Interview: machine learning to (re)learn about the consumer's genome

Transparency and quality of algorithms will form the basis of a new alliance and a new balance between companies and their customers.

“Data intelligence becomes a competitive advantage only if you’re able to use it,” according to Gaetano Giannetto, CEO of Epipoli, a company with a long career in the media field that is particularly active in the area of corporate social responsibility. However, it is known above all for introducing gift cards in Italy as an innovative distribution method and a tool for incentives and promotion management. It effectively opened up an entirely new market which, in the United States, is worth US$650 billion a year.

A collector of vintage objects, figurines and old advertising campaigns, Giannetto has the powers of a visionary and the pragmatism of a manager. In 2010, after the Haiti earthquake – and in collaboration with Agire, the Italian Interior Ministry and the Clinton Foundation – he launched the first nonprofit donation card in the world. “When you do something good, you always get something in return. No imbalance can last forever. Money is a form of information. But it’s only a means to an end. We must never confuse the two levels. What's important is people’s desires that increasingly drive the consumer market. Desires are the real black box."

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