A better data source owned by you

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

A new data source, directly created and controlled by individuals and more accurate, authentic, and valuable than anything available now, is the way the current surveillance paradigm will be crushed. 

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

We have an internal team filled with industry and technical experience and a collection of external data-science and behavioral psychologists with experience in the travel sector

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Profila’s ambition is to bring agency and sovereignty back to the individual in the protection and monetization of their personal data, preferences, sentiment, and insights. The old surveillance paradigm of marketing and customer relationships can no longer be sustained and something new must replace it. The key to this new paradigm is Zero Party Data; information and insights that come directly from individuals that is shared with third parties exclusively for the benefit of the individual. 

The first step in creating this new paradigm is to determine what Zero Party Data will be

a)    beneficial to brands in their efforts to match their products and services to an individuals’ need in an environment of trust and transparency; and

b)    what questions or information needs to be captured by individuals to create these Zero Party Insights

Profila is building this new paradigm; Relationships will be consensual, transparent, and revocable, building trust by design with how the platform is built. A new data economy is needed to support such ambitions. An individual who can control access to their most precious insights will be a better (and happier) customer. A brand that can remunerate individuals to gain access to those insights will be able to market smarter, with more accurate segmentation, and more efficiently than they currently can. No more tracking, surveillance, or educated guesses based on algorithms. Instead that will be replaced with real insights using data science and drawing from the kinds of questions that really tell us about an individual; their true sentiment and preferences.

How do we aim to resolve this problem

In order to solve this problem, Profila will build, as part of our overall solution, two features under the names of “YouQ” (for consumers) and “Evergreen” (for Brands), we will build a zero-party self-discovery platform that will create a new data source that is more accurate, authentic, and valuable than existing resources. A better data source is essential to reforming the current surveillance paradigm and combined with other Profila tools and services, will ensure individuals have sovereignty over their personal data and how commercial and civilian organizations interact with them, for their benefit.

The first step in this journey is to seek funding for a Proof of Concept and deliver results for one market industry (travel) that prove the value of Zero Party Data and provides the ability to replicate the process and outcome for additional industry verticals.

How will it work? 

In short, users will answer carefully crafted self-discovery quizzes in relation to a specific topic (e.g Travel). This rich data belongs to the individual and can be accessed by brands only upon permission of the individual.  This will be the the beginning of the end of the surveillance data economy and the beginning of a new paradigm focused on the creation of Zero Party Data that the user is in total control of. No personal data in this Proof-of-Concept will be shared with any brand or 3rd party (beyond our implementation partners). General segmentation insights will be shared with participating brands and each participating members of the Cardano community will receive a personalized report of their insights and travel personas.

The solution we will design will have maximum scalability in terms of the number of self-discovery questions available, the categories/topics covered, and the amount of badges & achievements we will create to help them understand their progress. For brands, as the solution scales, the more penetrating the insights will be for their individual customers and their target segments.

The project will proceed in 5 separate stages: 

Stage 1 – market analysis

Investigation market segmentation requirements in the Travel industry in order to understand the current state as well as an ideal future state

Deliverables

Understanding of the current stage of how the travel industry sees itself, how it segments its existing and potential customers, and how its marketing could be improved by integrating the genuine sentiment and preferences gained through zero-party data

Stage 2 – Creating category quizzes

Interpretation of findings in Stage 1 and implementation of a series of quizzes & questions

Deliverables

A series of quizzes intended to capture an individual’s sentiment and preferences on a variety of topics concerning travel. These might include such topics as:

·      why I travel?

·      day trips / weekend getaways

·      long holidays

·      accommodations

·      transportation

·      activities while traveling

·      entertainment while traveling

·      culture while traveling

·      business travel

Stage 3 – Recruit Cardano community to participate

Recruit members of the Cardano community to complete the quizzes regarding their travel preferences as well as some basic demographic data for analysis purposes

Deliverables

Completed quizzes for at least 500 individuals; sufficient for our analysis

Stage 4 – Analysis and Reporting

Using data science tools, do an analysis of the quiz responses in light of the market segmentation requirements of the industry and to create insights for the individual

Deliverables

Reports for industry market segmentation & activation purposes

Reports for individuals on their travel persona and their preferences in comparison with others in the study

Stage 5 – Develop Repeatable Methodology

Consolidate lessons learned, tactics, etc into a replicable methodology to conduct similar investigations of other industry verticals

Deliverables

An actionable methodology & planning tools gleaned from this PoC and it’s lessoned learned, as a repeatable playbook for other industries

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

All major forces in the market are moving toward the kinds of solutions Profila is building. Third-party cookies will be phased out in the coming year or two, GDPR has been a major (if incomplete) attempt to give individuals agency, and repeated data abuse scandals are creating more awareness amongst individuals and brands as to current unsavory marketing tactics and the need for a new paradigm of the value of data created and controlled by individuals. That is the entire mission of Profila and YouQ/Evergreen will play a major part of our acceleration into the market.

This Proof of Concept is the first step to creating a robust MarketPlace for personal data and smart match-making between individuals with needs and wants, and organizations that offer products and services that could fill those needs. Only when individuals are the sole owner and gatekeeper for the most accurate, authentic, and valuable insights about themselves will the tide begin to turn against the current paradigm of surveillance, & tracking.

