Rory McIlory’s public popularity is now higher than the three main global brands which he represents, major new research has revealed. The World’s No.1 golfer has now overtaken Nike, Bose and the Swiss watchmaker Omega, according to a scientific study.

The data analytics company, Adoreboard, a tech start up based at Queen‰ŪŖs University, Belfast, claims that McIlroy‰ŪŖs online brand reputation is soaring – just short of the likes of Coca Cola, but ahead of Pepsi and BMW when compared during the week of last month‰ŪŖs Australian Open championship.

The study tracked McIlroy for more than six months ‰ŪŅ since the time he called off his engagement to the tennis star Caroline Wozniaki in May when his ratings dipped significantly to his Open golf championship in July and September‰ŪŖs Ryder Cup triumphs when his popularity rocketed.

Yep, it’s that time of year again, that time when in true festive style we all become a little child-like, eagerly awaiting this year’s fresh batch of Christmas ads to see what beauties lie in store for us. You know it’s true don’t you? These Christmas themed ads give us a warm, cosy feeling inside, making us feel a whole range of different emotions right across the spectrum… happiness, nostalgia, thankfulness, warmth, protective, loving… the list goes on.

However, despite watching and experiencing some of the above mentioned emotions, the question that we never stop to consider is simply, why do we react in this way? What, precisely, is it that makes us feel the way we feel when watching these ads, and what is it that makes us want to watch Christmas ads, when we quickly skip over any other type of ads because we simply don‰ŪŖt engage with emotionally?

With a proliferation of information has come the fragmentation of the tools and methods used to manipulate that information. That sentence may have put you off reading any further – but don’t be hasty reader because that is exactly how many people react to the notion of ‘big data’.

Big data may be the hipster’s du jour tech trend, yet for many it is a dull-as-dishwater subject best dealt with by somebody in a university surrounded by servers, microwave meals and a copy of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

However, just as the presence of hipsters has annoyingly transformed rundown tranches of New York and London so big data is transforming our world.

Gearing up for the launch of our email report for brand comparison, we were about to introduce Adoreboard to the world. Even though that world was friends & family, it was a big deal.

At the same time we were preparing our ESB Spark of Genius presentation. We’d been shortlisted along with 29 other startups for a chance to pitch on the live stage at The Web Summit 2014 in Dublin (and maybe win €25000).

This was the second round. Our CTO, Fergal, had spent the past few days and last few hours getting his 4 minute presentation down to a tee. Not even leaving his notes in the loos of the Galway train unsettled him. I took the early train down from Belfast, excited that maybe, just maybe, we might do it.

We all know that brands work extremely hard to develop and build their identities. Does this effort sit with what customers feel about brands? When people buy goods or services, they often use concepts as reference points to make comparisons. These mental connections using concepts such as price, good service or high quality provide helpful cues to evaluate the value of one product over another.

Brand intelligence tech start-up company Adoreboard has been crowned ‘best tech start-up’ at the ITLG Silicon Valley Global Technology Forum. Adoreboard scooped the Irish Technology Leaders Group (ITLG) University Challenge Award for best tech start-up with the most global commercial potential at the recent awards ceremony.

The company beat off stiff competition from over 20 third level institutions from across the island of Ireland in a Dragons Den style pitching competition.

The award was made as part of a two day technology forum, where a delegation from Silicon Valley who included top executives from the global tech sector, such as CISCO, Intel, DELL, Disney and AOL, met with a shortlist of start-up companies from across the island of Ireland who pitched their innovative technology solutions to an investor panel.

If you have ever come across the book Lovemarks, you will be familiar how brands are masters at creating emotional connections with their customers. A book written by the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi provides a wonderful illustration of how brands have tapped into the aspirations of customers for the benefit of brands.

In today's digital world, brands have to work harder by using new ideas and concepts to capture the imagination of their customers. We‰ŪŖve identified three very quick examples of brands, which are great exemplars of concept marketing. That is brands that are promoting concepts that align with their customers and result in more engagement and satisfaction.

Gone are the days when items bought from a mail order catalogue that resulted in a wait of up to thirty days for delivery. Nowadays with the massive prevalence of online e-commerce sites consumers can expect their purchases within two or three days.

Most stores provide next day delivery from around the world, either at additional cost or as part of a subscription model (e.g. Amazon Prime). The logistics of delivering goods globally has resulted in innovation such as the creation of ‰Ū÷The Maersk (Triple E class)‰ŪŖ, recently constructed as the biggest cargo ship in the world. The scale of the ship is staggering at 1300 feet long (quarter of a mile) and 200 feet wide, and is the height of a 20-storey building. The ship is so big that few ports can accommodate it.

Dr. Fergal Monaghan is no stranger to data analytics. In fact prior to joining Adoreboard he headed up a research team within the business intelligence unit of German software giant SAP. He says that his role at Adoreboard is to help marketers and CEOs re-imagine how social data can be used to transform business decisions on a daily basis. In a series of blog posts we find out how…

In two lines what is Adoreboard?

We help brands understand how the world feels about them online. I use this second line to store superfluous words.