Ellen Technology
A browser-based tool that measured viewer reactions to ads, trailers and casting candidates through facial expression analysis. It showed which scene and which actor engaged viewers before a company spent its campaign budget.
- Client
- Year
- 2015
- Time
- launched in January 2015
- Area
- AI rollouts
Creative decisions informed by viewer responses
Choosing an ad or an actor can turn into a debate about personal taste. Ellen gave marketing teams another perspective: audience responses during viewing, mapped to the exact moment in a film.
My role: bringing the technology to market
As co-founder and CEO of Quantum Lab, I worked on turning facial-expression analysis into a product for research and advertising. The team built a browser-based tool with a results dashboard and integration with existing research systems. We announced Ellen in January 2015.
Ellen ran on our emotion analysis engine. At the time we called it Xpress Engine; we later developed it as Quantum Sense.
From responses to campaign decisions
Saturn had 20 hours to choose between two actors. A study of 200 viewers helped settle the casting decision, even though questionnaire answers showed no clear favourite.
Wakacje.pl tested five ads with 160 people over three days. The results helped select three ads on which to focus the media budget. Ellen also supported the assessment of “The Art of Love” trailer for Watchout Productions.
Our Xpress Engine analysed facial expressions while people watched a video. The dashboard connected responses to individual scenes, while Ellen Score helped compare versions.
Result
Saturn selected an actor for its campaign. Wakacje.pl identified three of five ads on which to focus its media budget.
A product from the Quantum Lab portfolio. The Ellen website has the study accounts and reports shown in the gallery.
