informed critical marketing decisions, keeping them ahead in a competitive market.
2. Economic Strategy Refinement: The online community platform reduced overall market research costs while providing valuable insights, maximising ROI on marketing spend.
3. Real-Time Consumer Feedback: listening247 introduced a private online community platform that acted as a consumer advisory board, enabling the marketing team to gather immediate insights through polls, discussions, and video diaries.
4. Cost-Efficient Engagement: This virtual platform significantly cut costs associated with traditional research methods by eliminating the need for physical focus groups and reducing logistical expenses.
5. Privacy-Centric Interaction: Maintaining consumer privacy, the platform encouraged genuine feedback, ensuring that the insights gathered were both authentic and actionable.
A leading luxury watch manufacturer sought to deepen their understanding of market dynamics and consumer perceptions but faced challenges with a limited volume of social media interactions. listening247® technology was deployed to analyse over 41,794 posts, refining the data to 4,423 relevant commercial interactions, which provided actionable insights and enhanced brand perception and engagement.
A leading luxury watch manufacturer needed to enhance their understanding of market dynamics and consumer perceptions. The challenge was to derive actionable insights from a limited volume of social media interactions using methods beyond traditional analytics.
listening247 implemented their proprietary technology to meticulously analyse social media data associated with the luxury watch market. The approach was comprehensive: beginning with the harvesting of over 41,794 posts and undergoing multiple rounds of noise elimination to refine the data to the most relevant 4,423 commercial posts.
1. Enhanced Brand Perception: Insights revealed the brand as 'elegant' and 'good value for money', crucial for refining marketing strategies and consumer communication.
2. Direct Consumer Engagement: The identification of leads facilitated direct interactions with potential buyers, boosting conversion opportunities and enhancing customer relationship management. Identifying key influencers and approximately 513,000 potential customer leads, listening247 enabled the brand to strategically connect with both market movers and potential buyers.
Carlsberg’s YouTube campaign faced challenges with a noisy dataset of 22,448 posts, plagued by duplicates and irrelevant content. listening247 employed a three-step noise elimination strategy, refining the data to 177 relevant posts, leading to more accurate insights, cost efficiency, and improved campaign performance.
Carlsberg’s “Standing up for a friend” YouTube campaign initially struggled with a noisy dataset of 22,448 posts, predominantly filled with duplicates and irrelevant content. Traditional tools inaccurately processed this noise, risking flawed campaign evaluations.
listening247 approached the problem with a structured three-step noise elimination strategy, utilising their proprietary solution, listening247. The first step involved the removal of 3,354 duplicate posts, instantly refining the dataset. Subsequently, a taxonomy of noise terms was created with the assistance of specially trained human curators, which facilitated the identification and removal of 18,890 irrelevant posts. By the end of the process, the dataset was distilled to 177 relevant posts, ensuring a high level of data purity.
Using engaging247, the brand enhanced its social media management with features like the smart compose for scheduling posts, a unified inbox for tracking and responding to comments, and easy access to comprehensive reports. The seamless integration between listening247 and engaging247 allowed the brand to target the right audiences with the content and offers that they were expecting.
1. Informed Decision-Making: With purified data, Carlsberg gained accurate insights into audience engagement, enhancing decision-making and strategic planning.
2. Cost and Time Efficiency: The precise analytics saved significant time and resources otherwise wasted on sifting through irrelevant data, boosting operational efficiency.
3. Enhanced Campaign Performance: The insights derived from high-quality data enabled Carlsberg to optimise its marketing efforts, leading to improved campaign efficacy and a stronger market presence.
4. Precision Analytics: listening247's proprietary solution, was pivotal, filtering out 99% of the noise and isolating 177 pertinent posts, starkly contrasting with the results from other tools and solutions.
A global FMCG company sought to identify emerging trends in Vietnam's market using digital data. listening247 provided a solution by applying advanced AI models to analyse extensive online content, enabling the client to enhance marketing strategies, adapt swiftly to market changes, and make informed decisions through detailed insights and interactive reporting tools.
A global FMCG company needed to uncover emerging consumer trends in Vietnam’s dynamic market. They required a solution to interpret vast digital data—from blogs to social media—without direct consumer interaction.
To address these challenges, listening247 implemented a comprehensive social intelligence strategy using advanced AI models. The approach involved collecting data from a wide range of digital platforms using 60 generic keywords categorised into areas such as 'lifestyle', 'appearance', and 'career'. This data was meticulously annotated with information about brands, sentiments, and topical discussions.
1. Enhanced Marketing Strategy: The insights gained enabled the FMCG company to refine their marketing strategies, ensuring alignment with real-time consumer trends.
2. Agile Market Response: Access to the listening247 platform allowed the client to monitor changes and adapt quickly, maintaining a competitive edge.
3. Informed Decision-Making: The strategic insights led to better decision-making, driving effective consumer engagement and increasing market penetration in Vietnam.
4. Interactive Reporting Tools: listening247 provided an intuitive dashboard and detailed reports via a partner agency, facilitating seamless insight dissemination to the client.
In a collaborative project with a telecom client, listening247 faced the challenge of integrating social listening analytics with existing consumer surveys amidst managing over 620,000 social media posts and aligning diverse Net Promoter Scores (NPS™) and Net Satisfaction Scores (NSS™). The project demanded advanced analytical techniques to sift through noise, categorise data effectively, and correlate consumer sentiment with market events.
The collaborative project between listening247 and a Telecom client sought to integrate social listening analytics with existing consumer surveys. A significant challenge was managing over 620,605 social media posts, with about two-thirds rendered irrelevant due to noise issues. Aligning the monthly NPS™ with variable NSS™ scores also presented complexities, necessitating an advanced analytical approach to synthesise these diverse data streams.
listening247 addressed these challenges by involving extensive social media listening over a six-month period and the deployment of sophisticated data curation techniques. This included the creation of a detailed hierarchical taxonomy to categorise the data effectively and the use of refined search term combinations to improve the relevance of the data collected. listening247's solution also involved superimposing NPS™ and NSS™ data over a calendar of market events thereby providing a dynamic analysis that captures the pulse of consumer sentiment and its impact on brand perception.
1. Enhanced Strategic Decision-Making: The integration of NPS™ and NSS™ allowed telecom client to gain a dual perspective on customer loyalty and social sentiment, offering a holistic view of brand health and consumer satisfaction.