This proposal will build on the other Catalyst projects for Profila that have been funded in previous rounds, including projects for:

• Metadata - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/350680
• DApps & Integrations - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/382488 /https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/366908
• Digital Identity (Atala PRISM DID Mass-Scale Adoption) - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/367840
• NFT Business Models - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/368122

These projects will provide the core infrastructure for allowing individuals to trust that Profila can process their personal data securely and provide them features to use their Zero-Party Data for their benefit. This proposal is the first truly consumer-centric project we will be implementing that utilizes the implementations supported by earlier Catalyst Funds.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

There are several risks that will take into account and mitigate during the project.

Engagement risk: in order to fulfil the promise of this project, we must successfully engage with the Cardano community in order to recruit at least 500 people to complete the travel quizzes we create. If we do not have enough participants the data models cannot be verified. We will engaged with Cardano community influences to advise us on how to best approach the community and get its buy-in to participate.

Privacy risk: the questions answered in YouQ and the insights available for brands represent the most personal of personal information. Profila must be able to safeguard these data and insights in a way that protects them and also the mechanisms to provide the exact insights an individual desires with the brands in their lives. For this PoC we are working with QuestionPro, the preeminent survey platform for research purposes. We will work with them to ensure that the privacy of participants is protected, and no third-party will have access to the data they produce via the self-discovery quizzes.

Data science & insights: there is always an inherent risk with data science as to the robustness and relevancy of the data. We will work with our technology and industry partners to mitigate this risk.

Business model risk: While we have every confidence into the robustness of the model, there will be a period where we will need to work closely with brands so that they can get the most out of the new Evergreen insights produced.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

If funded, this project will commence on October 1st and proceed for 5 months until end of February, accommodating for a break during the holidays. The project timeline is broken into the 5 Stages of the Project

Stage 1 – market analysis

Investigation market segmentation requirements in the Travel industry in order to understand the current state as well as an ideal future state

Timeline - 4 weeks

Milestone – A comprehensive set of learnings and insights into the travel industry that informs the activities in Stage 2

Stage 2 – Creating category quizzes

Interpretation of findings in Stage 1 and implementation of a series of quizzes & questions

Timeline – 3 weeks

Milestone – creation of quizzes to accommodate a minimum of 200 travel-related self-discovery quizzes

Stage 3 – Recruit Cardano community to participate

Recruit members of the Cardano community to complete the quizzes regarding their travel preferences as well as some basic demographic data for analysis purposes

Timeline – 4 weeks for recruitment (this stage can be initiated when the project starts on October 1st in order to begin collecting participant email addresses / 4 weeks allowance for quizzes to be completed.

Milestone – 500 participants signed up 

Stage 4 – Analysis and Reporting

Using data science tools, do an analysis of the quiz responses in light of the market segmentation requirements of the industry and to create insights for the individual

Timeline (post-holiday start) – 5 weeks

Milestone – reports for individuals and brands based on data science analysis

Stage 5 – Develop Repeatable Methodology

Consolidate lessons learned, tactics, etc into a replicable methodology to conduct similar investigations of other industry verticals

Timeline – 3 weeks

Milestone – successful completion of methodology and final report

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

The total budget for the project is $68,000. We have broken this down into the 5 stages of the project detailed elsewhere in the proposal.

Pre-Project Preparation

Workshop with key participants - $2,500

Stage 1 – Market Analysis

Travel industry research & analysis - $12,000

Project Management - $1,500

Stage 2 – Developing quizzes & questions

Development of questions - $5,000

Implementation in Question Pro - $3,000

Project Management - $1,500

Stage 3 – Recruit participants

Community engagement - $5,000

Rewards/Incentives for participants - $5,000

Project Management - $1,500

Stage 4 – Analysis & Reporting

Data Science & Analysis - $15,000

Creating Reports for Individual Participants - $4,000

Creating Reports for participating Brands – $3,000

Project Management -$1,500

Stage 5 – Lessons learned & creating a repeatable methodology

Development of methodology template - $6,000

Project Management - $1,500

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Internal Team

Luke Bragg – co-founder of Profila and Director of the Profila Research Labs (with 20 years experience in creating digital solutions and designing large-scale content management systems)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasbragg/

Mitchell Goudie – Community Management and Research Specialist in the Profila Research Labs

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellgoudie/

Elizaveta Malashchuk – senior UX/UI designer with extensive experience in creating compelling consumer experiences and with business analytic dashboards

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizaveta-malashchuk/

Subject Matter Advisors

Mikko Kotila – advisor to Profila and also an advisor to the World Federation of Advertisers. He has deep ad-tech knowledge and the relationships we will need to bring in brands for proof-of-concept activities

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkokotila/

Community Engagement

Adrian Valdez - https://twitter.com/80RIANv

Industry and Data Science Expertise

Dr. Renu Joseph – Dr. Renu Ann Joseph, Head Virtido Center for Data Science & AI

https://www.linkedin.com/in/renu-ann-joseph-83048a4/

Dr. Milena Nikolova – expert in behavioural economics for the travel industry

https://www.linkedin.com/in/milena1827/

Sarah Seyr - Lecturer Customer Experience & Human Machine Interaction, HSLU Luzern

