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 2026-10-27 13:15 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) Janji › Vuori › Strava › Whoop › Athletic Greens | 1.00 | 5/5 | none | -0.05 |
No Qloo (LLM-only ranking) Ranked by overlap with the seed audience (affluent, performance-minded runners and endurance athletes who favor premium, design-forward, wellness-oriented brands). Run-native platforms and fuel (Strava, Maurten), indie premium run apparel (Janji, District Vision) and performance wearables/hydration top the list. Legacy run shoe brands follow; they share the activity but skew more mass-market. Recovery, wellness and athleisure brands are next, and yoga/lifestyle-centric labels come last. Strava › Maurten › Janji › Whoop › Hyperice | 0.07 | 3/5 | none | 0.00 |
Qloo minus cross-domain (m3) m3 weight set to 0; the others renormalise. Janji › Vuori › Strava › Whoop › Athletic Greens | 1.00 | 5/5 | Janji: ADVANCE→WATCH; Vuori: ADVANCE→WATCH; Whoop: WATCH→PASS; Athletic Greens: WATCH→PASS; Cotopaxi: WATCH→PASS | -0.05 |
Qloo minus two-way (forward affinity only) m1 = forward affinity a; AUDIENCE_ONE_SIDED cannot fire. Janji › Vuori › Strava › Whoop › Athletic Greens | 1.00 | 5/5 | none | -0.05 |
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 0.54 · top-5 overlap 3/5 · fame bias: Qloo -0.28, LLM-only -0.42
Qloo forward affinity
- Nuun Hydration
- Janji
- Altra Running
- Maurten
- Whoop
- Brooks Running
- Saucony
- Vuori
- Cotopaxi
- Hyperice
LLM-only (general knowledge)
- Strava(Qloo #13)
- Maurten(Qloo #4)
- Janji(Qloo #2)
- District Vision(Qloo #15)
- Whoop(Qloo #5)
- Drink LMNT(Qloo #14)
- Nuun Hydration(Qloo #1)
- Altra Running(Qloo #3)
- Brooks Running(Qloo #6)
- Saucony(Qloo #7)