2. Improved Customer Insights: The project uncovered specific consumer sentiments not captured in traditional surveys, enabling telecom client to tailor their customer engagement and service strategies more effectively
3. Informed Operational Adjustments: The insights provided led to better-informed operational decisions, enhancing brand’s responsiveness to market changes and customer needs, ultimately strengthening their market position.
4. Dynamic Data Analysis: By overlaying NPS™ and NSS™ data with a calendar of market events, listening247 provided a nuanced analysis that captured real-time consumer sentiment fluctuations and their impacts on brand perception.
A leading fashion brand in South Africa faced the challenge of understanding true consumer sentiment despite widespread online mentions. Traditional analytics fell short, prompting the brand to partner with listening247, which used advanced image analytics and deep learning to decode the visual narrative of the brand’s online presence.
A leading fashion brand in South Africa found itself facing a perplexing conundrum. Despite being mentioned across various online platforms, deciphering the true sentiment and perception surrounding its brand proved to be an uphill battle. Traditional text analytics fell short in capturing the richness and depth of consumer engagement, leaving the brand grappling with a fragmented understanding of its online presence.
Recognising the imperative to adapt to the evolving landscape of social media, the fashion brand turned to listening247 for a transformative solution. Leveraging listening247's cutting-edge image analytics capabilities, the brand embarked on a journey to unravel the visual narrative surrounding its products and brand identity. Through the deployment of advanced deep learning machine technology, listening247 provided the brand with the tools to decode the complexities of consumer-generated content, including images, videos, and other unstructured data.
1. Holistic Brand Perception: By harnessing image analytics, the fashion brand gained unparalleled insights into how consumers perceive and interact with its products online. From identifying key brand elements within visual content to discerning emerging trends, the brand now possesses a comprehensive understanding of its online image.
2. Strategic Agility: Armed with a newfound understanding of consumer sentiment, the fashion brand seamlessly integrated image analytics into its strategies. This strategic pivot not only unlocked new revenue streams but also positioned the brand at the forefront of innovation within the fashion industry.
3. Rapid Insights Generation: With listening247's image analytics solution, the fashion brand can now decode vast amounts of unstructured data in mere minutes. Whether it's analysing video clips, social media posts, or online community chatter, the brand gains actionable insights at an unprecedented speed, enabling agile decision-making and strategic planning.
4. Emotion Intelligence: listening247's proprietary AI models go beyond surface-level analysis, delving deep into the intricacies of consumer emotions. By dissecting both positive and negative sentiments expressed in visual content, the fashion brand gains a nuanced understanding of consumer sentiment, driving enhanced engagement and brand loyalty.
5. Intelligent Consumer Insights: With listening247's advanced machine learning models, the fashion brand gained unparalleled access to consumer behaviours, requirements, and preferences. Armed with this knowledge, the brand can tailor its marketing strategies and product offerings to resonate more deeply with its target audience.
A leading beverage manufacturer faced the challenge of analyzing consumer discussions about dining out in Morocco amidst multiple languages and diverse data sources. Their objective was to uncover trends to strengthen their market presence.
A leading beverage manufacturer needed to decode consumer discussions about dining out in Morocco, navigating the dual challenges of multiple languages and varied data sources. Their goal was to understand trends that could enhance their market presence.
listening247’s strategy ensured a comprehensive capture and interpretation of consumer behaviour and preferences across different platforms. This annotated data was systematically organised into Excel tables, facilitating a seamless transfer of processed information to the client’s market research agency.
1. Strategic Insights: The client received a PowerPoint report filled with actionable insights, enabling them to tailor their strategy effectively.
2. Market Alignment: The insights provided allowed the client to align their offerings with consumer preferences, enhancing customer engagement.
3. Competitive Advantage: Armed with deep market understanding, the client could better position themselves in Morocco’s competitive dining sector, potentially increasing their market share.
4. Effective Collaboration: By collaborating closely with the client’s market research partner, listening247 ensured the insights were precisely aligned with the client’s strategic needs.
The project "The Battle of Main Street vs. Wall Street" presented listening247 with a formidable challenge due to the immense volume of online conversation triggered by the GameStop stock saga. With over 3 million posts across various platforms, traditional data processing methods fell short of capturing the rapidly evolving narratives and sentiments.
The project "The Battle of Main Street vs. Wall Street" presented a unique challenge to listening247. With the emergence of a populist investment movement where GameStop shares became a battleground between retail investors and institutional short sellers, there was a phenomenal volume of online conversation to analyse. The challenge lay in the sheer volume of data—over 3 million posts spanning X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, forums, and other platforms within just two months. Traditional methods of data processing were inadequate to handle the scale and complexity of the social media discourse, which was rife with rapidly evolving narratives and sentiments.
listening247 leveraged its proprietary social intelligence solution to tackle the data deluge. By integrating advanced analytics, machine learning, and econometrics, the firm could efficiently process and analyse vast datasets. listening247's approach enabled them to annotate large volumes of social media posts with sentiment and thematic insights quickly. Their ability to distil actionable intelligence from millions of online mentions helped in identifying underlying sentiments and trends that were not immediately apparent in mainstream news coverage.
The insights provided by listening247 were invaluable for their clients, especially those interested in understanding market sentiments and potential shifts in stock movements. By decoding the complex web of social media interactions, listening247 provided a granular view of the public sentiment and its impact on the stock prices of GameStop and other related stocks. Clients benefitted from a real-time understanding of investor behaviour, which is crucial in dynamic and volatile markets. This capability enhanced strategic decision-making and offered a competitive edge in predicting market trends based on consumer sentiment, thus identifying new investment and risk management opportunities.
.png)
A leading knitwear brand struggled with a low share of voice and ineffective social media strategies, despite having a positive brand sentiment. Challenges included identifying key influencers, managing sentiment, and distinguishing itself in a competitive market.
A leading knitwear clothing brand faced significant challenges in maintaining its competitive edge in the crowded knitwear market. Despite having a positive brand sentiment, the brand's share of voice was notably low, commanding only 4% of the industry's conversation. The company also struggled to identify key influencers, manage sentiment across various platforms, and differentiate itself from competitors. Furthermore, there were gaps in their social media strategy, particularly in content creation and resource allocation.
To address these challenges, the knitwear brand began with listening247 for brand health tracking and competitor benchmarking. This provided them with valuable insights into the social media landscape, identifying conversation drivers and gaps in the brand's strategies. The integration of DataVinci 3.0, a generative AI, offered deeper analysis and actionable suggestions, such as identifying key influencers and pinpointing negative conversation drivers of competitors that the brand could capitalise on.
