Hey Santa, here’s our 2016 ‘Marketing Naughty & Nice’ list

Even a Jewish guy like me knows that Santa — trying like everyone else to satisfy his customers — can barely keep up. Like many of us, he’s awash in data — from social networks, web browsing trails, and the particulars about that time when so-and-so helped the old lady cross the busy street or when such-and-such didn’t let the other car cut in front. Sure, machine learning helps him pick out the most relevant data, and predictive analytics can forecast whether those were isolated incidents or typical behavior. But then the data needs to be turned into the right gifts or lack thereof — and, well, there are only so many elves in this world to help out. So, once again, we decided to lighten Santa’s burden a bit by offering our take on who in marketing, advertising and search has been naughty and who’s been nice. So he can concentrate on, you know, lists about boys and girls.