Ablation: is Qloo load-bearing?
The same screen, four ways: the full model; the same LLM ranking the same universe from general knowledge alone; Qloo without the cross-domain metric; and Qloo with one-way affinity only. If Simpatico worked the same without Qloo, it would be the wrong product.
Last run 2026-10-26 11:15 UTC · LLM: claude-opus-5-5
Shortlist rankings, four ways
| Variant | Kendall τ vs Full | Top-5 overlap | Verdict flips | Fame bias ρ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Full (Qloo, six metrics) Strava › Whoop › Janji › Cotopaxi › Vuori | 1.00 | 5/5 | none | 0.61 |
No Qloo (LLM-only ranking) Ranked by overlap with the premium, performance-minded runner and endurance-lifestyle consumer shared by HOKA, On, Tracksmith and Athletic Brewing. Run-native, premium or insurgent brands come first: Maurten, Strava, Janji, District Vision, Nuun, Whoop and LMNT. Next are legacy running shoe brands. They have high audience overlap but are less of an insurgent, VC-style fit. Recovery and wearable brands follow, then athleisure and outdoor brands. Mass wellness, beverage, and yoga or studio-focused brands come last. Maurten › Strava › Janji › Whoop › Hyperice | 0.05 | 3/5 | none | -0.14 |
Qloo minus cross-domain (m3) m3 weight set to 0; the others renormalise. Strava › Whoop › Cotopaxi › Janji › Vuori | 0.90 | 5/5 | Whoop: ADVANCE→WATCH; Janji: ADVANCE→WATCH; Cotopaxi: ADVANCE→WATCH; Vuori: WATCH→PASS; Hyperice: WATCH→PASS | 0.75 |
Qloo minus two-way (forward affinity only) m1 = forward affinity a; AUDIENCE_ONE_SIDED cannot fire. Strava › Whoop › Janji › Cotopaxi › Vuori | 1.00 | 5/5 | none | 0.61 |
Fame bias = Spearman correlation between a ranking and Qloo popularity (1 = ranked purely by how famous the brand is). The LLM-only variant uses the same model with no Qloo data; it can’t give white space, demographics or momentum and can’t check its own claims.
Whole universe (23 brands): Qloo vs LLM-only
Kendall τ 0.56 · top-5 overlap 3/5 · fame bias: Qloo -0.28, LLM-only -0.40
Qloo forward affinity
- Nuun Hydration
- Janji
- Altra Running
- Maurten
- Whoop
- Brooks Running
- Saucony
- Vuori
- Cotopaxi
- Hyperice
LLM-only (general knowledge)
- Maurten(Qloo #4)
- Strava(Qloo #13)
- Janji(Qloo #2)
- District Vision(Qloo #15)
- Nuun Hydration(Qloo #1)
- Whoop(Qloo #5)
- Drink LMNT(Qloo #14)
- Brooks Running(Qloo #6)
- Saucony(Qloo #7)
- Altra Running(Qloo #3)