Using engaging247, the brand enhanced its social media management with features like the smart compose for scheduling posts, a unified inbox for tracking and responding to comments, and easy access to comprehensive reports. The seamless integration between listening247 and engaging247 allowed the brand to target the right audiences with the content and offers that they were expecting.
The implementation of listening247 and engaging247 yielded significant benefits for the knitwear brand. The insights provided by listening247 enabled the brand to refine its social media strategy by focusing on the most impactful conversation drivers such as materials, sustainability, and size. The company identified key influencers to collaborate with, which amplified their reach and engagement on platforms like Instagram, their most active channel.
engaging247's unified inbox streamlined the brand's social media management, allowing for efficient tracking and response to follower interactions. The smart compose tool simplified content creation and ensured optimal post sizes across all channels, saving time and resources. Furthermore, the easy-to-access reports facilitated informed decision-making and strategy adjustments by the social media team.
Overall, the integration of these solutions helped the knitwear brand increase its visibility and engagement, resulting in improved competitive positioning and a stronger social media presence. The brand's ability to differentiate itself in the knitwear market was significantly enhanced, leveraging data-driven insights to drive strategic social media initiatives.
By utilising engaging247 and listening247, the knitwear brand transformed its social media strategy, achieving a comprehensive understanding of its brand health and competitive landscape, which ultimately led to increased brand loyalty and market share.
.png)
The festive season is upon us, and Christmas 2024 promises a celebration that blends cherished traditions with fresh, modern interpretations. Using listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics, we analysed over 50,117 posts from Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram between 5th October and 8th December. Keywords such as Christmas Gifts, Secret Santa, Christmas 2024, Holiday Season 2024, Gift Ideas, Holiday Shopping, Christmas Shopping, Festive Gifts, and Holiday Gifts were used to categorise posts.
These posts shed light on the key conversation drivers and trends that brands can leverage to create unforgettable holiday experiences.
Holiday cheer dominates online discussions, with a significant 68% (34,358 posts) expressing positive sentiment. Neutral conversations accounted for 29% (14,384 posts), while negative posts were low at 3% (1,375 posts). This overwhelming positivity prompts brands to connect with customers through festive messaging.
With 36,816 mentions, occasions emerged as the leading theme this holiday season. Consumers prefer shared experiences over material gifts, marking a cultural shift towards valuing time spent with loved ones.
This trend highlights the importance of framing campaigns around moments that matter for brands. Think event-driven promotions, experiential pop-ups, or even hosting holiday workshops to tap into the emotional core of Christmas. By aligning products and services with these experiences, brands can foster a deeper connection with their audience.
The allure of winter wonderlands - complete with sparkling lights, frosty landscapes, and cosy settings - is pulling audiences. This theme reflects a universal desire for escapism, nostalgia, and the joy of immersive holiday environments.
Brands can capitalise on this by transforming store displays into magical winter settings or curating themed collections inspired by the festive season. Even digital spaces can incorporate "winter wonderland" shopping experiences using AR-powered (augmented reality) winter effects.
Christmas carols with traditional melodies are being offered in interactive formats like virtual sing-alongs, community carol events, and life performances. Carols act as a unifying force, bringing families and communities together during the holidays.
Brands can harness this trend by sponsoring carolling events, incorporating carol-themed marketing campaigns, or creating playlists to complement the shopping experience.
In 2024, exceptional customer experiences are the ultimate differentiator. Shoppers seek seamless, personalised interactions at every touchpoint, from festive packaging to in-store ambience and online convenience.
This was never about selling products but building an emotional connection with the customer. Brands should focus on creating memorable experiences, such as personalised gifting services, festive loyalty rewards, or interactive in-store events that leave a lasting impression.
Sustainability continues to shape consumer behaviour. From eco-friendly holiday decor to gifts with purpose, shoppers are drawn to brands that reflect their values. Many are engaging in charitable giving, seeking ways to give back through donations and community drives.
Brands can respond by offering sustainable products, recyclable packaging, and charity collaborations. Highlighting eco-conscious initiatives in holiday campaigns resonates with consumers and strengthens brand loyalty.
The season is no longer confined to a single location. Many are opting for unique travel experiences, whether snow-covered retreats or tropical getaways. At its heart, this trend revolves around the desire to connect with loved ones, bridging geographical gaps to create cherished memories.
This opens up opportunities for brands to market travel-friendly products, such as compact gifts, travel kits, or digital gifting options. Partnering with travel companies or creating holiday content tailored to travelling audiences can further amplify relevance.
Christmas 2024 is a season of connection, creativity and purpose. Consumers are looking for experiences that resonate emotionally, whether through the carols, the escapism of winter wonderlands, or the shared joy of meaningful occasions.
The message is clear for brands: adapt to these evolving preferences by focusing on experiences, sustainability, and personalisation. With data-driven decisions, brands can create memorable and meaningful campaigns - ensuring Christmas 2024 is one to remember for customers and brands alike.
.png)
As Black Friday 2024 draws closer, retailers worldwide are gearing up for one of the busiest shopping days of the year. With billions spent in a single day, it’s an unmissable opportunity to connect with consumers, boost sales, and build brand loyalty. Thanks to listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics, we’ve uncovered the key trends and conversation drivers shaping this year’s Black Friday, helping retailers align with consumer behaviour and stand out in a crowded market.
Over 15,719 social media posts in English from platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram between 20 September and 15 November were analysed, to provide a wealth of data on what shoppers are saying, what they want, and how they feel about Black Friday 2024. Keywords such as Black Friday, Black Friday 2024, online shopping, in-store shopping, gift shopping, and Christmas shopping were used to track and categorise posts.
The buzz around Black Friday remains overwhelmingly positive:
Shoppers are excited, and motivated by the promise of unbeatable deals and the chance to save on holiday purchases. Positive sentiment is around tech deals, personalised promotions, and early access discounts, while negative sentiment is minimal, often tied to delivery delays or website crashes.
Using listening247, we identified the dominant topics shaping consumer conversations:
1. Technology – 12,881 posts: Tech products remain the crown jewel of Black Friday, accounting for nearly half of purchases. Televisions, laptops, gaming consoles, and smartwatches are the most wanted items. Major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are expected to lead the charge with deep discounts, making this a key category for shoppers and brands.