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahseyr/

Technology & Industry Partners & Advisors

Virtido AG (Luzern, Switzerland) 

Our technology partner Virtido AG will help us scale the data science resources required as well as play a key role in the expansion of our data science strategy. Their data science center of excellence will be a source of industry behavioural psychologists required to provide industry vertical insights. 

https://virtido.com/en/data-science/

Hochschule Luzern (HSLU)

We also have a strong relationship with the data science departments at Hochschule Luzern given our current innosuisse project to create a privacy/legal chatbot.

https://www.hslu.ch/en/lucerne-university-of-applied-sciences-and-arts/about-us/people-finder/profile/?pid=4717

Luzern AI/Cognitive Community (LAC2)

Lastly, Profila is involved in the Luzern AI/Cognitive Community (LAC2) which brings together many area companies that provide data science expertise. We can draw on this community as required.

https://lac2.org

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

We are currently in the early stages of applying for a Swiss Accelerator Program to fund the construction of a proprietary platform to support the goals of this Catalyst proposal. That program is very competitive (less than 5% of projects are funded) and this Catalyst proposal acts as a Proof-of-Concept for a single industry vertical and its lessons will be applied to a cross-industry implementation. If we are not awarded the funding from the Swiss Accelerator Program we may have to return to Catalyst to fund individual components of our long-term solution. 

Depending on the outcome of that application, we may return to Catalyst to fund specific components of our larger vision as required.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Our progress and KPIs are broken down by the 5 stages of the project. Because of the nature of the project (research, interaction with participants, reporting) this proposal has clear and defined ways to show the progress of the 

Stage 1 – Market Analysis

• Develop clear and market-specific segmentation markers to use as the basis for developing Zero Party Data quizzes for the travel industry.

Stage 2 – Developing quizzes & questions

• Create a minimum of 200 self-discovery questions about an individual’s preferences and sentiments related to travel; organized in a series of topic-centric quizzes

Stage 3 – Recruit participants

• Develop a compelling incentive program to recruit participants. This will be illustrated to the community via the campaign
• Recruit a minimum of 500 participants who are willing to complete at least 90% of the questions posed in the self-discovery quizzes. 

Stage 4 – Analysis & Reporting

• Develop general analysis reports for participating brands
• Develop individualized analysis reports for each participant about their travel persona

Stage 5 – Lessons learned & creating a repeatable methodology

• Solicit feedback on process and outcome from participants about value of the insights provided (brands and individuals) and report those findings to the community
• Develop a repeatable methodology to use on future industry verticals.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Profila has great ambitions to be a star in a new constellation of services and platforms that make up a better internet. Our path in the next 5 years will be to continue building our infrastructure and team for global expansion. At the core of this expansion is an offering of the most accurate, authentic, and valuable insights about the individuals who sign up for Profila. This grant would allow us to accelerate the creation of that core company asset and supercharge our journey toward offering incredible value to both individuals and brands.

But let’s start with the end in mind. If we were to reverse the stages of the project and start with the ultimate set of deliverables then success in this project would like look like this:

…ideally, at the end of the project, Profila would possess an important component in our ambition to make Zero Party Data the most accurate, authentic, and valuable data set available about a single individual, and provide additional tools to ensure the individual has complete control over who has access to these insights and what they can do with them. This component, in the form of a repeatable methodology, would enable Profila to select additional market verticals for investigation and implementation in our platform. To accomplish this, there are subsidiary success markers for this project.

1. are able to create insights that are incredibly valuable to brands in the travel industry and let them more more effectively and efficiently through their use of Zero Party Insights.
2. We are able to illustrate that self-discovery quizzes are popular with individuals who know each answer they provide improves the value and validity of their Zero Party Data
3. We are able to effectively analyze a market vertical and determine what insights, sentiments, and preferences are required to provide better segmentation intelligence than what can be done through surveillance and tracking.

In short, success in this project provides Profila one of the most important building blocks for its future development and ultimate success.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new proposal from Profila.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

There is no specific UN SDG that fits perfectly with our project, but the overall carbon footprint of marketing will be affected positively by making marketing more efficient. There is an incredible inefficiency in today’s marketing paradigm which is enabled by the low cost of digital distribution (emails, banner ads, etc) and minimal ability to measure what is important (conversion, lifetime value of a customer). One can easily imagine a marketing paradigm built on zero-party data, real & actionable insights, will result in less marketing spend, less irrelevant advertising, and a better match of products & services to specific wants and needs. There would be no easy way to calculate the carbon impact of more efficient marketing, but they would be substantial given what we know about the carbon footprint of social media platforms.

As for society, we are building Profila because we want it in our lives; we want less clutter, less distraction by irreverent content and offers. And we want to know the feeling of controlling the most valuable insights about ourselves and sharing it only when we feel we can trust the brand on the other side of a data subscription. Individual agency and sovereignty are a foundational status for a better world.