2. Price – 9,313 posts: Pricing is a decisive factor in consumer decision-making. With financial pressures rising, shoppers are thoroughly comparing deals, looking for the best value, and waiting for Black Friday to make high-ticket purchases.
3. Discount Deal Promotions – 9,224 posts: Shoppers are actively seeking pre-Black Friday sales and exclusive member rewards. Brands offering early access or time-limited offers are seeing increased engagement, highlighting the effectiveness of targeted, exclusive promotions.
4. Gift Ideas – 7,116 posts: Black Friday is a prime moment for gift shopping. Consumers are turning to curated gift guides and social media for inspiration, with jewellery, apparel, and tech products topping the list of preferred gifts.
5. Shopping Platform – 2,094 posts: More than half of shoppers prefer online platforms to avoid crowds and enjoy convenience. Social media-driven e-commerce is particularly popular with Gen Z and Millennials, who rely on mobile-first shopping experiences.
1. Tech-Takeover: Electronics are projected to dominate Black Friday spending, driven by promotions from retailers like Walmart and Target. Smart home devices, gaming consoles, and high-end TVs are leading the wish lists. The influence of younger shoppers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, is steering purchases online, where seamless digital experiences win the day.
2. The Power of Price: Pricing remains king. Consumers have set aside budgets specifically for Black Friday, emphasising its role as a cornerstone shopping event. The focus isn’t just on discounts but on true value, with shoppers scrutinising every deal to ensure it’s worth the spend.
3. Discount-Driven Decisions: Early-bird promotions and tiered discounts are becoming standard. Successful brands are going beyond basic sales by offering “spend-and-earn” rewards or bundling discounts to entice shoppers. This maximises short-term revenue and builds customer loyalty for future events.
4. Gifts Variety: Black Friday is the ultimate inspiration hub for gift-givers. Retailers curating well-targeted gift guides see higher engagement and conversions, as consumers look for meaningful yet budget-friendly options.
Black Friday 2024 provides a golden opportunity for retailers to connect with their audience through strategic pricing, tailored promotions, and a strong digital presence. Here’s how to capitalise on these insights:
Black Friday 2024 is more than just a sales event—it’s a cultural moment that reflects shifting consumer priorities and behaviours. By understanding what shoppers want, why they’re excited, and how they plan to spend, brands can tailor their strategies to exceed expectations. Thanks to listening247’s powerful analytics, retailers have the insights they need to navigate this high-stakes season and come out on top.
Let’s make this Black Friday a win for your business and your customers.
.png)
“Pan metron ariston” (παν μέτρον άριστον) is a quote in ancient Greek which was coined by Kleovoulos o Lindios in the 6th century B.C. and means “everything in moderation”. Some believe that the original quote was “Metron Ariston” which means “moderation is best”. Whatever the quote, ancient Greeks believed that you should live your life choosing the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as much as possible.
Talking about extremes, I have always been fascinated by continua, I think it’s because of the order they bring to chaos and complexity. Almost every ideology or idea that matters in life, can be expressed on a continuum. A continuum has two extremes - let’s think of them as black and white with many shades of grey in between.
Here are two more official continuum definitions which are quite similar:
I do not consider myself qualified to improve on wisdom that transcended centuries (26 centuries since Lindios said “everything in moderation”) but I do have an opinion about quotes that include the words “everything” or “nothing”, “always” or “never”; incidentally these two pairs of opposite words can be the extremes of two continua; very few things are absolute, this is why the quote “everything in moderation... even moderation” may be just short of genius.
There is no doubt that being an extremist has mainly negative connotations: a fascist, a racist, a sexist, a religious fanatic, a communist… There are also some other examples like “feminist” or “atheist” that would create a debate with certain groups - as to whether they have negative connotations - that I am cowardly avoiding to mention at this time (see how I did this :)?).
Let’s first review a few random continua to familiarise ourselves on what they could look like, and after that we will go ahead and discuss the usefulness of looking at an issue through the lens of a continuum. Take the eating continuum below for example, isn’t it amazing how many types of diets there are? It has an impressive 13 elements in addition to the 2 extremes; a total of 15 elements. Kangatarian (I bet you can guess what these people eat :)) is the one that cracks me up with cannibal being a close second! I am also intrigued by how vegetarians managed to be the mean nowadays, they have come quite far from being an extreme in the not too distant past. And in case you are not familiar with ahimsa fruitarians, they only eat fruit that falls off a tree and they call pulling a carrot from the earth murder!
The God continuum with probabilities on God’s existence is not as harmless as the eating one; it is one that has been the basis for so many debates, civilised and uncivilised - and when I say uncivilised I mean the killing type if you think of the Crusaders (even though in their case it was more of a “my God is better than yours” rather than about its existence).
The selfishness continuum comes straight out of the Vedanta Treatise, a Hindu approach to life.
The colour coding means red is bad and green is good for most people.
Disclaimer: this does not always represent the author’s opinion. We will discuss more the groupings or segments of continua in the next chapter.
The continuum below communicates a thesis of mine that most people disagree with. I believe that being a patriot is the beginning of a proverbial “slippery slope”. It could progressively lead to someone becoming a nationalist and then a jingoist which is what you have to be to vote for Brexit or for someone like Trump.
The nationalism continuum can be integrated with the selfishness one at the point of loves all humans which is another way to say world citizen. One can then make interesting connections and draw conclusions about love and nationalism.
Those of you who have read other articles of mine may be wondering what all this has to do with market research, social intelligence, customer insights etc. Well the nice thing about continua is that you can conjure one out of nothing about almost anything. Case in point, digital transformation is something closer to home for a company with a name like ours; listening247. It was a sensible name 10 years ago to communicate specialism in digital market research; today however, when almost everything is digital, a name like this loses its meaning. It’s like calling a car a horseless carriage when in this day and age it is quite obvious that a car does not need horses to move (unlike the 1920s when Ford T1 was launched). But I digress... if you replace physical with ‘brick & mortar’ then this continuum becomes about retail, and if you replace it with ‘analogue’ it could be about equipment.
For market research, physical could mean in-person or telephone interviews, whilst digital means online surveys or unsolicited opinions found on social media using social listening tools.
Nothing easier than creating a 5 point continuum. The one below is about ways of gathering the opinions of customers and other stakeholders. Asking questions refers to surveys and focus group discussions whilst listening refers to unsolicited posts of people online. The discipline of harvesting these posts and analysing them is what we call social intelligence and it is mainly based on machine learning models that annotate posts for topics and sentiment in an automated way.
When you take some time to absorb the 6 examples shared above, you will realise that not all continua are created equal.
Here are some ways to differentiate them:
1. both extremes are bad (ahimsa fruitarian AND cannibal)
2. both extremes are acceptable (asking AND listening)
3. One extreme is really bad the other is really good (fascist Vs world citizen)
4. The mean is a combination of the extremes (asking & listening)
5. The mean is just a standalone option that has nothing to do with the extremes (vegetarian)
So what are they good for? They are philosophical tools that can help organise thought, clear the fog, visualise relationships, pinpoint and explain movements and trends.
Ancient Greeks believed that you should live your life choosing the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as much as possible. Is this a good principle to follow though? If we consider the various types of continua described in the previous chapter sometimes the best choice is to adopt one of the extremes, sometimes it is indeed the mean like our ancient progenitors preached.
Thinking about moderation, can one be too much of a world citizen or too loving for all creatures
When a continuum describes progress over time it is more likely that the most recent extreme is the best place to be. Even so, living it in moderation is probably a sound piece of advice.
I do subscribe to the notion that life is not black or white, it is mostly grey. Most of our lives are lived in the grey, only very few of us live on the extremes - sometimes by choice, but mostly not. Extremists must always be on edge, in contrast to leading a happy life, laid back, going with the flow, accepting the things they cannot control. Do let me know how you feel about continua and “pan metron ariston” @listening247_CEO or via email.
If you enjoyed reading this article you may also enjoy:
‘How does market research rank on usefulness for human life’
.png)
As the countdown to Halloween 2024 begins, it’s clear that this year’s celebrations are set to echo a blend of nostalgia and innovation, thanks to insights from listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics. Over 25,727 social media posts across Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram have been meticulously analysed to reveal what costumes will dominate and the sentiments surrounding this spooky season.
Our data reveals a robust positivity surrounding Halloween, with a striking 71% of posts radiating enthusiasm. Here’s a snapshot of the sentiment breakdown:
• Positive Sentiments: 18,336 posts (71%)
• Negative Sentiments: 1,589 posts (6%)
• Neutral Sentiments: 5,802 posts (23%)
This positivity is largely driven by families looking forward to trick-or-treating—a time-honoured tradition that promises joy and a bounty of memories for parents and their children.
Our analysis has pinpointed several key costume trends, shaped by discussions on purchase intentions, celebratory occasions, and peer recommendations:
1. Sexy Costumes: Embracing boldness and body positivity, sexy costumes are trending as symbols of empowerment. This trend highlights a shift towards costumes that celebrate individuality and self-confidence.
2. Nostalgic Revivals: A wave of nostalgia is bringing back favourites from the '80s and '90s. Expect to see a resurgence of characters from cult classics like “Beetlejuice,” alongside beloved Disney icons such as Mickey Mouse and Cinderella, tapping into the hearts of both new and lifelong fans.
3. Budget-Friendly Finds: Economic uncertainties have steered the trend towards cost-effective costumes. With a spike in searches for “budget-friendly costumes,” it's clear that affordability is top of mind for many this season.
4. Musical Homages: From rock legends like Freddie Mercury to pop sensations like Madonna, and current stars like Sabrina Carpenter, costumes inspired by musical icons are allowing fans to embody their favourite artists.
5. Couples Costumes: Doubling the fun, couples are choosing to coordinate their outfits, showcasing their relationships through creative and complementary ensembles.
6. Eco-Conscious Choices: Reflecting a growing dedication to sustainability, there’s an increased interest in eco-friendly costumes and decorations made from recyclable or biodegradable materials.
The capability of listening247 to drill down into the specifics of social media chatter has not only revealed what people will be wearing but also why certain trends are taking hold. For instance, the popularity of sexy costumes correlates with a broader cultural movement towards embracing body positivity and self-expression.
Moreover, the detailed sentiment analysis provides brands with a clear understanding of consumer attitudes towards Halloween, empowering them to align their marketing strategies with real-world preferences and expectations.
As brands look to capitalise on Halloween, the insights provided by listening247’s Social Listening and Analytics offer a strategic advantage by unpacking the complexities of consumer behaviour and trending topics.
This Halloween, equipped with data-driven insights, brands are better positioned to meet consumer desires head-on, ensuring a celebration that’s as delightful as it is insightful.
In an increasingly digital world, social media platforms have transformed the way individuals connect, share information, and express opinions. Banks can leverage the power of social media listening to manage loan default risks effectively. By gathering and analysing online posts about the companies to which they have extended loans, banks can conduct continuous commercial due diligence and identify early warning signals when debtors encounter financial difficulties. This post explores how banks can utilize social media listening as a strategic tool to proactively manage loan default risks and enhance their risk management practices.
Social Listening & Analytics involves monitoring and analysing online conversations, mentions, comments, and reviews across various social media platforms. It allows banks to extract valuable insights and gain real-time information about the financial health, market reputation, and business activities of the companies they have extended loans to. By employing machine learning for natural language processing techniques, banks can effectively identify potential red flags indicating financial difficulties and anticipate loan defaults.
A. Proactive Risk Assessment:
Traditional due diligence processes primarily focus on pre-loan assessment, often failing to capture evolving risks that borrowers may face after obtaining the loan. By incorporating social media listening into their risk management framework, banks can conduct continuous commercial monitoring in addition to their due diligence during the loan underwriting or credit extension phase. This enables them to monitor ongoing developments, industry trends, and financial indicators related to their borrowers, providing a more comprehensive risk assessment. These non-traditional indicators of credit quality and borrower’s abilities to service their debts and obligations give a much fuller picture than simple financial statements which are backward looking and often don’t provide the full story. This alternative data can also be a better predictor of borrower behaviour than historical financial statements.
B. Real-Time Insights:
Social media platforms act as virtual marketplaces where individuals freely share their experiences, opinions, and concerns. By monitoring online posts about borrower companies, banks can gain real-time insights into their operations, financial stability, customer sentiment, and market perception. Any notable shifts, negative sentiments, or concerning patterns identified through social media listening can serve as red flags, prompting banks to investigate further and take necessary actions. As we have seen recently with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank in the US, depositor sentiment played a striking role in their demise. Due to adverse online sentiment that spread very rapidly, customers and depositors caused a digital run on the bank that had never been seen or experienced before. In the case of Silicon Valley Bank, deposits were leaving at the rate of $1 million per second for 10 hours (or $41 billion).
A. Detecting Financial Difficulties:
Social media listening allows banks to identify early warning signals of potential financial difficulties faced by their borrowers. By analysing online conversations, comments, and reviews, banks can detect signs of operational challenges, supply chain disruptions, declining customer satisfaction, or negative market perception. These signals can help banks proactively engage with borrowers, assess their financial health, and take appropriate measures to prevent loan defaults.
B. Amplifying Existing Risk Indicators:
Social media listening augments traditional risk indicators with additional insights derived from user-generated content. For example, a decline in positive sentiment towards a borrower company may coincide with a decrease in revenue, an increase in customer complaints, or a deteriorating market position. By integrating social media listening into their risk management framework, banks can enhance their ability to identify and act upon early warning signals, thereby mitigating loan default risks.
“Effective Early Warning Systems (EWS) reduce loan loss provisions by 10%-20% and required regulatory capital by 10%”
Galytix paper in association with PWC
A. Leveraging Advanced Tools:
To effectively analyse vast amounts of online data, banks can employ machine learning and sentiment analysis tools. These tools enable banks to filter and categorize information, identify patterns and trends, and extract meaningful insights. By leveraging sentiment analysis, banks can assess the overall market sentiment towards borrowers and gauge the impact of external factors on their financial health.
B. Enhancing Risk Models:
Integrating social media listening insights into risk models can strengthen banks' loan default risk assessments. By combining traditional financial indicators with sentiment analysis and social media data, banks can improve the accuracy and predictive power of their risk models. This holistic approach allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of borrower creditworthiness and provides a deeper understanding of the potential risks associated with loan defaults.
A. Privacy and Data Protection:
As banks engage in social media listening, it is crucial to prioritize data privacy and protection. Banks must ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations and implement robust security measures to safeguard the information collected. Respecting user privacy, obtaining consent, and anonymizing data if necessary are essential steps to maintain ethical practices. This is of particular importance when used for due diligence and for the monitoring of individuals and their transactions, as is required of banks by Know-Your-Customer rules and regulations imposed upon them by the authorities.
B. Noise and Information Overload:
The sheer volume of online information can pose challenges in effectively filtering and interpreting relevant data. Banks can employ sophisticated filtering techniques and analytical tools to address information overload. Machine learning algorithms and natural language processing can help identify key topics or themes, prioritize relevant content, and provide actionable insights to manage loan default risks efficiently.
By harnessing the power of social media listening, banks can conduct continuous commercial due diligence and effectively manage loan default risks. Monitoring online posts about borrower companies enables banks to gather real-time information, detect early warning signals, and anticipate financial difficulties. However, banks must navigate ethical considerations, prioritize data privacy, and address information overload challenges. When implemented strategically, social media listening empowers banks to proactively manage loan default risks, enhance risk management practices, and ensure more informed lending decisions.
“Banks that fail to improve their EWS will also face significant regulatory pressures. The European Central Bank (ECB) has highlighted the huge variation in the quality of early warning systems and how credit assessment at a micro as well as macro level is core to risk management and processing.”
Galytix paper in association with PWC.
In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, companies are constantly seeking ways to gain an edge over their rivals. Among the various capabilities that contribute to success, unstructured data analytics capability stands out as indispensable for survival in the face of intense competition. This post explores the significance of text and image analytics specifically and argues that no company can thrive without harnessing the power of these capabilities. There is of course also audio and video analytics to consider but once the tech is available to analyse text and images the rest can be handled with voice-to-text and image-to-text technology. More details on this below.
1. Uncovering Insights: Text and image analytics enable companies to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of textual and visual data. By employing sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques, businesses can analyse customer feedback, reviews, social media posts, and other textual data sources. This allows them to identify emerging trends, preferences, and sentiment patterns, leading to informed decision-making and strategic planning. Similarly, image analytics empowers companies to understand visual content, enabling them to recognize brand logos, product placements, and consumer behaviour from images shared on social media platforms. The ability to uncover such insights provides a competitive advantage by allowing businesses to stay ahead of the curve.
2. Enhancing Customer Experience (CX): Text and image analytics play a crucial role in enhancing the customer experience, which is a key differentiator in today's market. By leveraging these capabilities, companies can gain a deep understanding of customer needs, preferences, and pain points. Through sentiment analysis of calls, chats, emails and social media posts, businesses can assess customer satisfaction and promptly address any concerns, improving overall customer experience and loyalty. Furthermore, image analytics can identify visual cues and sentiment from images shared by customers, helping companies gain insights into how customers engage with their products or services. By proactively addressing customer needs, businesses can establish a stronger foothold in the market and build long-lasting relationships.
3. Competitive Intelligence: Text and image analytics applied on publicly available information online also serve as powerful tools for competitive intelligence. Companies can monitor competitor activities, track mentions, and analyse customer sentiment related to competitors through textual data. This information provides valuable insights into competitor strategies, product offerings, and market positioning. Similarly, image analytics can help identify visual elements associated with competitors, such as logos or brand imagery, aiding in assessing market share and brand perception. Armed with this knowledge, businesses can adjust their own strategies, differentiate their offerings, and better position themselves to gain a competitive edge.
4. Operational Efficiency and Risk Mitigation: Text and image analytics contribute to operational efficiency by automating processes that would otherwise be time-consuming and error prone. For instance, text analytics can automate the categorization and tagging of large volumes of textual data, reducing manual effort, and improving data accuracy. Similarly, image analytics can automate the identification and classification of visual content, streamlining tasks such as quality control or identifying counterfeit products. By improving operational efficiency, companies can reduce costs, optimize resource allocation, and respond quickly to market demands, ensuring survival in a competitive environment.
At listening247, we leverage voice-to-text and image-to-text technology to efficiently process all forms of unstructured data through our social listening and analytics platform platform. This enables us to label the data with custom machine learning models, ensuring the highest possible accuracy, regardless of the original language. In contrast, some vendors offering multilingual text labelling solutions rely on translating everything to English before labelling, which is not an optimal or accurate approach.
Lately, many individuals have inquired about how the listening247 sentiment and topic labelling approach compares to GPT-4 or Bard. The answer is: the listening247 approach is unequivocally better. For a less biased and more objective perspective, I encourage you to refer to this paper. Here is an excerpt from the paper summary:
“The preliminary study shows that ChatGPT and GPT-4 struggle on tasks such as financial named entity recognition (NER) and sentiment analysis, where domain-specific knowledge is required, while they excel in numerical reasoning tasks.”
This subject deserves its own article with a proper gap analysis between LLMs and the proprietary and custom ML models that listening247 creates.
Text, voice and image analytics have become indispensable capabilities for any company striving to survive and thrive amidst fierce competition. The ability to extract insights, enhance the customer experience, gain competitive intelligence, and improve operational efficiency makes these capabilities vital for success. Companies that neglect to harness the power of unstructured data analytics will find themselves at a significant disadvantage, missing out on crucial insights, falling behind competitors, and failing to meet evolving customer expectations. Therefore, to remain competitive in the modern business landscape, organizations must prioritize the adoption and utilization of text, audio and image analytics to secure their long-term survival.
This statement, which I have shared numerous times in previous articles, encapsulates the essence:
“Over 90% of all human knowledge recorded throughout history exists in the form of unstructured data. If your company solely focuses on analyzing and comprehending structured data, it implies that you are utilizing less than 10% of the available data to inform your decision-making processes.”
.png)
Just like every other buzzword, it means different things to different people. Is there a simple definition of AI that everyone can understand? You bet! AI can be classified as weak or strong AI.Weak AIThe majority of current AI use cases - such as social intelligence using text analytics (NLP) - fall under weak AI. It usually involves supervised machine learning, though we are increasingly seeing use cases where semi- or unsupervised machine learning is being used. For the time being, let’s define (weak) AI with this simple formula:
Strong AI
Strong, full or general AI is something different. For most people it is defined by Alan Turing’s test whereby according to Wikipedia “A machine and a human both converse sight unseen with a second human, who must evaluate which of the two is the machine, which passes the test if it can fool the evaluator a significant fraction of the time”. The optimists among pundits claim it will be with us in 10-15 years from now, the pessimists say by 2100.
Some people talk about machines with consciousness. To paraphrase the well known author Yuval Noah Harari: a taxi driver needs to only take us from A to B, we are not interested in how he feels about the latest Trump news or the sunset; thus an autonomous car has a good enough AI to do the job without needing to feel or having a consciousness. The same applies to so many other aspects of work and life. Will machines ever be able to feel? Is that necessary for strong Ai to exist?
AI’s impact on humanity
“Two billion people will be unemployed by 2050.”
“Humanity is in danger of being taken over by machines”
“This could spell the end of the human race” said the late Stephen Hawking. Elon Musk and Bill Gates are also often quoted expressing a similar opinion. The flipside of the coin is that humanity should choose to see a positive version of the future, and then strive to make it happen. Rather than worrying about unemployment, we should be looking forward to spending more time on the beach, pursuing our passions and hobbies to perfection. I dream of days philosophising in a circle of close friends (also fellow philosophers) about the meaning of life… and not just human life as this has been covered by Plato, Aristotle and others; maybe we will be focussing on the lives of robots who can fall in love, or superhumans with chips in their brains that are “a-mortal” - as opposed to immortal (stuff for another blog post).
Doing market research using AI is a close second to philosophising.
Universal Basic Income (UBI)
The best idea floating around when it comes to managing unemployment brought on by the impact of AI is the UBI. Having said that, being the best idea so far does not necessarily make it a great idea. Too many people with some means and lots of time on their hands may ultimately become a curse for humanity. Possible outcomes include:
Artificial intelligence for text and image analytics has been around for years, and listening247 has been carrying out R&D for the social intelligence use case since 2012. Strangely, we haven’t yet published our view on the impact that AI will have on humanity in the near to medium term future. It is time to rectify this!
We need new laws and we need to figure out what moral compass we want to ingrain in the autonomous machines of the future - if that is at all possible.
We want to ideally avoid scenarios described in science fiction films such as Ex Machina and I, Robot.
As per Isaac Asimov’s laws about robots from the previous century:
• A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
At a first glance they seem reasonable; he certainly thought that if these principles were to be applied, humanity would be safe from destruction by AI powered machines.
Apparently he is wrong.
What we will need is machine ethics for super-intelligence, and the laws or principles cannot be chauvinistic as Asimov’s are. Humans cannot realistically expect to be the boss of machines that are a million times smarter than them.
Ray Kurzweil the author of ‘The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology’ predicts that the singularity moment will happen around 2045. Ray said in his book:
“I regard someone who understands the Singularity and who has reflected on its implications for his or her own life as a ‘singularitarian’.”
I guess thinking about and writing this article - I will not claim I understand the Singularity - may make me a singularitarian! What do you think?
There is an impressive and humbling definition of this moment that I heard from a fellow YPO member, who among other things is the Executive Director of Singularity University Germany, Nikolaus Weil, at a CEO (organisation) recruitment event:
I will paraphrase but the gist is: “It is the moment in time at which machines will acquire the same knowledge and capability as the whole of humanity and in the next 5 minutes by continually improving themselves will become millions of times smarter than humans”.
AI = Augmented Intelligence
Some people like to challenge the notion of artificial intelligence so they decided to give the acronym AI a new interpretation namely “Augmented Intelligence”.
Vernor Vinge came up with these 4 options of the singularity manifestation:
The development of computers that are "awake" and superhumanly intelligent.Large computer networks (and their associated users) may "wake up" as a superhumanly intelligent entity.Computer/human interfaces may become so intimate that users may reasonably be considered superhumanly intelligent.Biological science may find ways to improve upon the natural human intellect.[9]
Options 3 and 4 may involve the augmentation of human intelligence to a superintelligence.
The problem with these two options is that only super rich people will be able to afford them; thus ending up with some serious inequality issues between new castes or should we say new breeds of humans.
I think this article is running away from me. It feels like one thing leads to another, one thought to the next; there is no end and I feel like getting a beer,so I will end it - abruptly - here.
My fitbit is asking me to start preparing to go to bed … futurism is a very tiresome business!
.jpeg)
Watch Webinar On-Demand: Click Here
For the first time, listening247 unveils a breakthrough in automated targeting and social media content creation, powered by Gen AI for agencies.
Join Michalis A. Michael, CEO of listening247, and Marcus Harding, Founder of Deviceful as they discuss how Gen AI shortens the marketing content creation cycle from weeks to minutes at scale!- revolutionising the way agencies create and publish content.
This is not just another AI tool—this is a game-changer for agencies looking to work faster, smarter, and more profitably.
What You’ll Get: Expert insights, live demo, real use cases
Watch Webinar On Demand: Click Here
listening247 is proud to collaborate with ESOMAR, the global professional association for market research and analytics community, to bring an online course addressing the evolving market research sector.
Offered through the ESOMAR Academy, this course, "Unstructured Data: Unsolicited Customer Opinion – How Social Media Listening and Gen AI is Changing the Market Research Landscape," is now available on-demand to ESOMAR members and non-members, respectively.
The course explores the application of generative AI for automated content creation, precise online micro-audience targeting, and the effective integration of unsolicited customer opinion with established research methodologies.
This course is ideal for insights professionals from market research agencies and client-side organisations, marketing professionals seeking deeper customer understanding, and business development professionals looking to offer these solutions.
The participants will receive in-depth content, direct trainer contact for support, and a certificate upon completion. This training is available on-demand for 12 months, offering flexibility.
Register now on the ESMOAR website and start anytime: link here.
listening247 In the Press
London, UK – 24/03/2025 – Which luxury brands are setting the internet on fire, and which are fading into the background? The listening247-Glion Luxury Brand Index (LBI) is here to answer just that. This cutting-edge index unveils how the world’s top luxury brands rank based on online conversations, engagement, and consumer sentiment—offering an unprecedented look at a digital brand equity equivalent in the luxury space.
This is a very different approach to other attempts to rank luxury brands using financials, fundamentals or survey questions to consumers.
The l247-Glion LBI is best described as the difference between the balance sheet value of a brand and its market capitalisation.
Over a nine-month period (29th March 2023 – 1st January 2024), unsolicited online posts and their metadata were collected globally in English. These posts spanned Instagram, TikTok, X, news sites, forums, blogs, and YouTube, capturing organic brand mentions, consumer sentiment, and engagement metrics. Additionally, Google search trends for each brand were analysed to gauge public interest. Advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and AI-driven analytics filtered and refined the data to eliminate noise and ensure only relevant, high-value insights shaped the index.
To quantify brand strength, the index examined key variables such as post volume, engagement (likes, shares, comments), Net Sentiment Score™ (NSS), conversation topics, brand reach, and search frequency. The findings reveal not just popularity but also how deeply brands connect with audiences and drive conversations that matter. The LBI was validated using daily stock prices of the brands included for the same period as the posts collected.
After meticulous analysis, the top luxury brands ranked by the listening247-Glion LBI are:
Notably, Dior emerges as the digital powerhouse, boasting the strongest engagement, brand advocacy, and consumer sentiment. Meanwhile, heritage brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermès, though dominant in sales, rank lower in online engagement compared to more trend-driven brands like Balenciaga and Givenchy.
The listening247-Glion Luxury Brand Index doesn’t just measure popularity—it predicts future success. In an era where digital presence defines brand strength, luxury houses must prioritise online engagement, consumer sentiment, and cultural relevance to stay ahead.
As the index evolves with continuous data updates, it will serve as the definitive barometer for luxury brand health, offering brands, investors, and industry leaders a strategic tool to navigate the digital-first luxury market.
Want to know how your brand stacks up? Contact us for a deep dive into your brand’s performance and learn how to leverage these insights for competitive advantage.
Original Source: UK Herald Tribune
listening247 In the Press
London, UK – 26/02/2025 – Luxury brands, historically measured by traditional benchmarks, are now entering a new era that demands evolving metrics. In collaboration with the esteemed Glion Institute of Higher Education, listening247 has developed the listening247-Glion Luxury Brand Index (LBI) that brings a fresh perspective to online brand performance measurement in the luxury market.
This innovative index is built on unsolicited customer opinions and behaviour collected from public online data, offering a timely, authentic reflection of consumer sentiment. This method ensures a dynamic, data-driven approach to luxury brand analysis, setting it apart from existing indices.
Unlike traditional metrics focusing on financial performance or surveys, this composite index uses advanced mathematical and statistical methodologies to select digital media metrics based on millions of online posts and assign their respective weights. The result is a balanced, evidence-based framework that evaluates brand equity and performance.
The luxury goods market—including apparel, accessories, watches, jewellery, and eyewear—has experienced consistent growth over the past decade. Yet, many existing indices fail to capture the full scope of brand influence. While indices like the S&P Global Luxury Index focus on financial metrics, others like the Altagamma Social Luxury Index incorporate non-financial factors such as limited scope social presence, reach and engagement, gaps remain in providing a holistic understanding of brand desirability.
The listening247-Glion Luxury Brand Index fills these gaps by leveraging nearly all available unsolicited consumer data to track brand trends, preferences, and sentiment. This index is valuable for all brand stakeholders—investors, analysts, policymakers, vendors, and customers—by delivering precise, current, and actionable insights.
Data was gathered across platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, X, news articles, forums, blogs, and video comments from 29th March 2023 to 1st January 2024 in the English language
The index includes 20 of the world’s leading luxury brands, selected based on their prominence in reputable rankings - they are shown in alphabetical order:
The listening247-Glion LBI offers a new approach to understanding the luxury landscape. By focusing on online consumer conversations and behaviour, it offers a time bound reflection of brand desirability and cultural relevance. This methodology provides all stakeholders the tools to evaluate opportunities, manage risks, and make informed decisions in an evolving market.
The rankings of the 20 luxury brands included in the listening247-Glion LBI will be revealed soon. This ranking will shed light on the latest trends and performance metrics in the luxury industry.
Original Source: UK Daily News Online
Discover how to leverage Social Listening & Analytics for Customer Insights through three illuminating case studies from Latin American projects. Unlock the transformative potential of 'A Journey to Artificial Intelligence' ebook, learning to decipher accurate information across languages and harness untapped capabilities in social listening analytics. Explore the limitations of conventional methodologies and the critical importance of precision in social insights. Download now to embark on a journey revolutionising your understanding of artificial intelligence.
1. Find out how to uncover accurate insights in any language;
2. Discover the untapped power of social listening analytics;
3. Understand why traditional methods are no longer sufficient or fully representative;
4. Learn about the importance of accuracy when it comes to social insights;
5. See the three case studies on the use of Social Listening in LATAM.
1. Any market deparment and organisations who want to enhance their market research activities by introducing an additional source of data.
2. Market research agencies who want to learn about the importance of accuracy when it comes to social insights in LATAM.
P.S. Have questions about the ebook? Contact us at: info@listening247.com. We're happy to help!
